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wall language becomes an object to be looked at and not read. Print becomes a visual object to the extent it is physically removed from the reader. Conceptual art presented in a typeface larger than 12 points causes a reference to a place other than the consciousness of the reader. When consciousness is related to place and time it is limited to place and time. Consciousness withdrawn from external references is beyond space and time. Conceptual art is beyond space and time. Space and time have nothing to do with the nature of consciousness. They are superimposed upon it. True conceptual art shows a reality without dimension, without form. At the outset it was misunderstood that conceptual art meant any art that was involved in ideas, or that had an idea involved in its construction, be it a photograph, painting, or sculpture. This is not so. Conceptual art is not about ideas. It is about the degree of abstraction of ideas. The idea “car” is not as appropriate as the idea “infinity.” It is not as abstract. Abstraction is concerned with the present. The true present is without references of space and time. The conceptual artist is someone who has been trained rigorously in visual abstraction and brings this into the area of language. The conceptual artist raises the consciousness of abstraction in language. The conceptual artist points to abstraction as an expression of the evolving consciousness. By removing all social and political references this evolving consciousness searches for a means to see through an opaque language. The nature of abstraction is so obscure that it had to be discovered by a primary research such as the visual arts. Poetry, literature, and philosophy have used abstraction but it was never focused on for itself. Once the principles of abstraction were understood, the only way they could be further developed was for the artist to move into language. The artist is forced to go beyond visual abstraction and enter language the better to express an evolving ability to grasp a nonvisual world. Sol LeWitt’s statements about conceptual art are important. They are, however, general enough to include physical execution of ideas. Joseph Kosuth’s writings on conceptual art go further. Although still concerned with the visual presentation of ideas, he shows the essential nature of an idea to be removed from its physical execution. However, we must move further into a more precise definition of the nonvisual and formless nature of conceptual art. ian wilson conceptual art 415
416 True conceptual art moves beyond visual and physical execution of ideas no matter how abstract, beyond figurative and inanimate ideas: true conceptual art is found within the formless abstractions of language. The development of art is the development of abstraction, and the development of abstraction is the movement into a formless language. Language is the most formless means of expression. Its capacity to describe concepts without physical or visual references carries us into an advanced state of abstraction. Conceptual art is concerned with the internal, intellectual nature of a concept. The more removed from external references, the stronger the concept. The nature of concepts is antithetical to sensual reality. Conceptual art, when it is taken seriously, separates consciousness from the exterior world. Concepts are, however, involved in our every day. A person in the street is a concept. We are always associating concepts with physical reality. Good conceptual art isolates the concept. Everyday thought is composed of both concepts and the relationship of concepts to the external world. There is a clear distinction between the two. Conceptual art makes this distinction. Art that has visual aspects is concerned with references exterior to the concept as well as the concept. Good conceptual art is concerned with just the concept. When a concept is made strong, that is, removed from external references, consciousness is cut off from the physical world. The awareness of consciousness removed from external objects is an awareness of energy, an awareness of being: the conscious mind aware of itself. Consciousness of a person or an inanimate object is not the heart of consciousness. The heart of consciousness is a state of being which is formless. That which is neither known nor unknown is without form. What is grasped is an awareness of being. Being is the awareness of consciousness. Reality is the formless heart of consciousness. Consciousness focused into the present becomes conscious of itself. At the moment consciousness becomes aware of itself it withdraws. Withdrawn from the concept, consciousness itself is the object. Visual art presents an exterior point for the viewer to focus on. Good conceptual art leaves nothing. The reader is suspended, and it is from this vacuum that true consciousness emerges. Normally consciousness is related to forms. Abstraction reduces that relationship. Nonvisual abstraction reduces it further. Language is made transparent by abstraction. The heart of consciousness is shown by a transparent language.
