Post-Minimalist Video Artist Process Artist Performance Artist

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Post-Minimalist Video Artist Process Artist Performance Artist Alec Soth/Magnum Photos American, born 1941 Bruce Nauman is one of the most prominent, influential, and versatile Amer- ican artists to emerge in the 1960s. Although his work is not easily defined by its materials, styles, or themes, sculpture is central to it, and it is charac- teristic of Post-Minimalism in the way it blends ideas from Conceptualism, Minimalism, performance art, and video art. The revival of interest in Mar- cel Duchamp in the 1960s also clearly influenced Nauman in various ways, from encouraging his love of wordplay to infusing his work with a satirical and sometimes absurdist tone. Despite this, he has continued to view his art less as a playful or creative enterprise than as a serious research endeav- or, one he likes to carry out in seclusion from the art world, one that is shaped by his interests in ethics and politics. In 2018/2019, The Museum of Modern Art presented the most comprehensive exhibition of the artist’s work ever assembled; it comprised the whole 6th floor of MOMA and the entirety of MOMA PS1 in Queens. Bruce Nauman was born in 1941 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He studied art, mathematics, and physics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison from 1960 to 1964. He went on to study at the University of California at Da- vis, graduating with an MFA in 1966. In 1964, Nauman gave up painting and began experimenting with sculpture and Performance art and film projects. [Sources: TheArtStory.org, Guggenheim.com] Selected Public Collections: Post-Minimalist • Museum of Modern Art (New York, New York) • Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York, New York) Video Artist • Art Institute of Chicago (Illinois) Process Artist • Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, Minnesota) • Kunstmuseum Basel (Switzerland) Performance Artist • Tate Modern (London, England).
Recommended publications
  • Room to Rise: the Lasting Impact of Intensive Teen Programs in Art Museums
    ROOM the lasting impact of intensive teen programs in art museums to rise Room to Rise: The Lasting Impact of Intensive Teen Programs in Art Museums Danielle Linzer and Mary Ellen Munley Editor: Ellen Hirzy Whitney Museum of American Art, New York Copyright © 2015 by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publisher. Whitney Museum of American Art 99 Gansevoort Street New York, NY 10014 whitney.org Generous funding for this publication has been provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Project Director Danielle Linzer Lead Researcher Mary Ellen Munley Editor Ellen Hirzy Copyeditor Thea Hetzner Designers Hilary Greenbaum and Virginia Chow, Graphic Design Department, Whitney Museum of American Art ISBN: 978–0–87427–159–1 Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file with the Library of Congress. Printed and bound by Lulu.com Front cover: Youth Insights, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (top); Teen Council, Museum of Contemporary Arts Houston (bottom) Back cover: Walker Art Center Teen Arts Council, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (top); MOCA and Louis Vuitton Young Arts Program, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (bottom) PREFACE 6 INTRODUCTION 8 1: DESIGNING 16 THE STUDY 2: CHANGING LIVES 22 3: CHANGING 58 MUSEUMS 4: SHAPING OUR 64 PRACTICE PROGRAM PROFILES 76 NOTES 86 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 90 Room to Rise: The Lasting Impact of Intensive 4 Teen Programs in Art Museums PREFACE ADAM D.
