Symposium: Reciprocal Aesthetics

7th October

With: Ron Athey, Wafaa Bilal, Maaike Bleeker, Shannon Jackson and Julie Tolentino

The active participation of the spectator in making the meaning of the work of art has been a staple of art and performance practices long before the recent charged debates on ‘relational aesthetics.’ Yet art, however solitary, is arguably always a kind of collaboration and involves itself in some form of exchange. What can be at stake in this exchange? Speakers examined the notion and limits of the idea that contemporary art and performance is a reciprocal affair. They questioned the value of what is transacted in contemporary art, asking what is given and what is taken, what is shared and what cannot be shared?

Video extracts

Wafaa Bilal

Shannon Jackson

Julie Tolentino in conversation with Ron Athey

Note: complete video documentation of all performance lecture events can be accessed through the Study Room at Live Art Development Agency and at the British Library.