Mathieu Potte-Bonneville responds to Marcela Iacub's critique of Tino Sehgal's 'This Situation'

In a response published in art press, philosopher Mathieu Potte-Bonneville challenges Marcela Iacub's account of participating in Tino Sehgal's performance 'This Situation,' which she described in issue 382 as a painful and frustrating experience. Potte-Bonneville, who also took part in the same performance (including its 2011 Avignon edition), disputes Iacub's characterization of participants as ignorant of contemporary art and motivated by a vain desire for celebrity. He argues that Iacub's critique, while claiming to emancipate spectators, actually dismisses their perspectives and imposes a hierarchical distinction between informed and uninformed audiences. Potte-Bonneville contends that the value of 'This Situation' lies not in promises of fame but in creating an anonymous space where speech is freed from the need for personal ownership, allowing for rare sincerity. He rejects the notion that participants were exploited, asserting that the formal rules of the conversation, though arbitrary, enabled genuine exchange. The response highlights differing views on subjectivity and the political implications of participatory art, with Potte-Bonneville defending the experience against accusations of servitude.