Some Relations Between Conceptual and Performance Art – Summary

Some Relations Between Conceptual and Performance Art – Summary

Frazer Ward’s essay, ‘Some Relations Between Conceptual and Performance Art’ seeks to dissect the interplay between conceptual and performance art, with specific reference to Ian Burn’s ‘Mirror Piece’ (1967) and Vito Acconci’s ‘Step Piece’ (1970).  Frazer uses Burn’s work to demonstrate the typically ‘conceptual’; the triumph of language and empirical method over form in order to achieve rational analysis, whilst Acconci’s work is employed as an extension of this in the sense that it conveys the ambiguity brought to supposedly conceptual art by the inclusion of performative elements.

Although performance’s denotation of the body as subject challenges the theoretical rationality of Conceptualism, Frazer argues that due to performance’s high prevalence throughout a wide variety of movements contemporary to conceptualism, performance cannot be interpreted as a direct antithetical reaction to conceptualism.

Frazer describes Burn’s ‘Mirror Piece’ as ‘conceptual in its abandonment of aesthetic authority’, asking the audience to look beyond the physical qualities of the work and consider only the linguistic process undertaken by Burn, one which having required no valorised mastery, can be easily repeated and imitated. However, Frazer then refers to Mel Bochner’s criticism of Conceptualism as extending this transparency to a point where the artist blatantly states not only their experimental method, but also their entire intention, stripping the concept of its expressive role as subject.

On the other hand, the physical, performative aspect of Acconci’s ‘Step Piece’ seems to address some shortcomings of pure conceptualism. Through the shift of subject to the artist’s physical self, the work maintains the empiricism of a linguistic predetermined plan, yet as the work itself does not emerge until the corporeal impacts of this plan upon Acconci’s body are recorded and disseminated, the work gains a tangible aspect instrumental in broadening the work’s reception and appreciation.

‘Step Piece’ demonstrates not only a lack of opposition between conceptual and performance art, but also the synergetic relationship that exists between them. This is further demonstrated through a reversal; the analysis of performance works that include conceptual elements, including Chris Burden’s ‘Shoot’ (1971) and Bruce Nauman’s ‘Art Makeup’ (1967-8).   References to conceptualism emerge through the use of linguistic instruction to contextualise these performances and the necessity of documentation to survive the work, both of which enhance audience understanding.

The integration of performance within conceptual art provides a reflexive critical analysis from within a conceptual framework, highlighting the communicative limitations of each of these practices in isolation. In conceptualism’s ‘striving to demystify aesthetic experience and mastery through rationalism and democracy’, an abstraction of content is utilised, which unwittingly alienates audiences even further. However, through extended comparison and discussion, the inclusion of performance within a conceptual context is shown by Frazer to be of valuable assistance in extending the artist’s ability to convey and execute their triumph of linguistic empiricism.