Dematerializing the Art Object

Transcript

1. Dematerializa*on  of  the  Art  Object  
   Reading:  
   Ar,orms,  405-­‐406,  413-­‐416.  
    
   Range:  
   c.  1965-­‐Present  
   Conceptual  Art,  Performance  Art,  
   Process  Art,  Earthworks/Land  Art  
    
   Terms/Concepts:  
   dematerializa*on,  Fluxus,  
   Happening,  pluralism,  social  
   sculpture,  site-­‐specific,  entropy,  
   commodifica*on,    
    
    
   Key  Monuments:  
     Joseph  Beuys,  How  to  Explain  
   Pictures  to  a  Dead  Hare,  1965.  
     Joseph  Kosuth,  One  and  Three  
   Chairs,  1965.  
     Jackie  Winsor,  Burnt  Piece,  
   1977-­‐1978.  
     Robert  Smithson,  Spiral  JeJy,  
   1970.  
   

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2. Reminders…  
   Responses  Due  TODAY  
   Final  Exam  Thursday  May  16th  12:30-­‐2:30  
   Study  Guide  is  available  on  Blackboard!  
   Second  Chance:  Abstrac*on  Reac*on  Due:  TODAY  
   

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3. Art/Concept?  
    All  works  of  art  have  a  
   conceptual  component.  
    A  component  that  is  
   something  other  than  its  
   physical/visual  form.  
    We  appreciate  this  
   “concept”  ocen  as  much  
   as  we  appreciate  the  
   physical  form.  
    Some  works  consist  only/
   primarily  of  conceptual  
   components  we  call  that  
   “conceptual  art.”  
   Theodore  Gericault,  The  Rac  of  the  
   Medusa,  1818-­‐1819.  
   

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4. Conceptual  Art?  
   1.  self-­‐reflecOveness:  a  work  is  made  
   with  an  awareness  of  and  addresses  
   the  “rules”  regarding  art.      
   2.  irony:  a  work  uses  its  self-­‐
   awareness/reflec*veness  as  a  tool  
   to  not  only  address  the  “rules”  but  
   make  fun  of  them.    
   3.  against  medium:  a  work  denies  the  
   use  of  “proper”  art  materials  (paint,  
   stone,  etc.)  in  favor  of  materials  that  
   are  indiscernible  from  the  
   commonplace.  
   4.  dematerializaOon  of  the  artwork:  a  
   work  is  no  longer  “created”  in  the  
   form  of  a  material  object  but  rather  
   is  exists  and  an  intangible  concept.  
   5.  anO-­‐aestheOc:  a  work  does  not  seek  
   a  pleased  reac*on  based  on  its  
   form.  
    
   Clement  Greenberg  
   

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5. Marcel  Duchamp,  Fountain,  1916.  
   Readymades  
   Readymade  was  the  term  Marcel  Duchamp  used  to  describe  works  consis*ng  of  ligle  
   more  than  household  items.    Because  they  required  ligle  or  no  ar*s*c  manipula*on  
   the  were  “readymade.”  
   

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6. Marcel  Duchamp,  In  
   Advance  of  the  
   Broken  Arm,  1915.  
   

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7. Piero  Manzoni,  ArOst’s  Shit,  1961.  
   

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8. Piero  Manzoni  with  
   ArOst’s  Shit,  1961.  
   

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9. Joseph  Kosuth,  One  and  Three  Chairs,  Wooden  Folding  Chair,  
   Photographic  enlargement  of  a  dic*onary  defini*on  of  chair,  and  a  
   photographic  copy  of  a  chair.  1965.  
   “[Conceptual  art  was]  the  inves*ga*on  of  the  
   func*on,  meaning  and  use  [of  art]”  
   

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10. Joseph  Kosuth,  One  and  Three  Chairs,  Wooden  Chair,  Photographic  
    enlargement  of  a  dic*onary  defini*on  of  chair,  and  a  photographic  copy  
    of  a  chair.  1965.  
    

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11. Joseph  Kosuth,  One  and  Three  Chairs,  Wooden  Chair,  Photographic  
    enlargement  of  a  dic*onary  defini*on  of  chair,  and  a  photographic  copy  
    of  a  chair.  1965.  
    

