Avant-Garde and After_Brandon Taylor_3

7/28/2019 Avant-Garde and After_Brandon Taylor_3

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not be a targe t, but an ellv. Art ists of boch sexes sympathcric ora ttuned to the gay sensibility of ]ohns, R auschenbcrg , anWarhol havc extended thc rcvolu tion in media - notably pho rography and rhc fascination cxcrrcd by mass culture - to questiof att itu dc and srylc. In much rcccnt work, elements of decoration, srylisti c inconsisrcucy and visual contradiction havc gainan important place. A ccr tain studicd lack of scriousness, a dclib-lerate cultivation of dcgrc cs of incompctencc and falling-shoimp udent iIIusionism , and indifferen ce to esrabl shed for mframeworks bave become vital qualities in the besr ar t of tperiodo And rhis developmenr has also had consequences for onotions of avanr-garde. The que stio n for sorne has been wheththe pluralism and diversirv implcie in the "rebellion of genderis really compatible with an lristorical concept of avant-gardeThroughout rbe period covered by this book, ir has been said.no single ar tistic movemen t, but rather a free-flcadng and unpredictable diversity, has been in a position to make c1aims upthe high gro und of opposirion to exisring culture.The image of an ina lienab le gulf between con te stato

minority cultures and a stable centre is, at any rate, too sunplThroughout the history ofModernism - however understoodre1ations bc rwccn thc margins and the centre have bcen dialcctiand constaut ly shiftiug. W hat has arguably changcd sincc ~1970s is not thc cxstcncc of thc avant-gardc, but its obvious anunproblcmat ic visbiliry, 'Ihc rctrcat of political radicalism in t1970s and 1980" thc pluralism of visual culture in thc wakeConccptualism, and [he risc of thc wcll-intcntoncd curator wwas also sympathctc to disscnting forms of culture, havo mad c .less and [css possiblc to idcntify rhc avant -gardc wirh a singleof combative ind ividnals or p;roups. Ir has also becomc lcss anlcss possble to see dissendngcul ture as poitical , and more customary to applaud it for ics reflecrive and even theoretical qua litics.

'I'his latrer shifi has encouraged the growth of a visual culture'tha t has proved ecouomica lly efficient as well as philosophcalfhighly challenging. "How can ir be otherwise," Thomas Crowhas argucd, "when discmbodied informadon about thc smallcsevenr in a studio in a llrooklyn backsrreet or a Vcncc Bcacsalleyway can moblizc human energies, financal transfers, aninrcllectual attentiou Oll a global scalc? That sort of culturlevcragc, thc extent ofwhich - in material terms - would havc Ibe mcasurcd in multiple orders of magnitudc, is ncw in the world.. .W ith thcir lo w costs of cn rry and po tcntial Ior cxponcnualreturns, the fine arts sccm closcr in tls respect to comp utee software, liJe HlOSt potent JiXlll of inlelleclual properly uf our cm."

14 T rtldition


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Yet w ithin t ha t fas t espanding culture, a dcvclop rnent rhar has begun topuzzle co mmeneacors hasbeen a resurgence o f icono-graphical energy. A strikingcont rast ca n be obse rve dbetween Mi nimalist workof the l 1 1 i d ~ and suchpeojccrs of che 1990s as thoseGime Polish artist MirovlawBalka (FIG . ).Minimalist 01:>-j lns could be said in thcru selvcs to cxprcss littlc, rcfcr1 0 Iiulc , suggcst little; as a.:2l"gory of madc objccr thc y

- . J . ~ ' be said lo have bccu_te and undcclarativc. At~ acco rdin g to it s carlyseedings, Minimalism rcquircd the prt'senee of rhc vicwcr in anD rract , ungcndcrcd pcrsonific ation to furu-tion (for good oriII) in che co mplet ion of the work. To be in thc pr esellee 01'~ \ 190x60x l1, 190:x60x l1, on thc other ha nd. is ro be drawn_o an encounrer wi rh an objecr which is overflowing wirh sig. . xa tiom . lts bed-Iike forma t and scale, che traces o f ordinaryscri vity on it s ma rb le slabs , nnd th e elecrr -i c wires rhar heatarm , all refer inescapab ly ro human fun ctions xuch as lyin g,~ n surviving, establishing a base or home. \'\'hile Mini . a lises at tempted to unsettle and repositi on che spect ator,3Jka' s wo rk suggesrs reading s and anecdote s relating ro theitody and the world.