    [Show full text]
  • All These Post-1965 Movements Under the “Conceptual Art” Umbrella
    All these post-1965 movements under the “conceptual art” umbrella- Postminimalism or process art, Site Specific works, Conceptual art movement proper, Performance art, Body Art and all combinations thereof- move the practice of art away from art-as-autonomous object, and art-as-commodification, and towards art-as-experience, where subject becomes object, hierarchy between subject and object is critiqued and intersubjectivity of artist, viewer and artwork abounds! Bruce Nauman, Live-Taped Video Corridor, 1970, Conceptual Body art, Postmodern beginning “As opposed to being viewers of the work, once again they are viewers in it.” (“Subject as Object,” p. 199) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IrqXiqgQBo A Postmodern beginning: Body art and Performance art as critique of art-as-object recap: -Bruce Nauman -Vito Acconci focus on: -Chris Burden -Richard Serra -Carolee Schneemann - Hannah Wilke Chapter 3, pp. 114-132 (Carolee Schneemann and Hannah Wilke, First Generation Feminism) Bruce Nauman, Bouncing Two Balls Between the Floor and Ceiling with Changing Rhythms, 1967-1968. 16mm film transferred to video (black and white, sound), 10 min. Body art/Performance art, Postmodern beginning- performed elementary gestures in the privacy of his studio and documented them in a variety of media Vito Acconci, Following Piece, 1969, Body art, Performance art- outside the studio, Postmodern beginning Video documentation of the event Print made from bite mark Vito Acconci, Trademarks, 1970, Body art, Performance art, Postmodern beginning Video and Print documentation
    [Show full text]
  • VIDEO and ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM Hermine Freed
    VIDEO AND ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM Hermine Freed If the content of formalist art is form, then the forms in a video whereas others view us through our behavior. Through video, art work are a function of its content. Just as formal similari- we can view our behavior and personal interactions removed ties can be found in minimalist sculptures or abstract expres- from immediate feelings and experiences . Laing speaks of the sionist paintings, videotapes tend to be stylistically unique, ego boundary as the extension between man and society. The although there are likely to be conceptual similarities amongst works of Acconci, Benglis, Campus, Holt, Jonas, Morris, Nau- them. These similarities often arise out of inherent qualities in man, Serra and myself operate on that boundary line. the medium which impress different artists simultaneously . If Peter Campus and Bruce Nauman have both made live minimalist sculptors have explored the nature of the sculptural video installations which involve the viewer directly. In Cam- object, then video artists tend to explore the nature of the pus' Shadow Projection the viewer sees himself projected on a video image. As the range of possibilities is broad, so are the screen from behind with a shadow of his image superimposed sources, ideas, images, techniques, and intentions. Neverthe- over the enlarged color image. He stands between the screen less, similarities can be found in tapes of artists as seemingly and the camera (the interface between seer and seen), turns to dissimilar as Campus, Nauman, and Holt, and some of those see himself, and is frustrated because he is confronted with the similarities can be related to their (unintentional) resemblance camera and can never see his image from the front.
    [Show full text]
  • Resource What Is Modern and Contemporary Art
    WHAT IS– – Modern and Contemporary Art ––– – –––– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – ––– – – – – ? www.imma.ie T. 00 353 1 612 9900 F. 00 353 1 612 9999 E. [email protected] Royal Hospital, Military Rd, Kilmainham, Dublin 8 Ireland Education and Community Programmes, Irish Museum of Modern Art, IMMA THE WHAT IS– – IMMA Talks Series – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – ? There is a growing interest in Contemporary Art, yet the ideas and theo- retical frameworks which inform its practice can be complex and difficult to access. By focusing on a number of key headings, such as Conceptual Art, Installation Art and Performance Art, this series of talks is intended to provide a broad overview of some of the central themes and directions in Modern and Contemporary Art. This series represents a response to a number of challenges. Firstly, the 03 inherent problems and contradictions that arise when attempting to outline or summarise the wide-ranging, constantly changing and contested spheres of both art theory and practice, and secondly, the use of summary terms to describe a range of practices, many of which emerged in opposition to such totalising tendencies. CONTENTS Taking these challenges into account, this talks series offers a range of perspectives, drawing on expertise and experience from lecturers, artists, curators and critical writers and is neither definitive nor exhaustive. The inten- What is __? talks series page 03 tion is to provide background and contextual information about the art and Introduction: Modern and Contemporary Art page 04 artists featured in IMMA’s exhibitions and collection in particular, and about How soon was now? What is Modern and Contemporary Art? Contemporary Art in general, to promote information sharing, and to encourage -Francis Halsall & Declan Long page 08 critical thinking, debate and discussion about art and artists.
