Caught in the Act The Viewer as Performer

Publication accompanying a group exhibition of Canadian artists whose sculptural works engage, and even rely on, the active spectator. The histories of performance, installation, environmental, minimal, and body art combine to foreground the interaction between art object and viewing subject. In contrast to the conventional relationships between work, artist, and spectator, these sculptures and installations emphatically declare the role of the participant over the authorial role of the artist indeed, over the very art object itself. Whether immersive environments, sculptures involving a bodied spectator, or encounters that promote interaction, all of these works may be considered in relation to the recent interest in participatory art practices.