14
Mailing 1: Conceptual Art and After wilson hurst Points of Departure Over the last four weeks, I have been reading four books on conceptual art and its influence on visual culture. Thoughtfully written, each volume offers much insight into the underpinnings of contemporary art. Establishing a discourse while embracing the diversity of activity, these books also provide many references to specific artists who both established foundations and advanced concepts over the last fifty years. As enlightening as these reading are, I have dramatically expanded their utility by simultaneously extracting snippets and running World Wide Web searches based on concepts and artists introduced. In a very short time, this effort has broadened my appreciation of an area of the art world that previously I found largely puzzling. In addition, this new understanding has made me consider my own creative archive from a new perspective, and most importantly is now influencing my image capture performances. Process informs product. Alberro, Alexander, and Sabeth Buchmann. Art After Conceptual Art. Generali Foundation collection series. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2006. Print. Art after Conceptual Art surveys conceptualist artistic practice by presenting a series of challenging essays. Of the four books read, this one is the most dense, and I will benefit from spending more time pondering the discourse on future rereading. Recognizing the wide diversity of work categorized as conceptual, the editors propose that the classification is comprised of many different and sometimes incongruous modalities. The field of negotiation of conceptual art by design must transcend conventional boundaries. Of course, this is one of its major long-term problems, as over time the unconventional must become conventional by virtue of its existence and approval. The successful becomes commonplace through its acceptance, and thus the bar of nonconformity is continually raised. Conceptual art is forever weird.

Mailing 1: Conceptual Art and After - Wilson Hurst · 2011. 6. 22. · Art After Conceptual Art. Generali Foundation collection series. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2006. Print. Art

  • Upload
    others

  • View
    3

  • Download
    0

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

  • Mailing 1: Conceptual Art and After

    wilson hurst

    Points of Departure

    Over the last four weeks, I have been reading four books on conceptual art and its influence on

    visual culture. Thoughtfully written, each volume offers much insight into the underpinnings of

    contemporary art. Establishing a discourse while embracing the diversity of activity, these

    books also provide many references to specific artists who both established foundations and

    advanced concepts over the last fifty years. As enlightening as these reading are, I have

    dramatically expanded their utility by simultaneously extracting snippets and running World

    Wide Web searches based on concepts and artists introduced. In a very short time, this effort

    has broadened my appreciation of an area of the art world that previously I found largely

    puzzling. In addition, this new understanding has made me consider my own creative archive

    from a new perspective, and most importantly is now influencing my image capture

    performances. Process informs product.

    Alberro, Alexander, and Sabeth Buchmann. Art After Conceptual Art. Generali Foundation collection series. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2006. Print.

    Art after Conceptual Art surveys conceptualist artistic practice by presenting a series of

    challenging essays. Of the four books read, this one is the most dense, and I will benefit from

    spending more time pondering the discourse on future rereading. Recognizing the wide

    diversity of work categorized as conceptual, the editors propose that the classification is

    comprised of many different and sometimes incongruous modalities.

    The field of negotiation of conceptual art by design must transcend conventional boundaries.

    Of course, this is one of its major long-term problems, as over time the unconventional must

    become conventional by virtue of its existence and approval. The successful becomes

    commonplace through its acceptance, and thus the bar of nonconformity is continually raised.

    Conceptual art is forever weird.

  • Conceptual art is also discursive as it envelops a wide field of subjects and is frequently

    rambling. This trait is seemly especially prevalent in the informed writing about the subject, as

    the repetition of a certain type of discourse builds legitimacy.

    Developed as a simplistic model, conceptual art practices can employ any of the following

    strategies:

    dematerialization of the art object democratization of the art world alternative proposals self-imposed restrictions

    As the title of the book’s introduction truly indicates, “The way out is the way in”, meaning that

    as things become circuitous, especially when considered at a theoretical basis, an ending is also

    a beginning. The more we know the less we know. As we deal with the mind, the

    interconnectedness of a physical object and its representations, both visual and linguistic, are

    reevaluated. Concepts are exposed as the base below the formal base. Yet not all is new as

    “period styles thrive today in highly reconfigured forms”.

    One interesting notion from the text is that conceptualism breaks free from the constraints of

    self-containment. However, this is probably a little too ambitious a claim. For although the rules

    of engagement certainly have changed, moving art into the realm of ideas and away from the

    bounds of physicality, a new set of expectations prevail. And if an especially sophisticated artist

    recognizes the possibilities inherent in older forms of creative communication, by incorporating

    those in a cogent conceptual statement, this non-compliance with current fashion may not be

    accepted.