    [Show full text]
  • Off Museum! Performance Art That Turned the Street Into 'Theatre,' Circa 1964 Tokyo
    Performance Paradigm 2 (March 2006) Off Museum! Performance Art That Turned the Street into ‘Theatre,’ Circa 1964 Tokyo Midori Yoshimoto Performance art was an integral part of the urban fabric of Tokyo in the late 1960s. The so- called angura, the Japanese abbreviation for ‘underground’ culture or subculture, which mainly referred to film and theatre, was in full bloom. Most notably, Tenjô Sajiki Theatre, founded by the playwright and film director Terayama Shûji in 1967, and Red Tent, founded by Kara Jûrô also in 1967, ruled the underground world by presenting anti-authoritarian plays full of political commentaries and sexual perversions. The butoh dance, pioneered by Hijikata Tatsumi in the late 1950s, sometimes spilled out onto streets from dance halls. Students’ riots were ubiquitous as well, often inciting more physically violent responses from the state. Street performances, however, were introduced earlier in the 1960s by artists and groups, who are often categorised under Anti-Art, such as the collectives Neo Dada (originally known as Neo Dadaism Organizer; active 1960) and Zero Jigen (Zero Dimension; active 1962-1972). In the beginning of Anti-Art, performances were often by-products of artists’ non-conventional art-making processes in their rebellion against the artistic institutions. Gradually, performance art became an autonomous artistic expression. This emergence of performance art as the primary means of expression for vanguard artists occurred around 1964. A benchmark in this aesthetic turning point was a group exhibition and outdoor performances entitled Off Museum. The recently unearthed film, Aru wakamono-tachi (Some Young People), created by Nagano Chiaki for the Nippon Television Broadcasting in 1964, documents the performance portion of Off Museum, which had been long forgotten in Japanese art history.
    [Show full text]
  • Is Marina Abramović the World's Best-Known Living Artist? She Might
    Abrams, Amah-Rose. “Marina Abramovic: A Woman’s World.” Sotheby’s. May 10, 2021 Is Marina Abramović the world’s best-known living artist? She might well be. Starting out in the radical performance art scene in the early 1970s, Abramović went on to take the medium to the masses. Working with her collaborator and partner Ulay through the 1980s and beyond, she developed long durational performance art with a focus on the body, human connection and endurance. In The Lovers, 1998, she and Ulay met in the middle of the Great Wall of China and ended their relationship. For Balkan Baroque, 1997, she scrubbed clean a huge number of cow bones, winning the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale for her work. And in The Artist is Present 2010, performed at MoMA in New York, she sat for eight hours a day engaging in prolonged eye contact over three months – it was one of the most popular exhibits in the museum’s history. Since then, she has continued to raise the profile of artists around the world by founding the Marina Abramović Institute, her organisation aimed at expanding the accessibility of time- based work and creating new possibilities for collaboration among thinkers of all fields. MARINA ABRAMOVIĆ / ULAY, THE LOVERS, MARCH–JUNE 1988, A PERFORMANCE THAT TOOK PLACE ACROSS 90 DAYS ON THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA. © MARINA ABRAMOVIĆ AND ULAY, COURTESY: THE MARINA ABRAMOVIĆ ARCHIVES / DACS 2021. Fittingly for someone whose work has long engaged with issues around time, Marina Abramović has got her lockdown routine down. She works out, has a leisurely breakfast, works during the day and in the evening, she watches films.
    [Show full text]
  • Robert Morris, Minimalism, and the 1960S
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 1988 The Politics of Experience: Robert Morris, Minimalism, and the 1960s Maurice Berger Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1646 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] INFORMATION TO USERS The most advanced technology has been used to photograph and reproduce this manuscript from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand corner and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book.
