How to do things with art

If what we call art has never been so important to (Western) societies as it is today, the question that lies at the heart of How to Do Things with Art takes on an ever greater urgency: how does art become politically or socially significant? Dorothea von Hantelmann addresses this issue on a theoretical level, and indicates, through the analysis of works by James Coleman, Daniel Buren, Jeff Koons, and Tino Sehgal, how artists can create and shape social relevance; in other words, she provides what could be called a pragmatic understanding of art's societal impact today.