Audience Participation in Art: Neto & Bishop's Perspectives

Audience Participation in Art: Neto & Bishop's Perspectives
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Audience Participation in Art: Neto & Bishop's Perspectives
Introduction
Humans encounter several objects in their everyday lives. Among the overwhelming number of objects that they experience are a variety of works of art. Fine art, commercial art, and performance art among others are examples of works of art that compete for the attention and appreciation of viewers in various societal contexts that make up the worlds of humans. Indeed, art has been a fundamental part of human civilization for centuries. It is through art that people have communicated ideas, expressed emotions, and reflected their culture. Art has been widely used as a tool to rally people behind a certain cause that is of importance to society. Over the years, the way artists create art and how the audience consumes it has been evolving. Artists have continued to find creative ways to ensure their work connects with their audience. This paper explores audience involvement in art and examines how artists form a connection with their audience. The paper majors on the study of Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto and the critical analysis of art historian Claire Bishop to offer more insights into the topic.[Bruder, Kurt A., and Ozum Ucok. "Interactive art interpretation: How viewers make sense of paintings in conversation." Symbolic Interaction 23, no. 4 (2000): 337-358.]
About Ernesto Neto and Claire Bishop
To examine how artists can create a connection with their audience, it is important to understand two major artists; Ernesto Neto and Claire Bishop. Ernesto Neto is a Brazilian contemporary visual artist. He is a sculptor and multimedia and installation artist. Neto is known for the creation of large-scale works that engage the senses of audiences and explore the environment around them. Brazilian heritage has influenced Neto's work, where he draws heavily from Brazilian vanguard movements of the 1960s and 70s. For instance, Neto's installation of "Anthropodino" (2009) was inspired by the work of Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi and the city of Salvador, where he was born. Neto makes installations that are made from soft and pliable materials, which allows viewers to touch and intersect with them, creating a physical experience. Neto incorporates organic shapes and materials that engage the five senses of the viewers. That way, the artist manages to create a perception that renegotiates boundaries between artwork and viewer. Such an approach makes Neto's work be seen as "beyond abstract minimalism."[The Solomon R Guggenheim Foundation. 2023. Ernesto Neto. /artwork/artist/ernesto-neto.]
Claire Bishop is an art historian and critic who has researched extensively regarding contemporary art and how it related to its audience. Bioship grew up in Welsh and received a BA in art history from St. John’s College, Cambridge. In 1994, Bishop completed her MA and Ph.D. in art history and theory at Essex University. Bishop is a renowned author in the area of contemporary art having authored several books on the area. One of the popular books under Bishop is titled, “Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship” (2012). In the book, Bishop examines how artists have attempted to involve the audience in their pieces. She considers participatory art as used to address social and political issues as artists consider ways of forming a more direct and immediate connection between the audience and the artwork. Bishop challenges the traditional view of the audience as passive and advises artists to view the audience as active participants in their works.
Importance of audience involvement in art
It is important to appreciate that invoking the audience in art is critical. Artists may be misled to believe that the audience is passive and does not have a significant role in the creation and distribution of art. Indeed, since artists do in the entire process of creating art, they can easily ignore invoking their audiences, and instead opt to do whatever is in their best interests, rather than that of the audience. However, involving the audience in art is important in the contemporary world because of different reasons. Firstly, the audience makes the work of art complete. Marcel Duchamp was a pioneering artist and a leading figure in the Dada movement. Duchamp argued that both the artist and the viewer were critical in the completion of a work of art. While the creation starts with the artist who is working in isolation, it is not over until it is placed out in the world and viewed by other individuals. The audience is instrumental in giving the work of art meaning. Involving the audience ensures that the process of creation, distribution, and exhibition of a work of art is complete.[MoMA. 2023. Media and Performance Art. /learn/moma_learning/themes/media-and-performance-art/participation-and-audience-involvement/.]
Additionally, when artists involve their audience, this creates a sense of ownership in the piece. There is usually a barrier between any work of art and the intended audience. The artist puts in time and effort to create a work of art. This may disconnect the audience from the work since they lack a sense of ownership in their entire process. However, when communities are involved in the work, they develop a deeper understanding of the work. In the process, the audience engages with the piece, hence creating a sense of ownership. Such an approach breaks down the barriers that exist between the artist and the viewer, allowing the two parties to engage in a dialogue, where they can express their emotions and ideas freely.[Walmsley, Ben. "From arts marketing to audience enrichment: How digital engagement can deepen and democratize artistic exchange with audiences." Poetics 58 (2016): 66-78.]
Moreover, audience involvement is needed to ensure a work becomes more accessible to a wider audience. Artists need to ensure that their work reaches the final consumers. Without involving the audience in their art, it is challenging for consumers to engage with the art. Through engagement, artists allow a wider audience to access their works. In the process, artists allow people to explore their works, which serves to create a market for their products. As viewers explore the work, they identify with it, which ultimately influences purchasing decisions. Involvement ensures that art is not seen as something for the elitist, but rather for everyone who has an interest in it. Artists need to use engagement to promote their products to a wider audience, which then creates more markets for their art products. User participation enhances collaboration between audiences and artists. The artists give up a measure of control over their work to the viewer, which creates a two-way exchange in consuming art.[Ibid]
Techniques to Involve Audiences in Art
Artists need to create a sense of anticipation for their art. There is a positive collation between audience anticipation and captivation. Captivation comes as a result of a sense of anticipation, where once audiences are captivated, they are likely to report more satisfying experiences. Artists can create anticipation in their work through performance activities like introductory talks, which can set the scene and elicit empathy with the performers. Preconcert activities can offer an educational context to the work and create a welcoming and relaxing environment for the audience. This forms an air of informality that assists new audiences to feel at ease. Such an environment encourages them to feel free to interreact with the artwork more closely.[Brown, A. S., and J. L. Novak. "Assessing the Intrinsic Impacts of a Live Performance. WolfBrown. Bryman.(2008)." Social research methods (2007).]
Additionally, the lack of confidence is a major contributor to why audiences fail to connect with an artwork. New audiences in particular may not be familiar with the work of a certain artist. The lack of familiarity leads to a distance and the inability to connect with or even observe the movements being performed, hence hindering them from emotional engagement. It should be appreciated that a work of art has meaning and interest if someone has the cultural competence to encode it. An consists of individuals from different sociocultural backgrounds. Audiences also have new and old individuals, with the former unfamiliar with the works. The new members of the audience may have specific needs that need to be addressed for them to connect with the work. A solution to this type of alienation for new members is providing participatory activities. Effective audience participation largely depends on the design. Good design links the artists, art entities, and audiences more equitably and opens diverse ways for people to express themselves and engage with the work of art. This does not however mean that the audience needs absolute freedom to engage with the work. Instead, it should be noted that participants thrive on constraints, not where they are given opened ended opportunities to express themselves. The constraints lead to a co-creative equation by scaffolding creative experiences. A highly structured participatory process is needed to frame and limit free self-expression. In such a case, artists can structure the environment in a way that limits self-expression, while at the same time creating opportunities for participation activities, to allow new audience members to understand the work of art more, and hence identify with it.[Simon, Nina. The participatory museum. Museum 2.0, 2010.] [Ibid] [Ibid] [Walmsley, Ben. "From arts marketing to audience enrichment:] [Ibid]
The use of installations that audience members can touch enhances connection with the work. Neto is a good example of how artists can ...