Relational Aesthetics - Can people become my medium?

 

 

Nicholas Bourriaud's “Relational Aesthetics” (1998)

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'A set of artistic practices which take as their theoretical and practical point of departure the whole of human relations and their social context, rather than an independent and private space.'  Bourriaud 1998 (pg. 113)

I am in the process of reading several books to help me understand how to approach creating a social situation within my practice. One of the books is 'Relational Aesthetics' by Nicolas Bourriaud. 'Relational Aesthetics' is a term I had previously never heard of. However, after researching more, I have learnt that the goal of most relational art is to create a social circumstance and the viewers experience of the constructed social environment becomes the art. Essentially, the task of the artist is to become the initiator of this social experience. The fact that the outcome of relational art is highly unpredictable, due to participating members of society, is really exciting to me. The resulting experience could be nothing more than a fleeting moment, soon forgotten, or its consequences could be life changing on an emotional level. Hence, I feel it warrants further exploration and I intend to take this further.

Another book I am beginning to look at is 'Participation' by Claire Bishop. I am curious about the role of the participant in relational art and I hope that this book will help me to define the purpose of both myself and the viewer within my art practice.
 

An example of one of the most famous practitioners of relational aesthetics is Rirkrit Tiravanija. In his piece, 'Untitled (Free)' 1992, he serves rice and curry in a converted gallery. During a video I watched , he explains this experience as, 'you actually are not really looking at something, but you are within it, you are part of it. The distance between the artist and the art and the audience gets a bit blurred.',Like my current work, his art is predominantly about bringing people together and his exhibitions are often based on interaction among the participants. Because of this, I find Tiravanija's concept both appropriate and inspiring for my ideas at present. However, unlike Tiravanija who presents his work in a gallery setting, I feel my current project would benefit from being taken out to the public and viewed by a broader audience; not just gallery-goers. I am convinced the participants of an event outside of a gallery would be more diverse and, therefore, the outcome would be more unpredictable and surprising. This has clarified my decision to execute my work amongst the public.  
 

 

 Rikrit Tiravanija's Thai food at 303 Gallery in 1992
 

Click here for a video about Rikrit Tiravanija 

 

Throw my own street party?

I have been experimenting with printing onto fabric and used clothing and am really inspired by the outcomes. Used clothing has a personality all of its own with imperfections and character, just like the people printed onto it. Whilst printing onto sections of clothing, it put me in mind of bunting which then, got me thinking about street parties and how they bring people together. I am considering whether throwing my own party could be the perfect step for my current, participatory work.

 

From this, I decided to research into the history of street parties and collecting images from the War years for events such as, the Children's Peace Celebrations in 1945 and World War Two VE Day in 1945. I also compared them with photographs of modern street parties. After previously speaking to my Nan about how she feels community spirit has died over the years, I feel my work is becoming even more focussed on bringing people together and to act as a reminder of community spirit.

Love thy neighbour no more: Disappearance of community spirit as 70% admit they don't know who lives next door

Only 6% say community spirit is strong in their area

51% wouldn't ask neighbour for help

Main reason given for decline is lack of time to meet those in the community

The history of Street Parties

 

Children's Peace Celebrations in 1945: the street party in Lopen Road, Edmonton (now Enfield).

 

 World War Two VE Day street party, Argyle Road, Edmonton, 1945

 

World War Two VE Day peace party for the roads around Hazel Close, Edmonton, UK

 

Link to World War images

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Queen's Diamond Jubilee, 2012

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Participatory Practice.

What is Participatory Art?

 

 

As I previously mentioned, I feel that in order for my studio practice to progress, I should take  a more participatory approach. Therefore, I have handed out labels to individuals and asked them to write something about themselves. By approaching people in this way, I am already taking a step towards getting people involved in my work and, because of this, it makes me consider that maybe the conversation between human beings could, perhaps, become my medium.

