Some Relations between Conceptual and Performance Art – Summary

 Frazer Ward

Conceptual art can be considered as a form that focuses more on the underlying conditions of art as language and analysis of meaning as opposed to the audience’s aesthetic experience with the work. Over the years there has been debate surrounding the absolute definition of conceptual art, which still continues today. Essentially this form undertook the removal of traditional elements of aesthetic expression from art.

 Performance art is a type of art in which some kind of activity takes place in a certain space at a certain time, often engaging the artist. The audience plays a large role in this form, whether that is purely observation or a more interactive piece. One aspect of performance art that separates it from many other forms is that it is a temporal action or event which has a definite beginning, middle and finish.

Conceptual and performance art have often coincided in many works, with particular increase during the late 1960s and early 1970s. It has been suggested that such an overlap has produced thought that performance art is in opposition to the critical investigation conceptual art takes into the objects status and presence in a work. Performance art can also be viewed to challenge the limitations conceptual art poses. One such limitation is the notion of rationality when viewed from within the conceptual framework.

A collection of writings was put together by Rosalind Krauss and Gregory Battcock which included critics’ and artists’ writings about conceptual art in 1973 entitled Idea Art. This collection can be viewed as the rationalisation of conceptual art and an attempt to make it less ‘elitist’ and more understandable for the audience considered as ‘nonart’ by demystifying the underlying conditions and language of the works. 

Site-Specific Installation: Intervention

Installation as an art form has been seen to move away from traditional and conventional themes and practices. There are endless possibilities of mediums artists can use. This form has the ability to address the literal surroundings of the work much more than others. Majority of the works are placed in sites specifically chosen for one reason or another- to enhance meaning, make a statement, etc. Museums are often used as a location for installation works. It can be interpreted that the use of the museum as the site and the art itself can become totems for the larger framework of society that surround it. Such an interpretation can show how installations can become a tool of inquiry for our world and this is achieved through the conscious choice to place the installation. Installations also engage the audience and have the ability to create confusion about the nature a space, as shown in some of Marcel Duchamp's installations. For example, he made the viewers have to move awkwardly around the string in the space if they wished to fully experience the piece. Installations have, in some cases, involved as an extension beyond the painting and canvas to the surrounding wall and the room in which it is placed. A strong sense that the viewer co-habits the space that holds the art can be achieved through installations. Often they have interactive elements, with the chosen space having the ability to enhance what the artist is trying to communicate. Installation work is able to emphasis the physical dimensions of a space rather than the aesthetic function.

 

 

New Hoover Convertibles, Green, Blue, New Hoover Convertibles Green, Blue Doubledecker

Four Hoover Convertibles, Plexiglas, fluorescent lights
294.6 x 104.1 x 71.1 cm
1981-1987

Annotated Bibliography – Jeff Koons

Heartney, Eleanor. Art & Today. London: Phaidon, 2008.

          This chapter was useful in providing a background to the quotidian object and its place in the art world. Dates and names of artists were mentioned, along with a closer specific look at relevant artists and their works. Large coloured photographs of the mentioned artworks are used throughout the chapter. This source was helpful as a starting point for further research.

Koons, Jeff. The Jeff Koons handbook. London : Thames and Hudson : Anthony d'Offay Gallery, 1992.

          This source contained many quotes from the artists about both specific works and his general philosophies on art. It does also contain ‘Notes on Jeff Koons’ by Robert Rosenblum. These contain Rosenblum’s own opions and thoughts about Koons’ life and work, and not just straight out facts. A selection of the artist’s works is shown throughout this source. Primarily it was used to cross reference other sources.

Muthesuis, Angelika (ed.). Jeff Koons. Cologne : Benedikt Taschen, 1992.

            This source provides lots of coloured photographs, an interview with the artist, along with a simplified timeline and list of Koons’ works and exhibitions up till 1992. It provides all the text in English, German and French. Found it be a very useful source with a lot of information directly from the artist.

Weintraub, Linda, Arthur Danto, Thomas McEvilley. Art on the Edge and Over. Litchfield: Art Insights: 1996.

          Primarily explores the artist’s intertwined personal and professional lives. There is a lot of focus on Koons’ marriage and more controversial moments. This text provides relevant quotes from the artist with very good references to their origins. Not as straight-up fact-based as other sources. The writing seemed quite ‘flowery’ and emotive; however this chapter did provide different view-points that helped with a more complete understanding of the artist.

an unmonumental summary.

Sculpture can be considered to be the leaders of contemporary art. Products of the twenty-first century seemed to have two distinct ideas: assemblage and unmonumentality. Assemblage was seen to be a strategy to achieve unmonumentality in sculptural works. During the first two decades of the twentieth century the first experiments in using found objects in sculpture were explored in Europe. Contemporary sculptures have adopted a method of juxtaposition of forms, rather than compositionally blending them. Other criterion was introduced to the discourse of contemporary art when an ‘empathetic’ engagement was made with daily objects and life through sculpture. Some artists claimed that through juxtaposition they were able to turn familiar objects into mysterious ones. It has been suggested that distinctions between twentieth and twenty-first century assemblage comes down to the availability of information, especially through graphic interfaces. ‘Assemblage’ or ‘neo-dada’ never became a movement or period. Influential critics referred to the era as ‘neo-avant-garde’, as it showed a deep divide between pre-World War II and post-war art. ‘Physiognomic fallacy’ was a term used by E. H Gombrich, which explored the assumption that artistic forms are direct reflections of the nature of the society that produced it. Therefore assemblage could rather be the result of disorder within the world at the time, instead of a means to reflect it. Art historian Roger Shattuck referred to artist Robert Rauschenburg as a less gifted descendent of the dada originals. Rauschenburg countered such remakes by saying ‘the artist who has his foot in a history book and an eye on himself can move but not directly’. Such retorts showed Rauschenburg’s intent to utilise styles and techniques from past artists but still plan to create his own path of the style through his work. It can be seen that sculptors today don’t focus on ‘what art can be’, but rather how their works can engage in issues of contemporary life.  The term ‘unmonumental’ is meant to describe a type of sculpture that is not against ‘monumental’ values- massiveness, timelessness- but rather intentionally lacks them.