Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship - autonomous ...

artificial hells
The Blackie, ‘Towards a Common Language’, 1973
durational character would also offer a window for social interaction.
Even if the specifi c contents of A Stitch in Time amount to a laborious
form of graffi ti, the totality has a surprisingly consistent, dense and
layered appearance, and a not unimpressive sculptural presence.
‘Towards a Common Language’, by contrast, presents blank canvases
in the museum for the public to fi ll in, but these do not remain on display
in the museum to trouble its hierarchies; despite encouraging popular
participation, the use of canvases remains conservatively tied to traditional
art and single authorship, as does the attachment to a museum as
venue. It is therefore not just the presence of a steering authorship (in
this case, Medalla) that is decisive for the difference between contemporary
and community art, but the entire conceptualisation of his event in
terms of authorship, materials (the non- canonical medium of embroidery
or plastic tubing), location (a city square) and fi nal result (an
installation or performance).
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