The significance of this difference rnust not be un dcrcstiIliU ted. 'I h e typ e o f open contradiction be twceu fo rms andespecrarons engineered widely in the late 19Os and early 1970swill be taken by sorne to provide a kind of standard for the evalearon 01' mo re rcccnr art. Yct rh e insurrcct ion mouuted bylIinimal and carly Conceptual art could not be rcpcatcd wirhOUt chango toda y. W hat follows fro m that rcalisation ? If anymingo ir is thar th e disscn ting spirt of che }%Os has bccomccansformcd, at bcst, inro a highl y plural as wcll as cn crgcticfield of activiry which t urns ou t to pns scss startlillg philosophical and theo rer.ical dcp rhs, bur a more co n formisr relat ion roboth its specialisr and general puhlic. O f cou rve, thar assessmcntcuts both ways. lt is une tltar occupius the p,lgt'So f this hook.

h. M IROS1AW HAIKA]90x6()x Jr, /9Ux6Ux l l,1992-93. Terrazzo, sccl,heang


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t. JUDYCH ICA"O(hristinaofSwcden, 1972.5prayl'fl"cryl'c en canvas.n mCollection janetBajan,

l-e, Nf'W Mpx'co .Sc:loptirlg the name uf herbirthplaceasher own loesabltsh a new iaentity 2 S. . indcpcndell t wonan.n iSl, ludy Chicago tried in~ Crear [adies series, in-erwcrds. "te rnakc mviorm-I,lngu2ge a-d coloureeveal some:hi'lg reallyspecirlc about J particularwornan in historv ...thewholequalily 01 apersonalitv." Others in iheseries - 03 11 queens were\ \aricAntoncttc, Cat'ertne;he Great, and Victoria.

Alternatives toModernism:the 1970s

T he early 1970s was a time when the p rospccts for avanrgar dc art lookcd rieh indccd throughout the W esternworld . Pan icularly for youngcr artists who had beencaught up in thc mood of oppos t on to establi shed culture inth e late 196()s. ir sccmcd that th e formal virtori es won againsttrudit ional fo rms of modem painting and scu lp rurc in rhuseyears hcld the kcy ro a hosr a l' IlCW philosophical and aesthericpossibilit cs. And ycr by the end of thc dccadc rhc mood wasvery differcn t. Not on ly had che social radicalism of the late1960s and carl y 1970s subsidcd. bu t a ncw ser of prioritics hadcome to occupy centre srage such as to makc tha r radicalismsccm misplaccd, or ar best uropian.

'I'hc formal end of American involvcmcn r in the VietnamWar in 1973 and the Wa tcrga tc scanda l which ended Nixon 'sprcsidcncy (HG . 8) wcrc quickl v follow cd by a series of shork s tothc in ternat ional ecollorny causcd b y oi l-price ris es an d ascquence of deepening social criscs in housing. wornen's righrs.the enfranchiscment a l' erhnic and sexual minoritics. as well as inrclations bctw een rhe developcd and thc dcvc loping wo rld.Widesprcad disenchantmcnr with traditional patriarchal culturewas acco rnpa nied by a pc rccption that the socia l and arristicalrernarivcs of rhc 1960s had not bcen , and eould not be, sustained. Thc mood of thc \Vestern art cnmmuni ty toward rhcend al' the 1970s can he dcscribcd as ene of confusin. A NewYork critc, aucmpting to summarise rhe condition of arr at thecnd al' thc dccadc, cndcd her rccitatinn of thc kcy buzzwo rds of


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mou1d of Michelangelo or Manet , but suggcstcd tha t thc rcasonsby in male-dominated educacional and nstiru tional struc turcsrha r supprcsscd womcn's talcnts. lndccd , sin ce conccpts o f"genios," "mastery," and "talent" liad bcen dcvised by mcn roapply to rueu , ir was remarkablc that womcn had achieved asmoch as thcy hado

Lippard's app roach to the ques t on was almost rhc exacteppositc. "1 havc no clcar picturc of what, if anytbing, cons riroles 'womcn's art ' " she wrote. "although I am convinccd rhatmere is a latcnr dffcrcncc in sensibilit y...I have bcard suggesdo ns thar the common factor is a vag ue 'carthincss,' 'organicimages, ' 'curved line s' and. most convincingly. a ccnrraliscdfocus.'

