Ethics

The boundary of a contemporary art object or project is no longer thought of solely in physical terms but rather in relation to the specific social field it creates. Art has opened up to transnational networks of producers and audiences, migrating into the sphere of social and distributive systems, whether in the form of 'relational aesthetics' or other critical reinventions of practice. It has thus become increasingly implicated in questions of ethics. Artist and writer Walead Beshty evaluates the relation of ethics to aesthetics, and demonstrates how this encounter has become central to the contested space of much recent art. This collection brings together theoretical foundations for an ethics of aesthetics; appraisals of art that engages with ethical issues; statements and examples of methodologies adopted by a diverse range of artists; and examination of artworks that question the ethical conditions in which contemporary art is produced and experienced.Artists surveyed include Tania Bruguera, Christoph Buchel, Paul Chan, Lygia Clark, Dexter Sinister, Andrea Fraser, Liam Gillick, David Hammons, Thomas Hirschhorn, Khaled Hourani, Sharon Lockhart, Renzo Martens, Helio Oiticica, Seth Price, Walid Raad, Martha Rosler, Tino Sehgal, Santiago Sierra and Rirkrit Tiravanija. Writers include Giorgio Agamben, Ariella Azoulay, Alain Badiou, Roland Barthes, Claire Bishop, Nicolas Bourriaud, Simon Critchley, T.J. Demos, Jean-Francois Lyotard, Jacques Ranciere, Susan Sontag, Hito Steyerl and Jan Verwoert.