Advanced Sculpture, 2014

Project 3: Interactivity
ANALYSIS

Analysis
Project 3: Interactivity

Like process and place art, interactive and participatory art can take on multiple forms yet at the basis of interactivity, there is this redefinition of the role of the audience and transition from the traditional passive role of the audience to an active role as the artist. Interactive art can take on the form of happenings—a term first coined by Alan Kaprow—in which the success of the piece is contingent upon the complete and total immersion of the viewer within the work in congruence with their comprehension within their participation with the work. Fluxus is another form of interactive and event-focused art that is philosophically charged, demanding the participation of the audience as it takes art out of museums and back into the public space to be shared by all. There is also situational art that of the work of Vito Acconci which seeks to blur th lines between the private and public space. Interactivity takes on the form of experimental sculpture which alters the viewer perception of space like that of Robert Morris and Mowry Baden. Interactivity can also manifest itself in the form of performance art and relational art which both Marina Abramovic and Rirkrit Tiravanija focus on for much of their work. For Marina Abramovic, more specifically in her work, The Art is Present, her performance art has a kind of focus situated on the relationship to the viewer yet in doing so, she seeks to build a self-transcendence and transformation. For Rirkrit Tiravanija, relational art, particularly in his piece Untitled (Free), sets the goal for his work which is to blur the lines of the viewer and the artist and make the viewer’s participation and community central to the meaning and success of the work. Yet almost like Abramovic, Tiravanija fosters community and audience participation by first constructing a communal space and then performing actions specific to that space such as cooking, eating, dining, and conversation.
           

Rirkrit Tiravanija defines interactivity in a sense of relationship. The most important relationship is that of the relationship between himself and his audience. He employs interactivity within his work by creating relational spaces such as simplified kitchens or dining situations and he brings his viewers and audiences together in these art-spaces to participate in a communal dinner involving traditional Thai cuisine as well as other South-east Asian cuisine. Tiravanija is concerned with relational aesthetic which is an art movement in which art is the catalyst for social exchange, interaction, and participation among the viewers, thus fulfilling his intentions to blur the distance between art and the viewer. The viewer becomes the artist as well in that they touch the work, they consume the work, and they perform the work, that is, they engage in conversation while dining. In his sculpture installation and performance Untitled 1992 (Free), Tiravanijia cleared out the office of the 303 Gallery in Soho, NY and transformed it into a simplified but fully functional kitchen with a fridge, hot plates, rice steamers, tables, and stools. For his audience, he then cooked Thai curry for anyone who came by all for free. In performing this act of sharing a meal and sitting down with his audience to partake in a conversation evidences again a kind of sociability of the artwork and breaks down the inaccessibility and limitations of art for the public. In simply building the construction, he enlisted the assistance of other laborers to create this space as well as the many other food-related and social spaces that he went on to construct. This collaboration, in conjunction with his other collaborative works such as his print Untitled 2008-2011 (the map of the land of feeling) I-III, embodies interactivity as being a collaborative effort of many people aside from the main artist which again, reverts back to Tiravanijia’s goal of blurring lines between the artist and audience.
           

Like Rirkrit Tiravanija, Marina Abramovic uses interactivity as way to invite her audience into her work and create a relationship between herself and her viewers. Pushing her body to its limits, Abramovic employs interactivity through her bodily performance and enlists the participation of her audience as the main driving force for her performances. She has utilized herself and her body within dangerous performances involving weaponry, bows and arrows, and self-mutilation, hypothermic states, and starvation. By placing herself in death-defying situations, her intentions are to find a kind of inner-balance with mind and body and reach self-transformation and transcendence as well as involve her audience in some way so that they may always be transformed in some way. Abramovic engages interactivity within her work because her audience is an integral part of her work and without the presence of her audience, she cannot make nor perform art so therefore her art cannot become art until viewed by the public as she says. Some of her works may involve pain and devote focus and concentration so that by the end of her performance, it is she, as well as her audience who changes. Abramovic’s long durational pieces such as her performance, The Artist is Present, demonstrate how interactivity fabricates a direct relationship between the artist and the viewer. During this performance, Abramovic spent 736 hours and 30 minutes in the MoMA, in still silence as she stared into the eyes of audience members who sat down with her. In The Artist is Present, Abramovic examines the critical issue of unspoken dialogue and relationships between people that are often times neglected but when realized, these silent and focused relationships become transforming for those who engage in them. By the end of the performance, Abramovic finds herself as a new being come to life—one who is aware of pain in others and who is fully transformed by that awareness. Abramovic fully engages interactivity in this piece as it is driven solely by audience participation and she is, as transcribed in her goals as an artist, breaking down the barriers between artist or performer and their audience members. She allows the viewers to become the artist as they fully engage themselves within the work by staring deeply into her eyes and allowing themselves to succumb to subdued emotions, inner peace, and eventually, self-discovery and transcendence.

To me, interactive works focus always on the viewer and breaks down the hierarchial barriers between the artist, their work, and the viewer. Interactivity invites the viewer into the thoughts of the artist and allows them to leave their own mark onto the work. Participation is the driving force and success of an interactive piece and with this idea in mind, I find that my own work is very relational and focuses on forming relationships between the viewers. Yet my work differs in the fact that it is also more so experimental sculpture that seeks to create a highly interactive sensory experience for the vieweiwer. Yet in essence, I believe that interactivity at its core, calls for the presence of an outside party and depends on this presence and their participation in order for the work to be considered interactive rather than just viewable.