Aesthetic Experience and Critical Reflection

Democratic Potentials of Artistic Interventions in Urban Public Space

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to develop a critical theoretical framework for the general interrogation of the interrelationship between artistic interventions in public space and democracy. The basic thesis guiding the following argument is that the main challenge for contemporary democracy and democratic citizenship consists in combining the recognition of difference and conflict with the reflection of the common good of society. And the question in focus will be on what terms aesthetic experience is able to contribute to establishing this combination.