Abstract
Nicholas Bourriaud's (2002) relational aesthetics interprets art as social or political in nature, underemphasising aesthetic concerns such as the creation of objects as artworks. This article aims to problematise the relational model from a material point of view, based on a new aesthetics which Jacques Rancière discusses as a mode of art-making which he titles inventory. In order to do so, the article addresses a spectator-orientated artwork entitled Secret/Wish, conceived along with artist Paul Cooper, and installed at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa in 2011. In previous publications on the work I questioned its significance as relational and site-specific according to Bourriaud and Miwon Kwon's theories. I would like to further interrogate their ideas here by investigating Secret/Wish as rooted in the production of authored objects, despite its affinity with Bourriaud and Kwon's perspectives which denounce the art object as pivotal to artistic production.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 342-356 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Critical Arts |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 4 May 2015 |
Keywords
- authorship
- inventory
- object
- relational aesthetics
- spectator
- spectator-orientated art
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cultural Studies
- Communication
- Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)