Tag: fall week 4

4.2: Introduction to Conceptual Practices

Read by Thu Sep 25, 8am
Reading Response due Thu Sep 25, 8am
David Hammons (1943–), Bliz-aard Ball Sale, Cooper Square, New York, 1983

David Hammons (1943–)
Bliz-aard Ball Sale, Cooper Square, New York, 1983

Why?

You may have run across the term “conceptually grounded art.” This is not necessarily the same as Conceptual Art, which is an art movement that started in the 1960s (or 1910s depending on what you count) that de-emphasized objects and object making, and centered the concept as the nucleus of art. Although understanding Conceptual Art, can help with an understanding of conceptually grounded practices. In a nutshell, conceptually grounded art is art that is rooted in an idea, and the processes, methodologies, and materials are derived from or answer to the central idea.

Also, as you work toward your Performance Project, it can be helpful to see how Performance Art grew out of Conceptual Art. To understand much of Performance Art, it is important to understand conceptual practices and with what artists were experimenting.

Note: Due to the nature of Conceptual Art questioning boundaries and experimenting with forms and executions, some material below may be inappropriate for sensitive individuals. If you have concerns, please contact the instructor and they can guide you to material that will be suitable for you.

Required

The Case for Conceptual Art, The Art Assignment
July 26, 2018
10:55

“Sometimes art is paintings, and sometimes it's a chair. Why? Let's learn about ‘Conceptual Art,’ where the idea is more important than the form.”

John Baldessari Sings Sol LeWitt, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
1972 / April 29, 2019
02:35

“In this clip from 1972, artist John Baldessari sings lines from Sol LeWitt's writings on conceptual art.”

Conceptual Art: An Introduction, Smarthistory
By Dr. Thomas Folland and Dr. Leta Y. Ming
January 10, 2018
Words: 1,417
~9 minutes

“Conceptual art constituted a dramatic departure from traditional art-making, but it did not come out of nowhere. Minimalism, the movement that directly preceded Conceptual art and the style that dominated the 1960s, conceived of art not as something internally complete and detached from the everyday world (a view that had been strongly held by the Abstract Expressionists throughout the 1950s), but rather as something that related to both its site of display as well as the viewer’s body.”

Supplementary Readings

Conceptual Art
Conceptual Photography, Tate
Words: 335
~2 minutes

“However, the term ‘conceptual photography’ began to be used in the 1960s, coinciding with the early explorations into video art and Conceptual Art. The phrase can refer to any use of photography within the Conceptual Art movement.”

Eleanor Antin
John Baldessari
Teaching a Plant the Alphabet
By John Baldessari
1972
18:40

“Teaching a Plant the Alphabet is an exercise in futility, an absurdist lesson in cognition and recognition. The scenario is elementary: A small potted plant sits atop a stool. In the role of teacher, Baldessari holds up a series of children's alphabet cards in sequence, repeating each letter to the plant until he has completed the alphabet. The plant, of course, does not respond. Eliciting deadpan humor from the incongruous juxtaposition of the rote instruction and the uncomprehending pupil, Baldessari creates illogic from a logical construct, making nonsense from sense. An elaboration of working notes in which Baldessari wrote, ‘Is it worth it to teach ants the alphabet?’ this piece also responds to Joseph Beuys' 1965 performance How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare.” – EAI

Sol LeWitt
Sentences on Conceptual Art, Conceptual Art: A Critical Anthology
By Sol LeWitt
January 1969 / 1999
Words: 695
~5 minutes

These are brief treatises that explain LeWitt's view of Conceptual Art.

Response Questions

Remember to cite specific instances from the text to support your views.

  • What excites you about Conceptual Art? What gives you pause? Why?
  • What strains of Conceptual Art do you see in contemporary, twenty-first-century art practice?
  • How might this information on Conceptual Art inform your Performance Project?

4.1: Introduction to Performance Art

Read by Tue Sep 23, 8am
Reading Response due Thu Sep 25, 8am
In Marina Abramović’s 2010 retrospective at MoMA, The Artist is Present, she sat silently facing visitors for over 700 hours.

Marina Abramović
The Artist is Present, 2010
MoMA
The artist sat silently facing visitors for over 700 hours

Why?

These readings are to give you a foundation for our future discussions and work with performance art. Keep in mind that these are initial overviews of the genre and future readings will include more particulars and deeper dives into specific artists.

Performance has long been a part of visual art practices and it is difficult to extract it from experimental theater (Hugo Ball, Spalding Gray), film (Howardena Pindell, Martha Rosler), and music (Laurie Anderson, John Cage) as well as hybrid work with the plastic arts (Anne Hamilton, Senga Nengudi), since all may involve performance. Therefore, there will be overlap between performance and a number of other fields which opens up exciting possibilities. Even if you don’t work in performance art in your own practice, consider how it might play a role for you outside of just being an assignment or exercise.

To understand performance art, you actually have to see performance art. Since finding active, live performance art in Provo is unlikely, our fallback option is to watch videos of seminal performance art pieces. To really experience the performance art, you need to give yourself to it. It can be difficult since some of it is slow and difficult. Do not fast forward. Do not get distracted. Glue yourself to the screen and focus on what is happening, the gestures, the framing/angles, the artists’ choices, the pacing, all of it.

Note: Due to the nature of performance art being an exploration of the body, some material below may be inappropriate for sensitive individuals. If you have concerns, please contact the instructor and they can guide you to material that will be suitable for you.

