Uses And Abuses Of Conceptual Art In Visual Culture

Visual culture is the study that generally includes a combination of cultural studies, critical theory, art history and anthropology by focusing on aspects of culture that depend on visual images. A visual image is an artifact or a record of visual perception that resembles the appearance of a subject, in most cases is an object or a person, in layman`s terms, it is a perception of an individuals view point on any given subject, object or person.

For example a person could draw, photograph or video a bird flying in the sky, if you lined up ten different people, they could all depict this in ten different ways. That is the art of visual culture.

In this essay I plan to explore conceptual art and the meaning behind it, the uses and abuses of the way it was and still is comprehended by the public and the targeted audience. Most of my knowledge comes from three years of art education, two of which were on the sixties, which was when conceptual art was at its peak. Conceptual Art is defined as art which the idea is considered more important than the finished product, if one exists.

The term "concept art" was originated by Henry Flynt, an artist. He first mentioned it in an article in 1961, however the one of the first and most controversial pieces of conceptual art known is Marcel Duchamps' "Fountain" in 1917, this piece caused much controversy as it was seen as 'vulgar' for its time, the object was not allowed into the exhibition, at this time society did not grasp the idea of conceptual art, the public were still used to aesthetically pleasing portraits, the first exhibit for the piece was allowed in 1950, in New York City, where it was much better received, at the moment there are a number of eight urinals in the most important galleries in the world.

In the late 1950's conceptual art began to make more of an impression on society artist such as Yoko Ono and Piero Manzoni, had a deep impact on their audience and certain members of society. Yoko Onos' 'Cut Piece' was performed in 1964, in New York City, Kyoto, Tokyo and London. The act consisted of Yoko Ono sitting on a stage, having members of the audience coming up to the stage and cutting of pieces of her clothes. The Piece was symbolic of the trust between her and the audience, and how far they would go, however the performance was misconstrued and some of the public thought it was a cry for help to the way women were mistreated before the sixties, by her sitting on stage emotionless as people took her clothes away, some thought it was saying that women can still do what they want and be independent while still letting others do what they want to them, due to this misconception of the performance, the piece was not instantly received positively by feminists, this did cause somewhat of a rift between Yoko Ono and feminist groups. This was a misconception by the public, and Cut Piece still shocks the audience when performed now.

"The audience was quiet and still, and I felt that everyone was holding their breath. While I was doing it, I was staring into space. I felt kind of like I was praying. I also felt that I was willingly sacrificing myself. It wasn't a feminist issue, per se. It has to do with the positive and negative side of giving, but we can make it positive. And the funny thing was, most people thought of the other side, which is the body being violated. But when this piece was performed by Charlotte Moorman in a nunnery, the nuns said, "Well, this is what we're doing." They bypassed the sexual connotation totally and just understood the philosophical connotation and the positive side, which was to be giving."

Piero Manzoni another artist that made an impact on conceptual art and still does so today. Some of his infamous pieces are "Artist's Shit" and "Artist's breathe". These pieces were the exploration between the art production and the human production. "Artist's Breathe" was either a red, white or blue balloon filled with the breathe of the artist, Piero Manzoni, the idea behind Artist's Breathe was inevitability, the balloon would be attached to a wooden base, these pieces were part of Manzonis' obsession with the permanence of the art world. "Artists Shit" was the most controversial of the two, as Manzoni filled ninety jars with his own feces. The concept behind "Artist's Shit" was to convey creativity with the release and control of humanly functions, it also has a connection to Freud and his theory of toddlers having bowel movements, depending on the parents reactions toward the act of their child, it could possibly effect the child's creative process in a positive or negative way, this is just one of the theories behind this piece, another theory is that the piece is a joke on consumerism and the fact that society will buy anything, if it is sold well enough. This theory fits well as this was the time when advertising had become a highly active way for companies communicating to the public. "Artist's Shit" is still selling, #83 sold in October of 2008 for £97,250.

An example of a piece of conceptual art that is neutral and performed the task it should, is Joseph Kosuths' 1965 "One in Three Chairs". Kosuths had three different versions of the same object place in the same place, he had a chair, a black and white photograph of the chair and the dictionary definition of a chair, his question the public was, which is the "real thing?". This piece did not cause any controversy or issues with the public, the piece or pieces rather, got the audience to think, which was the aim behind the project. Kosuth did not make the chair nor did he come up with definition, he chose these objects and assembled them and asked which is the most accurate version.

"I used common, functional objects - such as a chair - and to the left of the object would be a full-scale photograph of it and to the right of the object would be a photostat of a definition of the object from the dictionary. Everything you saw when you looked at the object had to be the same that you saw in the photograph, so each time the work was exhibited the new installation necessitated a new photograph. I liked that the work itself was something other than simply what you saw. By changing the location, the object, the photograph and still having it remain the same work was very interesting. It meant you could have an art work which was that idea of an art work, and its formal components weren`t important."

Siegel, Jeanne: Artwords. Discourse on the 60s and 20s. UMI Research Press, Ann Arbour/Michigan 1985; second edition Da Capo Press, New York 1992, p. 225

Conceptual art is possibly one of the biggest parts of visual culture, it is where the individual has the right to form their own opinion on the performance, idea or product if one exists, with artists such as Yoko Ono, Piero Manzoni and Joseph Kosuth there are bound to be negative and positive reactions to their pieces or just to make the audience think, some piece or performances may get no reaction at all, as it is their idea or feeling toward a certain topic be it current or "taboo", however their opinion as an individual may not be consistent with another individuals.

Visual culture is all about forming an opinion, whether it may be correct or not, these pieces above have some meaning and fuel behind them to be correct to a certain extent, however people may not understand it, because of the way the artist has chosen to convey it to the public. Conceptual Art is what the audience make of it and receive it, if the art has an audience there is always going to be a reaction, be it negative or positive. That is the Art of Visual Culture.