"Ccncralsed fccus" was a term dcviscd by lile Wc sr Coasrartis t Jud y C hicagc , wbo in hcr wo rks o f the ca rl y 1970sexplc rcd the symbolic mcann gs availa blc wi thi n (as well aseaboos agaiust) the forms of rhc vagina (scc HG. 7). Rcfcrring toGoorgia O'KedTc' s carly cffons to illurninatc thc darkncssc s offema1c identity, Lippard wro tc rhat "thcrc is now cvidcncc tha tmany women artists havc dcfincd a central orfice whose formaleeganisarion is oftcn a mctaphor for a woman 's bod y.' By 1973Lippard had idcnrifi cd a more generaliscd rauge of fem alcbnagcry, comprising "a un ify ing denvity. an overall texture.cen scnsuously ractile and often repetitive ro thc poin t of obscsDon; the preponderance of circ ular fo rms an d central focus[sometitncs conrradicting the firs t aspect}; a ubiqutcus linear'bag' or paraholic (mm that rurns in on irsclf layers. or strara: anindefinahle loosencss or flexibi liry of hand ling; a new fondncssfor the pinks ami pastels and rhc ephemeral cloud-colours thatmed to he rahoo."

The criric Lawrencc Alloway, srrongly rcfuri ng rhc ideamal womcu's art cou ld he defined in relation to ancient symbolism or ritual, offcrcd [he mildly patronising suggestion tha t "aplerhora of soft sculpture, fetishes and simulatcd shclters is gellerarionally rarher than scxually auribucable. Such work is largclyproduccd by young artists motivated by an opmisric bclicf in aeon-specialiscd technology and a primitivisr ideal that wc canHve on out perso nal rc sourccs." T hc ob jcct ion was surcl yaddresscd in part !O (he wo rk of the California -based artistLynda Benglis, who se pigmented and mou lded fo am piecesiittt1led dcsigned to contest the appcarance al' male-dominafed:\linimalism, wirh itri mllltiple tl'chnological and mathematicalreferences. Benglis hersclf, howevcr, continue d to feel undert tpresented in an art s),stcm run predominan ti)' by men; in a

A llernalile,( lo jUodl'rfIm: l ile 19


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9_ M Bt NCl lSInvitation o an C'Jlh ioifion althoPJulJCcoperC;ll1ery,New York, 4-19 MdY1974PhologrJ ph by Annit'Lebowltz .

n orori ou s uf 1974 sbe efromed rhi s "malc" c rbos by takiout advertiscmm ts for hcr own win wbieh she parodicd lI l C" Il ' S vicwwomcn. pm ing as a pin-up (HG. 9)in the final advert . wcaring not .bu t sunglasscs and a g i


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~ rime bcginning to permeate th e instiru tional framcwork s education , cxhibition , and the und erstandi ng and criticism of~ Proj ects such as Womauhouse al the California Instituto of. . Ans in 1971 and 1972 (a vese enviroumenral sculptu re madc

md for womcn] or thc 1973 New York Cultural Ceutcr cxhi-mn. Foil/m Ckoosc -FOIIIC/1, or the founding of Heresiesmag. - r in Ncw York (planned from 1975 and frsr publshed early ff i7 ) cou1d be takcn as suggesting rhar art cou ld gcr along

. n wit hout mcn . Art-historical rcvisicns such as Carol Dun.ca"s essa)', "Virility and Dominat ion in Ear ly 20th-Cenrury~ d Painting.' publ ishcd in Arifom llf late in 1973 , drecred. . .e of murh-n ccdcd sccpucsm al a still-resistant malc avnnt;-de establishm en t. A suggcstion underlving these dcvclop-.E:IltS was thar advanccd, critica! work in cult ure needed ro conni it sclf with qu csuous of gcndcr and wirh rhe ideologicalJIbtiom of gcnder to poliucs and art-world powcr.

. \ similar suggestion was raiscd by forms uf art produccd by\merican women which introduccd variarions on thc tcndcncy. male Minimalist art tu involvc thc vicwc r in a sct of rcflcr tivcJdacionships lo rhe art-work , Divcrting aucndon away from thcs; :-work as an invitation lo philosophical speculation to ene ofi*ysical and human empa rhy. thc car ly wor k of thc Bclgiauzrist Marie-Jo l .afoutainc, whu subscqucntly workcd in video,pain ring, and installation. took thc coit on of canvas hcforc ir- .s wovcn ami dyed it hlack. Once wovcn bar-k inro material.ad hung as a series ofmonochromc canvases. [he works stood as.111 eloquc nt testim ony to womcn "s cra fr , to rcpc ritivc andedausting !abour (the anist' s own), yct to an ollgoing rcfusal to

10. ROSEMARYCASTOROSymphrJllY ]Q74.Pigrncntcd cpcxv andb.egtass oversrvroroamdIal ,led roo" 6'4 x 9' );21' (1.9 x 3.2 x 8.4m).