    [Show full text]
  • March 2008 Cms Public File Report
    Minnesota Public Radio - Classical Stations July 2007 - March 2008 KBPR 90.7FM, Brainerd Bemidji Area Chamber of Commerce Charter Fiberlink, LLC/Charter Business Cragun's Golf and Conference Resort Crow Wing Power Evergreen Press/Lake Country Journal Magazine Fifth Avenue Furniture Floor to Ceiling Store Good Samaritan Communities-Brainerd/Pine River Kodiak Investment Management Kurilla Real Estate Legacy Chorale of Greater Minnesota, The Madhatters Community Theatre Minnesota Heritage House Inc./Pequot Lakes Loc. Minnesota Power Nature's Touch Floral & Gift New York Mills Regional Cultural Center Nisswa Tax Service Nor-Son Incorporated Northern PCS Old Wadena Society Rainy Days Bookstore Reif Center, The St. Joseph's Medical Center/Brainerd Medical Ce Staples Area Men's Chorus Staples Motley Area Arts Council The Tree House KCCM Moorhead/Fargo A Center for the Arts Audrey and Dick Kloubec Avis Rent a Car Bemidji Area Chamber of Commerce Bernie's Wines and Liquors Boulger Funeral Home Braaten Cabinets Bursch Travel American Express-2 Celebration of Women Clay County Historical Society Country Insurance & Financial Services Eventide F/M Communiversity Fargo Moorhead Opera Fargo Moorhead Symphony Orchestra Fargo-Moorhead Area Youth Symphonies Harmon Glass Doctor Heritage Hjemkomst Interpretive Center Historic Holmes Theatre, The Hornbacher's Foods Hotel Donaldson ICS Energy Solutions Innovis Health Korsmo Funeral Service Krekelberg & Skonseng, PLLP Life's Footprint Michael J Burns Architects Minnesota Motor Company Moorhead Public Service
    [Show full text]
  • The Performativity of Performance Documentation
    THE PERFORMATIVITY OF PERFORMANCE DOCUMENTATION Philip Auslander onsider two familiar images from the history of performance and body art: one from the documentation of Chris Burden’s Shoot (1971), the notori- ous piece for which the artist had a friend shoot him in a gallery, and Yves CKlein’s famous Leap into the Void (1960), which shows the artist jumping out of a second-story window into the street below. It is generally accepted that the first image is a piece of performance documentation, but what is the second? Burden really was shot in the arm during Shoot, but Klein did not really jump unprotected out the window, the ostensible performance documented in his equally iconic image. What difference does it make to our understanding of these images in relation to the concept of performance documentation that one documents a performance that “really” happened while the other does not? I shall return to this question below. As a point of departure for my analysis here, I propose that performance docu- mentation has been understood to encompass two categories, which I shall call the documentary and the theatrical. The documentary category represents the traditional way in which the relationship between performance art and its documentation is conceived. It is assumed that the documentation of the performance event provides both a record of it through which it can be reconstructed (though, as Kathy O’Dell points out, the reconstruction is bound to be fragmentary and incomplete1) and evidence that it actually occurred. The connection between performance and docu- ment is thus thought to be ontological, with the event preceding and authorizing its documentation.
    [Show full text]
  • Fluxus: the Is Gnificant Role of Female Artists Megan Butcher
    Pace University DigitalCommons@Pace Honors College Theses Pforzheimer Honors College Summer 7-2018 Fluxus: The iS gnificant Role of Female Artists Megan Butcher Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/honorscollege_theses Part of the Contemporary Art Commons, and the Other History Commons Recommended Citation Butcher, Megan, "Fluxus: The iS gnificant Role of Female Artists" (2018). Honors College Theses. 178. https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/honorscollege_theses/178 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Pforzheimer Honors College at DigitalCommons@Pace. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors College Theses by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Pace. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Abstract The Fluxus movement of the 1960s and early 1970s laid the groundwork for future female artists and performance art as a medium. However, throughout my research, I have found that while there is evidence that female artists played an important role in this art movement, they were often not written about or credited for their contributions. Literature on the subject is also quite limited. Many books and journals only mention the more prominent female artists of Fluxus, leaving the lesser-known female artists difficult to research. The lack of scholarly discussion has led to the inaccurate documentation of the development of Fluxus art and how it influenced later movements. Additionally, the absence of research suggests that female artists’ work was less important and, consequently, keeps their efforts and achievements unknown. It can be demonstrated that works of art created by little-known female artists later influenced more prominent artists, but the original works have gone unacknowledged.
