The Aesthetic Action of Social Work from an Artistic Perspective

The aim of this text is to generate a space to reflect and theorise about the artistic aspects of social work. In our contemporary context we can envision the aesthetic possibilities which operate during the intervention process in social work, specifically in the relational area where the subjectivity of the social worker plays an important role in the transformation of the Other. Some current art practices, in line with paradigms derived from complexity, postestructuralism and ecological theories, give us some keys as to how to revise the aesthetical condition of social work. Thus, from the grounds of artistic experience and through a conceptual development of the aesthetics of the art world, we explore social work from a new perspective and aim to offer a different outlook on this field. It is when art operates in a person's vital context that the everyday reality strengthens our relationships with the world. In the same way, when the social workers project an aesthetic look on their actions, they accept the exercise of their profession from a dimension which is autonomous, singular and, possibly, artistic.