Art Manifesto 2020 - With 20 questions 4 your teacher

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PREFACE It was a bit of a disappointment to discover that the drawings I made in kindergarten in 1962 stood a better chance of becoming part of the canon of art history than any work I, or my generation, could have made during adolescence. It is also real bad luck that the story of the end of art is to hang on forever since the post-‐modern era does not produce new grand narratives.

PREAMBULE Visual art can contribute to our experience of the world and our self: Showing what we don’t see and seeing what we don’t show. Such experience can be a goal in itself. It can also contribute to our sense of identity, create new perspectives and thus have a positive or negative effect on our lives and decision-‐making. Artists who seek to make such contributions encounter three challenges: 1-‐ The conditioning of the audience: Its receptiveness, likes and dislikes.

2-‐ The competition: The professional world of promotion, communication, branding, marketing, advertisement, design, fashion, entertainment and animation. Here you find expertise in analysis and strategy of visual representation, qualification and quantification of effect, creativity in the application of visual rhetoric, and talent for the visualization of other worlds and identities. You do not want to do what the competition does better.

3-‐ Limitations that the art world levies on its own practices: Its self oriented attitude, romantic notions of art and artistry and, since the end of art, the absence of a philosophical basis for art theory, practice and development.

INFO

Published: Amsterdam, 1 October 2015 Author: Helmar van Rooy

The Art of Making Art [email protected]

Copyright: The author. All rights reserved. This manifesto is an integral part of an art project: The M/S/E PROJECT. Information about this project can be requested at [email protected]

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ART PHILOSOPHY “If you can’t distinguish between reality and art empirically, or if you say ‘art and reality are the same’, then that is the end of art.”* Arthur Danto (1924-‐2013) justifies this philosophical intervention by noting that it is time to call on philosophy when we do not know anymore how to distinguish one thing from another. This is an eccentric view of philosophy. A more classical approach in philosophy is to question what we think we do know. Danto would then have elaborated on the following question only: ‘How did I know that one Brillo box is art and another Brillo box is not?’ before making a comparison of the physical properties of these two Brillo boxes. Given the identical physicality of the boxes, Danto would have had to accept that this preliminary distinction would be based on reason rather than on empirical observation. Art then exists in spite of physical traits and is a product of the mind. We have a word for that: Concept. When art is a concept, then the Brillo box is merely an object on which this concept is projected thanks to, or in spite of, its physical traits. Thus the Brillo box has become art thanks to our attitude: Our willingness to make this projection on one Brillo box and not on another.

Art is not art because of its intrinsic qualities Art is art because of our attitude

This is a discovery about the nature of art and not a development of art, as Danto states**. It can be applied to all art predating the Brillo boxes, to conceptual art or to any form of art we have seen or may develop. We may want to familiarize ourselves with concepts of art and we may want to find out what it is that enables and triggers this attitude towards objects, in defiance of appearance.

Art philosophy is an interesting discipline: It can retrospectively start histories of art or put an end to them. Can you take an interest in curricula on art philosophy? Q: Want to make art philosophy an exiting curriculum? Ask your teacher to explain the philosophical position that justifies his curricula on art after the end of art. *Arthur Coleman Danto crediting Andy Warhol’s Brillo boxes with putting an end to the history of art: Irene Caesar asks Arthur Danto about the end of art , Irene Ceasar, New York 2011, Youtube . https://youtu.be/flPjRczxKQs. **Danto’s treatise follows more leads: From Hans Beltings beginning of art as we understand it today to Hegels dialectical approach and from a view on the demarcation between art and philosophy to the meaning of marriage. The art manifesto The Art of Making Art in the Age of CO2 will explore the same facts with alternative philosophical approaches producing an equally interesting narrative.