 

 I have also been thinking about the labels and how they, in fact, 'objectify' something or, in this case, someone. Which is ironic because one of the things I have mentioned before is how you can 'label' someone, before actually taking the time to find out about them. Because of this, I am not sure that labels are the right way forward. My work is all about inviting people in and showing them that I am embracing a part of them, not 'labelling' them. This is something I need to re-consider and continue experimenting with.

 

I am realising that with participatory practice, it requires a lot of contemplation with regards to the most appropriate form to get my message across. I am also feeling a little disheartened as I feel I have very little to show for the amount of thought and time I am putting into it. However, I am really enjoying trying a new, contemporary approach to my work. I am hoping to take my interest in relations between human beings, combine it with my participatory work and create an aesthetically stimulating piece of art.

 

Experimenting with transfer techniques.

I have experimented with reverse transfer on some of the photographs I have previously taken. I am really excited about the results and think that the effect works really well because the people appear faded and lack identity. We walk past people on a day-to-day basis and do not really notice them, but treat them as 'obstacles' in our busy lives and I feel these transfers reflect this.

I plan to continue trying various transfer techniques to see how I could develop this idea further. I have also bought a disposable camera today to try a different means of taking the photographs and then, perhaps, see the effects I can create using the negatives.

People watching

I was people watching today in Falmouth town and it turned out to be a really interesting bit of research. I noted how few people actually acknowledged one another so I decided to start filming them. Looking back at some of the footage, I was really surprised to see how rarely people interacted. They seemed to treat each another as obstacles, not people. Most seemed far too busy, some wore earphones and others had their heads in their mobile phones. Is busy, modern life having a negative affect on human interaction?

How can I approach my studio practice in order to rejuvenate social interaction?
I want to invite the viewer in and encourage them to become more involved as a community, rather than individuals. I feel that participatory practice would be an exciting new approach to my work and I hope that I can combine this with my interest in human relations to create a successful piece of work.

Click here for a BBC discussion forum: 'Is modern life making us lonely?'

 

Click here to view the video of people

 

 

The train journey

During a train ride, an elderly lady sat next to me. I felt really uncomfortable at first as I could sense that she was looking to start a conversation with me. Eventually, she began asking me lots of questions about myself, my course and about my future and I felt as though I was being interviewed. However, after a while it actually felt quite nice that someone was interested in me and I was not just another body on a train.

Reflecting on this experience, I  realised that I never asked her anything about herself and think this was because it was unfamiliar for a stranger to take the time to talk to me. I am used to walking through the street with my head down, travelling with my headphones on and/or my head in my mobile phone. Another thing I did notice was how I went away with an impression of this lady based merely on the way she looked, dressed and sounded but, how could I possibly judge this lady when I asked her nothing about herself?

It really emphasised what I had alreadly been considering.  In society today, people do not make the time to get to know the individuals around them. I would love for my artwork to provide the viewer with a similiar experience to me on that train journey; that someone was interested and took the time to find out something about me.

A change of direction...

I have recently taken some photographs of my Dad's surprise 50th birthday party and since, I have had some interesting thoughts surrounding some of the pictures. Despite the fact I was initially looking at the photographs considering my Dad's personality and his reaction to the surprise, it was a picture of my Dad and all his brothers stood side by side which caught my interest. I was intrigued at how different all the brothers were, despite being brought up in the same environment with the same parents. I was also interested because it got me considering how I only really know my Uncles as Uncles, same with my Dad, not so much as people with personalities and journeys. In fact, I only know them from a certain time in their lives, I know very little about them from before I was born.

 

This really got me thinking more in depth on a broader scale about how there are so many people in the world around us, on an everyday basis who we know very little about. People who pass us in the street, some who we may see everyday, yet we know nothing about them, their story, their personality, their journey and we never really have the time to stop and find out. This concept became clearer during one of my shifts where I work in a shop every Saturday. I began thinking about customers who come in, at the same time, every Saturday and buy the same thing and I realised that...that was all I knew about them. I also picked up on the amount of people I served rushing around, wearing headphones and /or on a mobile phone, they had no interest or time to talk to me or anyone around them. Another thing I noticed was the amount of people who came through the shop, walked straight passed each other without any sort of acknowledgement. Everyone just seemed far too busy to stop and talk to one another.