    [Show full text]
  • Walker Guided Tour Topics and Themes
    Walker Guided Tour Topics and Themes GUIDED TOUR TOPICS For guided tours, please select your topic preference. (Note maximum number of participants.) Gallery Tour (max. 60) Familiarize yourself with contemporary art by exploring works of art in the Walker’s collection. Sculpture Garden Tour (max. 60) Explore concepts such as shape, scale, space, and texture in one of the country’s largest urban sculpture parks. The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden features more than 40 artworks, including the whimsical Pop Art icon Spoonbridge and Cherry by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. Architecture of Expansion (max. 60) These tours introduce visitors to the expanded Walker Art Center through an in-depth exploration of its state-of-the-art spaces and the processes used by the architects Herzog & de Meuron for designing the 2005 building. Special Exhibition (max. may vary) Our special exhibition tours focus on a variety of topics and artists. For more information about exhibitions currently on view, click here: http://schools.walkerart.org/exhibitions.wac. Custom Tour (max. may vary) The tour program will work with you to develop a custom tour based on a theme or topic of particular interest to your group. We will contact you to make arrangements after we receive your request. In addition to a specially tailored topic, your tour can be enriched by an Art Lab or food and drink from D’Amico Modern Events (see additional tour components below). Pre-K Gallery Tour (max. 60) Children explore works of art in the galleries by focusing on basic elements such as color, line, shape, and pattern.
    [Show full text]
  • 2013 MNHS Legacy Report (PDF)
    Minnesota History: Building A Legacy JAnuAry 2013 | Report to the Governor and the Legislature on Funding for History Programs and Projects supported by the Legacy Amendment’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund Table of Contents Letter from the Minnesota Historical Society Director and CEO . 1 Introduction . 2 Feature Stories on FY12–13 History Programs, Partnerships, Grants and Initiatives Then Now Wow Exhibit . 7 Civil War Commemoration . 9 U .S .-Dakota War of 1862 Commemoration . 10 Statewide History Programs . 12 Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grants Highlights . 14 Archaeological Surveys . 16 Minnesota Digital Library . 17 FY12–13 ACHF History Appropriations Language . Grants tab FY12–13 Report of Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grants (Organized by Legislative District) . 19 FY12–13 Report of Statewide History Programs . 57 FY12–13 Report of Statewide History Partnerships . 73 FY12–13 Report of Other Statewide Initiatives Surveys of Historical and Archaeological Sites . 85 Minnesota Digital Library . 86 Civil War Commemoration . 87 Estimated cost of preparing and printing this report (as required by Minn. Stat. § 3.197): $6,413 Upon request this report will be made available in alternate format such as Braille, large print or audio tape. For TTY contact Minnesota Relay Service at 800-627-3529 and ask for the Minnesota Historical Society. For more information or for paper copies of this report contact the Society at: 345 Kellogg Blvd. W., St Paul, MN 55102, 651-259-3000. The 2012 report is available at the Society’s website: legacy.mnhs.org. COVER IMAGE: Kids try plowing at the Oliver H. Kelley Farm in Elk River, June 2012 Letter from the Director and CEO January 15, 2013 As we near the close of the second biennium since the passage of the Legacy Amendment in November 2008, Minnesotans are preserving our past, sharing our state’s stories and connecting to history like never before.
    [Show full text]