TRANSITIVE HEALING AND THE METAPHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF RELATIONAL AESTHETICS: UNITING AFRICAN ART PHILOSOPHY WITH AVANT GARDE PARTICIPATORY PRACTICE

This essay will examine the critically influential role of pre-colonial African art philosophy and theory on select instances of participatory practice in Modern American and European art. This paper will focus specifically on how modern participatory artists emulate the role of African shamans in their pursuit of socially, politically, and community engaged works of art that emphasize the individual contributions within a larger project or society. African shamans, much like these contemporary artists, were valuable leaders in their community that were able to address complex problems by conducting unique and immersive spiritual experiences for their clients. While these modern artists do not operate in the same facility as the African shamans, the role they fill in urban society is comparable. In addition, this paper will critique certain exhibitions of artists from Africa and/or the diaspora in America and Europe that aim to present African works without little consideration to the interactive element of the object that makes up the metaphysical viewing experience, an essential component of African artistic tradition. Lastly, this paper will investigate criticism that aims to separate participatory practice and similar art forms from the designation of "fine art" and that reduced the aesthetic contributions of social and participatory practice.