    Furthermore, if one does not have the knowledge and skill to understand the old rules, then the

    probability of successfully breaking those paradigms is impossible. This problem is acute with

    the desire to circumvent formal aesthetic values, for this supposition breeds an army of

    unskilled practitioners.

    An interesting aspect of jumping into a new intellectual environment is how language shifts,

    and words become differently defined. Thus belonging to the guild is contingent on

  • understanding the shared codes. An example is discourse, normally referencing merely a

    lengthy verbal exchange or conversation. However, within the conceptual art community it

    carries much more weight, largely derived from the work of French philosopher Michel

    Foucault. In this context, a discourse is a formalized mode of thinking expressed through

    language, a social boundary establishing what is implicit about a specific topic. Therefore, the

    discourse defines possible truth, and affects our views on all things. It is not possible to escape

    discourse, which shapes our realities.

    As I progressed though the text, some other words popped-up frequently and thus are worthy

    of further investigation. One such word is mediated, which seems to covey two ideas. The first

    is a reference to dispute management. Art, or the interpretation of art, can bring about an

    agreement, a settlement, or a compromise. Thus in these terms we are considering intention of

    the artist, the viewer, or the critic. However, a more frequent use of the term involves cultural

    influences that pressure, dictate, or mediate art. This intervening agency is often referenced as

    subversive, or at the very least negative, in that we are pawns to our social conditioning and

    environment. Thus, art is just a small entity in the much larger and more powerful culture

    forces over which we exercise little control. Nevertheless, there is value in indentifying this

    situation, for only if an enemy is recognized can defenses be built, and subsequent intercession

    strategies be deployed.

    Mass cultural discourses Condition and control Experience of everyday life

    This brings up the possibility of vicissitude. Because “conditions of art are socially and

    historically constituted”, they are changeable realities. In fact, this is one of the most valued

    characteristics of the collective arts: unexpected changes or shifts encountered in life can be

    enabled by experiencing art. Art expands the realm of possibility in a multiplicity of directions.

    The editors support this notion, as they explicitly state that the legacy of conceptual art and

    critique of institutions are central themes of all the essays in the book.

    Another word frequently encountered is dialectical. I belief this most clearly is considered as an

    analysis between two conflicting forces in which the contradiction is viewed as the determining

  • factor in their continuing interaction. In other words, two conflicting concepts need not be

    mutually exclusive, but rather each can co-exist in a coherent synthesis. The understanding that

    statements can be incompatible without creating contradictions in reasoning is a liberating

    awareness.

    At its core, conceptual practice interrogates the framework defining the very nature of art, re-

    contextualizing signs and symbols, forever changing the reading conventions. However, some

    human tendencies seem inherent, and perhaps represent impenetrable boundaries. One such

    behavior is indexical, the need to establish categories of thought or create some common

    collection of affairs. This organization might be an underlying requirement for communication

    between entities with discrete perceptual processing functions. Culture and society under such

    conditions must always impose structure on its members. Anticipating history, will the

    paradigm be changed if perceptions themselves become collective -- intelligence comprised of

    all members linked together into a shared mind via subspace transceivers: future cell phones?

    Psychological interiorization Melancholic contemplation Spatially conceivable

    Osborne, Peter. Conceptual Art. Themes and movements. London: Phaidon, 2002. Print.

    By the 1970’s, parallel with the development of leisure suits and disco, the cultural role of art

    crystallized as primarily a communication of ideas. Artwork considered as an object of visual or

    spatial experience resulting in pleasure was both challenged and ostracized. We now consider it

    a requirement for serious art to “raise fundamental questions concerning its own definition and

    the contexts in which it intervenes”. Osborne's comprehensive survey of conceptual art

    describes this transformation, placing the alteration into the larger context of media, politics,

    and society. Organized into three supporting sections, the book starts with an essay overview,

    then presents a large set of images representing important works by essential practitioners, and

    finishes with a compendium of primary critical sources, many of which are written by the artists

    themselves. This last section is important, as “critical writing by conceptual artists is integral to

  • their practice”. In other words, the last section of the book can be considered as not just

    further elucidations about conceptual art, but as conceptual art!

    This idea, that writing itself is art, resonates deeply. In my personal artist practice, I produce

    written work associated with my photographic based imagery. Each literature offering is

    carefully crafted to raise questions and invoke cognitive movement, engaging the receiver

    conceptually. As “the totality of one’s work creates its own philosophy”, I consider the effort

    and result of working with language integrated with images synergistic and additive. In this

    spirit, my latentsifier web site is an emergent structure, where the whole is greater than the

    sum of its parts. In fact, I seriously take the notion of being an artist to encompass all my

    activities. Thus, I approach everything I do and everything I encounter from the perspective of

    performing and responding always as an artist. Even this report detailing reflections on my

    visual culture research activity is designed as an art form.

