Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship - autonomous ...
Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship - autonomous ...
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former west<br />
artists at this time. The Europeans embrace indeterminacy <strong>and</strong> participation<br />
in so far as it contributes to individual careers (<strong>the</strong> next project,<br />
ano<strong>the</strong>r exhibition), while <strong>the</strong> Russians viewed art as an existential act,<br />
<strong>of</strong> sabotage if need be. ‘Interpol’, toge<strong>the</strong>r with ‘No Man’s Time’, also<br />
indicate <strong>the</strong> degree to which, during <strong>the</strong> early 1990s, <strong>the</strong> exhibition itself<br />
becomes conceptualised as an open- ended, process- based, convivial<br />
‘project’ without a defi nable goal beyond collaboration as a good in<br />
itself. But however worthwhile <strong>the</strong> motivations for this performative<br />
turn – <strong>the</strong> rejection <strong>of</strong> a highly polished exhibition- showroom conceived<br />
a posteriori – <strong>the</strong> net effect for <strong>the</strong> viewer was less certain. If fortunate<br />
enough to be invited to <strong>the</strong> opening night, <strong>the</strong> audience might gain<br />
access to a glimpse <strong>of</strong> this collaborative process, but in all o<strong>the</strong>r cases <strong>the</strong><br />
exhibition would be experienced as only <strong>the</strong> fragment <strong>of</strong> a larger, ongoing<br />
interaction.<br />
III. The Projective City<br />
If my suggestion is correct, <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> ‘project’ is <strong>the</strong> indicator <strong>of</strong> a renewed<br />
social awareness <strong>of</strong> artists in <strong>the</strong> 1990s, <strong>the</strong>n this shift is yet to be fully <strong>the</strong>orised<br />
by art historians <strong>and</strong> critics. 64 The clearest articulation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ‘project’<br />
as a way <strong>of</strong> working is to be found in sociology, put forward by Christian<br />
Boltanski <strong>and</strong> Eve Chiapello in The New Spirit <strong>of</strong> Capitalism (1999). 65 They<br />
argue that <strong>the</strong> current ‘spirit <strong>of</strong> capitalism’ emerged in <strong>the</strong> 1970s <strong>and</strong> ’80s in<br />
response to two critiques that came to a head in 1968 (but which have<br />
remained constant for more than centuries): <strong>the</strong> artistic critique (a dem<strong>and</strong><br />
for more autonomy, independence <strong>and</strong> creative fulfi lment at work) <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
social critique (a dem<strong>and</strong> for more parity, transparency <strong>and</strong> equality). I will<br />
return to this distinction in <strong>the</strong> conclusion <strong>of</strong> this book; for <strong>the</strong> moment it<br />
will suffi ce to draw attention to <strong>the</strong>ir characterisation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> current phase<br />
<strong>of</strong> capitalism as <strong>the</strong> dominance <strong>of</strong> networks <strong>and</strong> projects, a ‘connexionist’<br />
world in which fl uidity <strong>and</strong> mobility are <strong>the</strong> most esteemed values. Although<br />
Boltanski <strong>and</strong> Chiapello draw <strong>the</strong>ir conclusions from a survey <strong>of</strong> management<br />
literature from <strong>the</strong> past thirty years, many points in <strong>the</strong>ir analysis<br />
sound like a description <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> globalised contemporary art world, <strong>and</strong><br />
even more specifi cally that <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> post- studio, site- responsive artist <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
roving global curator. They describe today’s working life as a succession<br />
<strong>of</strong> ‘projects’ based on successful connections with o<strong>the</strong>rs, giving rise to a<br />
universe <strong>of</strong> value that <strong>the</strong>y call ‘<strong>the</strong> projective city’: what is valued <strong>and</strong><br />
gives status in this world is <strong>the</strong> ability to be adaptable, fl exible <strong>and</strong> intellectually<br />
mobile. 66 As such, a career today consists ‘not in fi lling “vacancies”<br />
but in engaging in a multitude <strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong>ten very heterogeneous projects’:<br />
is not today’s artist, even today’s intellectual or researcher, likewise a<br />
network creature in search <strong>of</strong> producers, <strong>the</strong> realisation <strong>of</strong> whose projects<br />
215