Dear List,
I've just managed to get hold of a new book edited by Claire Bishop
(author of several articles disagreeing with Bourriaud's 'relational
aesthetics' on broadly political grounds, that they do not allow space
for conflict). The book is a good resource - ranging from The Death of
the Author via performance to the ubiquitous Hans Ulrich Obrist, and
including an interesting “Report on a day’s proceedings at the Bureau
for Direct Democracy // 1972.” from Joseph Beuys. However, new media
participatory systems are referred to very briefly only twice: Once in
the introduction to dismiss "... so-called ‘interactive’ art"; Once in
the last chapter by Hal Foster, to comment that "... many artists and
curators fall for the Internet rhetoric of ‘interactivity’, though the
means applied to this end are usually far more funky and face-to-face
than any chat room on the Web.” p. 193
The pattern emerging from several books from a background in visual
arts is that definitions of the differences between interaction,
participation and collaboration are largely missing, that histories of
open systems and open source are not referred to, and that above all,
examples of new media art are simply not present: when authors compare
non-media art participation to new media, they don't compare it to any
participatory new media art, they compare it to unspecified non-art
forms, such as 'chat-rooms' or Bourriaud's dismissal of "Nokia-art".
Some other books have been slightly better at including a full range of
contemporary art, for example the inclusion of Cuauhtemoc Medina's
short chapter on “Mejor Vida Corp." in Doherty's 2004 book, or Grant
Kester's 2004 Conversation pieces.
So, my question to the List is that surely, somewhere, there must be an
example where the brouhaha about 'relational art' addresses useful
critical art overviews to the full range of contemporary art?
Yours
Beryl
REFs:
Bishop, Claire (ed.) (2006) Participation (Documents of Contemporary
Art). Cambridge/London: MIT Press/Whitechapel.
Doherty, Claire (ed.) (2004) From Studio to Situation. London: Black
Dog.
Kester, Grant (2004) Conversation Pieces. Berkeley: University of
California Press.
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Beryl Graham, Professor of New Media Art
School of Arts, Design, Media and Culture, University of Sunderland
Ashburne House,
Ryhope Road
Sunderland
SR2 7EE
Tel: +44 191 515 2896 [log in to unmask]
CRUMB web resource for new media art curators
http://www.crumbweb.org
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Beryl Graham, Professor of New Media Art
School of Arts, Design, Media and Culture, University of Sunderland
Ashburne House,
Ryhope Road
Sunderland
SR2 7EE
Tel: +44 191 515 2896 [log in to unmask]
CRUMB web resource for new media art curators
http://www.crumbweb.org
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