Relational art

An art practice that uses social situations and interactions as its medium, treating human relations and participation as artistic material.

Relational aesthetics: Nicolas Bourriaud’s theory that art can create social relations as its subject and medium. This theory names the framework most closely associated with relational art.
Nicolas Bourriaud: A French curator and critic who developed the concept of relational aesthetics. His writing gave relational art its most influential theoretical vocabulary.
Rirkrit Tiravanija: A Thai artist known for installations and events involving cooking, eating, and social exchange. His shared meals are canonical examples of relational art organized around hospitality.
Claire Bishop: A British art historian and critic known for influential critiques of participatory and socially engaged art. Her criticism challenges the tendency to equate convivial interaction with successful art.
Socially engaged art: Art practices that work with communities or social issues through collaborative processes. Relational art helped shape a broader field focused on artistic engagement with social life.
Participation in art: Art practices that invite audiences to contribute actions, decisions, or content to a work. Participation is a common way relational works produce social encounters.
Esthétique relationnelle: Nicolas Bourriaud’s 1998 book proposing that artworks can create social relations as their material. The book established the theory commonly used to interpret relational art.
Untitled (Free): Rirkrit Tiravanija’s 1992 installation at 303 Gallery, where he cooked and served food to visitors. The work turned a gallery into a setting for eating and informal social contact.
Artificial Hells: Claire Bishop’s 2012 study of participatory art and its political and aesthetic debates. The book develops a sustained critique of how participation is evaluated.
Community art: Art made with or for a community, often through collaborative local projects. Its community-based commitments expose questions of representation and participation in relational practice.

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