Paula Smithard & David Theobold
Core text: The Predicament of Contemporary Art (Hal Foster, Rosalind Krauss, Yve Alain Bois, Benjamin H.D. Buchloh)
Outline presentation - here.
Methodology - An intellectual system or philosophical method.
Key methodologies presented:
- Psychoanalysis
- Structuralism
- Post - Structuralism
- Phenomenology
- Social Historical
Out of the methodologies in case, the one that interests me the most is psychoanalysis.
"Psychoanalysis is the name given to the theory of mind developed originally by Sigmund Freud, a theory which has had and continues to have an enormous impact on culture and intellectual life. Although there has been considerable development in the theory and practice of psychoanalysis since Freud’s day, certain key ideas have retained their place and vitality within the theory.
These include:
the discovery that there are large aspects of our psychological functioning which, though having a profound determining effect upon us, are largely hidden, that is, they are unconscious
the recognition of the ubiquity of unconscious conflict
the understanding that when human beings become involved in relationships with others, they bring to those relationships ‘templates’ derived from early childhood situations and transfer them into the current situation, that is they form transferences
the recognition of the centrality of sexuality and aggression in mental life and that important aspects of this are laid down in childhood
Psychoanalysis has shown itself to have very broad relevance and finds a home in many diverse contexts including art, literature, philosophy, politics, sociology and film studies. It has made seminal contributions to the understanding of cultural phenomena such as group functioning, institutional process, and wider socio-cultural phenomena such as paranoia and racism." (http://www.psychoanalysis.org.uk/about_psa.htm)
Part 1 outline:
Question faced - What's the problem with the Avant-Garde?
Avant Garde in French, literally means, Advanced Guard. It was used to describe small left wing groups in the French millitary in the mid-1800's. Early experimental and for their time, radical, artists such as Gustave Courbet associated with such military groups, beginning the idea of the avant garde in art.
In Peter Burger's 1974 book, 'The Theory of The Avant Garde in Art', he saw Russian Constructivism and Constructivists as pioneers of the term, bringing together art as the social fabric.
Buchloh is suggesting that In the present day, we have moved beyond the ability to view art in such a critical way due to consumer driven capitalism. Buchloh says, "Art now functions as commodity production, investment portfolio and entertainment", using the artist Matthew Barney as an example.
HF then argues that the decentralisation of the art world, due to globalisation, combats to this, spawning new movements in Japan and Brazil. YAB then argues that these movements looked to western ideas from New York and Paris. However in 1968 with unrest, protest and the Vietnam war, things changed around the world, in the direction of anti American Imperialism.
HF then mentions 'Magiciens de le Terre', an exhibition in Paris 1989, suggesting it displayed a concerted attention to local traditions, likening it to biennials in Gwangju, Johannesburg and Sharjah, unlike today's shows that seem very generic. YAB suggests that non-west art is no longer exotic and just points in a network of markets. HF disagrees, stating that models opposing the American empire exist, contemporary art in China, India and the Islamic world may be following social projects other than global corporatism. The problem would the be transferring those alternatives to Western audiences without distorting them.
Aside from this argument, we could say that Duchamp's idea of the ready made and other modernist ideals had been re-discovered in the 60's and could continue to be applied to this day.
Post-Structuralism: Art media have no essential characteristics.
