Art of welfare

Verksted was launched by Office for Contemporary Art Norway in 2003 as a series of publications and seminars focused on current discourses relating to contemporary cultural production, culture and aesthetics. Art of Welfare was the first publication in the series in 2006. The book reflects the seminar organized by OCA in tandem with Elmgreen & Dragset's exhibition, The Welfare Show, - initially produced by Bergen Kunsthall, - at the Serpentine Gallery in London in January 2006. The publication considers the cultural and artistic aspects of, and reflections on, the welfare state. Specifically linked, but not limited to, the paradigmatic case of the Scandinavian social democratic model, the publication focuses on welfare, as Peter Osborne notes in his contribution, as a "floating signifier"