Intro of Participation

Prompt: "What are some of the ways that participatory art differs from individually produced art, historically and in the present?"

> The introduction of the book Participation surprise me. It is entirely scholarly and academic, which were not my expectations. According to Claire Bishop. The ways that participatory art differs from individually produced art is that it entails a "social dimension". As Bishop explains, participatory art tries to close the gap between the viewer and the work of art. She sites the Dada-Season when Parisians became part of an improvisational play, despite the inclimate weather. Bishop also describes the Storming of the Winter Palace which included 8,000 participants in a recreation of the October Revolution, including a celebration.

A key sentence Bishop includes is on page 11, "physical involvement is considered an essential precursor to social change." While this may not apply directly to art, it does explain the importance of physical involvement in art as a mode of larger societal change. Another fascination which I am eager to read more about is Ranciere's arguments and the discrepancies between 'active' and 'passive', and what that means for the artist community and the viewers.