What is an Artist? The Authorship Dilemma in Conceptualism
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2178-0447.ars.2024.215836Keywords:
Artist, Authorship, Conceptualism, Robert Smithson, Contemporary artAbstract
What is the influence of conceptualism on our
understanding of authorship in contemporary art? In the realm of creative processes, what happens when we encounter artworks whose material traces simply do not depend on the artist’s body? Executed 32 years after the author’s death, Robert Smithson’s artwork Floating island is analyzed here as an example of these questions. By hypothesis, it is perceived that proposals like this entail a renewed understanding of what an “artist” is or can be. At the core of the argument are Michel Foucault’s concept of “author-function” and Caroline Jones’s concept of “artist-function”. In conclusion, it is evident that the historical significance of conceptualism demonstrates the coexistence of two authorial models of the artist-function.
Downloads
References
ALDOURI, Hamman. A critique of the ‘author function’ concept in art history. Third Text, nov. 2021.
ALPERS, Svetlana. A arte de descrever: a arte holandesa no século XVII. São Paulo: Edusp, 1999.
BARTHES, Roland. A morte do autor [1967]. In O rumor da língua. São Paulo: WMF Martins Fontes, 2012.
BEECH, Dave. Art and labour: on the hostility to handicraft, aesthetic labour and the politics of work in art. Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2021.
CARRIER, David. Gombrich and Danto on defining art. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, vol. 54, n. 3, 1996.
CRAS, Sophie. Global conceptualism? Cartographies of conceptual art in pursuit of decentering. In KAUFMANN, Thomas; DOSSIN, Catherine; JOYEUX-PRUNEL, Béatrice (Eds.). Circulations in the global history of art.
Farham: Ashgate Publishing, 2016.
DAMISCH, Hubert. Artista. In Enciclopédia Einaudi, vol. 3. Lisboa: Imprensa Nacional, Casa da Moeda, 1984.
FOUCAULT, Michel. O que é um autor? [1969]. In Estética: literatura e pintura, música e cinema. 2ª ed. Rio de Janeiro: Forense Universitária, 2009.
FOUCAULT, Michel. Arqueologia do saber. 6ª ed. Rio de Janeiro: Forense Universitária, 2002.
GENETTE, Gérard. A obra de arte: imanência e transcendência. São Paulo: Littera Mundi, 2001.
GOMBRICH, Ernst A história da arte. 16ª ed. Rio de Janeiro: LTC, 2019.
GOMBRICH, Ernst (with David Carrier). The big picture: David Carrier talks with Ernst Gombrich. Artforum, vol. 34, n. 6, 1996.
GOODMAN, Nelson. Linguagens da arte: uma abordagem a uma teoria dos símbolos. Lisboa: Gradiva, 2006.
HIX, Harvey. Morte d’author: an autopsy. The Iowa Review, vol. 17, n. 1, 1987.
JONES, Caroline. The artist-function and posthumous art history. Art Journal, vol. 76, n. 1, 2017.
KRISTELLER, Paul. The modern system of the arts: a study in the history of aesthetics (II). Journal of the History of Ideas, vol. 13, n. 1, jan. 1952.
KRISTELLER, Paul. The modern system of the arts: a study in the history of aesthetics (I). Journal of the History of Ideas, vol. 12, n. 4, oct. 1951.
NESBIT, Molly. What was an author? Yale French Studies, n. 73, 1987.
OSBORNE, Peter. Anywhere or not at all: philosophy of contemporary art. London; New York: Verso, 2013.
OSBORNE, Peter. Contemporary art is post-conceptual art. Public Lecture, Fondazione Antonio Ratti, Villa Sucota, Como, 9 jul. 2010.
OWENS, Craig. From work to frame, or, is there life after “The death of the author”? In Beyond recognition: representation, power, and culture. Berkeley; Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1992.
RANCIÈRE, Jacques. Tempos modernos: arte, tempo, política. São Paulo: N-1 Edições, 2021.
ROBERTS, John. The intangibilities of form: skill and deskilling in art after readymade. London; New York: Verso, 2007.
RUSSEL, John. He dreamed of floating islands. New York Times, 28 abr. 1974.
SHINER, Larry. The invention of art: a cultural history. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001.
SMITH, Terry. One and five ideas: on conceptual art and conceptualism. Durham; London: Duke University Press, 2017.
TAYLOR, Brandon. After post-modernism. Art Monthly, n. 104, mar. 1987.
VASARI, Giorgio. As vidas dos artistas. São Paulo: WMF Martins Fontes, 2011.
VOGEL, Carol. A posthumous Smithson isle. New York Times, 10 jun. 2005.
WARNKE, Martin. O artista da corte: antecedentes dos artistas modernos. São Paulo: Edusp, 2001.
YUSOFF, Kathryn; GABRYS, Jennifer. Time lapses: Robert Smithson’s mobile landscapes. Cultural Geographies, vol. 13, n. 3, 2006.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Artur Correia de Freitas
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The responsibility for obtaining written permission to use in the articles materials protected by copyright law lies entirely with the author(s). Ars is not responsible for copyright breaches made by its collaborators.
The authors have the copyrights and grant the journal the right of the first publication, with the article licensed under the Creative Commons BY-CC License.
Licensees have the right to copy, distribute, display, and carry out the work and make derivative works from it, including with commercial purposes, granted that they give the due credit to the author or licensor, as specified by them.
Licensees compromise to inform the appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made.
Respected the terms of the license, the licensors/authors are not allowed to revoke the conditions above mentioned.
After the publication of the articles, the authors keep the copyrights and the rights to republish the text exclusively in unpublished books and collections.
