This book was intriguing but extremely dense to read. I feel like I only soaked up about 1/2 of what is there. It would required intensive study to fully grasp, but if I understand him at all then I think I like what he's saying.
Art is moving from a personal, private, independent expression into a "realm of human interactions and its social context" (p. 15) He brings these ideas under the umbrella of "art" by enforcing ideas about the materialism and form of encounters. He writes his definitions large enough to encompass a broad range of occurrences, at one point saying that all artworks are relational objects.
The kind of things he wants to move under this definition include conviviality and social encounters, things that produce sociability, inter-human relations, free association, and networking. He is tentative about using art for political reasons and gives a mild warning about the future of art. (p. 78)
For exhibitions of this kind a work, gallery spaces are adapted as places that bring people together for a variety of reasons, sometimes just for dinner, as in the work of Rirkrit Tiravanija. (p 38-39)
In the second half of the book he starts to delve into his concept of subjectivity. This is where I start to get lost.
I think this book is worth a second reading, but not until I get more time, possibly on break.
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