Seamlessness in traditional airbrush aesthetics reflects a desire to pursue technical excellence and perfection. The digital revolution has pushed airbrush practice from a popular art form to a niche discipline. Today, airbrushing survives in customization and subculture aesthetics. The retreat of airbrushing from the mainstream, poses questions of how to extend this art form into contemporary art practice: an important consideration given its potential to redefine the social and cultural meaning of seamlessness in our current digital age.
My research examines the meaning of seamlessness in our contemporary, social and technological contexts. By shifting traditional airbrush practice into an interactive and installation-based platform, I use participatory strategies to investigate the social implications of relational art forms to challenge the notion of seamlessness as an idealized pursuit of perfection. Inspired by the debate between Nicolas Bourriaud’s concept of relational art and Claire Bishop’s critique of Bourriaud’s micro-utopian concept of relational aesthetics, this paper investigates how participatory and interactive art functions within gallery spaces to gain a deeper understanding of Chantal Mouffe’s concept of radical democracy.
Using art galleries as an arena to engage theory and praxis, my thesis project employs a research-creation method with a participatory approach that intends to trigger conflicts and negotiations in the domain of galleries. It investigates the blurred boundaries between consensus and conflict, controllability and unpredictability, inclusion and exclusion. Lastly, through theorizing and redefining the meaning of seamlessness from an aesthetic concept towards social agency, this research questions the inclusivity of art institutions and their role in relation to social and cultural production.

Keywords: Airbrush, history, interactive art, Relation Aesthetics, Antagonism, Radical Democracy, participatory Art, Conflict, failure, negotiation, Galleries.