Watch the documentary ‘Who’s Afraid of Conceptual Art?’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwp-Vx_9Fbw&t=588s
and reread the last several sections of the Erica Doss text on ‘Minimalism and Conceptual Art,’ then answer the questions below. These should be well-developed answers that address all parts of the question.
1.)
Conceptual art moves away from the importance of a sacred art object or any emphasis on a final product, instead, the work focuses on and emphasizes the concept or idea behind the work: as artist Sol LeWitt states “An idea becomes the machine that makes art.” Conceptual art challenges the viewer to engage with the various systems or structures of meaning that define and organize our understandings of self and society.
1) How do conceptual art pieces like Chris Burden’s subliminal message commercials from 1974-1977 and Cildo Meireles’ ‘Insertions into Ideological Circuits, Coca-Cola Project’ from 1970 invite the viewer to become a participant in the work? How do these artists work within the systems of cultural production, distribution and reception? Finally, discuss the ways in which Pop-Art can be connected to these instances of conceptual art and whether or not Andy Warhol or Claes Oldenburg would approve of these projects. Begin with a description of both works.
(Chris Burden TV Commercials)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8QrrExMUvQ
2.)
In conceptual, the work itself is not where the art lies and it is not where the meaning entirely lies – it is instead in the process as a whole, in the totality of the ‘project’ from conception to production – the art object is a document of this process.
These pieces range greatly in their appeal to the expressive and emotional side of the human experience. Some pieces like Joseph Kossuth’s ‘Information Exhibit’ from his ‘Art as Idea as Idea’ present a rigid and bureaucratic aesthetic presenting dictionary definitions on canvas as a way to escape the ‘image’ altogether. Other work like artist Mary Kelly’s ‘Postpartum Document’ present a much more personal, emotional appeal that brings the viewer directly into the artists emotional world. Describe these two works and discuss the differences and similarities between them. How does Mary Kelly’s work go beyond the original framework of conceptual art discussed in the reading and reconnect with the Neo-Dadaist call to create a fusion between art and life? How can we relate her work back to Rauschenberg and his combines like ‘Bed’ or ‘Canyon’?
3.)
Humor is a very important part of the conceptual art practice. Both through critical satire and appeals to the absurd, conceptual artists keep the modernist tradition of the artist-trickster or prankster, first started by the Dadaists, alive.
Why was Duchamp such an important part of this legacy? How did his work preempt or influence the work of artists like Piero Manzoni, Joseph Beuys or Christian Jankowski? Give direct examples and describe what aspects of the work link back to Duchamp and his influence on conceptual art.
4.)
In your own words, discuss the appeal of poet/ conceptual artist Robert Montgomery’s work. In the documentary we saw several pieces including his ‘The People You Love’ from 2010. What kind of ‘work’ does the artist ask the viewer to put into the piece? Do his large-scale word art pieces succeed in slowing down the viewer? What is it about language that affects us differently than images?
Sample Solution
