Participants, Punters or Perverts? An (Expanded) Relational Understanding of Simon Waters’ Performance Ecosystem

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper examines an overlap between Simon Waters’ theory of the ‘performance ecosystem’ and Nicolas Bourriaud's ‘relational aesthetics’. Grounded on Tom Davis's prior synthesis of the two ideas, I examine the resourcefulness of relational aesthetics—a theory of contemporary art practice—when applied to the types of music that are routinely identified with Waters’ model (and vice versa). I extend Davis’s take by introducing two noteworthy critiques of relational aesthetics: Claire Bishop’s ‘Relational Aesthetics and Antagonism’, and Georgina Born’s work on social aesthetics and improvisation. To put these ideas into context, I examine two pieces that can be reasonably described as both ‘relational artworks’ and ‘performance ecosystems’: Martin Parker's ‘Sonikebana’ and Benny Nemer's ‘I Don't Know Where Paradise Is’. I conclude by unpicking a key assertion made in Davis’s synthesis, that a relational understanding of Waters' theory can help encourage artworks to manipulate the social worlds around them (presumably for the better). While I fundamentally agree with this notion from a rhetorical perspective, without an expanded level of critique, it can be difficult to see where this change takes place and who it materially benefits.