Paper short abstract:

Paul Evans, Leverhulme Trust Artist in Residence, Cardiff University School of History and Archaeology (HISAR) will present works from his online sketchbook: www.osteography.wordpress.com; and discuss how they relate to the concept of ‘relational aesthetics’ as proposed by Nicolas Bourriaud.

Paper long abstract:

During Evans’ residency within HISAR, he has created over 36 drawings and paintings, along with written reflections on themes prompted by his creative research; responses to experiences and discussions with postgraduates and academics. He would like to present examples from this body of work, not only to gauge response to the drawings within a different context and from a different audience, but also to test ideas of engagement outside of the traditional gallery context (Evans staged a traditional exhibition at the mid-point of the residency, but his drawings and paintings have mainly been presented via his blog or online sketchbook: www.osteography.wordpress.com).

This form of interactive presentation is essentially an experiment in relational aesthetics (as proposed by Nicolas Bourriaud). What the blog offers, by inviting comment, is an opportunity to exhibit work that would normally be received within the traditional show/see pairing in a context that has (arguably) become more associated with the promote/receive/authoritarian conditions that surround media such as television.

In Relational Aesthetics (1998) Bourriaud quotes Serge Daney: ‘all form is a face looking at us’. The blog offers a particular form or face to the world, one that has human vulnerability yet is viewed from a distance. This face still urges response; in the case of the artist a response to the work, which exists somewhere between, in Bourriaud’s words, the look-at-me and the look-at-that. Evans is interested in further possibilities for interactive engagement and in the creative practices that might flourish when faces meet and presentation/projection becomes dialogue.