The project also reflects my experience of working with artist friends on their "texts". I'm also indebted to Man de Li's website, the first of many online pieces I found about Art-Speak (see below for links to a couple of others) and to BANK Artist Collective's inspiring Fax-Bak Service for art press releases). Why add to these? Well I won't add too much.
My project involved the development of some Art-Speak blurbs. These were developed largely by mimicking "Greenbergian" text (After Clement Greenberg). There are many components of Greenbergian text - abstract ideas, obscure references etc. One of the key components however is the use of sentence structures which, at a simplistic level, are contradictory. In abstract terms:
"This work is X but also Y"
Where (at some level) X and Y are actually opposites. In one way this makes the text meaningless but in another way it also "super-charges" the meaning. That is it becomes "poetic". The reader can bring whatever meaning they like to the text. In an example from the text used in this project, one of the works is described as presenting and discussing:
"weighty sociological and counter-spiritual issues, with a superficial clarity poking fun at the rules, conventions, possibilities and alternatives. In consequence this discloses the ambiguity all the more compellingly"
Key here is the use of the terms "weighty" and "superficial" and the description of something "disclosing ambiguity". Such formulations leave so much room for interpretation that they actually convey very little information. What does a weighty issue presented superficially actually look like? How can ambiguity be disclosed?
Another example would be:
"This work functionally separates the sentimental nostalgia of more traditional sculpture, creating two opposing forms, whose distance almost dissolves when observed. "
If two things are at a distance then what do we mean when we say this distance dissolves. In practical terms it means nothing. I have no idea whether the two opposing forms are distant or near. What does functionally separating nostalgia mean? Separated into what?
This is not a criticism of artists as I believe most if not all artists would want their work to speak for itself without the need for explanation. Art-Speak is a product of the art market and is therefore attributable to gallery owners, promoters and critics.
I am particularly interested in this aspect of Art-Speak because it reminds me of the text used in horoscopes. An example just pulled from a website now would be:
"Someone close may be instigating domestic change. Though you might not like the idea of upheaval, you might be pleased at the idea of a fresh start."
How can someone not like upheaval but like a fresh start? This is, on a practical level, contradictory but works for horoscopes in allowing people to bring their own interpretation to something. It works in horoscopes; it works in Art-Speak.
So Mixed Show takes samples of this Art-Speak, adds fake titles and artist names (another project!) to create an essentially fake show. To emphasise the point being made these are attached to building site boards in Edmund Street (Walworth/Camberwell/Kennington area), London, so that they appear to be about features of the boards (scratches, holes etc.).
Any meaning stems largely from random juxtaposition of the board features and the text; although the titles are descriptive. Obviously I chose more interesting features but there is no "art" in the sense of something being created. Any creation comes from the mind of the viewer and the combinations of words and features.
Other texts (just material immediately available on a google search for Art-Speak).
http://blog.eyemagazine.com/?p=139
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/feb/05/artspeak-its-complicated
I also commend to you the Art-Speak generator which can be found at:
http://www.pixmaven.com/phrase_generator.html
Had I been aware of this I would have used these instead of making up my own....
I am particularly interested in this aspect of Art-Speak because it reminds me of the text used in horoscopes. An example just pulled from a website now would be:
"Someone close may be instigating domestic change. Though you might not like the idea of upheaval, you might be pleased at the idea of a fresh start."
How can someone not like upheaval but like a fresh start? This is, on a practical level, contradictory but works for horoscopes in allowing people to bring their own interpretation to something. It works in horoscopes; it works in Art-Speak.
So Mixed Show takes samples of this Art-Speak, adds fake titles and artist names (another project!) to create an essentially fake show. To emphasise the point being made these are attached to building site boards in Edmund Street (Walworth/Camberwell/Kennington area), London, so that they appear to be about features of the boards (scratches, holes etc.).
Any meaning stems largely from random juxtaposition of the board features and the text; although the titles are descriptive. Obviously I chose more interesting features but there is no "art" in the sense of something being created. Any creation comes from the mind of the viewer and the combinations of words and features.
Other texts (just material immediately available on a google search for Art-Speak).
http://blog.eyemagazine.com/?p=139
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/feb/05/artspeak-its-complicated
I also commend to you the Art-Speak generator which can be found at:
http://www.pixmaven.com/phrase_generator.html
Had I been aware of this I would have used these instead of making up my own....
