# conceptual art conceptual art also referred to as conceptualism is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work are prioritised equally to or more than traditional aesthetic technical and material concerns. some works of conceptual art may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions. this method was fundamental to american artist sol lewitt's definition of conceptual art one of the first to appear in print > in conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work. when an artist uses a conceptual form of art it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. the idea becomes a machine that makes the art tony godfrey author of conceptual art (art & ideas) (1998) asserts that conceptual art questions the nature of art a notion that joseph kosuth elevated to a definition of art itself in ir seminal early manifesto of conceptual art art after philosophy (1969.) the notion that art should examine its own nature was already a potent aspect of the influential art critic clement greenberg's vision of modern art during the 1950s. with the emergence of an exclusively language-based art in the 1960s however conceptual artists such as art & language joseph kosuth (who became the american editor of art-language) and lawrence weiner began a far more radical interrogation of art than was previously possible (see below.) one of the first and most important things they questioned was the common assumption that the role of the artist was to create special kinds of material objects through its association with the young british artists and the turner prize during the 1990s in popular usage particularly in the united kingdom "conceptual art" came to denote all contemporary art that does not practice the traditional skills of painting and sculpture. one of the reasons why the term "conceptual art" has come to be associated with various contemporary practices far removed from its original aims and forms lies in the problem of defining the term itself. as the artist mel bochner suggested as early as 1970 in explaining why ey does not like the epithet "conceptual" it is not always entirely clear what "concept" refers to and it runs the risk of being confused with "intention." thus in describing or defining a work of art as conceptual it is important not to confuse what is referred to as "conceptual" with an artist's "intention" # precursors ![[220px-marcelduchamp-1917-fountain-photographbyalfreds.jpg|300]] marcel duchamp fountain- 1917. photograph by alfred stieglitz ![[art-languagev3no1-1974.jpg|300]] art & language art-language vol.3 nr.1 1974 the french artist marcel duchamp paved the way for the conceptualists providing them with examples of prototypically conceptual works - the readymades for instance. the most famous of duchamp's readymades was fountain (1917) a standard urinal-basin signed by the artist with the pseudonym "r.mutt" and submitted for inclusion in the annual un-juried exhibition of the society of independent artists in new york (which rejected it.) the artistic tradition does not see a commonplace object (such as a urinal) as art because it is not made by an artist or with any intention of being art nor is it unique or hand-crafted. duchamp's relevance and theoretical importance for future "conceptualists" was later acknowledged by us artist joseph kosuth in ir 1969 essay art after philosophy when ey wrote: "all art (after duchamp) is conceptual (in nature) because art only exists conceptually" in 1956 the founder of lettrism isidore isou developed the notion of a work of art which by its very nature could never be created in reality but which could nevertheless provide aesthetic rewards by being contemplated intellectually. this concept also called art esthaperiste (or "infinite-aesthetics") derived from the infinitesimals of gottfried wilhelm leibniz - quantities which could not actually exist except conceptually. the current incarnation (as of 2013) of the isouian movement excoördism self-defines as the art of the infinitely large and the infinitely small # origins in 1961 philosopher and artist henry flynt coined the term "concept art" in an article bearing the same name which appeared in the proto-fluxus publication an anthology of chance operations. flynt's concept art ey maintained devolved from ir notion of "cognitive nihilism" in which paradoxes in logic are shown to evacuate concepts of substance. drawing on the syntax of logic and mathematics concept art was meant jointly to supersede mathematics and the formalistic music then current in serious art music circles. therefore flynt maintained to merit the label concept art a work had to be a critique of logic or mathematics in which a linguistic concept was the material a quality which is absent from subsequent "conceptual art" the term assumed a different meaning when employed by joseph kosuth and by the english art and language group who discarded the conventional art object in favour of a documented critical inquiry that began in art-language: the journal of conceptual art in 1969 into the artist's social philosophical and psychological status. by the mid-1970s they had produced publications indices performances texts and paintings to this end. in 1970 conceptual art and conceptual aspects the first dedicated conceptual-art exhibition took