Care Aesthetics and the Arts

What would happen if we were to understand arts projects through their capacity to care? Care Aesthetics and the Arts offers an exploration of care aesthetics applied to arts projects from diverse contexts.

This collection examines the emerging field of care aesthetics applied to a range of arts practices and projects. Divided thematically into five sections, each chapter examines a range of arts practices or projects through the lens of care aesthetics, exploring how they can be understood and critiqued through this frame. This book surveys the foundations for an artistic exploration of care, discusses arts initiatives for sustaining, repairing, and holding space for everyday care, and expands conversations into the ambiguities and contradictions in both theory and practice. The volume includes contributions from diverse fields such as dance, literature, film, music, visual art, and theatre, alongside perspectives from non-conventional artistic settings such as protests, playgrounds, and hospitals, presenting a truly interdisciplinary study.

Ideal for practitioners and students alike, this collection establishes the rich and evolving field of care aesthetics within the arts.

Kate Maguire-Rosier is an assistant professor in disability arts at Maastricht University, Netherlands.

Réka Polonyi is an artist and research fellow at University of Manchester, UK.

James Thompson is a professor of applied theatre at the University of Manchester and co-director of The Care Lab, UK.