Required

The Case for Performance Art, The Art Assignment
September 8, 2016
09:09

“Dubious of performance art? Break into a cold sweat when you realize it’s about to begin? There’s a reason. Here we present you with a brief history of performance art and attempt to sway you to its potential charms. Let us know if you buy it.”

Some Thoughts On Teaching Performance Art in Five Parts, Total Art Journal
By Marilyn Arsem
Summer 2011
Words: 1,900
~13 minutes

This is an abridged version. “In the classic understanding of the medium, performance art is the act of doing. It is not representing, not recounting, not re-enacting, but simply doing. It is live and it is real. It is direct action. It is not about rehearsing a text or recreating a narrative, but rather it is an experiment with a portion of one’s life. It is not about entertainment, but about the desire to learn. Ideally, performance artists are always generating new challenges for themselves, never repeating an action. Performance is driven by curiosity, and the quest is discovery, transformation, knowledge.”

Full, unabridged paper is here.

Semiotics of the Kitchen
By Martha Rosler
1975
06:06

“Semiotics of the Kitchen adopts the form of a parodic cooking demonstration in which, Rosler states, ‘An anti-Julia Child replaces the domesticated “meaning” of tools with a lexicon of rage and frustration.’ In this performance-based work, a static camera is focused on a woman in a kitchen. On a counter before her are a variety of utensils, each of which she picks up, names and proceeds to demonstrate, but with gestures that depart from the normal uses of the tool. In an ironic grammatology of sound and gesture, the woman and her implements enter and transgress the familiar system of everyday kitchen meanings—the securely understood signs of domestic industry and food production erupt into anger and violence. In this alphabet of kitchen implements, states Rosler, ‘when the woman speaks, she names her own oppression.’”

Selected Works
By Bas Jan Ader
1970–1971
11:31

Includes the following documented performances:

  • Fall 1, 1970 (Los Angeles)
  • Fall II, 1970 (Amsterdam)
  • I'm Too Sad To Tell You, 1971
  • Broken Fall, 1971 (Geometric) (West Kapelle, Holland)
  • Broken Fall, 1971 (Organic) (Amsterdamse Bos, Holland)
  • Nightfall, 1971
Roadworks (clip)
By Mona Hatoum
1985
01:45 (Full length 06:45)

“A lively street scene in the London borough of Brixton in the mid-1980s: people hurry along the busy streets carrying full shopping bags as they pass shabby shops and stalls. Amid all this is a young woman dressed in black walks barefoot along the dingy sidewalk. Tied to her ankles is a pair of black Dr. Martens boots, which she drags behind her, step by step. Very few people notice the young woman; some stop in amazement, shaking their heads or making fun of her display. The action, in fact, is a performance by Mona Hatoum, which the artist staged as part of an exhibition project at the Brixton Art Gallery and which she documented on video. A working-class, residential area in south London, Brixton is characterized by its multicultural population. In the 1980s, there was racist police violence against its Black residents, which led to a riot. In her performance, Mona Hatoum refers to these political events: the Dr. Martens, which she dragged through the neighborhood’s streets, were traditionally worn by the British police. Like a dark shadow, the boots seem to follow the barefoot artist, who seems naked and vulnerable. The black, lace-up Dr. Martens boots were not only part of police officers’ uniforms but were also worn by punks and skinheads. In the context of this performance, the shoes embody a system of control, violence, and oppression against which the individual is defenseless. In her video film Roadworks, Hatoum has condensed the 30-minute plus eponymous performance into a 6’45” cinematic collage that primarily focuses on the audience’s reaction.”

Paradox of Praxis 1: Sometimes Making Something Leads to Nothing
By Francis Alÿs
1997
04:57

Mexico City, Mexico, 1997

Supplementary Readings

Performance Art
Performance Art and Documentation
Marina Abramović
Laurie Anderson
The Sensual Nature of Sound: 4 Composers: Laurie Anderson, Tania Leon, Meredith Monk, Pauline Oliveros
By Michael Blackwood
2005
01:00:37
“The Sensual Nature of Sound portrays these New York based composer/performers in terms of their musical lives. Although all four women are pioneers in American music, each composer pursues a distinct direction of her own. Since the early 1980s, Laurie Anderson has used music and performance as the foundation for her multi-media stage shows which have since become her trademark. Cuban born Tania Leon composes orchestral music that is an intricate weave of Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz elements embedded within a classical Western concerto format. Meredith Monk experiments with new ideas in music theater and has developed a genre of opera very much her own. Pauline Oliveros draws upon the rich resources of ritual, myth, meditation, and improvisation to create a body of work that is truly visionary. Filmed at rehearsals and performances in the United States and abroad, The Sensual Nature of Sound examines the contributions of these diverse composers to contemporary American music.”
Joseph Beuys
Chris Burden
Fluxus and Performance
Guillermo Gomez-Peña
Allan Kaprow and Happenings
Tehching Hsieh
Senga Nengudi
Yoko Ono
Martha Wilson

Response Question

Remember to cite specific instances from the “readings” to support your views.

  • What excites you about the prospect of doing performance art? What gives you pause?
  • How might things we have discussed up to this point in the semester inform your approach to performance art?
  • Where do you stand on the idea of documentation in performance art—is it a necessary evil, necessary good, unnecessary evil, or just plain unnecessary?