    I found it ironic that although the “dematerialization of the art object” is a central and arguably

    defining characteristic of conceptual art, the overt design of the Osborne book embraces the

    aesthetics of the fine object. This is evidenced by the creative visual use of typography

    (occasionally judiciously eliminating leading; starting each section with pages of large type and

    progressively reducing subsequent pages to smaller type), the visual use of color in page design,

    and the image selection and layout of the book jacket. Perhaps this was done simply to

    rearticulate the many questions surrounding the definitions of art meaning in a post-conceptual

    world. Alternatively, perhaps any man-made object befits from formal design attention.

    Although continually questioned, the true nature of art can never be definitively answered. This

    is one liberating relevant idea presented in the text. Accepted as an operative, this removes the

    burden of needing to arrive at a single solution, but rather allows a free exploration and

    consideration of a multitude of divergent and potentially conflicting answers. When taken to its

    logical end, this means that all art movements and presentation strategies are legitimate, even

    those that might temporarily fall from favor. Thus, the later notion expressed in the book, that

    conceptual art follows “Lineages of negation grounded in the crisis of formalist modernism”, is

    perhaps too judgmental. And in fact I think it is a worthy exercise to question many principles

    currently assumed essential to contemporary art. However, questioning does not imply

    http://www.wilsonhurst.com/blog/

  • rejection, but rather imparts awareness and careful consideration of applications and

    implications. From this perspective, we can move beyond dismissal and truly assimilate all

    distilled cultural creative paradigms. I like to think of this approach as a new art movement

    which I am now naming Postism.

    Supporting the inherent need of humans to reference the indexical, the book breaks down

    conceptual art into eight classifications. Always interested in typology, the following are the

    identified categories.

    Pre-history Instruction, Performance, Documentation Process, System, Series Word and Sign Appropriation, Intervention, Everyday Politics and Ideology Institutional Critique Afterwards

    These subdivisions are repeated in each section of the book and present a framework for the

    discourse, providing the reader with a convenient outline. This organizes the complexity of art

    activities and idea presentation strategies, which evolve extensively over the time line

    considered.

    Of the main precursors to conceptual art, Marcel Duchamp stands out as the most prescient

    figure. He was the first to formulate “art as a question of function not morphology”. That an

    idea itself can be the work of art was first realized as a readymade, Duchamp’s name for found

    art. Most famously, he submitted a reoriented urinal to an art exhibit sponsored by the Society

    of Independent Artists. The adjudicating members of the exhibit rejected the readymade, but

    the work is now universally considered a major milestone in 20th century art.

    The book proposes, “The work of any one artist might be spread across these categories.”. In

    fact, each of the defined categories of conceptual art as detailed in the book has personal

    significance. Briefly, I shall describe how, instantiating each idea by including an actual

    representative image example from my work.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_Independent_Artistshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_Independent_Artists

  • The idea addressing the temporality of performance, thereby questioning the material

    objectivity of art, is directly addressed in my

    AmbientAmbulations project. Allowing for long exposures

    under high intensity illumination, I use neutral density

    filters while walking along a vector trajectory with the

    shutter open to capture radiation over time as a function

    of space. This temporal activity incorporates elements of

    performance art, which I consider integral to the finished piece. Direction and speed become

    critical control attributes leading to yet another interpretation of appearance. As each

    performance is presented as a random event relative to any potential audience, this is pure

    temporality. The only permanent record of the performance is the image produced as a

    function of the event.

    The notion of objecthood comprised of ideal relationship

    systems is an enduring concept in much of my visual

    work, perhaps best realized in explorations of images

    within images, and work presented as a syntagmatic

    analysis. In this regard, the interrelatedness of all things is

    continually explored and questioned.

    Another aspect of objecthood investigation is an interest in structural reduction, perhaps best

    summarized as minimalism. This thread also recurs in

    my image stream. Elementary things are not so simple.

    If there were no matter, would space be nonexistent?

    In other words, if no objects exist would space still

    exist? Does space have an independent characteristic,

    without relation to anything external? Can space, the

    void between objects, affect those objects it engulfs?

    Or do objects affect the nature of space? Since visual art is the process or product of

    deliberately arranging elements in a way to affect the senses, emotions, or thoughts, these

    questions of space relative to object are valuable to consider.

  • Visual form significance part one. I investigate the idea of the

    readymade in at least two different ways. In a broad sense, most

    of my photography involves capturing energy reflecting off found

    objects. In this activity, my role is one of selection and re-

    contextualization, creating a new thought for an object or scene.