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Conceptual Art: A Critical Antholog
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conceptual art: a critical antholog
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contents ILLUSTRATIONS xii PREFACE
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Rolf Wedewer, Introduction to Konze
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Adrian Piper, On Conceptual Art 424
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16. General Idea, Orgasm Energy Cha
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have chosen to include are not mean
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elements of the artwork as equal co
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guistic act of asserting their “a
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model of conceptualism posits an un
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ody else fabricating or describing
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an isolated circuit, these works cl
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communication, integrating the work
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always already constructed. In othe
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Atkinson refers to it, compiled in
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the things only on a verbal informa
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escape it. The museum can assess in
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ognition: Representation, Power, Cu
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and, thereby, of society as a whole
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In the late sixties and early seven
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and from the language of painterly
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transformation”—had been underm
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out, conceptual art had little of t
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12. Gregory Battcock, “Painting I
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in the Labour Movement,” Dialogue
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eduardo costa, raúl escari, robert
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a media art (manifesto) eduardo cos
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4 This text was written in Buenos A
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compositions for audio structures c
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the attributed signifiers are unant
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2 Mel Bochner and Robert Smithson,
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Conceptual art is not necessarily l
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can be measured. The intervals and
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excerpt from placement as language
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3 Brian O’Doherty, Scenario for B
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1 — The derivation of the terms o
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subtracting each number in turn fro
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the visual evidence that they do me
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uren, mosset, toroni or anybody mic
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emarks on air-conditioning: an extr
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34 NOTES 1. “Other maps are such
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“reductive” art—simply corrob
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general scheme of the new objectivi
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42 large-scale, not for an elite re
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II 1968
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an “empty” work, or one with a
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ultra-conceptual. When works of art
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concerningthe article “the demate
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54 can never be created or destroye
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56 rather, questions of true or fal
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58 and myself worked particularly c
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statement yvonne rainer The choices
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statement to lucy lippard hanne dar
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7 John Baldessari, Everything Is Pu
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gallery or museum signified “this
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function. It may happen that the ob
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G. B.: At this stage, art would bec
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ual. It forces him to have the same
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8 Martha Rosler, Bringing the War H
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The recognition of this new concept
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The artists worked in collaboration
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III 1969
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etween the artist and his public re
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In October 1967 at the Fifth Paris
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fact eliminated the artist’s “e
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or listening to gurgling or popping
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art workers’ coalition open heari
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94 take pictures of each other just
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introduction editors of art-languag
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100 and the U.S.A. does not, if the
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102 The question of “recognition
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104 in various ways stressed the ro
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10 — Ideas alone can be works of
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11 General Idea, The Garb Age Colle
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1 — Language suggests, through th
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note: start write up of piece when
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“element” missing from this dia
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Aug 8, 69 Kent Cunow. Told a great
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only one who’s not staying in N.Y
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“maintenance art manifesto: propo
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124 II. THE MAINTENANCE ART EXHIBIT
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patron’s statement for “when at
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politics and the avant-garde piero
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130 brought into being a climate of
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132 Emilio Prini states: “creativ
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134 obstacles continue to call for
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art tamed and wild jean clay May 19
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138 In a period of gigantic ephemer
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140 There has been a noticeable inc
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jects waiting to be turned into an
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We can distinguish [four] different
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The points to be examined are descr
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art that one might think that inner
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which concerns us is therefore fund
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the effacement involved is of inter
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would have us believe that what tak
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White and blue vertical stripes wer
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Traditional philosophy, almost by d
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The one thing to say about art is t
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But in the philosophic tabula rasa
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qualities seen in a specific painti
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But an empirical proposition, or a
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eration of it as an art work is nec
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the idea ofinventing. It is nothing
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Lawrence Weiner, who gave up painti
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pop paintings of John Baldessari al
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23. Ad Reinhardt:Paintings, p. 12.
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The experiences and motivations of
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Photography is a product of the non
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task of discovering underlying orde
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But the artist has that same obsess
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IV 1970
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as any kind of art; it can’t clai
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excerpts from speculation (1967-197
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194 (One dividend of such an approa
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196 In the context of visual art wh
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on exhibitions and the world at lar
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200 is common property, the same wa
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202 to other artists (3) access to
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notes towards art work charles harr
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206 objects, or to pretend that cer
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208 remarkable to pick up the ball
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introduction to art in the mind ath
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introduction to information kynasto
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214 artists use the mail, telegrams
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alice’s head: reflections on conc
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218 reproduce some recent objects w
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de-aestheticization harold rosenber
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222 taken place are, one earthworks
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contemporary colonial art luis camn
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226 The achievements of the Metropo
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228 class, thus consuming those tra
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230 the movement’s pure political
