[-empyre-] Returning to Relational Aesthetics, Queerly

[Simon Biggs]

Johannes 

Being an ex-surfer I am always pleased to see references to the activity,
especially in strange contexts.

Being a visual artist (I think, perhaps I am ex at that too? ­ however,
unlike you, I am not mainly working in the world of theatre and performance)
I was well aware of the Altermodern show when it was happening. As you would
expect, it gained a lot of coverage in the visual arts press. Generally it
received luke warm to poor reviews. Nevertheless, it was a major event at a
prestigious venue and was influential, especially on younger artists and
students.

Reading the quote you use below I am struck by how altermodern work is
defined. There seems no core definition (eg: Modernism sought the utopian
improvement of humanity, post-Modernism believed we had, and would always,
fail; dystopian) but rather a clutch of issues, all of which are relatively
current but none of which are particular. Art that deals with globalisation,
transculturalism, commercialisation, standardisation, interdisciplinarity,
virtuality, difference and sustainability sounds both very familiar and
rather unfocused. These issues have occupied numerous artists since the
1960¹s, although few are energetic enough to deal with them all at the same
time (perhaps Paik had that sort of manic energy ­ but his work was often
all over the place as well).

If there is a product in there it is difficult to differentiate it. I doubt
that we will be talking about the altermodern in a few years from now (I
hope that by writing that I do not invoke the opposite).

Regards

Simon


Simon Biggs
Research Professor
edinburgh college of art
s.biggs at eca.ac.uk
www.eca.ac.uk
www.eca.ac.uk/circle/

simon at littlepig.org.uk
www.littlepig.org.uk
AIM/Skype: simonbiggsuk



From: Johannes Birringer <Johannes.Birringer at brunel.ac.uk>
Reply-To: soft_skinned_space <empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
Date: Sun, 5 Jul 2009 20:27:07 +0100
To: soft_skinned_space <empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
Conversation: [-empyre-] Returning to Relational Aesthetics, Queerly
Subject: RE: [-empyre-] Returning to Relational Aesthetics, Queerly



Hi all: 

very good point, Simon, and you just stopped short of saying that
"relational aesthetics"  is parasitic.
i was quite surprised that "relational aesthetics" gained any currency at
all, actually, coming so late
and having little to say about performance and performance art and
installations that took place
outside of documenta and some galleries, and now it appears Bourriaud is
also curating.. i remember
a few months back that students had been to the Tate and then returned to
the studio with puzzled
expressions,.,... 

i tried to find out more about the curating, and discovered the following
"product description":

Altermodern: Tate Triennial 2009
>> 
Few books introduce a word into the language; this is an example of one that
does. The term 'Altermodern' is an entirely new one, coined by leading
critical theorist and curator Nicolas Bourriaud as the title for Tate's
fourth Triennial exhibition opening at Tate Britain in February 2009. It
describes art made in today's global context which is a reaction against
cultural standardisation and commercialisation. This art is characterised by
artists' cross-border, cross-cultural negotiations; a new real and virtual
mobility; the surfing of different disciplines; the use of fiction as an
expression of autonomy; concern with sustainable development and the
celebration of difference and singularity...... the book will focus on each
of the four main facets of the Altermodern. It defines these as the end of
postmodernism; cultural hybridisation; travelling as a new way to produce
forms; and the expanding formats of art.

>> 


I like the bit about surfing.


I'm still reading Marc's long texts, so am behind.

regards 
Johannes Birringer 

http://interaktionslabor.de



-----Original Message-----
From: empyre-bounces at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au on behalf of Simon Biggs
Sent: Sun 7/5/2009 10:30 AM
To: soft_skinned_space
Subject: Re: [-empyre-] Returning to Relational Aesthetics, Queerly
 
That was a refreshing post.

Relational Aesthetics took off in quite a big way in the visual arts over
the last decade. Strangely, it has had little impact outside this domain.
Discussing elements of Bourriaud1s work, whether with anthropologists or
literary scholars, I am struck by how little travelled his ideas are.
However, what also becomes apparent is how the ideas he proposes are clearly
evident within other prior theoretical frameworks.

A key concept that could be mentioned here is Ointertextuality1, drawing on
Derrida1s deconstructive methodologies, Kristeva1s work on interculturality
and, before both of them, Bakhtin1s work on pre-texts and etymological
context. All of these approaches situate how meaning is constructed as a
social process, where the relations between things establish their value.
Initial critical practices that engaged this theory in more than a cosmetic
manner included reader-reception theory, which has been a well established
framework in literary theory since the 19701s. Latour has also drawn
explicitly on this line of thought when he developed, with John Law,
actor-network-theory, seeking to articulate expanded forms of agency that
reflect how things happen in a highly mediated world.

Bourriaud1s book seems, in this context, a rather late comer to the
demolition of modern tropes and narrowly constrained to a very specific
readership. 

Regards 

Simon 


Simon Biggs 
Research Professor 
edinburgh college of art
s.biggs at eca.ac.uk 
www.eca.ac.uk 
www.eca.ac.uk/circle/

simon at littlepig.org.uk
www.littlepig.org.uk
AIM/Skype: simonbiggsuk






Edinburgh College of Art (eca) is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC009201


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