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ART PERFECT

Une euvre d’art est un coin de la creation vu à travers un temperament. This statement by Emile Zola (1840-‐1902) expresses the idea that art is not art due to its intrinsic qualities but because of our attitude*. A modern profane translation could be: A work of art is a piece of the world seen through a personal condition. This interpretation could be a far cry from what Zola has meant and this again may differ from how Van Gogh read it. The only way to find out what it meant to them is to study Van Gogh and Zola and not the text itself. Meaning is not to be found in words but in men attributing it. Likewise is beauty and meaning not to be found in objects but in men attributing it. However there is a remarkable difference between words and objects: Language exists and is maintained for as far as we succeed in making this attribution of meaning work. The world of objects, however, is there for completely different reasons. Its candidacy for attribution of meaning or aesthetic appreciation is not self-‐evident. The choice for one object on expense of another is arbitrary, as is its content or quality. Until actual experience and attribution of meaning takes place, art is just a probability.

Art isn’t art until it happens There is a perspective from which we can see that study of the object of art is no longer a useful approach of art. Zooming out, we pass the artist and encounter the audience. Zooming in on the audience, we do not only lose sight of Barthes’** author but also the equivalent of Barthes’ text: the art object. We now have a better view on art than ever: We see art happen.

Let’s coin the notion that art is not art until some experience or attribution has taken place, with the Latin adjective ‘perfect’***. Art perfect denotes the culminating effect of a finished action that renders it an ideal type (of being art). Let’s coin the notion that art is art due to its intrinsic qualities [sic], with the Latin adjective ‘per se’ (by itself). Art per se refers to the inherent qualities of the object. Q: Ask you teacher on which concept of art your work is more dependent: Your teachers concept, the concept of his institution or the concept of the audience? * Emile Zola, (1840-‐1902) Mes Haines pp. 25 and 229. ** Roland Barthes (1915-‐1980), author of the essay La mort de l’auteur (Death of the Author), 1967. *** Per-‐ in combination with -‐fec-‐ from facere, (to do) and -‐tus as past participle suffix. [dictionary.com] -‐ More on Barthes, Zola and van Gogh in the manifesto The Art of Making Art in the Age of CO2.

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ART THEORY Concepts of art are the subject of art theory and art theory itself is a subject of institutional art education. These theories are ideal types and function as models for analytical purposes. Art theories do not have the predictive function that theories have in other disciplines. They can, however, give direction to art strategies. In that case only art theories that reflect prevalent concepts of art in the audience have relevance. The study of prevalent art concepts in the audience, and the application of these concepts in the form of art theories in art strategies, would endow these theories with predictive function that theories have in other disciplines. Concepts applied by the audience may have the character of notions rather than theories. One could consider four parameters: 1 -‐ The notion that one can consider objects disconnected from their common context, meaning or use, and that this attitude can facilitate a special experience or attribution of meaning. In other words: our acceptance of augmented reality; 2 -‐ A notion of what can be taken into account in the process of identification of objects that lend themselves to such a special attitude; 3 -‐ A notion of what, after a positive identification of the object, can play a role in -‐ and give direction to -‐ this special experience or attribution of meaning; 4 -‐ A notion of what the result of such a special experience or attribution of meaning could be like, and how the (anticipated) result could be valuated.

It is the imagination of the audience and not the artist that draws an object into the realm of art.

We need not take the prevalence of concepts among the audience for granted. One can see the history of art as a history of change and shifts of prevalent concepts of art* among the audience that validate the pageant of objects that enter or leave the theatre of fame or art history. There is no theoretical limitation to the form these concepts may acquire. We have hardly begun to explore its possibilities**.

Your teacher may ask you to elaborate on the concept of art that your artwork anticipates and the audience where this concept is lodged. Be well prepared. Q: Ask your teacher to elaborate on the anticipated art concept whenever he expresses criticism on your work. After all, he or she is not to be your audience. * You may want to compare this approach with that of criminology where criminal acts are not judged per se but as a result of norms. You may also find similarities in the approach of professional branding. ** Examples of new concepts are discussed in the manifesto The Art of Making Art in the Age of CO2. Their application in the M/S/E PROJECT may interest you. More information at [email protected]

