Conceptual Art: A Critical Anthology - uncopy

a declaration of dependence
sarah charlesworth
We are living in a period of unprecedented destruction of languages and cultures, of
nations, under the assault of highly bureaucratic states. These exert, both internally
and externally, a steady pressure, reducing culture to a series of technical functions.
Put another way, culture, the creation of shared meanings, symbolic interaction, is
dissolving into a mere mechanism guided by signals.
—Stanley Diamond1 I.
When we discuss a work of art or an art tradition, we are discussing a phenomenon which
exists in an integral relationship with the entire complex of human social and historical forces
defining the development of that work or tradition. This same complex of social and historical
forces in turn inevitably defines the context in which that work or tradition claims significance,
and ultimately functions as a force or agent in the ongoing evolution of that culture. Thus we
are at once the products and the producers of the culture in which we participate. This seems
so obvious, yet we often fail to recognize that while options may be limited, the value and