Contemporary Participation

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Participatory art hands part of the work to its audience. Early examples include Yoko Ono's Cut Piece (1964), in which viewers took turns cutting away her clothing, and Allan Kaprow's Happenings, which gave participants simple tasks. In Brazil, Lygia Clark made objects to be handled and worn.

In the 1990s the French curator Nicolas Bourriaud coined the phrase relational aesthetics for art that builds social situations, such as Rirkrit Tiravanija's meals cooked for visitors. Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller make audio walks that guide listeners through real streets. Tino Sehgal stages conversations and encounters with trained interpreters and allows no photographs. In The Artist Is Present (2010) Marina Abramović sat silently opposite members of the public for nearly three months. Spencer Tunick photographs hundreds or thousands of nude volunteers in public places. Look for instructions, rules or invitations: the people taking part are part of the material.