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Style, whether of the hands or of t
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V 1971-1974
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M.C.: Academicism and repetition ap
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19 Allan Sekula, Meat Theft/Disposa
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university departments. It is one s
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Such things go beyond established h
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ules of thumb victor burgin . . . a
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250 are required to recognize unequ
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252 Ifwe imagine, by way ofanalogy,
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254 conceive ofa “semantic thresh
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20 Adrian Piper, page from Foodfor
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tions.” Each of the arts is, in f
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natural. Roughly, where Pinacotheca
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considering more than just one prec
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whether we do or do not want a majo
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the trouble with art-as-idea max ko
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270 For though he may be very const
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272 For our commerce with art may g
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274 effective way for the artist to
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276 to be an affair exclusively of
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22 Fred Lonidier, 29 Arrests, 1972,
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in the physical world, and not end
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production for production’s sake
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l’art conceptuel michel claura an
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288 1 — The work can be reproduce
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290 THE POLITICS OF CONCEPTUAL ART
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postface, in six years: the demater
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24 Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Washing,
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thing, or talk; or find ourselves b
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are hit by the social and political
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from taxes and partial funding of t
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sarah charlesworth, ian burn, josep
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a declaration of dependence sarah c
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310 regarding patterns of legitimat
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312 might be centered around my inv
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314 naive preoccupation, a romantic
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316 medium, a methodology, and not
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25 Mary Kelly, Daily Schedules (1 o
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Given this, shouldn’t we be scrut
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But this sort of manipulative marke
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familiar with how “high art” ha
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ernism, but also most issues of Art
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Finally, we must not forget to emph
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function more efficiently? I find i
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7. For discussion of this era, see
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With the door to politics closed by
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curating it at the MOMA; Greenberge
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e described as a formalism of anoth
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of mouth circulation, until the mom
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The historically evolving unconscio
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historical way. It is impossible to
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3. I count curators, dealers, and h
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26 Fred Lonidier, The Health and Sa
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sentimental about (American) histor
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a concept of history as involving c
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Don’t think that artists are some
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to be bien pensant ...ornottobe.tob
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documentary and corporate violence
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362 Looking backward, at the art-wo
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Page 425 and 426: notes on reading the post-partum do
Page 427 and 428: 372 THE DISCOURSE OF WOMEN’S PRAC
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Page 433 and 434: 378 the miserableness of everyday i
Page 435 and 436: 380 The component units possessed n
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Page 446 and 447: VII memoirs of conceptual art
Page 448 and 449: It is well accepted that capitalism
Page 450 and 451: a supervisory role. While the execu
Page 452 and 453: industries of art history departmen
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Page 460 and 461: But each of the above attitudes con
Page 462 and 463: 9. To give one instance, consider t
Page 465 and 466: statements cildo meireles I remembe
Page 467: 412 work with an object, because th
Page 472 and 473: A nonvisual abstraction such as “
Page 474 and 475: with the art that these “proto-Mi
Page 476 and 477: In addition, Duchamp saw the proble
Page 479 and 480: on conceptual art adrian piper I tu
Page 481: statement robert barry If there was
Page 484 and 485: In the early 1970s, in response to
Page 487 and 488: working with shadows, working with
Page 489 and 490: 434 They were l’air du temps you
Page 491 and 492: 436 careful not to withdraw the obj
Page 493 and 494: 438 it was possible to do a show in
Page 495 and 496: 440 S.S.: I think all art movements
Page 497 and 498: we aimed to be amateurs art & langu
Page 499 and 500: 444 as to how this amateur might fi
Page 501 and 502: 446 To be sure, these Indexes did n
Page 503: 448 The facts of who did what, how
Page 506 and 507: was to work on the concept of art,
Page 508 and 509: M.K.: For me, the impossible object
Page 510 and 511: cerns around 1980. Sometimes it see
Page 512 and 513: M.K.: But her work amounts to much
Page 515 and 516: intention(s) joseph kosuth INTENTIO
Page 517 and 518: 462 the distance between the art hi
Page 519 and 520: 464 the question remains, does the
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466 objects. Just as the grunts and
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468 7. Rosalind Krauss, “We Lost
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such an assessment. According to An
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(create) the conditions . . . we ha
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Try and imagine Rockefeller and his
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DOCUMENT VI, 1975 The Anti-Imperial
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6 — What is,who constitutes the
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lated mainly by Corris, Heller and
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Corris, Heller and Menard re-groupe
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NOTES 1. See my “The artist out o
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to Duchamp. It brought me an infusi
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from its inception for New York art
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“dada—situationism/tupamaros—
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494 the ownership imperative and d)
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496 following (Marta Traba for exam
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498 were the economic circumstances
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500 ism was a matter of coincidence
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VIII critical histories of conceptu
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to build a critical memorial to tha
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ately around this dynamic, display
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endeavored above all to come to ter
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post-1945 American art is symptomat
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it managed in the process to drive
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on the study of visual objects—ca
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to be given primacy over the visual
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some of the crucial foundations for
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systematically as the representatio
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virtue of the artist declaring the
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early work of Robert Barry (such as
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Wall of Plaster or Wallboard from a
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acts of petit-bourgeois anarchist r
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Mallarmé—in which the first Engl
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experience. In that process it succ
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to the thing at all. There is a cer
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15. Michel Claura, at the time the
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The avant-garde of the late 1960s a
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Modernism. The first assumption is
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Such rewritings are understandable
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the early work of Art & Language an
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political subject matter—was demo
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modernism by restoring distanced se
Page 606 and 607:
For Marchán Fiz, the distinguishin
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ment of New York would play a pivot
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analysis of the self-reflexive or s
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vesting reality with meaning. The r
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5. A glance at the catalogues that
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15. The constitutional government o
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unwritten histories of conceptual a
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566 of visuality” or “suppressi
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568 In Jeff Wall’s view, that iso
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