Art matters. It affects us in our daily lives and is full of meanings that are valuable to all of us. As a catalyst for social interactions, art may either cause public conflict and create dissensions or facilitate mutual understanding and strengthen collective bonds. All of this is grounded in practices that develop and change along social interaction, cultural dynamics, as well as technological and economic lines. So how is art formed and produced? What are the relevant constraints and challenges that artists experience in the creative process? And what constitutes artistic agency? This collection of contributions from international, interdisciplinary experts explores particular case studies to deeply analyse artistic practices. Comprising eleven chapters relating to different art forms, each chapter offers an original perspective conveying a comprehensive understanding of artistic practices as arrays of specific activities in contemporary art worlds. This book will be important for both researchers and practitioners in the field. It will help artists to deepen their analytical abilities, enabling them to further their own creative practice. It will allow students and researchers to gain insights into processes of artistic creation and thus into the reproduction of art, as well as innovation in the arts.

We engage with works of art in many ways, yet almost all modern philosophers of art have focused entirely on one mode of engagement: disinterested attention. Nicholas Wolterstorff explores why this is, and offers an alternative framework according to which arts are a part of social practice, and have different meaning in different practices.

Helping artists catapult into further action, this guide is a treasury of insight and inspiration. Rather than focus on art techniques that build skills or overcome creative blocks through playful activities or writing, this guide walks the artist through exercises designed to develop the personal qualities critical to being an artist in the world, such as courage, the ability to look and see, and connection to the true creative self. This is a hands-on, experiential action book designed to get the reader creating art and exploring a variety of possibilities for being an artist. According to the teachings of this handbook, engagement with art is less about end results or products and more about the self-awareness and competence that frees the artist to seek out and create work that is vital. This is a rigorous programme that allows artists of any skill level to deepen their creative habits and be the best artists possible.

'Art Practice as Research' presents a compelling argument that the creative and cultural inquiry undertaken by artists is a form of research. The text explores themes, practice, and contexts of artistic inquiry and positions them within the discourse of research.

This volume – which has come about through a collaborative venture between Dragos Gheorghiu (archaeologist and professional visual artist) and Theodor Barth (anthropologist) – aims at expanding the field of archaeological research with an anthropological understanding of practices that include artistic methods.

Wonder has an established link to the history and philosophy of science. However, there is little acknowledgement of the relationship between the visual arts and wonder. This book presents a new perspective on this overlooked connection, allowing a unique insight into the role of wonder in contemporary visual practice. Artists, curators and art theorists give accounts of their approach to wonder through the use of materials, objects and ways of exhibiting. These accounts not only raise issues of a particular relevance to the way in which we encounter our reality today but ask to what extent artists utilize the function of wonder purposely in their work.

Inside an art gallery, it is easy to forget that the paintings there are the end products of a process involving not only creative inspiration, but also plenty of physical and logistical details. It is these "cruder," more mundane aspects of a painter's daily routine that motivated Brooklyn artist Joe Fig to embark almost ten years ago on a highly unorthodox, multilayered exploration of the working life of the professional artist. Determined to ground his research in the physical world, Fig began constructing a series of diorama-like miniature reproductions of the studios of modern art's most legendary painters, such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. A desire for firsthand references led Fig to approach contemporary artists for access to their studios. Armed with a camera and a self-made "Artist's Questionnaire," Fig began a journey through the workspaces of some of today's most exciting contemporary artists.