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ART STRATEGY

If objects become art because of the attitude of the audience -‐ their willingness to apply a concept of art to them -‐ then it is the audience that makes art. The role of the artist is nothing less or more than to present to the audience whatever he or she thinks these art concepts could be applied to*. Yet, since the candidacy for application of an art concept by the audience is all but self-‐evident or mandatory, the artist may want to make a choice between the following strategies: 1 – No strategy. This may give rise to wonderful productions and sometimes to art. It involves no restrictions, manipulations or concessions of any kind; 2 – Self-‐restriction in the choice of objects, context matter and presentation to meet common expectations and address general and prevalent art concepts; 3 – Self-‐directed choices, manipulation and adaptation of objects, context matter and presentation in order to address more specific art concepts or more specific applications of these concepts. This may involve purposeful concessions that compromise the integrity of the work; 4 – Manipulation of the (context of) reception by direct or indirect dialog with the audience about their concepts and the application thereof. If successful, this allows for more freedom in choice of objects, context matter and presentation, without the need for compromises to meet expectations. All these strategies allow for uncertainties or seek to reduce them. Concepts, expectations, needs and taste are subject to change, and so are art strategies.

‘Making’ art is a speculative endeavor

It will be less speculative when we study the audience, their concepts and their readiness to apply them. The next step is to devise a strategy to address these concepts or negotiate their application. You may want to find out how to convince the audience to apply art concepts to the objects you present. Information about the prevalence of art concepts may not be readily available. One would expect reconstructions of concepts to come from art historians and art critics. It is, however, the capital of professionals in art marketing. Q: Ask your art institution for study material about art concepts and their prevalence among the audience that you choose to address. *Art concepts can theoretically be applied to anything we present. And even to things we do not present or stipulate as an artist. We can present (traditional) material objects (ready-‐made or composed) and we can present concepts or combinations of objects and concepts. It is the application of art concepts that renders them art. I will use the word object to include all that can be the subject of application of an art concept.

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VERTICAL FRAMING

One can speculate, and we should, about the question of what meaning could be conferred on a 10 m3 yellow plastic duckling, that cannot be conferred on a 1 dm3 yellow plastic duckling. It is the difference in seize and execution that makes us ask this question and elevates this object from the ordinary: We will not bring the giant duckling to the lost and found to be returned to its desperate little owner. It has been sabotaged in its normal function. Chances are that we will look upon it as an object of art. After all, what else could justify such investment in material, expertise, technique, time, talent and money on a duckling? It must have relevance! This assumption is called effort heuristic. Maybe we deem it art because we have seen a similar giant waterfowl being discussed by an art critic or have seen a similar duck in a museum. This assumption is called familiarity heuristic. This works well when the presumption of the audience is that anything the art world deals with must be art. This is called social proof heuristic. This assumption may, however, be compromised by another heuristic: the fading affect bias. More heuristics could be involved. When it is the role of the artist to present candidate objects to the audience for the application of art concepts, then ‘making’ art is a speculative play with bias, heuristics and management of expectations. This play involves choices in execution and presentation of art works that serve no other goal than the rhetoric that is needed to persuade the audience to apply art concepts to the presented objects*. Let us coin these choices made by artist, facilitators and promoters of art vertical framing.

Pushing objects into the realm of art is a rhetoric discipline We may want to learn more about the mechanisms that push or draw objects into the realm of art and how to utilize them**. This practice does not correspond with romantic notions about making art. We may want to know how to give direction to the attribution of meaning or experience after the acceptance of objects as art. Familiarize yourself with heuristics, biases and their counterparts in art practices. They will help you to analyze art strategies and choose alternatives that take into account your resources, talents, situation, goals and requirements. Q: Ask you art teacher for external curricula on persuasion theory. * Note that a specific trait of an art object or presentation can, at one instance, be regarded as a speculative means to push the object into the realm of art and at another instance count as essential content matter. **The Art of Making Art in the Age of CO2 reviews a list of 30+ heuristics, biases and their many counterparts in the art world and includes case studies and analyses of their application and role over several periods.