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12. Joseph  Kosuth,  One  and  Three  Chairs,  1965.  
    “Like  everyone  else  I  inherited  the  idea  of  art  as  a  set  of  
    formal  problems.    So  when  I  began    to  re-­‐think  my  ideas  of  
    art,  I  had  to  re-­‐think  that  thinking  process…[T]he  radical  shic  
    was  in  changing  the  idea  of  art  itself…It  meant  you  could  have  
    an  art  work  which  was  that  idea  of  an  art  work,  and  its  formal  
    components  weren’t  important.    I  felt  I  had  fund  a  way  to  
    make  art  without  formal  components  being  confused  for  an  
    expressionist  composi*on.    The  expression  was  in  the  idea,  
    not  the  form—the  forms  were  only  a  device  in  the  service  of  
    the  idea.”  
    

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13. Joseph  Kosuth,  One  and  Three  Chairs,  1965.  
    

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14. David  Tudor  performing  John  Cage’s  4’33,  1952.  
    

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15. Allan  Kaprow,  The  Yard,  1961.  
    A  Happening  is  “an  assemblage  of  events  performed  or  perceived  in  
    more  than  one  *me  and  place.    Its  material  environments  may  be  
    constructed,  taken  over  directly  from  what  is  available,  or  altered  
    slightly:  just  as  its  ac*vi*es  may  be  invented  or  commonplace.    A  
    Happening,  unlike  a  stage  play,  may  occur  at  a  supermarket,  driving  
    along  a  highway  under  a  pile  of  rags,  and  in  a  friend’s  kitchen,  either  
    at  once  or  sequen*ally,  *me  may  extend  to  more  than  a  year.    The  
    Happening  is  performed  according  to  plan  but  without  rehearsal,  
    audience,  or  repe**on.    It  is  art  but  seems  closer  to  life.”    
    

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16. Eric  Anderson,  Please  Leave,  May  30,  1985.  
    

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17. George  Maciunas,  Fluxus  
    Manifesto,  1963.  
    George  
    Maciunas,  
    Poster  for  
    Fluxorchestra  
    at  Carnegie  
    Recital,  
    September  25,  
    1965.  
    Fluxus  
    (1963-­‐Today)  
    

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18. Robin  Page,  Merry  
    Christmas  ‘66,  1966.  
    

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19. Yoko  Ono  &  Dance  
    Company,  Do-­‐It-­‐
    Yourself  Fluxfest,  
    February  1-­‐13,  1966.  
    

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20. Joseph  Beuys,  La  Rivoluzione  siamo  Noi,  1971.  
    “Thinking  Forms:  how  we  mold  our  thoughts  or  
    Spoken  Forms:  how  we  shape  our  thoughts  
    into  words  or  Social  Sculpture:  how  we  mold  
    and  shape  the  world  in  which  we  live.”    
    

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21. Joseph  Beuys,  Felt  Case  Trapping  Sound,  1966.  
    “[They]  covered  my  body  in  fat  to  help  it  
    regenerate  warmth,  and  wrapped  it  infelt  as  
    an  insulator  to  keep  the  warmth  in.”    
    

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22. Joseph  Beuys,  Homogen  InfiltraOon  for  Piano,  
    1966.  
    “That  is  why  the  nature  of  my  sculpture  is  not  fixed  an  finished.    
    Processes  con*nue  in  most  of  them:    chemical  reac*ons,  fermenta*on,  
    color  changes,  decay,  drying  up.    Everything  in  a  state  of  change.”    
    

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23. Jackie  Winsor,  Bound  Piece,  1972.  
    

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24. Jackie  Winsor,  Double  Circle,  1972.  
    

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25. Jackie  Winsor,  Burnt  Piece,  1977-­‐1978.  
    

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27. Jackie  Winsor,  Burnt  Piece,  1977-­‐1978.  
    

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28. Jackie  Winsor,  Burnt  Piece,  1977-­‐1978.  
    

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29. Jackie  Winsor,  Burnt  Piece,  1977-­‐1978.  
    

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30. Jackie  Winsor,  Burnt  Piece,  1977-­‐1978.  
    

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31. Jackie  Winsor,  Burnt  Piece,  1977-­‐1978.  
    

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32. Jackie  Winsor,  Burnt  Piece,  1977-­‐1978.  
    “[Burnt  Piece]  was  planned  so  that  structurally  the  
    wood  was  the  support  system  in  the  beginning  but  in  
    such  a  way  that  once  burned  the  cement  could  do  
    that.    It  was  designed  sort  of  nega*ve-­‐posi*ve  so  that  
    the  cement  does  exactly  what  the  wood  did…I  wanted  
    a  piece  about  transforma*on—to  change  from  and/or  
    through  one  form  of  energy  into  another.    To  include  
    destruc*on  as  a  part  of  comple*on  or  being  whole.”    
    

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