Post-conceptual,postconceptual,post-conceptualism orpostconceptualism is anart theory that builds upon the legacy ofconceptual art incontemporary art, where theconcept(s) oridea(s) involved in the work take some precedence over traditionalaesthetic and material concerns.[1] The term first came into art school parlance through the influence ofJohn Baldessari at theCalifornia Institute of the Arts in the early 1970s. The writer Eldritch Priest, specifically ties John Baldessari's pieceThrowing four balls in the air to get a square (best of 36 tries) from 1973 (in which the artist attempted to do just that, photographing the results, and eventually selecting the best out of 36 tries, with 36 being the determining number as that is the standard number of shots on a roll of35mm film) as an early example of post-conceptual art.[2] It is now often connected togenerative art anddigital art production.[3]
Maurizio Bolognini,Sealed Computers (Nice, France, 1997). This installation uses computer codes to create endless flows of random images which will never be accessible for viewing. Images are continuously generated but they are prevented from becoming a physical artwork.[11]
Conceptual art focused attention on the idea behind the art object and questioned the traditional role of that object as the conveyor ofmeaning. Subsequently, those theories cast doubt upon the necessity of materiality itself as conceptual artists "de-materialized" the art object and began to produce time-based andephemeral artworks. Although totaldematerialization of the art object never occurred, theart object became flexible –malleable – and that malleability, coupled withsemiotics andcomputer processing, has resulted in the post-conceptual art object.[12]
The idea of post-conceptual art was clearly articulated byTricia Collins andRichard Milazzo in the early 1980s in New York City,[16] when within theirCollins & Milazzo Exhibitions they brought to prominence a new generation of conceptual artists through their copious writings and curatorial activity.[17] It was their exhibitions and writings[18][19] that originally fashioned the theoretical context for a new kind of neo (or post)conceptual art; one that argued simultaneously againstNeo-Expressionism andThe Pictures Generation.[20]
British philosopher and theorist of conceptual artPeter Osborne makes the point that "post-conceptual art is not the name for a particular type of art so much as the historical-ontological condition for the production of contemporary art in general...."[21] Osborne first noted that contemporary art is post-conceptual in a public lecture delivered at the Fondazione Antonio Ratti, Villa Sucota inComo on July 9, 2010. Osborne's main thesis is that the convergence and mutual conditioning of historical transformations in the ontology of the artwork and the social relations of art space make contemporary art possible.[22]
^Priest, Eldritch (2013).Boring formless nonsense : experimental music and the aesthetics of failure. New York. p. 5.ISBN978-1-4411-2408-1.OCLC828736623.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^“This creation of an inaccessible space between Real and Virtual displays the self-positing nature of Virtuality from the void, and a potential arena for reframing the emptiness of the subject. Bolognini’s position 'at the crossroads of conceptual art and generative art' (Bolognini 2012) can be associated with the post-conceptual practice Peter Osborne identifies as 'the fictional presentness of the contemporary' favouring presentation over representation.” G. Benjamin,The Cyborg Subject. Reality, Consciousness, Parallax, Palgrave Macmillan, London 2016, p. 86.
^Gaiger, Jason (2004). "Post conceptual painting: Gerhard Richter's Extended Leave-taking in themes in contemporary art". In Perry, Gillian; Wood, Paul (eds.).Themes in contemporary art. New Haven: Yale University Press in association with the Open University. pp. 89–135.ISBN0-300-10143-0.OCLC56191165.
Aliaga, Juan Vicente; Cortés, José Miguel G., eds. (1990).Arte conceptual revisado/Conceptual art revisited. Valencia: Departamento de Escultura, Facultad de Bellas Artes, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Servicio de Publicaciones.ISBN84-7721-108-6.OCLC23141143.
Battcock, Gregory (1973).Idea art : a critical anthology (1st ed.). New York: E. P. Dutton.ISBN0-525-47344-0.OCLC741642.
Corris, Michael, ed. (2004).Conceptual art : theory, myth, and practice. New York: Cambridge University Press.ISBN0-521-82388-9.OCLC51728777.
Lippard, Lucy R. (1973).Six years: the dematerialization of the art object from 1966 to 1972; a cross-reference book of information on some esthetic boundaries ... London: Studio Vista.ISBN0-289-70332-8.OCLC973178.Meyer, Ursula, ed. (1972).Conceptual art (First ed.). New York: E. P. Dutton.ISBN0-525-47271-1.OCLC489115.