    In a more literal interpretation, sometimes I employ

    found objects as modes for image capture. A good

    example is the use of a four-hole button as a lensless

    optic for a digital camera. To further synthesize

    conceptual practice, I present this result in a serial

    fashion supporting objecthood comprised of ideal

    relationship systems. “What makes a series notable- -

    similarities or differences?”

    Visual form significance part two. I like to explore linguistically enhanced visual art using

    language and letterforms to modify, alter and expand

    communication impact. Appearance and meaning of words are

    reconfigured by spatial, typographical, and contextual relationships.

    The visual currency involving interaction of multi-dimensional

    representational spaces is one of the great pleasures of

    photography. Simple symbolic shapes can quickly become complex conceptual abstractions.

    Perceptions of the everyday. For some time I have been interested in

    making interesting images out of subjects that seem to lack any

    potential. This approach allows for great versatility in that it opens up

    an endless stream of visual source material. Commonly we do not

    simply see. Always an intervening filter of thoughts, conclusions, and

    opinions modify our view. To really see, there must be an inner quietness and liberty from

    precincts -- a relaxed awareness.

  • Engaged in a political response -- in search for America. Some places speak to a state of gloomy

    sorrow, as even the discarded is guarded behind barbed wire. Yet weeds, by virtue of their

    resilience, affirm the land. Signs of hope always emerge in desperation, and the earth will

    abide.

    Art institution power retort. My extensive use of

    the internet as a primary artistic vehicle

    circumvents the established art authority control

    structure. Yet at the same time, it is impossible to

    escape the proliferation of mass culture. So I

    simply endeavor to stay afloat in the ocean of

    images, employing all available lines of attack.

    To expand on conceptual art, I am interested in incorporating the ideas of epistemology. Thus, I

    am considering the nature, scope, and limitations of knowledge, by addressing these questions:

    What is knowledge? How is knowledge acquired? How is knowledge verified?

    Although these questions may never be definitively answered, ultimately, this line of reasoning

    can lead to a desirable state of “concentrated consciousness.” This means employing thought

    processes that include an awareness of one’s own awareness. Much of the time, humans are

    simply drifting through life, responding in a preprogrammed way to stimulation. Habitual and

    unthinking behavior can be optimistically overcome by moving beyond reflexively.

    As a concluding thought, although I have come to realize by reading this book that I already

    function conceptually in my art production to a degree, simultaneously the exercise expanded

    my understanding of the range of possibilities. I was particularly inspired by the section with

    examples and explanations of individual artist’s work. I plan to review this section in the future

    to better internalize the many ideas presented. My creative frontier has moved much farther

    toward the horizon.

  • Cotton, Charlotte. The Photograph As Contemporary Art. World of art. London ; New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2004. Print.

    This insightful little book is a survey of photography as considered in a contemporary art

    context. Its goal is to “Give a sense of the current spectrum of motivations and expressions.” In

    this spirit, the work “focuses on the state of art photography today rather than how or why we

    have reached this moment.” Once accepted as an entry point, providing a passport to a much

    deeper investigation, its value as a resource clarifies.

    Because photography is my creative discipline, I spent considerable time engaged with

    Charlotte’s discourse. In fact, I read the book twice. On my first pass though, although I enjoyed

    the experience, I was somewhat frustrated. It seemed as if once beyond the description and

    into the content interpretation of each image, things became somewhat imaginary. In many

    instances, it was a real stretch to associate the literary composition with the targeted

    photographs. In fact, as an interesting exercise in appropriation, I think that the book could be

    republished with random replacement of the images reassigning the existent meanings as

    portrayed, and the dialog would still be equally valid. The other problem I experienced was a

    feeling that overall the images themselves were pedestrian and uninteresting. Compared to the

    thousands of images I experience on a daily basis, as an avid and active participant of visual

    culture, they simply did not standup as exceptional or even interesting.

    Nevertheless, as I began a second pass though the book, I decided to expand the experience.

    First, I desired to distal the indexical schema presented into concise groupings. These nine

    categories are:

    Precursors pioneers of conceptual art photography Performance happenings devised to be photographed Tableau storytelling in a single image theatrically employing drama Deadpan lack of visual drama, subject rather than photographers perspective important Ordinary everything/anything a potential subject Intimate

  • emotional and personal relationships Documentary history, aftermath, isolated communities Appropriation based on pre-existing knowledge of imagery Physical nature of medium part of the narrative

    Next, I undertook a time consuming search into the work of each photographer presented in

    each of these categories. Google to the rescue, it turns out most of the artists have extensive

    presence on the World Wide Web. In addition to reading more about each contemporary artist,

    sometimes based on their own characterizations of creative motivations, I collected many

    digital files of their creative work. The image files I organized into the categories defined above.

