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University of Southampton Faculty of Arts and Humanities Winchester School of Art The Use of Tactical Absurdity in (Post-)Conceptual Art Practice by Dave Ball Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Sep 2020 1 University of Southampton Abstract Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Winchester School of Art The Use of Tactical Absurdity in (Post-)Conceptual Art Practice by Dave Ball The ‘tactical absurdity’ forwarded in this research emerged out of my own practice. I, like many other artists working in a conceptual tradition, was producing work that appeared to operate through some sort of absurdity, and with some sort of intentionality. There was, however, almost nothing in the literature that could account for this approach. The term ‘absurdity’ is deployed by artists, critics, and curators alike with little precision or consistency; usages borrowed from literature or existential philosophy sit alongside everyday understandings, and frequently fail to discriminate between absurdity as a formal device and absurdity as a subject-matter. Its meaning is treated as self-evident. Adopting an emergent and autoethnographic practice-based methodology, this research furnishes a practical and theoretical understanding of the operation of tactical absurdity deployed as a device in (post-)conceptual art practice. Over the course of the research, five objectives are achieved: (i) to define the concept of absurdity; (ii) to establish a context for the use of tactical absurdity in contemporary (post-)conceptual art practice; (iii) to develop a body of work that operates through tactical absurdity; (iv) to account for its emergence within a practice; and (v) to forward a theoretical analysis of its functionality and value modelled through notions of relativity, generativity, and criticality. Three case studies address these issues via their own thematically distinct contexts, exploring practically the forms that a tactically absurd approach might take, and the ways it might function as a tool of engagement. Drawing upon a number of forays into theory, and aligning itself with eight variants of tactical absurdity identified within (post-)conceptual art practice, the analysis of the works produced offers an understanding of tactical absurdity that sees it as valuable through its generativity, its criticality, and its opposition to preexisting interpretative and discursive frameworks. The tactical absurdity accounted for in the research distances itself from a more familiar ‘mannerist’ absurdity, which is seen to have relinquished its potency. The research provides a platform for further work on the use of tactical absurdity as a tool of engagement with specific contemporary issues. 3 Contents LIST OF FIGURES ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- page 7 DETAILS OF PRACTICAL WORK ----------------------------------------------------------------- 9 DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP -------------------------------------------------------------- 10 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11 CHAPTER 1 | INTRODUCTION ------------------------------------------------------------------ 13 1 I know what absurdity is, and it’s not that! ----------------------------------------------- 14 2 Context: absurdity deployed within a (post-)conceptual art practice ------------------- 16 3 Methodological reflections ---------------------------------------------------------------- 19 4 Terminology: absurdity, tactics, and tactical absurdity ---------------------------------- 22 5 Forays into theory -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24 6 Research objectives ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 26 7 Structure of thesis -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 28 CHAPTER 2 | LITERATURE REVIEW ----------------------------------------------------------- 31 1 Surveying the field, or, trying to make sense of absurdity -------------------------------- 32 2 Absurdity as a concept --------------------------------------------------------------------- 33 2.1 Existential absurdity -------------------------------------------------------------- 33 2.2 Literary absurdity ----------------------------------------------------------------- 34 3 Absurdity in contemporary art ------------------------------------------------------------ 36 3.1 Overview --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 36 3.2 Characteristics and variants ------------------------------------------------------ 40 3.2.1 Immediately discernible (comic) incongruity ------------------------- 40 3.2.2 Complete absence of logic or sense, bizarreness, inexplicableness --- 42 3.2.3 Fallacious reasoning ----------------------------------------------------- 43 3.2.4 Breaching norms of social behaviour ---------------------------------- 44 3.2.5 Inverting and subverting norms of social representation ------------- 46 3.2.6 Violating generic expectations (in art, or other cultural forms) ------ 47 3.2.7 Undermining the serious, the respected, and the authoritative ------ 48 3.2.8 Pointedly purposeless play and gratuitous ingenuity ----------------- 50 4 Theoretical excursion I : absurdity as a relative concept --------------------------------- 51 4.1 What absurdity is not ------------------------------------------------------------- 51 4.2 Comic and non-comic incongruity ---------------------------------------------- 55 4.3 An “island” of absurdity? --------------------------------------------------------- 57 5 Theoretical excursion II : absurdity and generativity ------------------------------------- 59 5.1 Non-discursive practice and the emergence of the new ------------------------ 59 5.2 Rhetorical irony and non-rhetorical humour ----------------------------------- 60 5.3 The as-yet-unspeakable ----------------------------------------------------------- 63 6 Theoretical excursion III : absurdity and criticality -------------------------------------- 64 6.1 Agitation: from provocative shock to undecidable critique -------------------- 64 6.2 Criticality, uselessness, and the disruptive power of absurdity ----------------- 65 6.3 Tactics, wit, and non-militant criticality ----------------------------------------- 67 7 When absurdity becomes meaningful? --------------------------------------------------- 69 5 CHAPTER 3 | CASE STUDY ONE: SEARCHING FOR THE WELSH LANDSCAPE --------- 77 1 Genesis -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 78 1.1 Overview of project --------------------------------------------------------------- 78 1.2 Context and development -------------------------------------------------------- 78 2 Description of works ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 82 2.1 The Mountains of Wales are the Mountains of Wales -------------------------- 82 2.2 Hill Walking ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 83 2.3 An Artist in Search of an Epiphany ---------------------------------------------- 84 2.4 Arms Reaching, Smiling Sweetly ------------------------------------------------- 85 3 Tactically absurd practice ------------------------------------------------------------------ 86 3.1 General intentions: disrupting the limitations of convention ------------------ 86 3.2 Specific instances of implementation -------------------------------------------- 88 3.2.1 I know it doesn’t exist, but I’m going to look for it anyway: pursuing the unattainable ------------------------- 89 3.2.2 Soggy trousers and the sublime: incongruity as a destabilisation of meaning ------------------------------------------ 90 3.2.3 Critical failure ------------------------------------------------------------ 91 4 Reflections ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 93 4.1 Holes in the safety-net of absurdity? --------------------------------------------- 93 4.2 Generative disruption and the deleteriousness of certainty -------------------- 96 CHAPTER 4 | CASE STUDY TWO: A TO Z ---------------------------------------------------- 101 1 Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 102 { Interlude } ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 103 2 The premise, the gag, and endurance art ----------------------------------------------- 104 { Interlude } ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 106 3 Absurdity and rules: the spinning