Art After Conceptual Art

by Alexander Alberro (Editor), Sabeth Buchmann (Editor)

Well-known art historians from Europe and the Americas discuss the influence of conceptualism on art since the 1970s.Art After Conceptual Art tracks the various legacies of conceptualist practice over the past three decades. This collection of essays by art historians from Europe and the Americas introduces and develops the idea that conceptual art generated several different, and even contradictory, forms of art practice. Some of these contested commonplace assumptions of what art is; others served to buttress those assumptions. The bulk of the volume features newly written and highly innovative essays challenging standard interpretations of the legacy of conceptualism and discussing the influence of conceptualism's varied practices on art since the 1970s. The essays explore topics as diverse as the interrelationships between conceptualism and institutional critique, neoexpressionist painting and conceptualist paradigms, conceptual art's often-ignored complicity with design and commodity culture, the specific forms of identity politics taken up by the reception of conceptual art, and conceptualism's North/South and East/West dynamics. A few texts that continue to be crucial for critical debates within the fields of conceptual and postconceptual art practice, history, and theory have been reprinted in order to convey the vibrant and ongoing discussion on the status of art after conceptual art. Taken together, the essays will inspire an exploration of the relationship between postconceptualist practices and the beginnings of contemporary art.

Distributed for the Generali Foundation, Vienna.

Genres: Art, Art History, Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2006

Reviews

[Lesley]

Funny how this book is mostly listed by people as "to read" ... there are only a handful of essays that seem really worthwhile.

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some really insightful essays in this thing, Benjamin Buchloh's in particular. He traces the history of allegory in 20th century art and manages to make an interesting case for Rauschenberg's Erased de Kooning Drawing of '53 as being the first splash of allegory in the post-war New York school. Following Walter Benjamin's definition of allegorical work, he mentions the way Rauschenberg manages to appropriate information, deplete meaning, and layer fragmented types of readings.

Most of the essays in this collection refer specifically to institutional critique, positioned here as the most vital product of historical Conceptualism. Appropriately, a few of the authors spend time discussing the work of Michael Asher, who, for me, is one of the most under-appreciated artists I've ever looked at. That's great. Aside from "Situation Aesthetics" by Peltomaki, few publications have made such a case for his importance. Definitely recommended for Asher fans.

I gave up on a few of the essays early because they were boring. Even so, the good greatly outweighs the boring in this one.

[Noé Hernández · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unfortunately, not a book for the non-initiated.