This idea that our world is full of such a variety of people with different experiences, personalities and stories, but people rarely stop and talk to one another is really interesting. This is a route which I would really like to take my work down. I would like to create a piece of work which is an attempt at making a step forward to getting people more involved in one another. I think that my work should invite people in, in some way, letting them know I am interested in them and their lives. Ultimately, I want my work to reach out to people and I feel an interactive work of art would be the perfect approach.

The image of my Dad and his Brothers which sparked the new direction for my work.

Interactive Art.

I have looked into several interactive artists who share a similar interest in involving the viewer. As a result, I have come across the work of Scott Sona Snibbe who is a media artist, film maker and entrepreneur. He makes real-time interactive art pieces which rely on the involvement of the viewer for their success. After learning more about his work, I have found much of it a little too contrived and predictable at times. However, I am intrigued by how the viewers actually become participants and in so doing, they become an important part of the art. Also, much of Snibbe's motivation is to spur people to participate socially, emotionally, and physically and as I view my work as a catalyst and as a means of making some kind of emotional impact on the viewer, I find his projects extremely inspiring.

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A link to an example of Snibbe's work.

DanielRozin is another interactive artist whose involvement of the viewer has fascinated me. As with Scott Sona Snibbe's work, Rozin involves the viewer in the creation of some of his work and, as such, they become the content. However, I find the digitally interactive approach uninspiring, but the participation of the viewer is something I am looking to experiment with in my work and I am really intrigued about where this may take me.

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Claire Doherty

I have been thinking a lot about how my latest work acted as a starting point for conversation. This has led me to thinking about how other artists consider the viewer's interaction with their work, and how their approach and ideas behind this could inform my own practice. With this in mind, I have been researching the work of curator and writer, Claire Doherty. She is the director of 'Situations', which is an award-winning art commissioning organisation established in 2002. Situations  produces artworks, projects and events in the public realm as they feel that public art has the potential to create inspiring experiences. They also believe that public art can be the beginning of a conversation which may change the way people think about and interact with the world around us.

Claire Doherty has also contributed a chapter to the latest Art & Theory Publication, Imagining the Audience, Viewing Positions in artistic and Curatorial Practice. The new title is about the role of the audience in artistic and curatorial practice. Based on specific examples, recognised artists and curators present how they imagine the individual viewer's mental, physical and emotional experience of the arts event. In curational terms, 'Situations' are looking at the strategies of involving the audience in terms of dramaturgy or choreography of an exhibition, how a change of context or situation will alter the experience of the viewer, how spatial, temporary and other aspects are created within the curatorial craft of constructing the situation of the audience.

This idea of participatory practice is something which really inspires me within my own work. The thought that my art could have such a powerful effect as to change a persons perception of something or be the beginning of a discussion, is extremely exciting. Also, presenting my work in a suitable environment is something which is becoming more and more important within my practice. My latest presentation of my work, where I took it into a Secondary School, was extremely rewarding with regards to contextualising my work and getting feedback from a wider, critical audience.

 

CLAIRE DOHERTY- SITUATIONS LINK

Anxiety

After previously working on Feminism and Child Sexualisation, I wanted this project to have a more personal focus. This led me to 'Anxiety', due to my experience as a teenager. I knew I wanted my work to be powerful and it needed to be dark, but I had to decide on the form and how best to translate my ideas. I looked for inspiration from several artists, but it was the work of contemporary artist, Annette Messager, which motivated me at this stage. Her piece, 'My Wishes', (1988-1991), stood out because of its layering, scale and sombre quality. These were all elements I intended to include within this project.

