MIGRATORY PROJECTS: PRAGMATICS AND NEW CO-EFFICIENCIES IN CONTEMPORARY ART 2003 - 2005 Andrew Sunley Smith A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Fine Arts Faculty of Fine Arts University of New South Wales 1 Research Abstract The thesis aims to examine, document and prove that the core strategies underlying and inherent within contemporary relational art practices stem not only from pragmatic philosophy but also from a number of key artists previously unaddressed within the context of these ideas. This thesis will provide a critical reference and document that previously has not yet existed in any clear form, locating existing literature, ideas and forms of art in linked sequences that collate and cohesively align the recent history, origins and definitions of this type of work. The thesis will demonstrate that co-efficient and relational art, are indeed the forerunners to contemporary pragmatic art forms, but crucially theses above definitions are in fact the constituent sub- categories of the broader aspirational form of egalitarian pragmatic art that we are seeing today. The primary lines of enquiry are to show that American Pragmatism is an essential aspect of relational aesthetics that Nicolas Bourriaud has not examined in his key text. I also wish to prove that American Pragmatism was a major cultural and sociological influence leading to relational aesthetics that Bourriaud neglected to identify. This thesis intends not only to prove the veracity of the above observations but by extension the intentions of this document are also to function as an essential genealogy of the type of artwork that I am discussing, examining and revealing. Contents · Abstract and Introduction 3 · Research Quest 4-5 · Methodology 6-9 · Chapter Abstracts 10-14 Chapters 1. Undercurrents and Relations 15 – 89 The Pre-history of Pragmatic Art and Relational Aesthetics 2. Pragmatism 90 – 119 Revitalisations and Recrudescences 3. Migratory Projects: 120 - 222 Studio Practice – Research Domains 4. Crossflows 223 - 302 Synthesising recent evidential chains of crucial influence 5. The Everyday 303 – 369 Re-engagements with the superstructure 6. Conclusion & Feedback 370 - 393 Feedback Noise and the Empty Lion Cage INTRODUCTION: THE BUZZ OF THE ENGINE 2 Expanding Fields of Practice and Everyday Coefficients in Contemporary Art Through engagement with present social and everyday aesthetic forms, many a contemporary artistic project embodies not only a reinvention and reconfiguration of pragmatism, but also identifies attitudes toward contemporary society and cultural production, that locate combined strategies largely unseen and unused in such amalgamated ways in art before. The distinct use and transformation of everyday frameworks and formats can be seen as a wish to change, question and reveal our learned and naturalised behaviour patterns toward art and certain structures within culture. The expansion and critique of cloistered institutional paradigms and the traditional formal annexation of art, both in concept and material specialisation, are seen to emerge in these artists works in close dialogue and through pragmatic example. In my view, it is the above mentioned that inexorably limits the scope and ability for art to maintain a greater relevance and resonance within the shared current realities of our time. Within the work of an increasing number of artists using what we shall call everyday formats there is an attempt to take ideas to their extreme end with an imperative placed at the end consequences and conclusions of projects. A focus on the production of situations promoting direct social interaction, and a more expansive and active role for art in culture, is revealing the roles and limitations of various agents involved within art. Critiques of consumer capitalism, commodity fetishism, increasing ecological anxiety, the continued prevalence of Modernism, the reliance on service industries, along side a questioning of the world we produce and our role in it, is being highlighted and made transparent in forms of art that are increasingly more agile, unruly and yet more connected. The use of everyday systems and formations in art predominantly represents an openness in attitude, and a willingness to utilise forms directly and flexibly with as little affectation as possible. In short, it means engaging in the use of forms that are widely available, mass produced, familiar and no longer obscure or esoteric. The aesthetic found in this kind of art indicates a new directness and often extreme form of pragmatism so far only momentarily seen and never previously accurately assessed or indeed visually represented. A major problem has occurred in the reception of pragmatics, in that it has never had any clear visual form until now. This thesis asserts this evidence and provides clarity and a visual repertoire that we can see goes far beyond what has always been wrongly described as conceptual art and more recently relational art. THESIS QUEST 3 This thesis aims to examine, document and prove that the core strategies underlying and inherent within contemporary relational art practices stem not only from pragmatic philosophy but also from a number of key artists previously unaddressed within the context of these ideas. The thesis provides the intellectual model and satisfactory account, that values and responds to this type of work evidentially and more accurately through the production of a critical frame of reference and archive, that previously has not yet existed in any clear form. As I have always taken artistic projects to be research domains in them selves. My extended view is that artwork not only operates as, (but is equal to) a critical text and publication. My view is that successful artworks have always operated in this way. Artworks deliver and generate new aesthetics. They contain reactions and sensibilities, which focus, enhance or debase existing precepts and open out far broader and intensive ranges of experiences that directly affect changes in perception. I will demonstrate that co-efficient and relational art, are indeed the forerunners to contemporary pragmatic art forms, and that crucially these above definitions are in fact the constituent sub-categories of the broader aspirational form of egalitarian pragmatic art that we are seeing today. The primary lines of enquiry are to show that American Pragmatism is an essential aspect of relational aesthetics that Nicolas Bourriaud has not examined in his key text1. I also wish to prove that American Pragmatism was a major cultural and sociological influence leading to relational aesthetics that Bourriaud neglected to identify. I intend not only to prove the veracity of the above observations but by extension the intentions of this document are also to function as an essential genealogy of the type of artwork that I am discussing, examining and revealing. My PhD art projects concern only the Pragmatic · What is my art’s use? What is it for? · Can its relevance be extended? What is its relevance to the greater cultural mass? How and in what way does it and can it improve life? · Can subjectivity still exist in Pragmatic work? Can it communicate directly without artifice? · Can it lead by concrete and more altruistic example rather than symbolic representation? · What is the conclusion of these artistic projects? Where can meaning and use be located and be continued after arts exhibition? 1 Nicolas Bourriaud, Relational Aesthetics, Les presses du reel, 1998, 2002 (Translated English) 4 · Can the consequences of art go beyond mere aesthetics? · How does one link and carry pragmatic ideology into the field of art? · Can more pragmatic art be identified through materiality alone? · Can art forms freely migrate and be understood successfully in differing contexts? · Is the concept of migration in its literal and broadest traversal meaning a key concept that structurally underscores both the forms and attitudes of new modes of artwork being produced today? · Can more altruistic forms of art survive and be successfully communicated within a contemporary capitalist cultural situation? · Can art itself combat gaps in knowledge and reduce distancing mechanisms at work in the world of contemporary consumer culture? · Is it possible for me to produce a more holistic form of art experience? · Why is art concerning itself with the production of feedback scenarios? · Can examples of feedback scenarios in art be found beyond that of my own work? · Are everyday forms more communicative in directly conferring pragmatic strategies and feedback attitudes in art? · Why is there currently a lack of critical writing and visual form that delivers and synthesises the history of this field of knowledge? · Why has this type of artwork not been identified correctly and sufficiently written about? Methodology I began my research by wanting to focus predominantly on living artists, writers, curators, theorists and current contemporary cultural producers, in order to synthesise and place the ideas that I was generating, noticing and collecting. My intentional bias was to study only the most recent and unquantified developments in contemporary art. Through my reading and understanding of the cultural shifts that are associatively emerging around me, I intend to deliver new knowledge and information only gained primarily from this position. Inevitably in order to contextualise the work contained in this thesis, existing literature must be thoroughly examined