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Conceptual Art

Module description

This module will introduce you to the key themes and practices of Conceptual Art emerging in New York and Europe from 1966, and their relevance to an understanding of recent and contemporary artwork. The course will also consider “Global Conceptualism” and its challenge to the conventional Western-centric canon of Conceptual Art. Classes will focus on the use of language in the spaces of visual art, addressing curatorial and individual artists’ practices through the defining themes of Conceptual Art, such as: Language, “Primary Information”, the Document, Index, Dematerialisation, amongst others. No prior knowledge of this work or pre-requisite modules are required.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The principal aim of this module is to introduce you to the key themes and practices of Conceptual Art and its relevance to understanding more recent and contemporary genres. The course will also consider “Global Conceptualism,” inviting you to debate the Western-centric canon of Conceptual Art. The module aims to strengthen your skills in historical and contextual analysis and research of this field and your appreciation of how innovative curatorial strategies have also set agendas for Conceptual Art and influenced individual practices. Teaching will alternate between lectures and accompanying seminars introducing key concepts and artists and two-hour in-depth seminars incorporating your presentations and close reading of texts. The module will further provide for research-enriched learning through the collaborative development and presentation of outline curatorial proposals reflective on Conceptual Art practices, as well as an assessed individual extended essay. A knowledge of Conceptual Art and associated curatorial practices will be an asset in any area of professional practice engaging with late 20^th century avant-garde and contemporary art, including its curation.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate an informed understanding of the history, nature, significance and influence of recent and contemporary Conceptual Art and its associated curatorial practices
• 2. Articulate key critical and theoretical issues surrounding the definition of Conceptual Art and its relevance to on-going debates in art history, theory and practice

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Analyse artworks and curatorial practices of various forms and genres and to relate aesthetic concerns and expressive modes to relevant cultural, social and art historical themes
• 4. Research aesthetic, art historical and cultural questions and utilise the knowledge gained to explicate the artworks under consideration
• 5. Articulate and analyse relevant theoretical and critical ideas, and to apply these to Conceptual artworks

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Work independently and to engage others in rigorous but respectful debate
• 7. Demonstrate a capacity to work independently and in groups to identify key questions for analysis and an advanced proficiency to locate and evaluate relevant secondary materials and to utilise these in analysis of primary materials

Syllabus plan

Whilst content will vary from year to year, the following topics provide indicative subject matter:

• But is it art? Conceptual Art and conceptualism.
• Language: Joseph Kosuth, Sol LeWitt, Michael Baldwin and Mel Ramsden.
• Primary information: Seth Siegelaub, Robert Barry, Douglas Heubler, Lawrence Weiner, and Adrian Piper.
• Document: Art & Language, Mary Kelly.
• Dematerialisation: Lucy R. Lippard, Mel Bochner, Terry Fox.
• Critiques of Conceptual Art: for example, Global Conceptualism: Points of Origin (Queen’s Museum, NYC 1999)
• The body in Conceptual Art: Ana Mandieta.
• Theatricality: David Ireland, Eleanor Antin, Bas Jan Ader.
• Project supervisions.
• Group presentations.

Conceptual Art/conceptualism: case study debate, for example YBA and Sensation (Royal Academy, 1997); or Conceptual Art in Britain (Tate Britain, 2016).

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Alberro, A. and Norvell, P. (eds) Recording conceptual art, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2016.

Bailey, R. Art & language international : conceptual art between art worlds, Durham: Duke University Press, 2016.

Bochner, M. 11 Excerpts (1967-1970)/11 Extraits (1967-1970), Paris: Edition Sonnabend, 1971.

Huebler, D. Douglas Huebler 1968, New York: Seth Siegelaub, 1968.

Kotz, L. Words To Be Looked At: Language in 1960s Art, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2007.

Lippard, L. R. Six Years: The dematerialisation of the art object from 1966 to 1972, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973.

Meyer, U. Conceptual Art, New York: E. P. Dutton, 1972.

Tisdall, C. Joseph Beuys, New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1979.

Key words search

Conceptual Art, concept, idea, language, institutional critique, postmodern art