I felt that the form of my final piece should take on the appearance of mutating cells, to represent a key trigger of my anxiety, the death of my Aunty, due to cancer. To achieve this, I chose to work in a patchwork style, where each patch represented a cell. I also wanted it to appear as chaotic as my mind during my anxiety and decided a single medium would not do this. Therefore, I experimented with various media before I was happy with my final combination. The individual cells are made from a variety of techniques, which include photography, reverse transfer, black ink, bleach, latex, netting and spray paint. The images of my eyes are a reminder of how I hid my emotions and thoughts, in an attempt to appear 'normal'. The flesh-like latex demonstrates how I am exposing my personal life to the viewer and the dark colour palette accurately mirrors this unhappy and difficult time. At this point, I felt it was still lacking something. However, after further artist research, I discovered an untitled piece (1995), by Kiki Smith, which featured a naked woman curled up in the foetal position. Further research into this helped me make an immediate connection, which led me to photographing myself in this position to include it as one of my patches. Also, the unfinished edge of this piece alludes to this idea of having the potential to increase and spiral out of control.

 Consequently, by sharing my own personal experience with the viewer, I am communicating with other anxiety sufferers and inviting them to confront their own issues.

 

Female Stereotypes

 

This work encompasses my attitude towards the stereotypes and pressures society places on women today. Within this project, I used unconventional materials and processes to transform my ideas and social commentary into striking, glamorous and well constructed garments. The silhouettes and overall shapes of each garment have been carefully considered in order to embody my concept and accentuate the idea that women are expected to do unglamorous jobs such as housework, yet continue to look flawless and elegant. Also, behind the superficial finery of the gowns, there is a deliberate deception. Despite the fact they appear delicate and alluring, when worn they are, in fact, heavy, uncomfortable and almost a chore to wear, again, mirroring the emotions and feelings females may experience trying to fulfil all of societies' expectations.

In addition to the materials I use, the way in which I create my work is also crucial to the overall concept and perception of each, individual piece. An example of this is the way in which the garments have been made with painstaking perfectionism. I hand stitched thousands of latex gloves and individually attached over four thousand safety pins onto the garments and this process  was extremely mundane, repetitive and, at times, painful. By choosing this method, I wanted to physically experience and embody the monotonous routine which females, like myself, often face whilst completing daily, stereotypical and conventional chores.

 

 

Child Sexualisation

Within this project, my goal was to tackle the topical and disturbing subject of child sexulisation.  I had been noticing an increase of concerns and debates surrounding this area and it was troubling me that there seemed to be little indication of changes being made any time soon. After a journey through researching and experimentation, I came to a conclusion for my final exhibition piece.  I wanted my final outcome to be a summary of all my research and clearly raise awareness of the debate regarding child sexualisation and raise the question of whether children are, in fact, seeing, 'too much, too young' Cameron, D. (12/03/2010).

 

 

 

 

 



About me.

I think of my art as a catalyst which sparks thought and consideration. I use mixed media to explore sensitive topics such as Child Sexualisation, Feminism and my latest project, Anxiety. Ultimately, my work confronts the viewer with issues which, I feel, are often avoided by society.

 

Generally, I use an unconventional and contemporary combination of media to transform these topics into exciting pieces of art. My chosen materials have included textiles, found objects, photography, latex, Plaster of Paris, reverse transfer and spray paint. Essentially, the subject often dictates which materials I use and the form of my work. Thereby, during my Feminism project, I constructed a dress made from thousands of latex gloves to represent the stereotypical, domestic chores expected of women. Obviously, as a mixed media artist, I am always looking for new techniques and approaches, and one of my main sources of inspiration comes from researching the work of other artists. For example, I have been strongly influenced by Annette Messager, Kiki Smith, Susi Macmurray, Tracey Emin and Rose Gerrard. Although they all have a very different approach to their art, it is fundamentally their unusual and contemporary choice of materials which interests me greatly.