Nicolas Bourriaud coined the term
"relational aesthetics" in the 1990s, using the term in the catalogue for his 1996
exhibition (Traffic) and his 1998 book specifically on the subject:
Esth©tique relationnelle.
Bourriaud's concept can best be
understood as an extension of the Modernist project to extend the definition of art. When Marcel
Duchamp exhibited a readymade porcelain urinal as the sculpture titled
Fountain in 1917, the piece was still displayed in the traditional way on a
plinth as part of an art exhibition. Bourriaud on the other hand aims to make art inseparable
from daily life; eliminating the act of "staging" art itself. For instance, Rikrit
Tiravanija, one of the best-known artists to embrace the idea of relational aesthetics, cooked
Thai food for visitors at his show at the 303 Gallery in New York. The artwork was not the food
alone but the act of cooking and eating it as well as the social interactions that took place
around it.
Tiravanija's piece took place in a gallery (albeit a kitchen
inside a gallery), but Bourriaud makes the point that relational aesthetics apply to any space:
so a meal, a conversation, a lesson, or even just a person sitting on a bench feeding the birds
could all be works of art.
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