Doherty, C
(2009). SITUATION. London :
Whitechapel. ISBN 978-0-85488-173-4.
This
anthology, edited by director of 'Situations', Claire Doherty, has supplied me
with critical writings surrounding site-specific practice. It has helped
me to understand how essential the relationship can be between the work and the
site itself. After learning about
projects situated in places such as boat sheds and cemeteries, to building
sites and music festivals, 'Situation' has opened my eyes to the challenging
and inspiring opportunities which public art presents. It has also highlighted
how the experience of public art can, indeed, have a very powerful impact on
the viewer, and the idea that my work might achieve this is extremely exciting.
'Situation' has not only further encouraged me to take my current work out into
the public realm, but it has also made me realise that, it is not just the
ambitious and endless possibilities of public art which appeals to me. It is
also the potential for involvement and participation of the viewer, and this is
another aspect I am keen to research and explore further.
Unknown
(n/d). Daniel Rozin Interactive Art. Available:
www.smoothware.com/danny/index.html. Last accessed 18th February 2010.
This website
documents the work of interactive, digital artist, Daniel Rozin. It is not the
digital, interactive aspect of his work which drew me in, but rather his
involvement of the viewer, where they often become part of the content. I am
inspired and intrigued by the importance he places on the viewers’ experience
and this has reaffirmed my desire to incorporate engagement of the viewer,
within my practice.
Sona Snibbe,
S (2010). Artist Statement. Available: www.snibbe.com/bio/. Last accessed
21 February 2013.
Media
artist, film-maker and entrepreneur, Scott Sona Snibbe makes real-time,
interactive art pieces which, often, rely on involvement of the viewer for
their success. After looking at his work on this website, I find some of his
project outcomes a little too contrived and predictable. However, I am
fascinated by how he displays some of his installations among the public and
one piece in particular caught my attention. This was his large-scale, video
installation entitled, 'Transit' (2010), which he installed at Los Angeles International Airport .
This installation has encouraged me to find a suitable context when exhibiting
my own work. Furthermore, in Snibbe's artist statement on this website, he
writes, ‘In social settings, the public works provoke communication among
the viewers that… becomes its very essence'. (2010). This is an important
concept for me to consider, as the idea of art stimulating interaction is
becoming important to my project at present, which is all about bringing people
together as a community. This has also made me question, the best way for me to
combine engagement of the viewer, with taking my work out into the public
realm?
Chayka, K
(2011). WTF is… Relational Aesthetics? Available: www.hyperallergic.com/18426/wtf-is-relational-aesthetics/.
Last accessed 27 February 2013.
I discovered
this website which gave me a brief insight into relational aesthetics, a
term I knew very little about. On this site, art critic, Kyle Chayka attempts
to explain the ambition behind relational art practitioners, which he
says is, to create a social experience that, in turn, becomes the art. (2011).
I find this idea extremely exciting, as the resulting outcomes of relational art
could be really surprising and unpredictable. This is an area I intend to
explore further, as I feel it presents me with the prospect of an entirely new
approach to my practice.
Bourriaud, N (2002). Relational Aesthetics. Translated
from French by Pleasance, S, et al,France : Les presses du réel. ISBN
2-84066-060-1.
This book by
French curator, critic and writer, Nicolas Bourriaud has given me a theoretical
understanding of Relational Aesthetics. Bourriaud offers an insight into the
thought processes of contemporary artists, such as Rirkrit Tiravanija and Felix
Gonzalez-Torres, who regard human relations, in their social context, to be
art. Throughout this book, Bourriaud seeks to expand the reader's understanding
of contemporary art and its engagement with relational art practice. He defines
relational art as, ‘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’. (2002,
pg 113). After learning more about how relational practitioners translate their
ideas and concepts, I am now experiencing a personal conflict. I feel I need to
gain a broader understanding, before I determine whether I am happy to
compromise the visual quality of my work, in favour of relational aesthetics.
Stokes, R (2012). Rirkrit Tiravanija: Cooking Up an Art
Experience. Inside/Out [video].
Available: www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2012/02/03/rirkrit-tiravanija-cooking-up-an-art-experience.
Last accessed 27 February 2013.
This website
features a short video about Rirkrit Tiravanija's installation, 'Untitled
(Free)', 1992, where he serves rice and curry in a converted gallery. During this video, Rirkrit 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.’ (2012). Likewise, if what curator Laura Hoptman says
in this video about the viewer is also true, that, ‘You are the art and you
are making the art’ (2012), this would suggest that the viewer is both the
medium and the artist. Therefore, as I am currently exploring relational art
within my practice, where does that leave me? Will I merely be the facilitator?