A uerna tioes lo '\Jodcrnism: /11/: 19705 21


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11. ,\.WmJo l -VO.-'TAlMMonochmme Noir, 1977.W()\.-'n cotton. (,'6 N x (,'6 N(2 x 2 m).

ador n a prc-cxisring surfacc wirh compofonn s (FlG. 11 ). In Amrica, Jackie W imincorporarcd labour-inrcnsive rcpcrition-,hinding . ryillg. oc nailing. and using tujnejropc , and cut rrees, rd l t'cting hcr childhun the blcak Newfoundland coa s t. \\,' im OT"cla bora rely made hox es o f rh c mid-197whi ch display a fondncs s (oc dcra il lI'i,hinupml the cube, providc an elcganr insraucea fcminine variation on , and challcnge ro.dominanr malc aesthcric (HG. 12).

Orbcr women artists wen t dircctly lo tland. Alce Aycock too k rhe forms of Mimalism inr u oc undc r the ground sur facbuilding cave s an d subtcr rancan structu rwhlch could be interprctcd as mctap hors fisecki ng, intcriori ty. U f for an aravis r ic. sdf.burying impulse. Mar)' Miss's Untitlcd nccsira tcd a labor iou s jou rney ro vie w it onvacant Ia n d f ill alo ng thc Hu dsou R iver iNcw York Ci ty, bu t lO l.ippard ir g,l\'e riwa 'h lank and "vaguely disappointing" expcricnce until its cvcr more deeply buricd rircle

wcre aligncd (HG, 13). TI1l' bctween rhc plank s o f L'"ti1wcre scalcd by black tar, whose linos cchoe d the structurc of thecmpty lan dscapc. BUI or herwi sc rbc plan ks are uni r a falsefaradc. " If certain picces takc 011 a gcomctrical aspccr." t1H' artist'iai.d, C4l.'f,C{ te {ebut any association wirh Minimalicm, "it i, nOIfrom any imcresr in rhis particular formoThough tuerc l-'. a "c r,

h b te tn )' sculpturc, the desircd rcsuh is nor to makean ()n)'CC \:'Howevcr. although American women's art oi t' lC e


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Alternatiocs to .U"Jt m ism: the 1970.. 23

Heluw 1J. M -\RYMIssUntitlcd, 197J . wcoo. 6'12' n .8 x 1.0 m) "f'rtionsSO'n7,5 m) inrervals.Llanf'ry Park. :-':ew York City.Ihe holt>


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c o m a uncons c iou$

b id ou tout o f l he pl c tu r eou t 11kc .. l igh t

14. ,\ t...RllV.Tbe n IVel)': in twoilldut'l./lJdle dc:;criptil'csvstems, (detallsbowing11'.'0 phmographq, 197475.Portv-flvc bleck-end-wbrepborograpbs.Theartist has said that -tbepilotO'; here are radicalmMonyrny,witha setiog-mplying thecoooition [ofindxiationl itselL.liimpoverishffif'nl isa scbjecthere, t is morecentrallyme impoverishment oi~ i o o a o;trategie'Stot.ering about alooe tha-rlha l oiancoe oi

g :

American domcsdc scenes of the same rime. Called BrillxinxWar Heme: Honsc Bealllifu/ (1967-72), they appeared in the alnativc art prcss in the cerly 19705, and were Rosler' s p n ~the di staucc csta blsb cd by I1C\\ '5 reporring in t (r/.' and otmainstream publcations from the personal responsibiliry (rondi tions uf response) of viewers at home.In a series cntitlcd Tie n OIl' CT}' : n t il'O iU ild'qllat' descrsys/r tllS (1974-75), Roslcr rook diffcrcnt reprcscntarions aimedcapruring the rcalit y of drunks living 0 0 che srreen of loManhartan and placcd them ncxt to, and made them critica!cach orher. TI/l BOll''f) ' can he secn as a work which follothl' st ructuralist thinking of rhc Prcnch aruhropclogist ClaLvi-Strauss. Like srrucruralisr analvsis in orher ficlds, it sotO shift the viewer 's attention from the thing rcprcscnred rorcpresenrarional syslems rhcm sclves. Each panel pair showpho rographic record of a dcrelicr Bowery srorcfronr next tlcxicon of terms used lo describe incbriation (F1G. 14 ). Pie 'her wo rk againse what shc saw as the "victim phorography"docnmentary joumalism, which "insists 00 thc tangible rof generalised poverty and dcspair,' but in which che "vicrinrhe camera - tha r is, of the phorographer - are o ft:en dociRosler located th e probl cm of social deprivariou within thcirics of representation itself In hcr own account :

The words begin ou rsidc the world of skid row and slidcint o it. as people are tho ught to slidc into alcoholsru andskid lo the hot tom of thc row....[The projccr is] a workof refusal. It is nor defiant amihumanism. It is mcam asan acr of criricism: rhc text )'ou are rcading now ruus 0 11the parallel track ofanothcr descript ivo sysrem. 111e[(" areno stolt'n images [ufdronksJ...what couJd you leam fromthem tbat rou didn 't l n kllOw?

