Has Conceptual Art Jumped the Shark Tank? (1 Viewer)

[Carlow Punks!]

The Prick.


How Much?

I'd rather that in fairness.

SOLD!!

 

[nooleen]

cut up all men?

uh, no
'shoot andy warhol'

 

[washingcattle]

Sweet now i'm of to the Marcel Duchamps Museum to complete my masterpiece.

I call it "Readymade no 2"

 

[taubstumm]

Sweet now i'm of to the Marcel Duchamps Museum to complete my masterpiece.

I call it "Readymade no 2"

it's been done...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Pinoncelli

http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/27/durantaye.php

 

[robitusson]

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...ists-forced-to-explain-modern-art-866764.html

What we're up against here are two of contemporary art's guiding imperatives. Rule 1) Justification by meaning: the worth and interest of a work resides in what it's about. Rule 2) Absolute freedom of interpretation: a work is "about" anything that can, at a pinch, be said about it.

In short, meanings are arbitrary, but compulsory. And this double bind holds almost universal sway. Whenever you learn that a work explores or investigates or raises questions about something, that it's concerned with issues around this or notions of that or debates about the other, you know you're in its grip.

It's weird how people can't resist. If you want to make art sound serious, this is simply the way you do it. Read any gallery wall-caption or leaflet or catalogue, and see how long it is before the writer commends the work solely on the basis of what it's about. And then note how it is isn't really about that at all.

Meaning comes first – even before the work itself. At some point in the near future Antony Gormley's project One and Other will occupy the much-discussed fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square. For 100 days, 24 hours a day, a succession of volunteers will stand, for an hour each, as living statues on the plinth-top.

What will happen exactly? Goodness knows. It's anyone's guess. But what will it mean? Oh, we know that already, for the artist himself has explained: "Through elevation onto the plinth and removal from common ground the subjective living body becomes both representation and representative, encouraging consideration of diversity, vulnerability and the individual in contemporary society".

And in the circumstances, pre-emptive interpretation is only to be expected. When meanings are crucial but also completely out of control, the artist had better get his meanings in first. He must make it clear his work will encourage us to consider "diversity, vulnerability and the individual" – rather than other less uplifting things, like exhibitionist tendencies among the public or messianic tendencies among artists.