Page 61 - Studio International - September October 1975

generation to the next.' Public space is 8 Henry Flynnt Jr., 'Concept Art', printed
equally accepted by us in this in Anthology, Heiner Friedrich 1961,
unquestioning way, and we are ed. La Motte Young, 1963.
conditioned to read it as being unusable 4 John Cage, 'The Musical Object' quoted in
P. Carpenter, Current Musicology.
for private activity. Dimitriejvic's work 5 Yvonne Reiner, interview in Avalanche,
activates the space, and in so doing alters summer 1972, p. 5o.
our perception of it. 6 Kurt Lewin, Principal of Topological
Psychology, New York, 1936. Lewin
Theory and practice, again mentions three kinds of interaction
between regions. The first is locomotion, the
The description of these works makes one second communication, in which a part of
thing clear: performance art, now as in region A extends to region B so that there's
the twenties, directly reflects spatial an overlap, and the third is a powerfield, in
preoccupations in the art world. But which a circle or oval develops from region
unlike the twenties, when the separation A to cover region B. The powerfield would
between theory and practice (in a be the most inclusive.
dialectical form or not) was absolute, it is 7 Vito Acconci, interview, Avalanche, fall
difficult to separate where 'conceptual' 1972, p. 72.
art ends and performance begins. For 8 Ibid, p. 76.
9 Willoughby Sharp, 'Body Works', in
conceptual art contains the premise that Avalanche no 1, fall 1970, p. 15.
the idea may or may not be executed. 10 Carl Andre, interview in Avalanche,
Sometimes it is theoretical or conceptual, fall 1970, p. 24.
sometimes it is material and performed. 11 Bruce Nauman, interview in Avalanche,
So too with performance art. It even uses winter 1971, p. 24.
a 'conceptual' language (photograph, 12 Moholy-Nagy discussed the effect of
Daniel Buren Stripes diagram, documentation) to communicate body mechanism in his essay 'Theatre,
8.7 cm. wide ideas. So on the one hand, the language of Circus, Variety': 'The effect of the body
conceptual art has expanded that of mechanism arises essentially from the
spectator's astonishment or shock at the
performance art to a point where the
work intangible it was hoped that these medium of communication is very potentialities of his own organism as
operations could be short-circuited. Of similar. On the other hand, and in demonstrated to him by others'. (Die
Bühne im Bauhaus, 1925, republished 1965
course the gradual acceptance of such reverse, performance has altered the way
work by this same circle, and its saleable that conceptual artists were working. by S. Kupserberg, p. 45.)
11 Simone Forti, Handbook in Motion, Nova
objecthood in the form of text, Whether, for instance, Nauman Scotia College of Art Press, 1974, p. 31.
photograph and document, has never considered his early body work as 'dance 14 Oskar Schlemmer discussed this in detail
truly revolutionized the use of art in the pieces without being a dancer,' or Bob in his essay 'Mathematics of the Dance',
existing culture. But the USE of the Morris was influenced by working 1926: 'if one were to imagine space filled
gallery space itself has certainly become with Simone Forti and Yvonne Reiner, with a soft, pliable substance in which the
more flexible. The space need not be clearly the dancers' spatial attitudes and figures of the sequence of the dancers'
merely a showcase for marketable goods, conceptual approaches had a reciprocal movement were to harden as a negative
but can at best be considered a public influence. form 11 11 . this would demonstrate the
area for certain experimental workshops It is therefore interesting to see that relationship of the geometry of the plane to
the stereometry of the space'.
and reciprocal experiences. Although Schlemmer's 'space as praxis' has been 11 Yvonne Reiner, Avalanche, summer 1972,
there are numerous other works which brought far beyond its original p.50.
could fit this discussion, one further restrictions by the relationship between 16 Ibid.
aspect should be considered: that of conceptual artists and performers. But it 17 Interview with author, June 1975.
artists like Daniel Buren and Braco has not gone beyond a very loose 18 Graham's pieces are particularly
Dimitriejvic, who have sometimes refuted interpretation of theory, a confusion structured to allow for 'spectator space'
the gallery space, and by moving outside between theory and written instructions, and the spectators' unexpected perceptual
it have tended to act as a critique of, and between theory and two-dimensional changes. Whereas Nauman and Acconci's
orks are more directed to personalized
attempted to manipulate our perception expression. Allowing for this generalized projections of the artists' private space;
of, public space. notion of theory as `concept,' drawing' or an implied relationship between artist and
Buren's striped canvases, unchanged `documentation,' however, it is clear that viewer.
in nine years, presented in a gallery or when dance or conceptual art
outside it, imply a rhetoric on the idea of `instructions' are performed, space is
public and private space. By opposing the identified with practice. It is in space
two, inside and outside, the gallery with that ideas are materialised, experience
its specialized audience becomes a experienced. Space consequently
symbol of private, exclusive territory. becomes the essential element in the
While the stripes in public space (metro, notion of practice.
advertising billboards, sandwich men)
force a new dimension on public space.
Not by altering the space as such, but
rather by enforcing the reality of each
space.
Braco Dimitriejvic, on the other hand,
plays with conventional cognition of
public spaces by using it for private
unknown persons. He erects monuments
to 'casual passers-by' in public squares,
or as blown-up photographs on billboards,
buses or on monumental public buildings, The publication A Space: A Thousand
and so questions the relationship between Words is an exact reproduction of the
specific public information and the exhibition, including introductory texts by
individual and that between man and his the organizers. It is available through the
exterior reality: I refer primarily to our Arts Council of Great Britain.
2 Quoted in Lucy Lippard's book
automatic acceptance of particular forms Six Years: The Dematerialization of the
of information dispersal, while Art Object, p. 127. The broadcast took place
disregarding its real content and to the in November 1969, with Lawrence Weiner,
passive and negative attitudes which are Robert Barry, Douglas Huebler, and Joseph
passed through education from one Kosuth.
135