24 Alttrlll1rh '/:5 to !. loJtrtl,n: th r 19705


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Camparabll' inrellccrual mot ives can be sccn at work in the. . . . . . . .ert PMf ParlUllr D(I(lllllf'llt (197.1,-78) by thc British an isrellv. Kelly'e D


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Pe rformance ar t by it s naturc - both by women ami men vided fu rther examples during thc 1970s 01' how fcmnstother "radical" contenr could be embodicd in alu-rnarivc foand media. Deriving at sorne distance from Dada, altern a 'theatre and the "happcnings" movemen t of the 196Os, perfmanee art resisted bci ng trea red as a commodity (it could bether bought no r sold), while replacing the normal material,ar t with no thng more, no r less, than the artist's own body.formance art throughout the later 1960s and 1970s at rracred sbut influennal art -world audiences and con rinues to resovividly boch in recollectio n , in pho to-documentarion, and ineye-wi tness account . In hindsigbe certa in projecrs - sign ifitoo for purp oses of comparsou beeween American and Eupean forms - stand out as exemplary.lt was immcdiatcly clear ro Lucy Lippard, for exampl e, tEuropcan body and performance art had different characteris .fro m that of th e Amcricans. Mo re abra sive, more physicachallenging, more dangcrously sired in relation to issues of paiwound ing, rap e. alld disease rhan the re latively celebratoNo rth American work, European body ar t seemed to eontainpoinlcn to the different social and ph ilosophieal traditions - andrher (()Htemporary erises - on the two continents.

in the Un\teu States, Carolee Sdmeemann c,ontlnuedvein of 'Performance\ h c Jad bcgun as ea-dy as 1963, invol'iing

Perjormance Art

16 . lROLH SCH",EEMAN.",In terior Servil, 1975.Performance.

Freud (on narcissism), the other from Lacan (011 Preud). Italso intcndcd as a commenrary on the sreps through which.:Kclly put it , "maternal ' Icmnini ry ' is const ructed with inmo thcr-child rclationship" and the process by wh ich the iden .of a child is gradually formed through cngagcmenr with,eventual cntr y int o , rhc symbolic arder which is language.

Thc rwo laucr prcjcccs suggest that American wom en'sin thc Conccptualst vein tended in the 1970s ro tbe erupi rhe positivist. and th c descriptivo. whilc European work tto the psychoanalyticall y bascd, the pr vate, and che subjHowcver, both Roslcr and Kelly rcprcscnt positons of po\\'theoretical cngagcrncnt withi n a ficld of alternativo practicowas widely pcrcci vcd as "a van r-gardc." In offer ing topicsmodes of rcprcscntat ion tha t contened thc conccms of thcarchy, hoth


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,r

6 r bol )" as a sym bol aud a rcsourr r-. In ha lnter er SmJII of 1975(Rr.. 16) sbe used hcr body as a "stripped-down , undccorated,-..nanobjcct ." As Schnccmann put ir. " I approachcd tbe rablc~ \ e d and carrying two shccrs. 1 undressed, wrapped mysclfn__ sheet, epread rhe oeher une the tahlc and rold rhc audienceI ould read fmm Ct::",UU, Slle lI'as


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19. G I\, '\ PA'I EPsychc, 24 [anuarv 1974.Perforru oce al file CalerieSt adler, Pars.

rhc functioning of irs systcm." "Thc wouud is rbc memoryrhc body." shc latcr wrot e: "ir was impo-sible for me to rcconstruct an imagc of [he body wit hour the flcsh bcing presenwirhcut it bcing placed fron rally, without veilv and mcdiarions.Panc uscd rhc photograph a, a witncsc and as a "logical sup porr "for thc body in its self-intli cted rravails. "I r can gl.lSp rhc hcaof rhat dialect ir- through which a hchaviour bccom cs signifi caby becoming communica hle for a commun ity.'

By thc mid- 1970s rhc ahsetu-e of a sharcd agenda of radipro tcst wi thin thc \x" estern arr community bad caused the linkJIhetwecn European and American art ro gro w thin . Symp tomneieof a desire to addrecs this cstrangcmcnt was che re-entrv in to thNc w York art world in May 1974 of thc Germen artist , j osepbBcuyv. Bcuys was alrcady kn own for his in vol vement in theiconoc lastc Fluxus 1Il 0 V Cl11en t , and bad a rcp u tation in theUnitcd Statcs for his charismatic tcaching and his shnmanic perfor mances. He had givcn a spcaking performance in a Ne\V Yorkgallery in j anuary of rhat year. developing his message of theneed for conscious crcarivit y in a11 human beings, and the neccssity to cransccnd social conditioning . On his second visir, he gavea thrcc-day performance at rhe Ren Block Gallery in Sol lo enri tl cd 1 Lik e Americil ilud A mericil L ik es Me (HG. 20). Bcuys

