ABSTRACT
The systematic rise of proto-totalitarian regimes, the acceleration of neoliberal cultural politics and the recent pandemic restrictions in European countries have intensified discussions in the cultural sector about the basic, yet fundamental question: Is art powerful enough to contribute to the cultivation of democracy or is it, rather, powerless? In order to tackle this problem, the author chooses, as a starting point, Walter Bryce Gallie's explanation of art and democracy as essentially contested concepts. This leads to the necessity of studying the particular role of artistic practices in the open contest over democracy. The chapter first discusses the instrumental role of artistic practices enabling and disabling the stimulation of democracy (propaganda, education and commodification) and continues with an analysis of the function of sovereign autonomous art in the social context. Finally, with reference to Johann Huizinga and Judith Butler, the author argues that the position of art is neither instrumental nor sovereign, but playful. As play, art has the potential to non-radically interrupt any normative system it is irreducibly embedded in, to enrich the contest over democracy with new meaning and to preserve it from atrophy. As such, artistic practices are fundamental to the evolution of democracy.
