Duchamp

Situating a Display - Practicum Week 7

We carried out a practical exercise to situate our various proposals/manifestos/drawings within an environment of string evoking Duchamp's The Mile String. One of the main objectives was to convey how we consider space as well as rethinking space in regards to the body's implication in such an experience. In regards to alternative practices, with particularly attention to Situationism, Fluxus and Abject art we were able to realise the fundamental principles of contemporary curating from the practicum. Like Duchamp, his work pushed boundaries, he explored or rather questioned what makes art, art? From reorganising and repositioning everyday objects (ready-mades) he was able to challenge such a notion.

Gavin Turk

It could be seen through the art work of Gavin Turk that he masks contemporary culture in a restaging of a contemporary masterpiece, The Death of Marat by Jacques Louis David. But then whilst this may encompass some of the theories of the Situationists it lacks in leaving his personality behind which was the Fluxus aim or rather embodiment of the values, which the movement stood for. I appear to be focusing on the aspect of the 'spectacle' rather than the other aspects of situationism such as 'detournement'!

Bumper Stickers

Bumper Sticker created by Me!



Bumper Sticker created by Gavin Turk:



From having had the opportunity of meeting Gavin Turk whilst on a history of art course (SOTA) in Venice it enabled me to gain a wider insight into the cognitive process behind his art. He challenged the notion of the artist as a celebrity and how a sign can be on the same level to that of the art produced. Ultimately it leads one to question why people attend exhibitions. Is it to acquire greater knowledge about the artist? Is it to view the art from a purely aesthetic point of view? Are we expected as cultured citizens to attend art exhibitions as it is the seen thing to be done? Or is it the media that attracts to such exhibitions in particular that of blockbuster exhibitions?

Reifying our current situation

The Situationist concept of the Spectacle as developed mostly by Debord explicitly highlights the unreal and how we reify ourselves to accept the system we are subconsciously part of that constitutes the spectacle. We are subconsciously guided through the system via signs which are enhanced by the employment of emerging technologies such as media. It is media and advertising that are ultimately concealing the truth and allowing us to live in this phantasmagorical 'reality'. This in turn leads us to question what we see when we look at art, is it the artist's signature/name as a sign of both the art market and artist's status or is it the art we look at first. Depending on the layout of the art it can be argued that the genre of the art is a signature, a sign in itself. With reference to Baudrillard the sign is consistent with our language as a kind of formal understanding between us and the object. Entitling such movements or groups such as Situationism or Fluxus their signatures alone, can stand in for most art works they represent, as we are labelling art. What is interesting to note is a quote that I have taken from the book Art Since 1900: Modernism, Anti-modernism and Postmodernism by Hal Foster and Rosalind Krauss.

 

'One could argue that Fluxus was the first cultural project in the post-war period to recognise that collective constructions of identity and social relations were now primarily and universally mediated through reified objects of consumption, and that this systematic annihilation of conventional forms of subjectivity necessitated an equally reified and internationally disseminated aesthetic articulation.'

The Situation as it stands with Fluxus and the Situationists

My idea derived from attending a course in Venice where we were fortunate enough to be lectured by Gavin Turk. His work explores the concept of the artist as celebrity. Some of his notable works comprise himself as that of a celebrity challenging the viewer as to what they see, the art or the name. As commented on in the catalogue 'Ant Noises at the Saatchi Gallery 2, 'He makes us question whether the celebrity status attracts us is more important than the work that has been made by creating friction between style and content.' Firstly let's look at the two movements individually assessing at the same time their similarities and differences.

 Situationist International:

Guy Debord was a central figure in the short lived Situationist International movement and appeared to develop the concept of the spectacle the most. Debord wrote the 'Society of the Spectacle', which he argues that the, 'production and consumption of commodities had developed in a modern capitalist society; to such an extent that life is lived in, and through, a series of mediated images'. The concept of the spectacle confers to the idea of the society controlling it. The political and technical progress of the twentieth century imprisoned the imagination that was supposed to run free. Situationists were against the mediated experiences that took place under capitalism. They wanted a return to spontaneity, allowing the imagination to run free. Debord's films are essential if we are to understand the breaking up of values masked by the concept of the 'spectacle.'

http://www.ubu.com/film/debord_spectacle.html

In conclusion to the aims of the Situationists it remains clear that,

'the construction of situations remains as valuable a step towards individuality, sponaniety, and finally, freedom.'

Anderson, Simon. "Situationist Aesthetics." Encyclopedia of Aesthetics. Ed. Michael Kelly. Oxford Art Online. 9 Mar. 2010 <http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t234/e0478>.

With both groups or movements it is clear that Fluxus appears as a playful medium with subtle and gentle attacks on the status of the immobile museum, seen as fun with no apparent interest in interpretation. Guy Debord from the Situationist International translates the idea of fun into a rebellious, up turned view of values against government will and authority.

Fluxus:

An informal international group of avant-garde artists who employed a varied rage of media. Most of their works often required the participation of a spectator in order for their works to be complete. The name Fluxus derives from the Latin for 'flow' and was conceived by George Maciunas (1931-78). Key artists of this group included: Yoko Ono, George Brecht, Dick Higgins to name a few. John Cage's concrete music (1939) and Duchamp's notion of the ready-made, were of particular influence in regards to Fluxus.

A key purpose of the Fluxus movement was to 'erode the cultural status of art and to help eliminate the artist's ego.' Michael Corris. "Fluxus." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. 9 Mar. 2010 <http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T028714>. In the manifesto of 1963 it explicitly conveys the aims of the movement:

The manifesto of 1963 exhorted the artist to 'purge the world of bourgeois sickness, "intellectual", professional and commercialized culture … dead art, imitation, artificial art, abstract art, illusionistic art … promote a revolutionary flood and tide in art, promote living art, anti-art, … non art reality to be grasped by all peoples, not only critics, dilettantes and professionals'.


 Michael Corris. "Fluxus." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. 9 Mar. 2010 <http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T028714>.

 Events were key to the Fluxus movement and provided minimalistic statements although highly abstract with minimal emotional impact to minimize the ego of the artist. A problem arose with regards to Fluxus and its relationship with collectors. The collectors saw it as too ephemeral and cheap consequently this could be seen as a triumph with regards to the Fluxus movement as they were against skill, artiness, expression and many of the qualities associated to art as we know it, supposedly through the 'spectacle.' The underlying consumer and capitalist market structuring our society creates an obstacle which explains why the aims of the statement below could never come to fruition.

 'If anything and everything could be art, and everyone was an artist, the whole system would collapse, fluxus thought had it. If only things were so simple. There were even complaints from hardcore fluxus artists that people with too strong a personality left too much of a trace of themselves in their work. These are the aesthetics of the Khmer Rouge.'

 Pasted from <http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/dec/10/art>