Thoughts on The Use of Product

"Appropriation is indeed the first stage of postproduction." So begins Bourriaud's section entitled The Use of the Product from Marcel Duchamp to Jeff Koons. I found this section to be particularly poignant for its examination of the role of the consumer in the art world. Bourriaud claims the "The artist consumes the world in place of the viewer, and for him." (27). While I am intrigued by the idea that the artist has become the consumer of and in her own work, it does not seem possible to me to cut out the consumption that the viewer of any artwork takes part in. How is it possible to consume the world for the viewer? In viewing the work, is the audience not participating in another form of consumption of that same scene?

Barbara Kruger Untitled (I shop therefore I am) 111" by 113" photographic silkscreen/vinyl 1987