Activism vs. antagonism: socially engaged art f rom Bourriaud to Bishop and beyond

Abstract

The author analyzes art historian Claire Bishop’s critique to the concept of relational aesthetics, initially established by curator Nicolas Bourriaud, in his attempt to debate collective, collaborative and/or participatory practices which became increasingly important in the 1990s. Bishop proposes an alternative theory: relational antagonism. The author’s critique demonstrates the complex and problematic passage of Chantal Mouffe’s concept of antagonism from the political to the aesthetic, according to Bishop’s use, and the prevailing aspect of conscienceraising through aesthetics in detriment of the ethical in Bishop’s approach. The author also includes Mouffe’s own perspective of the aesthetic and political issues discussed, and her separation between the concepts of agonism and antagonism. Thus, Bishop’s influential “Antagonism and relational aesthetics” is discussed in the complex interaction between “sociality, politics, ethics, and aesthetics”, bringing important questionings and positions, especially in terms of the place of ethics in contemporary criticism.