Furthermore, after watching this video, I am also curious about Rirkrit's
decision to hold the event in a gallery setting. Although the gallery was
converted into a lounge area, I feel it would have attracted mainly gallery
goers and this is something I want to avoid with my current project. I am
convinced the participants of an event held outside of a gallery setting would
be more diverse and, therefore, the outcome would be more unpredictable and
exciting. Analysing this has clarified my decision to execute my project amongst
the general public.
Helguera, P
(2011). Education for Socially Engaged Art. New York : Jorge Pinto Books. ISBN
978-1-934978-59-7.
I have
recently started reading this book by visual and performance artist, Pablo
Helguera, in the hope that it will help to answer some of my questions and
issues surrounding socially engaged art, another new term I have
discovered. This book has already provided me with practitioners of social practice,
who I would like to explore further, such as Claire Bishop, Grant Kester, Miwon
Kwon, Tom Finkelpearl and Shannon Jackson.
It also explores the area of 'Documentation' and the important
role it can play in socially engaged practice. Helguera states in this book,
' It is hard to claim to be an author of any kind if there is no tangible
product to claim as one's own.' (2011,
pg 73). This notion is something which has been concerning me throughout my
current practice because, if the interaction between people is going to be my
art, then surely evidence or some kind of reinforcement is needed? This also
makes me question whether the documentation, such as a photograph or a video,
would then become a piece of art in its own right?
Kwon, M
(2002). One place after another: site-specific art and locational identity.
Cambridge : The
MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-11265-5.
The
introduction to this book by curator, writer and photographer, Miwon Kwon,
gives a brief indication of Kwon's ambition, which is to analyse and discuss
the various conceptions of Site-Specific Art. As the relationship between my own art and the
site is important within my own practice, I feel that it is essential for me to
read this book further to increase my understanding of the history, theory and
debates surrounding site-specific art. I hope that it will also provide me with
further considerations and inspiration when thinking about where to site my own
work.
Bishop, C
(2006). PARTICIPATION. London :
Whitechapel. ISBN 978-0-85488-147-5.
I have
recently acquired this book, ‘Participation’ by curator, writer and educator,
Claire Bishop. This anthology consists of three sections, the first of which
offers an insight into the theory behind the participation of the viewer. The
second section is made up of informative texts from artists relating to key
works of art and the use of documentation. The third and final part is made up
of critical debates and analysis surrounding participatory practice. I
am hoping that after reading 'Participation', it will give me a deeper understanding
of participatory art , in particular with regards to the area of documentation.
The Exposure Project. (2009). Relational Art: Is It An
Ism? [video] 2004
Available:
www.theexposureproject.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/relational-art-is-it-ism.html.
Last accessed 15 May 2013.
I discovered
this website featuring a BBC documentary by Director, Ben Lewis who discusses
relational aesthetics and whether or not it could be regarded as a new 'ism',
alongside others such as cubism, surrealism and minimalism. In
his search for the answer, he interviews Nicolas Bourriaud and artists such as
Rirkrit Tiravanija and Anna Best, who are all associated with the term
relational aesthetics. Anna Best makes
an interesting comparison, during the documentary, between time based art and
'ice cream'. She says ' .. it's got this kind of life to it, where it
melts and it's not there any more..I'm really interested in art which isn't an
object and isn't there all the time and so it is time based..so, that's like
ice cream.' (2009). This is a concept I have been battling with throughout
my exploration of relational aesthetics, as it feels alien for me not to create
a lasting, visual piece of art. Also, during my current project, I have been
concerned that people would question whether what I was producing was, in fact
art and at times, even I questioned which part of my work was the art, if any
at all?
Bishop, C. Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics. October.
110 (2004) Available: www.marginalutility.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Claire-Bishop_Antagonism-and-Relational-Aesthetics.pdf
I have read this essay by curator, writer and educator,
Claire Bishop. Although within this text she refers to Bourriaud’s book , Relational Aesthetics, as, ‘an important first step in identifying tendencies
in the art of the 1990’s’ (pg 53), she also critically scrutinises his theories
and describes relational art as both
‘scripted and staged’. (pg 52) This essay has provided me with an
interesting, contrasting view on relational aesthetics.
Throughout my research, I felt bombarded with new
terminology and vocabulary, such as relational aesthetics, socially-engaged
art, public art and dialogical art. Therefore, I felt the need to locate a
source as a means of gaining a clearer understanding. This website has proved
extremely useful as a point of reference.
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