Relational Art, time - reality - fiction. A movement discovered by Nicholas Bourriaud, an art critic and philosopher in 1998. Relational art, formed when artists began showing their work online, on the street, everyday places sending their art through a system where anyone and everyone can view it. Art is no longer limited to a gallery or a 'stage', therefor the artist is seen less as a performer and more as a catalyst for making art pieces. The line is more blurred between the everyday opinion and the opinion of the art critic. The art piece has a relation with it's space, a relationship with the context and the history of where it is shown. I believe relational art ideally is all about context.
Artists involved with this movement who I personally find interesting are Angela Bulloch, Pierre Huyge and Carsten Höller.
Angela Bulloch Progression of 8 Perverted Pixels, 2008
7 DMX modules, 1 black box module. plexiglas, printed
aluminium panels, DMX cables, 1 RGB lighting system
DMX controller, size 52 x 52 x 52 to 62 x 70 x 62 cm
Works with boxes of coloured light, LEDs on canvas, like electronic paintings almost. Her interests lie in the structures and relationships and social behavior. Her art reflects the way in which we construct and interpretative information in the current age. I really love the bold colours of her work, very aesthetically pleasing and calming. Kind of a new age Rothko.
Soma - Carsten Höller
Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin
Höller's work are more like experiments that sometimes invite the viewer to participate. I like his work because he creatures such a diverse variety of stuff, from sculptures to electronic work and also work involving animals. I feel as if to get a true sense of it I would need to experience it in the flesh, but I like his style and I'm always a fan of art that gets people involved within it.
Pierre Huyghe, This is not a time for dreaming, 2004
Pierre Huyghe - Le Chateau de Turing, 2001
Pierre Huyghe, This is not a time for dreaming, 2004
Pierre Huyghe - Le Chateau de Turing, 2001And of course I must mention Pierre Huyghe. I love where he gets his sources of inspiration and his sharing mentality. Bringing ideas from one place to another. His ideas and concepts very much gel with the idea of relational art. There's almost a child-like wonder to his work and I find my ideas and work relating to his. The idea of using characters as a catalyst to explain an idea or story, his connection with animation and bringing out one's inner child and bringing back the fascination we had of the world as children and our ability to look beyond the mundane and see something beautiful within it. Really enjoy his work!
Art Forum
Last friday I also went to a very entertaining art forum where Craig Walsh was speaking. His work is very impressive. I liked his blurring the boundries work, situating blown-up aquarium in a urban space. I also really loved his Classification Pending artwork. I think his work also relates to relational art. He often places his art in urban environments, street art with meaning. He creates his own galleries. As an artist I feel as though this doesn't happen enough in the art world, not thought provoking stuff anyhow. It's very limiting thinking my art will only ever be shown in galleries. He also made some permanent public artworks.
Permanent public artwork is an interesting concept, I'd very much love to have art that directly engages the community and steps beyond the gate of the art world. Everyone can enjoy art, you don't need to be a gallery go-er to get something from a piece, take Mona for example. As a animator I find myself a bit constricted in sharing works in all manner of spaces, and while I do also dabble in other mediums I find it difficult to ever stick to them. While I suppose I enjoy the idea of people watching my stuff in the comfort of their household through the internet or perhaps even TV one day, I think it's important to get directly involved with ones own community, to learn and grow as an artist, to be able to receive feedback up close.
Art Forum
Blurring the Boundries
Last friday I also went to a very entertaining art forum where Craig Walsh was speaking. His work is very impressive. I liked his blurring the boundries work, situating blown-up aquarium in a urban space. I also really loved his Classification Pending artwork. I think his work also relates to relational art. He often places his art in urban environments, street art with meaning. He creates his own galleries. As an artist I feel as though this doesn't happen enough in the art world, not thought provoking stuff anyhow. It's very limiting thinking my art will only ever be shown in galleries. He also made some permanent public artworks.
Classification Pending from Craig Walsh on Vimeo.
Permanent public artwork is an interesting concept, I'd very much love to have art that directly engages the community and steps beyond the gate of the art world. Everyone can enjoy art, you don't need to be a gallery go-er to get something from a piece, take Mona for example. As a animator I find myself a bit constricted in sharing works in all manner of spaces, and while I do also dabble in other mediums I find it difficult to ever stick to them. While I suppose I enjoy the idea of people watching my stuff in the comfort of their household through the internet or perhaps even TV one day, I think it's important to get directly involved with ones own community, to learn and grow as an artist, to be able to receive feedback up close.