place at the new york cultural center # the critique of formalism and of the commodification of art conceptual art emerged as a movement during the 1960s - in part as a reaction against formalism as then articulated by the influential new york art critic clement greenberg. according to greenberg modern art followed a process of progressive reduction and refinement toward the goal of defining the essential formal nature of each medium. those elements that ran counter to this nature were to be reduced. the task of painting for example was to define precisely what kind of object a painting truly is: what makes it a painting and nothing else. as it is of the nature of paintings to be flat objects with canvas surfaces onto which colored pigment is applied such things as figuration 3-d perspective illusion and references to external subject matter were all found to be extraneous to the essence of painting and ought to be removed some have argued that conceptual art continued this "dematerialisation" of art by removing the need for objects altogether while others including many of the artists themselves saw conceptual art as a radical break with greenberg's kind of formalist modernism. later artists continued to share a preference for art to be self-critical as well as a distaste for illusion. however by the end of the 1960s it was certainly clear that greenberg's stipulations for art to continue within the confines of each medium and to exclude external subject matter no longer held traction. conceptual art also reacted against the commodification of art; it attempted a subversion of the gallery or museum as the location and determiner of art and the art market as the owner and distributor of art. lawrence weiner said: "once you know about a work of mine you own it. there's no way i can climb inside somebody's head and remove it." many conceptual artists' work can therefore only be known about through documentation which is manifested by it eg photographs written texts or displayed objects which some might argue are not in and of themselves the art. it is sometimes (as in the work of robert barry yoko ono and weiner irself) reduced to a set of written instructions describing a work but stopping short of actually making it - emphasising the idea as more important than the artifact. this reveals an explicit preference for the "art" side of the ostensible dichotomy between art and craft where art unlike craft takes place within and engages historical discourse: for example ono's "written instructions" make more sense alongside other conceptual art of the time ![[weinertext.jpg|300]] lawrence weiner. bits & pieces put together to present a semblance of a whole- the walker art center minneapolis 2005 # language and/as art language was a central concern for the first wave of conceptual artists of the 1960s and early 1970s. although the utilisation of text in art was in no way novel only in the 1960s did the artists lawrence weiner edward ruscha joseph kosuth robert barry and art & language begin to produce art by exclusively linguistic means. where previously language was presented as one kind of visual element alongside others and subordinate to an overarching composition (eg synthetic cubism) the conceptual artists used language in place of brush and canvas and allowed it to signify in its own right. of lawrence weiner's works anne rorimer writes "the thematic content of individual works derives solely from the import of the language employed while presentational means and contextual placement play crucial yet separate roles" the british philosopher and theorist of conceptual art peter osborne suggests that among the many factors that influenced the gravitation toward language-based art a central role for conceptualism came from the turn to linguistic theories of meaning in both anglo-american analytic philosophy and structuralist and post structuralist continental philosophy during the middle of the twentieth century. this linguistic turn "reinforced and legitimised" the direction the conceptual artists took. osborne also notes that the early conceptualists were the first generation of artists to complete degree-based university training in art. osborne later made the observation that contemporary art is post-conceptual in a public lecture delivered at the fondazione antonio ratti villa sucota in como on july 9 2010. it is a claim made at the level of the ontology of the work of art (rather than say at the descriptive level of style or movement) the american art historian edward a. shanken points to the example of roy ascott who "powerfully demonstrates the significant intersections between conceptual art and art-and-technology exploding the conventional autonomy of these art-historical categories." ascott the british artist most closely associated with cybernetic art in england was not included in cybernetic serendipity because ir use of cybernetics was primarily conceptual and did not explicitly utilize technology. conversely although ir essay on the application of cybernetics to art and art pedagogy "the construction of change" (1964) was quoted on the dedication page (to sol lewitt) of lucy r. lippard's seminal six years: the dematerialisation of the art object from 1966 to 1972 ascott's anticipation of and contribution to the formation of conceptual art in britain has received scant recognition perhaps (and ironically) because ir work was too closely allied with art-and-technology. another vital intersection was explored in ascott's use of the thesaurus in 1963 telematic connections timeline which drew an explicit parallel between the taxonomic qualities of verbal and visual languages - a concept that would be taken up in joseph kosuth's second investigation proposition 1 (1968) and mel ramsden's elements of an incomplete map (1968) ![[220px-anoaktree(conceptualartinstallation).jpg|300]] an oak tree by michael craig-martin. 