30 A llfrn al-'o lo ,\J(J,fernis lI1; t ire 1970sh


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_"'W a r ile ofhay, rwo lengths of felr, a flasblght, a par of.. musical mangle, 50 copies of thc Wall Stree JO/mM/daily), and a hookcd walking-stick which he uscd ro_ signal ro a coyote, 0 11 hire from an animal farm in~ . Beuyv was transpon ed ro the gallcry drccrly from

fI-r. wrappcd up all the while in a rype of [eh similar rowiIidt had savcd him after crash-Iand ing as a war-tiru c pilo t .. ' for rhrcc days he struck tbc rriang le as a signa! for a

..........ceding of latid engine noisc to begin , rhcn cxcit cd rhcbr throwing his glovesat it. He wrapped himself again in~ whch "covered everything but rhe tOp of bis hat, toa muffled piece of human sculpture. His walkiug-stck,.....-d like a shepherd's staff pcriscopcd from rhc tap of rhc

ile a dousiug rod ro tune in OH the coyore's spirit. Beuysand tu rned according to the action s of che coyo te ,..nipped and tugged at rhe edges of the felt. Beuys passed

..... . ,gh a series of ch osen posi t ion-, as if in stow-mo ton salaamdIr anima l: when he reached flo or level , he lay down , still

covcrcd." 'Lhis eycwi tncss rcport adc q uatcly eOllveys howE-opean artist could convey thc uo rion o f a wild and o rigin al

~ _ ~ that tcchnological and capitalisr Am rica was accuscd- ~ n g to dcstroy.Conccptually, too . such work s wcrc built upo n ra di ca lises. Like oth er performanc e artists 0 0 both comincnts,aimcd ro lransform thc anisric produce frum a markctahlco f cxch angc ro a sc t of ac t on s co ns isting cntircly of thc

20 . jOS[f'l 1Bwys Likc Arom snd Am('ric,lLike.,vle,lY?4.Performance at thc RcnBlockCallel)', NewYork.l o Beuys the presence oithc coyote pointcd toNative Anwricans' hi\toryor persecution, a, well{l, to'the whole relationshipberween the United Suresand Europc." "1wanted toconcentrare oolv on thecoyote. Iwanted to isolatemvsclf insulatemy,cli, sccnOhing01America otherth{lll the coyote...andexchange roleswith it.'

A llrn lllli,'c; /(1 Modem ssn: tie 1970s 31


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labour of the arrist. Nei thcr thca trc nor sculprurc no r realsuch events dramatiscd new and important paradox inof (he arri sr an ack in g rhe dom inan r in sururous o fpower in the space oc. and wi th thc qualificd complirhose insrit uti on s rhernselvcs. Thc paradox of mu tua]dencv of rhe subvervive artist and th c csrablished art S)'S(rinued rhrou ghou r the to be a sourcc of heatedarnong rhose who saw rbem-clvcv as carricrs of a poliavanr-garde rradirion .

TIJe T rials of ConceptualismIn rhe face of a new willingne in the muvcums and gallaccommodare radica} art - fcmini u , performance. andrual ar r of many kinds - th c dil crnma, parti cularl y fiyounger artists who wcn- intcn-srcd in the avant-gardc trawas to discover how ami in wha t (mm such dissentiug gcould be develop ed.

We have men rion ed thc mounting pres\urc frcm feon borh sides of rhe Atlantic to aban don a polines of d apo wer for one of gend t'r ami power. even a polirics of placeidentiry. '\1asculine radicalism bascd on aspecrs of Conceism soon became endan gered by the fact thar museums acommercial art world tbemselves became converred cnrhcally to irs cause. The short-lived but important srnalltion joumal The Fox, published in New York by an otTshrhc English Conceptual art group Art and Langua ge, prothe rhcrorical sryle of a self-do ubting Cooceptua lismrowards me limi ts of an increasingly frusrratcd Marxisr aof anoThe Fax rrenchanrly analysed the dilemma wberebythc most radical act iviry tended evenrually ro bemade sub'capitalsr appropriarion and rhe concomitanr workings ofpowcr. Somc mcmbcrs of this grouping SOOI1 lef rhe ficldaltogcthcr to wo rk in cducarion or grass-roots poli n es:werc soon to rcasscmble in Grecr Britain ro pursut' rhepractico of, surprisngly, panting.

