Relational art

Relational art is a way of making and thinking about art that became popular in the 1990s. It focuses on human relationships and social contexts instead of just on the artwork itself. In 1998, a French art critic named Nicolas Bourriaud described this idea as "relational aesthetics." He said that relational art looks at all of human relations and their social settings, not just private, individual spaces.

In relational art, the artist often acts more like a "catalyst" rather than the main creator. This means the artist helps start or encourage interactions and relationships, rather than being the sole focus. This approach moves art beyond just personal expression and brings it into a larger social world. However, it still stays within human experiences and values, which makes it different from another art movement from the late 1980s called Brooklyn Immersionism. Brooklyn Immersionism was more about connecting with nature and urban environments in a way that thought about life beyond humans, called posthumanist ideas.

Both relational art and Brooklyn Immersionism share some traits with social practice art. All of these art forms grew from process art in the 1970s and ideas from Native American philosophies about life being deeply connected, like a web. Relational art helps us see how art can be part of and reflect our everyday relationships and communities.

Etymology

Main article: Traffic (art exhibition)

The idea of relational art started in the 1990s. In 1998, Nicolas Bourriaud wrote a book called Relational Aesthetics where he talked about this new way of thinking about art. He first used the term in 1996 for an exhibition named Traffic. This show included artists like Henry Bond, Vanessa Beecroft, Maurizio Cattelan, and Rirkrit Tiravanija, among others. The exhibition’s name came from a film by Jacques Tati called Trafic, where a car designer gets ready for a big auto show.

Bourriaud wanted to look at art in a new way, not just as objects but as ways for people to connect and work together. He talked about how art could create places where people share experiences and build meaning together, instead of just looking at a painting or sculpture alone. This idea helped change how many people think about what art can be.

Critical reception

Writer and director Ben Lewis has described relational art as a new kind of art movement, similar to earlier styles like impressionism, expressionism, and cubism. It appeared around the same time as another art style called Brooklyn Immersionism.

In an essay, Claire Bishop talked about how some art from the 1990s worked like a "laboratory." She noted that this kind of art often puts more focus on the person organizing the art show, called the curator, rather than just the art itself. Bishop also questioned what kinds of relationships this art creates and for whom.

Artist and critic Joe Scanlan suggested that relational art might actually be more about peer pressure than about working together equally.

Exhibitions

In 2002, an exhibition at the San Francisco Art Institute explored interactive art from the 1990s, featuring artists like Angela Bulloch, Liam Gillick, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Jens Haaning, Philippe Parreno, Gillian Wearing, and Andrea Zittel. This showed how art can involve social interactions and public spaces.

Later, in 2008, another exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum highlighted many of the same artists but did not use the term "Relational Aesthetics." The LUMA Foundation has also showcased artists linked to this style.