Leonardo reviews Leonardo reviews Lyotard argued that the postmodern con- connections. Krauss’s point is that Editor-in-Chief: Michael Punt dition is characterized by the end of a Marclay’s efforts build on a history. Managing Editor: Bryony Dalefield “master narrative,” Krauss sees in the Earlier filmmaker efforts to sync sound post-medium condition of contemporary with lip movement are also well known. Associate Editors: Dene Grigar, art a similar coherence. She writes: More recently, Bruce Nauman’s classic Martha Blassnigg, Hannah Drayson piece Lip Sync (1969) alluded to this A full selection of reviews is pub- For the most part, Perpetual Inventory technological development in terms of charts my conviction as a critic that the lished monthly on the LR web site: abandonment of the specific medium video. Nauman held the camera upside <leonardoreviews.mit.edu>. spells the death of serious art . the art- down and focused on a close-up of his ists I observed persevering in the service mouth with his lips and tongue articu- of a medium had abandoned traditional lating the words “lip sync” as the audio supports in favor of strange new appa- track shifted in and out of sync with the ratuses . calling such things “techni- Books cal supports” would, I thought, allay the video. Marclay’s statement, by way of confusion of the use of “medium,” too contrast, offers more of an insinuation ideologically associated as the term is of synchronization than an articulation PerPetuaL inventory with outmoded tradition (p. xiii). of it, developed through using hands by Rosalind E. Krauss. MIT Press, on keyboards, men and women singing, In other words, since contemporary Cambridge, MA, 2010, 336 pp., illus. dancing and noises to create the visual artists are often not medium specific, Trade. ISBN 10: 0262013800; ISBN-13: and sonic collage that unfolds on four looking at art practices requires a 978-0262013802. projection screens. broader framework than the traditional Krauss suggests that Marclay’s sense medium-specific approaches of paint- of synchronicity, which we feel more ing, sculpture or whatever. As she puts than perceive, is an expression of how in her essay “A View of Modernism,” an artist today blends tools and styles. first published inArtForum 11 (Septem- Her larger point is that contemporary ber 1972): artworks are layered mechanisms that [M]odernist critics appear to have cut themselves off from what is most ener- getic and felt in contemporary sculp- ture. Their inability to deal with Richard Serra, or Michael Heizer, or Keith Son- Reviews Panel: Kathryn Adams, Nameera nier, or Robert Smithson is anomalous in Ahmed, Katherine Ancher, Fred Andersson, the extreme. Further, these critics have Wilfred Arnold, Jan Baetens, Niran Bahjat- continually balked at admitting film to Abbas, Brian Baigrie, Jenny Bangham, John the status of a “modernist art.” Given the F. Barber, Jon Bedworth, Roy R. Behrens, quality of recent advanced film, this posi- Katharina Blassnigg, Martha Blassnigg, tion is simply no longer admissible even Barry Blundell, Catalin Brylla, Annick Bure- for critics who confine themselves to aud, Franc Chamberlain, Chris Cobb, Ornella dealing just with painting and sculpture, Corazza, Giovanna Costantini, Sean Cubitt, for film as a medium has become increas- Hannah Drayson, Anthony Enns, Jennifer ingly important to sculptors themselves; Ferng, Enzo Ferrara, Anastasia Filippoupoliti, Serra and Sonnier are only the most obvi- George Gessert, Thom Gillespie, Luis Girao, ous examples (p. 126). Lisa M. Graham, Allan Graubard, Dene Grigar, Reviewed by Amy Ione, Director, Diane Gromala, Rob Harle, Craig Harris, Paul The Diatrope Institute, USA. Email: Hertz, Craig J Hilton, Jung A Huh, Amy Ione, As I read Perpetual Inventory I found Boris Jardine, Richard Kade, John Knight, Mike <[email protected]>. the recent essays significantly more Leggett, Helen Levin, Kieran Lyons, Roger enticing than many of the older ones, Malina, Jacques Mandelbrojt, Florence Martel- Perpetual Inventory by Rosalind E. Krauss particularly her discussions of William lini, Eduardo Miranda, Rick Mitchell, Robert is a collection of essays that spans three Kentridge’s exploration of cinematic A. Mitchell, Christine Morris, Michael Mosher, Axel Mulder, Frieder Nake, Maureen A. Nappi, decades. The title comes from Krauss’s animation and Christian Marclay’s Angela Ndalianis, Erika Nimis, Martha Patricia view that her job as an art critic requires “Lip Sync: Marclay Not Nauman.” The Nino, Claudy Opdenkamp, Simone Osthoff, that she take a perpetual inventory of “Lip Sync” article, first published in Jack Ox, Narendra Pachkhede, Luisa Paraguai what artists make and do, constantly October (No. 116, Spring 2006), focuses Donati, Jussi Parikka, Stephen Petersen, Cliff revising her ideas about the direction Pickover, Michael Punt, Kathleen Quillian, on Marclay’s Video Quartet (2002), an Harry Rand, Sonya Rapoport, Trace Reddell, and significance of the work she cri- extraordinary work composed of a sam- Brian Reffin Smith, Hannah Rogers, Lara tiques. I am not sure the book success- pling of more than 700 Hollywood films Schrijver, Bill Seeley, Aparna Sharma, George fully showcases this effort, however. that draw the viewer in immediately. K. Shortess, Yvonne Spielmann, Chris Speed, In her introduction, for example, To my mind, lip-syncing isn’t really the Eugene Thacker, Pia Tikka, David Topper, Nicholas Tresilian, Rene van Peer, Stefaan van Krauss writes that this anthology consid- focus of Marclay’s work, which edits Ryssen, Ian Verstegen, Claudia Westermann, ers what she calls the post-medium con- segments of films together using move- Brigitta Zics, Jonathan Zilberg dition. She says that while Jean-François ments and sound to create tantalizing ©2011 ISAST LEONARDO, Vol. 44, No. 5, pp. 445–457, 2011 445 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/LEON_r_00253 by guest on 01 October 2021 show a unitary organization of an un- ever, his process is not based on the get a feel for discrete topics and specific folding narrative. Those who know this theme of the series. The works result artists, I also felt that an educator would work would understand that it feels like through the dictates of his creative end up using some of the oversights a unified piece despite the layers of practice of drawing a bit, shooting the within the presentation to aid students its complexity. Yet, as is often the case drawing, and then drawing and shoot- in thinking about how writing most with Krauss’s essays, I am not sure that ing some more. The activity involves effectively communicates with an audi- her commentary on Video Quartet will walking between the camera and the ence. It strikes me as odd that a poor translate as effectively to a reader who is drawing and includes erasure as well as editing job could have a positive ben- unfamiliar with the artwork. the ongoing progression to the work’s efit—in this case providing a classroom The “Lip Sync” essay also shows that conclusion. Krauss also does a nice job tool for looking at how an author can Krauss, too, has a talent for layering. of relating Kentridge’s technique to the better organize a paper. One example For instance, this article references the ideas of Eisenstein, Deleuze, Cavell and of the problem is the fact that the illus- use of grids in modernist painting, Nau- others. trations are not well integrated into the man’s Lip Sync, how Nauman both paid Aside from these two extraordinary article. Rather than including in-text homage to the challenge early filmmak- essays, the book struck me as choppy. references that would lead the reader ers faced in their efforts to synchronize Although I am a big fan of Sol LeWitt’s to an image, the pictorial content sim- sound with silent films and more. Read- work, and he is one artist who comes up ply co-exists with the articles. I think it ing through the article I could not help frequently in Krauss’s writing, I thought makes more sense to walk the reader but think how fascinating synchroniza- Krauss’s commentary on him seemed over to the image so that she realizes tion is. Cable television today offers a dated. With Kentridge’s work and Mar- that there is a reference point for the good case in point, for the problem of clay’s Video Quartet, by contrast, I felt textual elaboration, particularly when synchronization periodically comes up that reading her critique enhanced my the image is not on the same page or due to the large amounts of video sig- understanding of these artists. Debating across from the text. nal processing. how to convey my overall response to All in all, the range of this volume “‘The Rock’: William Kentridge’s the volume, I am drawn to a comment demonstrates that Rosalind Krauss has a Drawings for Projection,” originally in the book itself. Krauss thanks her rich and fertile mind. Some of the lon- published in October (No. 92, Spring editor at MIT, Roger Conover, for his ger essays are thought provoking and 2000), is the most compelling essay in help and mentions that she is grate- well worth reading. Some of the shorter the book. William Kentridge is a South ful he supported the project despite essays bring to mind how little one can African artist whose animated films the “publishing world’s disapproval say in a brief critique. Taken as a whole, pursue the problems of apartheid. It of anthologies” (p. x). Reading this Perpetual Inventory highlights many of is in this essay that Krauss comes clos- volume I better understand why this Krauss’s contributions to art criticism est to articulating the idea of technical sentiment exists. To be sure, Krauss and will no doubt enhance the libraries support, because Kentridge’s work has considerably influenced contem- of contemporary art historians.