Julia Svetlichnaja
Relational Paradise as a Delusional Democracy - a Critical Response to a Temporary Contemporary Relational Aesthetics
Paper prepared for the
Art and Politics
panel,BISA Conference, December 19-21, 2005,University of St. Andrews,St. Andrews, Scotland.
Julia SvetlichnajaPhD Candidate,Centre for the Study of democracyUniversity of Westminster,32-38 Wells Street,London W1T 3UW, United Kingdom.Email: svetlichnaja@gmail.com
In attempt to theorise artistic practices of the 90’s trend towards interaction and interpersonalconnection, French art critic and co-director of Palais de Tokyo in Paris Nicholas Bourriaud hasdevised the term “Relational Aesthetics”
, which soon became known as the most serious recenttheoretical attempt to define the position of art in relation to capitalist society. Bourriaud’s book,
Relational Aesthetics
was the product of the on-going debate within the artistic circle that theauthor worked with, and it concentrated mostly on the works of European and French artists inparticular. Recently, for its political implications and, specifically, for its claim that relational art hasdemocratic potentials,
Relational Aesthetics
has overcome its geographic boundaries and it cometo internationally renewed attention. Referring to the generation of artists that populated the 90s,Bourriaud claims that the most striking feature of their works is “first and foremost, the democraticconcern that informs it”.
In Bourriaud’s view, art is a form of information and communication flowsbetween audiences, and from this standpoint, the role of the artist is to facilitate and enhance thisexchange, which will lead to the emergence of the powerful networks in art. Analysed in
Relational Aesthetics
artworks were more concerned by the relations with or between the spectators, thanwith the form of the work itself. Bourriaud argued that works such as cooking a soup for theviewers, creating environments for a genial talk, or directly chatting with the audience serve asalternative modes of sociability; less standardised and more liberating. In other words, intra-audience encounters catalysed within a relational art paradigm offer, in contrast with the capitalistsystem of exchange, affective resonances and revived social connection, which directly contributeto society’s democratisation. The purpose of this paper is to present Bourriaud’s theory of Relational Aesthetics and examine its alleged democratic potentials. Does Relational Art, whichcore notions is to “inhabit the world in a better way” by producing inter-subjectivities and thushumanise capitalism, contribute to more democratic society and if yes, what kind of democracydoes it foster?
What is Relational Art?
Nicolas Bourriaud defines Relational Aesthetics as “aesthetic theory consisting of judging artworkson the basis of the inter-human relations they represent, produce or prompt”. Bourriaud insists that
1
Nicolas Bourriaud, French art critic, curator of Palais de Tokyo contemporary art centre in Paris. Bourriaud coined theterm "Relational Aesthetics", which he outlined in a next for the catalogue of the exhibition "Traffic" shown at theCAPC Bordeaux in 1996
2
Bourriaud, Nicolas,
Relational Aesthetics
, Les presses du reel, 2002: 57
Julia SvetlichnajaPhD Candidate,Centre for the Study of democracyUniversity of Westminster,32-38 Wells Street,London W1T 3UW, United Kingdom.Email: svetlichnaja@gmail.com
Relational Aesthetics is a
theory of form
rather than a
theory of art
as it does not imply thestatement of an origin and a destination. For instance, the goal of avant-garde movement was torevolutionise society by means of braking away from a conformism and tradition, interrupting thesense of continuous development in the arts by its transgressions against anything established asa given, and, of course, avant-garde has deeply concentrated on the object not as
it is
but as it is
for us
. While avant-garde artist valued private subjectivity and an original, unique and final productof it whether it is a painting or a sculpture, relational artist values the process over the final objectand common space where subjectivity is produced rather than a private one. However, what isprecisely meant by the process? Let me give you an example. New York based artist of Thai originRikrit Tiravanija
cooks Thai curries for the gallery’s visitors and leaves the leftovers and used foodpackets in the gallery when he is not there. Bourriaud explains that artistic work such as RikritTiravanija’s should not be perceived in terms of a space or objects involved but rather as durationor a process to be experienced. In other words, the performative and engaging feature of the workis far more important than either objects to be viewed in space or the space itself. In this way it isproblematic to define exactly what form relational art consist on as it is completely indebted to thecontingencies of audiences and sites. What Bourriaud percives as a ‘form’ is nothing more but a‘coherent plane’ on which heterogeneous entities meet. This ‘form’ therefore must be flexible, opento dialogue and exchange. Bourriaud argues that this ‘relative immateriality’ is a sign of a prioritygiven by artists to time in relation to space. “They [artists] display and explore the process thatleads to objects and meanings”
, writes Bourriaud. While it is ambiguous what form relational artconsist on, it is more problematic to address what possible meanings it might lead too. Answeringthis question, Bourriaud quotes Tiravanija, who, in turn, quotes Wittgenstein: “Don’t look for themeaning, look for the use.” While Wittgenstein emphasized the role of the context in defining thecontent, Bourriaud implements this standpoint rather literally. For Bourriaud the politics of useimply the elusiveness of the content itself, which, in his words, “may be inserted into differentprograms and used for multiple scenarios”.
In this way, the politics of use serve as rather anti-
3
Of Rikrit Tiravanija's art could be said that it is very typical for the type of contemporary expression that emerged inthe mid-1990ies that is sometimes referred to as "relational aesthetics", a term invented by French art critic NicolasBourriaud, or simply "social art". Tiravanija's art is indeed highly social and often dependent on the visitors input tofunction and come alive. Tiravanija, who was born in Buenos Aires in 1961 but has lived most of his life in the NewYork is of Thai origin and in his early works he often used the skills he learnt from his mother, who was a cook, to prepare Thai meals for the visitors, works which in a sense became a type of low-key interactive performancesincluding all involved to socially engage in everyday tasks. His installations often takes the form of stages or rooms for sharing meals, cooking, reading, playing music or even living and they can be seen as open-ended social experiments inwhich the artist as much as the public is testing the borders of the work.
4
Bourriaud, Nicolas,
Relational Aesthetics
, Les presses du reel, 2002: 54
5
Ibid: 19-20
Julia SvetlichnajaPhD Candidate,Centre for the Study of democracyUniversity of Westminster,32-38 Wells Street,London W1T 3UW, United Kingdom.Email: svetlichnaja@gmail.com
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