Conversation Pieces

I find the works of the WochenKlauser and the other artists Kester mentions to be much more significant and profound than some of the works discussed in week 3 (Relational Aesthetics), for example the space that was open 24 hours for the duration of the exhibition. These dialogical art works are literally living and breathing, and I find this element to be quite poignant.They have a direct connection with society and I feel that this is what makes the works resonate with the public.

To question the validity of these works in the realm of art seems fair, and I think Kester raises a good point about Suzanne Lacy, that her attempt to challenge the stereotypical view of young people parallels the avant-garde artists and their attempt to,

"challenge the deadening representational conventions of academic art and to reveal instead the experiential specificity of the world around them."

This in fact is exactly what Lacy is doing by taking the work out of a gallery and putting it in a real world situation. I think that by this action alone, reacting to the contemporary art world and its constructs, evoking art-history itself, her actions are therefore an act of art.