Opportunities of Encounter: Relational Aesthetics and the 20th Century Russian Avant-Garde Legacy
Opportunities of Encounter: Relational Aesthetics and the 20th Century Russian Avant-Garde Legacy

Summary/Abstract: This paper investigates Nicolas Bourriaud’s Relational Aesthetics and analyzes why it has recently been declared (2005-12), amongst contemporary interdisciplinary arts scholars, to be the “new avant-garde form” (Elias 2012, 740). What is avant-garde about Relational Aesthetics? This paper will argue that, while Relational Aesthetics is clearly a ‘new’ theoretical concept used to explain art production after the 1990s, terming it avant-garde can be misleading. It is therefore my intention in this paper to show that while Bourriaud’s aesthetic theory is historically based upon the aesthetic discourse of the 20th century Russian avant-garde, it is establishing its uniqueness through a subversion and reinterpretation of these principles. The observation of selected works by installation and performance artist Rirkrit Tiravanija, whom Bourriaud himself declares to be a relational artist, will allow me to explain Bourriaud’s concept of Relational Aesthetics. Followed by an exploration of the origins of the avant-garde, namely the Russian avant-garde legacy, the paper will elaborate the relationship between Relational Aesthetics and the avant-garde tradition by drawing arguments as to why and how Relational Aesthetic is distancing itself from the 20th century avant-garde traditions of aesthetic thought and understanding. In its final step, this paper attempts to show similarities and differences between the Russian avant-garde ideas and Relational Aesthetics. The conclusion will offer arguments as to whether or not Relational Aesthetics actually intends to and should be recognized as a new avant-garde form.

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