1097 ACTA UNIVERSITATIS AGRICULTURAE ET SILVICULTURAE MENDELIANAE BRUNENSIS Volume LXI 121 Number 4, 2013 http://dx.doi.org/10.11118/actaun201361041097 DIALOGICAL ART AS A CHALLENGE FOR COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT Blahoslav Rozbořil, Eva Abramuszkinová Pavlíková Received: April 11, 2013 Abstract ROZBOŘIL BLAHOSLAV, ABRAMUSZKINOVÁ PAVLÍKOVÁ EVA: Dialogical art as a challenge for competitive environment. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 2013, LXI, No. 4, pp. 1097–1103 Contemporary society is raising important questions related to issues such as social construction or interpretation of reality, the role of culture and the meaning of art. Modernity replaces the determination of social standing with a compulsive and obligatory self-determination which holds for all periods and all sectors of the modern era, as described by Baumann (2001). This paper focuses on the analysis of problems related to contemporary art and its social meaning. The main focus is on projects which encourage their participants to question fixed identities, stereotypical images through a cumulative process of exchange and dialogue. The use of the community concept revolves around the complex forms of identification that exist between individuals and larger collective entities which encourage people to break down their defensive isolation and fear of others (Kester, 2004). The link between the society, history and culture is analyzed in the context of relational aesthetics (Bourriaud, 2002). The theoretical concept of dialogical art is illustrated by dialogical art projects and activist or community-based art practice, namely WochenKlausur projects. As a response to sociological problems of postmodern society, this could be a challenge for competitive environment, which oſten tends to position marginalized groups into disadvantaged situations. dialogical art, postmodern society, social problems, collective identities, relational aesthetics, competitive environment, marginalized groups Art as a Social Work This paper focuses on the analysis of problems related to the contemporary art and its social meaning. The main focus is on projects which encourage their participants to question fixed identities through a cumulative process of exchange and dialogue. The use of the community concept revolves around the complex forms of identification that exist between individuals and larger collective entities. The link between the society, history and culture is analyzed in the context of relational aesthetics. The theoretical concept of dialogical art (Bourriaud, 2002; Bürger, 1984; Kester, 2004) and sociological background (Bauman, 2001; Giddens, 2000; Gerzon, 2006) is illustrated by dialogical art projects and community-based art practice, namely WochenKlausur projects. This contribution shows some aspects of dialogical arts and suggests what could be inspiring for competitive environment, especially in the sphere of communicative soſt skills. Visual art, as almost all areas in society, is permanently a subject of changes. These are not only forms and contents which are subjected to processes of transformations but also functions, evaluations, statuses and roles changes, thus also the expectations related to the producers of objects or consumers. Fairly large attention attracts nowadays a form of contemporary art which is oſten called dialogical or participatory art 1 . Its intention is to expose, make visible, social and political problems in society and thus demonstrate socio-political relevance of art. 1 For some purposes we decided to use term dialogical art in this text; but there are many alternative terms such as: interventionist art, community based art, relational aesthetics (mentioned by French theoretician Nicolas Bourriaud), or littoral art (as mentioned by Hunter and Larner).