Compound aesthetics : an expanded framework for the theory of social art

Abstract

How are we to understand social art, art that developed in the late 1990s that addresses social situations and often involves public participation? The aims for social art include generating public association or sociability, improvements in material and social well-being, and awareness-raising as well as symbolic and metaphorical meanings. In addition, the outcomes of social art are influenced by the politics of authority relations between participants. The theoretical analysis of social art forms part of critical aesthetics, a component of aesthetics in art discourse that focuses on interpretations of the political efficacy of art in society. This thesis analyses the three formative theories of social art, Nicolas Bourriaud's key text Relational Aesthetics (1998, English trans. 2002), and Claire Bishop's 'relational antagonism' and Grant Kester's 'dialogic aesthetics', concepts that interpret social art as either politics or aesthetics. Analysing the applicability of these theories in regard to significant cases of social art in public space, or social public art, an alternative and open model for analysis is proposed - "compound aesthetics". Compound aesthetics is a framework able to encompass the polyvocal nature of social art and encourages the understanding of social art as a complex entity rather than singular concept. Analysis of three key case studies of social public art that took place within the period 2000 to 2009 - inSite_05, the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial and The Blue House - offers evidence that compound aesthetics can incorporate the contingent nature of social public art arising from factors including the purpose, form and context of the art. The relevance of a framework of compound aesthetics able to embrace multiple meanings is also supported by co-existing interpretations or analyses of social public art that employ concepts from key theorists of the 20th century, in addition to aspects of the formative theories of social art. The case studies demonstrate the importance of context and the value of interpretation of social public art through theories such as hospitality and in terms of interdisciplinary intersections. An ethnographic or reflexive imagination and cosmopolitan sensibility toward others is evidenced on the part of artists, and critical and non-cognitive experiences are proposed for audiences. Consideration of a framework of compound aesthetics for social public art suggests the significance for further research into audience experience and the common ground shared with other disciplines. Specifically, the theory and practice of participatory programming by public art museums demonstrates the relevance of the concept of compound aesthetics to the operation of public art institutions. Thus, further research into aspects of critical aesthetics can contribute to the fields of art, art theory and museology, and holds relevance for disciplines such as ethnography. Overall, research in this thesis indicates that compound aesthetics is a productive theoretical framework for interpreting the complex nature of social public art that contributes to the theorisation of social art in critical aesthetics.