Welcome to the fourth edition of the Zine. The Concept Art issue. While the concept takes pride of place with all the pieces selected, the inventiveness and resolution of the work submitted has been a joy, We hope you enjoy the opinions, works and context behind the pieces as much as we have. Our platform is expanding as we launched our blog and twitter account. If you would like you to submit opinions for the blog then please do get in touch, haus-a-rest@outlook.com or via the contact us page. A big thank you from us.

Jenna and Nichola

Action or Inaction: Does an artwork need to be made?

Author: John Standing

Every work of art is a combination of two things: an idea and its execution. Traditionally the meaning of a work comes from both, but since the 1960’s conceptual artists, in the wake of Duchamp’s ready made, have been trying to focus solely on the idea. Consider Lawrence Weiner’s three rules, written in 1970:

1. The artist may construct the piece
2. The piece may be fabricated
3. The piece need not be built

The third rule exposes the discrepancy between an idea of a work and the work itself. It asks a difficult question: can a work of art be just an idea? In the creation of every artwork there is a hard line between being an idea, and being something that exists in the world. So how can you close that gap between theoretical and tangible?

One strategy is to action ideas, and record them simply and objectively. Chris Burden’s video ‘Shoot’ (1971) documents the artist being shot in the arm, and Richard Long’s ‘Walking a Straight 10-Mile Line, Dartmoor’ (1970) is a photographic record of exactly that. The ‘skill’ of these pieces is not in the work it took to make them but in their conception. You could walk across Dartmoor, or find a friend willing to shoot you in the arm, but it is the artists’ re-framing of these actions that matters.

These pieces have the unfortunate side effect of moving the focus from the idea to the very fact it was actioned. Other artists stopped short of even actioning ideas: George Brecht’s ‘Bed Event’ (1963) is a flashcard with the instructions: ‘Discover or arrange: A white bed, A black item on or near it’. Brecht actioned this several times, with a different bed and item, but it also exists purely as an idea. Taking this strategy further, Yoko Ono’s ‘Touch Poem for a Group of People’ (1963) simply says, ‘touch eachother’. This is both an instruction and an observation - we are actioning this piece every day whether it’s with hugs or high-fives or bumping into people on the street.

Whether Brecht’s and Ono’s instructions have been auctioned or not, they still have a physical form. Today, due to their prestige, Fluxus cards are exhibited in frames and under glass cabinets. Now it is the art object, not the idea, that is the work. This is an inescapable part of art making: the concept is what matters, but by actioning a piece you make important material decisions. Why did Chris Burden choose video? Why did Richard Long not use video? Why did George Brecht choose that font? Even Lawrence Weiner, who makes wall-based text pieces, has to decide on colours, sizes and arrangements.

Sadly for the conceptual artists, for an idea to become a piece in any way, it must be subjected to aesthetic and contextual choices. So, returning to Weiner’s third rule: A piece may not be built - and an idea may not be written down - but then is it anything at all? I’m open to suggestions.

Bio

John Standing is an artist, writer and occasional short-distance runner based in London. He's interested in objects, actions, spaces and places.

www.jstanding.com and instagram.com/jbstanding

What Does Contemporary Art Mean Today?

Author: Michaela Hall

We have all seen the memes and the gifs on the internet that joke about contemporary art gallery visitors interrogating a pair of innocent glasses that have been dropped on the gallery floor that have absolutely no relation to the exhibition. The acceleration of our involvement with social media and the internet in the past century has also accelerated the association of contemporary art with ridicule, pointlessness and being starkly different to ‘real art’. Now everybody is entitled to an opinion, and of course, contemporary art is not for everyone. I think part of this reason is that it is not always a nice and easy viewing experience. It can leave us wondering what on earth is going on, what we are meant to feel and if the artist who came up with the ideas is from Mars. This, however, is what is incredible about contemporary art, it leaves us with the option to build our own experience and narrative- we often aren’t told much and we have to fill in the gaps. This is an alien concept in comparison to art which may be more figurative and storytelling, where images depict something tangible and ‘real’ and this shows how far the imagination of artists around the world (and their audiences) have continued to expand throughout art history. What is happening now however, is a sharp shift, the same social media channels that condemned Contemporary art now celebrate it as a novelty with influencers and followers alike seeking the insta-worthy contemporary installations of the art world. Take Yayoi Kusama for example, her polka dot covered rooms and immersive infinity rooms are so popular that people travel all over the world just to get that thirty-minute ticketed slot and the chance to take the perfect selfie. The huge boost of people speaking out for body positivity in the past century has also catapulted portrait artists like Jenny Saville to even higher heights of fame for her realistic and confrontational nude portraits that put a middle finger up to classical beauty standards. The political instability of the society that we live in and the willingness that has increased for protest and speaking out has increased artist’s like Ai Weiwei prominence as both a contemporary art and political activist hero of the twenty first century engaging audiences in conversations around the Chinese government and its corruption.

Contemporary art now more than ever, is used as a vehicle for change and for reflection on everyday life. This has of course always been the case to an extent, but in the past three to four years especially with the rise of figures like Donald Trump and the Global incidents that we are suffering such as the Covid-19 pandemic, people are turning to the experiences that contemporary art offer as a tool for escapism, imagination and a safe space for expressing their rights. Contemporary art is becoming more of a community for all rather than its previous reputation as a white upper-class exclusive club for those who were interesting enough to be in it. No longer is contemporary art widely known as a nuisance, it’s a lifeline. Contemporary artists more than ever are championed for their efforts to make us recognise something with their work and as much as some may still not like to admit it, contemporary art is the new socio-politics of the 21st century.

Bio

Michaela Hall, BA (Hon) is a Fine Art graduate of Newcastle University based in Gateshead. Michaela is a writer interested in the context of contemporary art and the creative industries in everyday life and socio-politics of the twenty first century. Michaela is also an artist whose work spans painting, collage installation and drawing with a love for colour, vibrancy and texture.

https://www.instagram.com/michaela_hall_artist/