A new translation, with a new foreword, of Nicolas Bourriaud's
landmark 1998 work of art theory.
First published in 1998, Nicolas Bourriaud's Relational Aesthetics
laid out a thesis for art's turn toward participation, experience, and
the whole of human relations. Now, over twenty years after its original
release, this landmark work has been updated with a new translation by
Denyse Beaulieu and a new foreword by the author.
Where does our current obsession for interactivity stem from? After the
consumer society and the communication era, does art still contribute to
the emergence of a rational society? Nicolas Bourriaud attempts to renew
our approach to contemporary art by getting as close as possible to the
artists' works, and by revealing the principles that structure their
thoughts: an aesthetic of the interhuman, of the encounter, of
proximity, of resisting social formatting.
The aim of Relational Aesthetics is to produce the tools that enable
us to understand the evolution of today's art. We meet Felix
Gonzalez-Torres, Louis Althusser, Rirkrit Tiravanija, and Félix
Guattari, along with most of today's practicing creative personalities.
