Relational Aesthetics

I found the article by Bourriaud discussing Relational Aesthetics really appealing. The ideas discussed of contract and collaboration were ideas of interest- in particular, this notion of creating a contract with a viewer within a performance or installation. This unspoken contract between viewer and artist is changing the relationship and assumptions placed on participatory art. I agree with many arguments made within this article especially the importance placed on the gallery space for artists within the contemporary art world, it becomes a place where the audience, public and artist create a bond that becomes a part of the work. Writer Eleanor Heartney (Art and Today) has some interesting ideas about Relational Aesthetics, she sees it is ‘a tendency by artists that stresses interaction, interpersonal connection, and the notion of art as a gift.’- she also discusses that contemporary artists are going beyond this idea that a viewer is required to complete a work, instead individuals are becoming apart of the work through their social and relational connections which, may add another dimension to the work. These ideas in relation to participatory artworks are very interesting in questioning the future of art. Art of this kind is challenging what is art? and the way it functions within our society. Are Relation Aesthetics merging life and art and changing the possibilities of an artist within the institutional and public space?

A good example of this is Vanessa Beecroft who was discussed in the article she keeps her viewer at a physical distance but involves her audience in an interesting way. Her works involve large groups of naked or near naked models that stand within the gallery space for hours with strict instructions from the artist. The models have been described as “ her tools, her materials and powerful catalysts for the activation of social relations between her art and its viewers.” (Jan Avigos-, “Let the picture do the talking”. Parkett,(1999). That is, the audience watch this work from the sidelines unable to avoid being involved in the piece. As the models “occupy the same territory that we do, but not the same space.” She is interested in this relationship created between the viewer and model and the feelings and emotions that can occur from the tension of their physical and behavioural perfection.

Vanessa Beecroft, Vb55, Berlin, 2005.

http://www.vanessabeecroft.com