O thcr radical male an ists who had come of age in the196(h also had to face tbe unwelcome realiry rhat revoludcommitmenr in Wcstcm socery was fadin g fastoand rhar wout that essenrial backd rop thcy faced real dilemmas of howcontine . Suchanartist was Gordon Matta-Clark, who in-72 had discrectlv violat ed actual bu ilding s, desrabilising tby curting ou t paud s or whole waUs, hence makingawarenessofinncr-


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21, GORDO ,. MAn ..-CLARKSplitting (in [ n ; I I : : ' \ V ( x x ~ ,1914. Cibachrone, 3'6' j." x2'8'/." (1.1 x 0.8 m). Privarecollenon .Aftervisiling the hou-,e, !heartst Alicc Aycock rccallcd"startmg al rbe bottom ofthcstairswhere rhe crack,vas srnall. vou'd goup...itkeprwirlf'f1i ng as vou nude','OLr wav to thc too. wherethe crack was ene o r twofce t wide...yoll scnsed tbeabvss in a kinacsthcnc andpsvchologi ral wav."

_"'"""ro "undo" buildings in a way that owcd as muchs. rea lism of'his fathcr, Roben Matta, as ro tbc anti-form~ of rhc 1961h . In his punningly ttled S p l i t t of

21). Matta-Clark cut in half a New Jersey house from....u .. renants bad been ahruptly evicted ro make room for a

c__ '" [but nevcr finshcd) urhan renewal project . Ilousing" " , ."" a familiar themc for sorne artists on borh con tinents___19705, following: crises in property pnces. urban plan.-d mounring unemploymenr . Ver the danger wa s tha ta eSplittitlg would hecome routine cxcrciscs and bcgincri nes and dealer s alik e. The uneasy alliancc bc rwccnradicalism and a market economy was already showing

.. . -earing thin.&:be California artist Michael Asher, [he qucsron was onc

. . i t" 'a ting a uniquc ser of projccts in "situational acsthctics"IDOk a muscum or gallcry as a physical rcsourcc and intcri::J. its palpable, material charactcr in ordcr to suggcst a re_ of rhe normal processcs whcrcby art was produced, dis-and coiumodificd. In a projcct at the Otis Art InstituteAngeles in 1975. Asher ucgo tia rcd for the gallery to be

lo69

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78A ltan ativ t,s (o AJodcm ism: she 1970s 33


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34 A l fff/la fi lll' s fo ,l1ot1frn sm: he 1970s

22 . MI01All Astl l kProlcct al tbeC1aire CoplcvCallel)" . Los Angeles, 1974.This photograph showstherea createdwith lhepartition belween oice andgallerv SpclCCS removed "Inthe unif iedspace," said Ashe r, 'thegaller}" personnel sce rncc loIlKOrrlt' aware ni theirccuvtes. andviewersbocamcmore awarenithernselve, as viewers."

closcd for the duration of the "show": .enrrance lobby he positioned a notice" In {he pr esenr ex hibi t io n 1 am thefunetioning to ronfound (he identi ry ofdnce r and viewer , as we l l as ro frucxpcctation s of solace and refinement .viewing space . A year ea r'I ier , also .Angeles . Asher had tak en a pri vareremoved rhc partition berween gall .cfficc space, and by deaning up resulr-m,continuiti cs in carpe t ami painr dcco rthe whole space, empry of paintiugs sarhosc stackcd conven tionallv ar rhecnd , mysreriously out' (HG. 22). Thewas to deconsrruc t the distincrion b

aestlwtic cxpcricncc and commerce. "viewers were conwirh rbe way in which they had herome tradirionally lullvcwing art and, simul taneoudy, th e unfoldiug of thestructurc and ies operational procednre...Wi thout that quing. a work of ar t cculd remain enclosed in its absrracrerhctic contcxt, crearng a siruarion where a vewcr couldits actual and historical meaning." Simurancously, Ashcr 'sstrucrion began to shift the aurhorship of rhc work frcmvidual to ream. l Icnccforward. thc radical curator wouldand parcel of the work .Asher's prcjccts cannor be bought or sold and surviveprecar iously in documcntat on and critic a] wriring. Howwas bccoruing clear that most galk-rics aud rnuscums wereing ir convcucnt ro acknowk-dgc the more convcntionalof Conceptual arr - tcx ts. cotices, diagrams, iusrructions.tographs - and to make thcir less demanding formats thcfor cvcn spccdicr commcrcial transactions than bcforc. Simtranspon . display, documcnt, and insure, Conceptual an inera l of its forms riskcd becoming a rcady answcr to the dpra yer for fon na l nc vclry combincd with radical prctcnsiouz

Such an asscssmcnr could not be made of Conccp tua lia widcr inlernational ficld. Not on ly was the pre-hi storybcvt work produccd in Poland and Russia in tbc 197Us and- to rake ( \VO siguificant cxarnp lcs - at c with theirtcrparts in 'W'estern Enrope aud l\mrrica , but the suppontems and alldiences of the sod alst hloc countril's werc sto be compared.

