Conceptual Art: A Critical Anthology - uncopy

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1 — The work can be reproduced and printed without it deforming the intention of the work itself.
2 — It is (generally) very inexpensive to produce.
3 — It is very inexpensive to transport, causing it to not be significant for a museum or dealer
putting together an international exhibition with just 200 dollars, which, obviously, made
conceptual art exhibitions very attractive.
4 — Then, just as the problem of the transportation of the work was determined, presentation and
installation was becoming an important part of the work, each artist having his own manner
of “exhibiting,” finding, thus, reason to travel. The problem of the “installation” contributed
to increased contact between artists, museum workers and collectors.
5 — The work was often presented in the form of books, permitting people to possess an original
work easily and without great expense.
The initial success for conceptual art came from Europe. Even today there is very little
official support for conceptual art in the United States. In fact, referring to something I know
to be the case, not a single gallery in the United States was interested in conceptual art until
1971, whereas, at the same time, in Europe there was an entire team ofdealers promoting
conceptual art: Sperone in Italy, Fischer in Germany, Art & Project in the Netherlands, Lambert
in Paris. The same is true with collectors and museums.
Conceptual art was known in the United States at first through the small books and
catalogs which were often made or generated by the artists themselves and distributed by mail
to the art community. In this manner, many people came to know the work ofartists outside
the usual circuit ofgalleries and museums, and the finance that implies.
In Europe, the galleries were functioning as intermediaries between the artists and the
public from the beginning. They were also growing at the same time as their artists. And, in
fact, they were functioning exactly as if it didn’t matter which gallery, only that they were
showing conceptual art.
This group ofEuropean galleries had significant success selling conceptual art, whereas
only very recently in the United States, the famous galleries (Castelli, Weber, Bykert) began to
show conceptual art, and these galleries were already well established prior to this.
One ofthe reasons why these dealers, collectors and museums hesitated before getting
into conceptual art is that they did not understand how one could sell an idea. They did not
understand how they might be able to reconcile their aesthetic interests and their taste for
speculation. They were content to wait and observe with interest the activity as it developed.