Holleian Symposium: Post-Presentation Response

On Monday I presented a paper titled "Finding Balance in Dialogical Work: Learning to Love You More" during the Holleian Symposium at Transylvania University. This paper uses the Learning To Love You More project by artists Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher as a case study for how a balance can and needs to be achieved between the artist, participant, and viewer in participatory art. After my presentation I was asked a few questions that in retrospective I did not address fully/did not really know how to respond at the time. So I am going to do that now. While this presentation was not a direct result of the course I am currently taking, the material is certainly related.

Question:
Since the participant becomes the artist, what makes the artist the artist? (Essentially what make the artist special)

My initial response to this question was that the artist initiates the relationship. This initiation or "first step" makes the artist the artist. And while I still hold by this I should have also responded by including this: In the LTLYM project Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher maintain their status as artist by creating the assignments. They are the ones giving the assignments. The participants are then the executors of these assignments. And yes, the act of executing these assignments turn these participants into artists, the ultimate design of the project comes from the vision of Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher. If they had not initiated the project, it would not exist. They had a vision and provided the opportunity for it to grow. This is not to say that the project was not affected by its participants, because it was, but rather that the July and Fletcher developed it and then watched over it and helped it grow.

Second note:
It is up to the artist to be open to influence from participants. The artist is also capable of ruining the real worth of participatory art (which I see as the relationship formed with participants) by denying these influences. But at the same time it is up to the artist to provide a framework for which the participants can, well, participate. This is what makes the artist the artist and the participant the participant/artist.

Here are some additional things to help make some of this make more sense:

Original Relationship Between Artist, Art, and Viewer

Relationship Between Artist and Viewer in Participatory Art