In such countries. the market, which provcd so centralso problematic for \Vestern artists, simply did not exis to In


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ro-

dh,

srate-approved versions of Socalist Rcalism in thc form i_ ' l ", of thc g:lnriolls march of Communism, rhc individual's

. subscrvicnce to the srarc, and so 0 11, wc re in rhe late 1960secemal farc. The maintenance of the production machincrvregularcd this work had since at least 1945 lain like a suf

.... .g blaukcr ovcr thc arts of all of Easrem Europe. Abstraet..as borh officia l1y banned and unk nown in any detail.Tltr armosphere in avan r-gard e circlcs in Moscow in th cPJ70s can be judged partly in rcrms of thc cxt cnt l o whichirional art pro vok ed thc sratc author itics. Th c infamouszing by thc KGB of an avant-gardc exhibition in Bcljacvcin 1974 is thc prime cxamplc, and yct rhe pub licity generparadoxically scrvcd to rclcasc as much as to constrain rhc_er gencratiou: thc cxh ihition was rc-staged t \VO weeks10 much popular intcrcst. By this time Mosccw artists had~ tcrm " Sots Arr" (from thc R ussiau for "socialist" ) roe a cruel Pop -a-r pastiche of official SOV iN realismoTheeork of Vitaly Komar and Alcxandr Melamid, two arti scssrill work together , makes use of a mixture of'Duchampian,

_" 'm l ist , and Pop-art ideas learned from wesrem art maga-rombincd with a home-grown cyncism that harks back to

aurdist lirerary group of rhc 19205, Obcriu. On c painring,_ from 1972 and rcprcscuring a kind of Easrern Concept ualR i. 23), took an official Communist slogan and rcducedIttter to a monochromc rcctanglc, making the literal con. t me slogan uninrclligiblc . Al ann thcr level rhc repetitivemd. blankness of Minimal painting function to rharacterive.-i:ssing messagc itsclf wha tcvcr ir was. "O ff icial'' real ity

:: : ;.,:mbject to parody wit hin rhc codes of ar t, which wasidn:Jtll.lIy a coudition of the arrists' freedom from the atrcn

efme censor.mosr SOvlN artists, unable ro travel to the West yet privyi lar oc- asional tit-bit of art -world iuformat ion from Ncw

and elsewhere, che work of certain Western Conceptualbnd artisrs, and musicians carne to assurne almost myrhc~ The grO\lp in Moscow around Andrci Monasryrsky,as Collecnve Actions, began in thc mid- 1970s ro devclop

e.1s of th e composer j ohn Cagc con ceming the ro le ofand randomncss in musical composi tion. lnvired paniciwould tra vcl to a destination ou tside Moscow, and !here

.Alrrtive Actions would perfi.)rm ritualistic 3t:tio tlS of an cnig. nature not annoull ced in advance . In i1ppl'aranrr (1976).rLlmpk , two pcrfonncrs appeared fmm a forest and hanclecl_t" to the vkwcr signifying his or her part icipation in the

AiranatiTJn tn .HodaltiHn: the f970s 35


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lJ . VITAlY Ko 'MN andALu...'IOlt "-\HA\I/OQIJDfiltif JlI, 1972. oa oncanvas. 2'7" x T l0 /t (0.8x 1 2 m).Pnvatccollection.

event {an exampk- of (he Russian tcndency ro duvctail visualwirh language}. U l'b/j( J , of rhc samc year, involvcd an elebellwhich soundcd under rhe snow when rhe vicwcr approacthe group's concepr of "sounding silcnce" was dirccr ly inspiby John Cage. In Thin Vllriau/ (nc . 24) charactc rs perform lp t) ' actions and cleansiug gesrurcs likc Iyin g in a ditch (atu re found in rhe novelist Carl os C d a J o l l m rll b:and in Samucl Becken's novel ,\rol/ay) until che audicnce dipcared of its 0 " ' 11 acrord. Such forme of art lay lx-yond rhelillt"S of borh offici.al are and its opposiriou. and rncrcly rravelliro the event and taking part took on a kind of ritual significa


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27. IOY([ KOZlOfFAn InteriorDrcoriJled,198O-ll1. lrstallanon at thPRenwick Galler,",S'JIi!hsooian JllSlilution,Washington, nr;"\At'e reed anartlhal oicrsdirect meaningwithoutsacrificing5Oph istic


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Avant-Garde and After_Brandon Taylor_3

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