Participatory Art: from the “Relational Aesthetics” to the Post-Participatory Art

Abstract

This article analyzes the phenomenon of “participatory art” widely used today in different contemporary art-practices around the world. In the last decade of the twentieth century, the collapse of the Soviet bloc led to the loss of the socialism as an alternative model of social development, the establishment of the hegemony of neo-liberalism, and the emergence of the “end of history” concept. Altogether these factors created a demand of a social turn in the art and led to the widespread dissemination of the “socially-engaged art”. This kind of art sought to mend these gaps in existing social connections and provoke social change. This article offers a detailed examination of two approaches to the “socially-engaged art”: the French theorist Nicolas Bourriaud’s concept of “relational aesthetics” and the American researcher Claire Bishop’s notion of “participatory art”. The final part of the article gives a critical second thought to the both of the abovementioned approaches to the “socially-engaged art” in relation to the phenomenon of art-activism, which became widely known around the world at the beginning of the twenty-first century. In conclusion, the post-participatory art is advancing as an alternative model, which better accounts for these most recent artistic practices.