    I was able to expand the total number of images from 243 presented in the book to 3,760 now

    on my hard drive. My intention is to continue this archive collection informed by all future

    visual cultural projects over the course of my MFA studies.

    What I found is that as a whole, these artists have not abandoned either the aesthetic or the

    craft of photography, and many are extremely diversified in both their formal image

    construction and technical approach. Furthermore, I found that in many instances they are

    occupied with some of the same questions and methodologies as have driven tributaries of my

    own work over these many years of personal artistic engagement. This process of research and

    discovery both encouraged and inspired, and the resulting evidence constitutes a large visual

    culture archive. On reflection, my first impression of the ordinary and insipid nature of the

    images printed in the book was induced primarily by the selection decisions of the editor. Or

    perhaps it is unrealistic to think the work of an artist can be extrapolated from a conjecture of

    meaning based on one image.

    To further place the visual output of these recognized art photographers into a truly modern

    context, I decided to generate a single document of their work as a continuous image stream.

    To accomplish this goal, I needed to standardize all the disparate file formats downloaded from

    the web. I also needed to establish a unified naming convention to provide an underlying

    organizational structure. Finally, I needed to find a method to automatically convert images

  • located in a folder-based hierarchical file structure into a single presentable file. Testing a

    variety of software programs, I was able to assemble a tool set and workflow that has resulted

    in the single PDF file included with this report as a CD addendum.

    Navigating though this image stream is a wonderful and educational experience. I also created a

    title slate to indicate the start of each photographer’s individual section, and visually organized

    the images of each artist into cogent groupings.

    Most contemporary art discourse places a strong emphasis on the “Beauty of ideas rather than

    ideas of the beautiful.” Nevertheless, in actuality ideas of the beautiful are continually explored

    as part of the strategy to present beautiful ideas. And if an image is not beautiful, it must be at

    least interesting or have some visual appeal to rise above a sensation threshold. By looking

    through this extensive survey of photographic imagery, academically sanctioned as

    contemporary art, the sensation threshold has clearly been passed. In most cases by a wide

    margin.

    Pinney, Christopher, and Nicolas Peterson. Photography's Other Histories. Objects/histories. Durham: Duke University Press, 2003. Print.

    This was the last book I read during the current visual culture research period; as it found it less

    relevant at my current developmental stage, it received less attention than the others.

    Although interesting, it is less about photography as an art form and more about how the

    photographic archive provides anthropological clues, especially regarding people and societies

    outside the dominate cultural mainstream. One of the questions it raises is whether humans

    must organize in hierarchical structures that involve cast relationships. It seems that

    throughout history the powerful always dominate the weak, often by means of brute force. It is

    impossible to justify this on any moral front, yet the tendency is alive and can be considered as

    viable subject matter to support current photographic documentary activity. Here are several

    images from my creative archive that support the supposition. One made at the Missouri State

    Fair just last year, and another captured back in 1980 while I was a student at the Rochester

    Institute of Technology, each with equally poignant implications.

  • The book made me think about

    Edward S. Curtis and his

    monumental work, “The North

    American Indian” Although his

    intention was to document Native

    American Indian traditional life

    before it disappeared, most of his

    product is fiction. He rendered

    Indians in a way he thought they

    should be represented, not as they

    actual existed.

    Curtis knew what he was doing, but

    many other documentarians also

    recontextualize history unwittingly

    through their own distorted lens of

    perception. This I consider a primary

    lesson of “Photography’s other

    Histories.”

    Sometimes a record of something

    interesting is sufficient to warrant the

    creation of a photograph – a serious chronicling of the external world. As I jockey into position

    to make a specific image, I sincerely hope not to offend any locals with my documentary

    endeavors.

    Afterwards

    Experiencing the visual cultural project process for the very first time, on reflection of the

    completion of this first mailing, my expectations of value have been exceeded. Before this

    study, I never considered myself as a conceptual artist. Now that I more fully understand the

    ideas and concepts involved in contemporary art, I realize I am very close to functioning as a

  • conceptual photographic artist. This is not to say I have mastered the medium, but rather that I

    have identified a firm foundation of activities supporting the genre. This is something on which

    to stand, and provides a platform for future growth and development. I also came to realize

    one of the most precious offerings from the Vermont College faculty is their informed

    recommended readings. On my own, I never would have selected these books. They are now

    part of my creative vocabulary, and reside on my bookshelf to be revisited time and time again.