95 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Anke Coumans The artistic attitude in a social context The art of daring to see things differently Anke Coumans The research group Image in Context of the Research Centre Art and Society in Groningen has spent the past eight years developing new roles for artists and designers working in social contexts. While searching for the specific role that the arts (as a collective term for the various disciplines offered within an art academy) can play in social environments, we discovered a particular artistic attitude by which an artist is distinguished beyond their visual and image-making quali- ties. After all, without this artistic attitude that is the baseline for all artistic practice, visual qualities would lose their full potential, and the artistry would become but craft. It is this artistic attitude that, in a social context, marks the difference between the artist and, for example, a social worker or a healthcare professional. The artistic attitude offers new and radical avenues to look at social contexts beyond the care context itself. This attitude is developed during their time at the art academy.