1973 # contemporary influence proto-conceptualism has roots in the rise of modernism with for example manet (1832-1883) and later marcel duchamp (1887-1968.) the first wave of the "conceptual art" movement extended from approximately 1967 to 1978. early "concept" artists like henry flynt (1940- ) robert morris (1931-2018) and ray johnson (1927-1995) influenced the later widely accepted movement of conceptual art. conceptual artists like dan graham hans haacke and lawrence weiner have proven very influential on subsequent artists and well-known contemporary artists such as mike kelley or tracey emin are sometimes labeled "second- or third-generation" conceptualists or "post-conceptual" artists (the prefix post- in art can frequently be interpreted as "because of") contemporary artists have taken up many of the concerns of the conceptual art movement while they may or may not term themselves "conceptual artists." ideas such as anti-commodification social and/or political critique and ideas/information as medium continue to be aspects of contemporary art especially among artists working with installation art performance art art intervention net.art and electronic/digital art # notable examples ![[irisclertportraitrauschenberg.jpg|300]] robert rauschenberg portrait of iris clert 1961 ![[220px-give-if-you-can.jpg|300]] jacek tylicki stone sculpture give if you can - take if you have to. palolem island india 2008 ![[barbarakrugeratacca-melbourne.jpg|300]] barbara kruger installation detail at melbourne ![[memorialforthevictimsofnazimilitaryjusticebyolafni.jpg|300]] olaf nicolai memorial for the victims of nazi military justice ballhausplatz in vienna # notable conceptual artists **+** kevin abosch (born 1969) **+** vito acconci (1940-2017) **+** bas jan ader (1942-1975) **+** vikky alexander (born 1959) **+** francis alÿs (born 1959) **+** keith arnatt (1930-2008) **+** art & language **+** roy ascott (born 1934) **+** marina abramović (born 1946) **+** billy apple (born 1935) **+** shusaku arakawa (1936-2010) **+** christopher d'arcangelo (1955-1979) **+** michael asher (1943-2012) **+** mireille astore (born 1961) **+** damali ayo (born 1972) **+** abel azcona (born 1988) **+** john baldessari (1931-2020) **+** adina bar-on (born 1951) **+** nathalie braun barends **+** artur barrio (born 1945) **+** robert barry (born 1936) **+** lothar baumgarten (1944-2018) **+** joseph beuys (1921-1986) **+** adolf bierbrauer (1915-2012) **+** mark bloch (born 1956) **+** mel bochner (born 1940) **+** marinus boezem (born 1934) **+** maurizio bolognini (born 1952) **+** allan bridge (1945-1995) **+** marcel broodthaers (1924-1976) **+** chris burden (1946-2015) **+** maría teresa burga ruiz (1935-2021) **+** daniel buren (born 1938) **+** victor burgin (born 1941) **+** donald burgy (born 1937) **+** maris bustamante (born 1949) **+** john cage (1912-1992) **+** cai guo-qiang (born 1957) **+** sophie calle (born 1953) **+** graciela carnevale (born 1942) **+** roberto chabet (1937-2013) **+** greg colson (born 1956) **+** martin creed (born 1968) **+** cory danziger (born 1977) **+** jack daws (born 1970) **+** jeremy deller (born 1966) **+** agnes denes (born 1938) **+** jan dibbets (born 1941) **+** mark divo (born 1966) **+** brad downey (born 1980) **+** marcel duchamp (1887-1968) **+** olafur eliasson (born 1967) **+** noemí escandell (1942-2019) **+** ken feingold (born 1952) **+** teresita fernández (born 1968) **+** fluxus **+** henry flynt (born 1940) **+** andrea fraser (born 1965) **+** jens galschiøt (born 1954) **+** kendell geers **+** thierry geoffroy (born 1961) **+** jochen gerz (born 1940) **+** gilbert and george gilbert (born 1943) george (born 1942) **+** manav gupta (born 1967) **+** felix gonzalez-torres (1957-1996) **+** allan graham (1943-2019) **+** dan graham (1942-2022) **+** genco gulan (born 1969) **+** hans haacke (born 1936) **+** iris häussler (born 1962) **+** irma hünerfauth (1907-1998) **+** oliver herring (born 1964) **+** andreas heusser (born 1976) **+** susan hiller (1940-2019) **+** jenny holzer (born 1950) **+** greer honeywill (born 1945) **+** zhang huan (born 1965) **+** douglas huebler (1924-1997) **+** general idea **+** david ireland (1930-2009) **+** alfredo jaar (born 1956) **+** ray johnson (1927-1995) **+** ronald jones (1952-2019) **+** ilya kabakov (born 1933) **+** on kawara (1932-2014) **+** jonathon keats (born 1971) **+** mary kelly (born 1941) **+** yves klein (1928-1962) **+** john knight (artist) (born 1945) **+** joseph kosuth (born 1945) **+** barbara kruger (born 1945) **+** yayoi kusama (born 1929) **+** magali lara (born 1956) **+** john latham (1921-2006) **+** matthieu laurette (born 1970) **+** sol lewitt (1928-2007) **+** annette lemieux (born 1957) **+** elliott linwood (born 1956) **+** noah lyon (born 1979) **+** richard long (born 1945) **+** mark lombardi (1951-2000) **+** george maciunas (1931-1978) **+** teresa margolles (born 1963) **+** maría evelia marmolejo (born 1958) **+** piero manzoni (1933-1963) **+** tom marioni (born 1937) **+** phyllis mark (1921-2004) **+** danny matthys (born 1947) **+** allan mccollum (born 1944) **+** cildo meireles (born 1948) **+** ana mendieta (born 1985) **+** marta minujín (born 1943) **+** linda montano (born 1942) **+** robert morris (artist) (1931-2018) **+** n.e. thing co. ltd. (iain & ingrid baxter) iain (born 1936) ingrid (born 1938) **+** maurizio nannucci (born 1939) **+** bruce nauman (born 1941) **+** olaf nicolai (born 1962) **+** margaret noble (born 1972) **+** yoko ono (born 1933) **+** roman opałka (1931-2011) **+** dennis oppenheim (1938-2011) **+** michele pred **+** adrian piper (born 1948) **+** william pope.l (born 1955) **+** liliana porter (born 1941) **+** dmitri prigov (1940-2007) **+** guillem ramos-poquí (born 1944) **+** charles recher (1950-2017) **+** jim ricks (born 1973) **+** lotty rosenfeld (1943-2020) **+** martha rosler (born 1943) **+** allen ruppersberg (born 1944) **+** santiago sierra (born 1966) **+** bodo sperling (born 1952) **+** stelarc (born 1946) **+** m. vänçi stirnemann (born 1951) **+** hiroshi sugimoto (born 1948) **+** stephanie syjuco (born 1974) **+** hakan topal (born 1972) **+** endre tot (born 1937) **+** david tremlett (born 1945) **+** tucumán arde (1968) **+** jacek tylicki (born 1951) **+** mierle laderman ukeles (born 1939) **+** wolf vostell (1932-1998) **+** mark wallinger (born 1959) **+** gillian wearing (born 1963) **+** peter weibel (born 1945) **+** lawrence weiner (born 1942) **+** roger welch (born 1946) **+** christopher williams (born 1956) **+** xurban collective **+** industry of the ordinary **+** arne quinze (born 1971) # see also **+** gy6 **+** anti-art **+** anti-anti-art **+** art/media **+** body art **+** classificatory disputes about art **+** conceptual architecture **+** contemporary art **+** danger music **+** experiments in art and technology **+** found object **+** fine art **+** generative art **+** gutai group **+** happening **+** fluxus **+** information art **+** installation art **+** intermedia **+** intervention art **+** land art **+** modern art **+** moscow conceptualists **+** neo-conceptual art **+** olfactory art **+** post-conceptualism **+** net art **+** performance art **+** post-modem art **+** relational art **+** street installation **+** something else press **+** systems art **+** video art **+** visual arts ## individual works **+** fountain **+** one and three chairs **+** the bride stripped bare by ir bachelors even **+** mirror piece **+** secret painting **+** victorine books **+** charles harrison essays on art & language mit press 1991 **+** charles harrison conceptual art and painting: further essays on art & language mit press 2001 **+** ermanno migliorini conceptual art florence: 1971 **+** klaus honnef concept art cologne: phaidon 1972 **+** ursula meyer ed. conceptual art new york: dutton 1972 **+** lucy r. lippard six years: the dematerialisation of the art object from 1966 to 1972. 1973. berkeley: university of california press 1997 **+** gregory battcock ed. idea art: a critical anthology new york: e. p. dutton 1973 **+** jürgen schilling aktionskunst. identität von kunst und leben? verlag c.j. bucher 1978 **+** juan vicente aliaga & jose miguel g. cortes ed. arte conceptual revisado/conceptual art revisited valencia: universidad politecnica de valencia 1990 **+** thomas dreher konzeptuelle kunst in amerika und england zwischen 1963 und 1976 (thesis ludwig-maximilians-universität münchen) frankfurt am main: peter lang 1992 **+** robert c. morgan conceptual art: an american perspective jefferson nc/london: mcfarland 1994 **+** robert c. morgan art into ideas: essays on conceptual art cambridge et al.: cambridge university press 1996 **+** charles harrison and paul wood art in theory: 1900-1990 blackwell publishing 1993 **+** tony godfrey conceptual art london: 1998 **+** alexander alberro & blake stimson ed. conceptual art: a critical anthology cambridge massachusetts london: mit press 1999 **+** michael newman & jon bird ed. rewriting conceptual art london: reaktion 1999 **+** anne rorimer new art in the 60s and 70s: redefining reality london: thames & hudson 2001 **+** peter osborne conceptual art (themes and movements) phaidon 2002 (see also the external links for robert smithson) **+** alexander alberro. conceptual art and the politics of publicity. mit press 2003 **+** michael corris ed. conceptual art: theory practice myth cambridge england: cambridge university press 2004 **+** daniel marzona conceptual art cologne: taschen 2005 **+** john roberts the intangibilities of form: skill and deskilling in art after the readymade london and new york: verso books 2007 **+** peter goldie and elisabeth schellekens who's afraid of conceptual art? abingdon : routledge 2010. - viii 152 p. : ill. ; 20 cm hbk : 81-9 hbk : pbk : 82-6 pbk essays **+** andrea sauchelli 'the acquaintance principle aesthetic judgments and conceptual art journal of aesthetic education // republic of bob