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HORIZONTAL FRAMING

If creation is taking things from one context and putting them in another -‐ e.g. taking paint from the palette and smearing it on a canvas, taking a pear from the imagination and making it appear on a canvas, or placing a work on a pedestal -‐ then taking an object and placing it in the domain of art is an act of creation too. The latter process, however, takes place without any physical handling of the object. It is necessarily the audience that applies concepts of art to a given object. This is a constituting process that takes place in the mind of the audience. The attribution of meaning that is the result of the application of an art concept, takes place in the mind as well: Meaning and beauty only exist in the mind. For an artwork to acquire meaning it must therefore relate to the world of the audience. As a consequence even Ergon and parergon are the product of the application of an art concept by the audience. They will be determined and limited by the attitude and imagination of the audience. One would expect artists to take an interest in the world of the audience and make choices in the execution and presentation of art works that give direction to the attribution of meaning by the audience. The features of an art object, its context matter and presentation have a double function: First to push the object into the realm of art and secondly, after acceptance as an art object, to facilitate an experience or attribution of meaning. These two functions can cause friction* and demand strategic choices as discussed in the previous two chapters.

‘Making’ art can hardly be the main purpose of an artist We may want to find out to what extent the artist could influence the application of art concepts and the experience and attribution of meaning by the audience.

Let’s coin the choices we make to push objects into the realm of art: vertical framing. Vertical in the sense that it elevates objects from their common context. Let’s coin the choices we make to give direction to the experience and attribution of meaning horizontal framing. This is what makes vertical framing worth while. Q: Ask your institution whether its curricula are restricted to ‘making’ art. If so, you may want to look for another institution or negotiate change. * This incongruity is a result of the redefinition of art from art per se to art perfect. It postulates a duality between the object itself and the concept that makes this object art. It redefines the process of making art.

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AUTONOMY

The artist merely produces semi-‐finished products. These enter the domain of art upon application of an art concept. Only then do they acquire the status of art. Until then they are products of another domain. In this dualist view, the idea of autonomous art is untenable: Whatever a free artist may choose to present or do to convince the audience that his work should be accepted as art, it is the audience that has the autonomy to apply an art concept or not*. Art is thus always a commodity since the act of application of an art concept is an act of consumption. This act is instrumental or functional in providing the audience with an experience or facilitates an attribution of meaning. ‘Autonomous artists’ have always resisted the idea of commodification and instrumentality. They associated themselves with avant garde, refuses, and art pour l’art. This romantic and inspiring counterweight to mainstream art and taste has had a shadow side: The notion of art per se combined with autonomy provided the artist with an excuse to ignore the audience. It restricted the engagement of the artist to the art world. A departure from the notion of autonomy could restore engagement with the world of the audience and enhance chances to reach the audience with new or less accommodating work. By studying the world of the audience, artists can acquire knowledge of prevalent art concepts and develop strategies to address these or engage the audience to apply new ones.

The most counterproductive notion in art is autonomy Yet it is the expression of the ideals we cherish in art

One could think of many legitimations of art practices and policies. Autonomy is not one of them. We should depart from this and other romantic notions about art. We may want to discover where these romantic notions came from, what purpose they served, and whether they are still essential to art’s existence and progress. There may be other ways to further the ideals these notions express.

Familiarize yourself with the ideals connected to the idea of autonomy in art. You may discover the practice of these ideals does not require autonomy at all. Q: Ask your institution to abolish curricula for autonomous art and replace them with curricula on prevalent art concepts among the audience. * Unless one regards the artist as an audience in its own right. This could hardly be the porté of the idea of autonomous art, although there are some institutional definitions of art that make just that point. -‐ You could familiarize yourself with the idea of autonomy and earlier criticism on this idea by reading the works of Kant and Adorno.

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ROMANTIC NOTIONS

Every now and then in the history of the evolution of art concepts and their application, the art world has to find a way to escape its own success: It may establish support for new concepts that, once accepted and institutionalized, become imperatives of the very establishment they sought to confront and challenge. An historic attempt to escape the dictate of the art establishment was the introduction of the notion of the artist as genius: The work of the genius allowed for no intervention by the establishment and rendered their opinion irrelevant. From then on art could enter the world without any explanation or justification. And in case there was an explanation: Who was the establishment or audience for that matter, to question or even try to understand the work of genius? Estrangement became the new norm, and descriptions of the artworks resorted to statements about categorization, applied materials and reference to even more romantic notions about the artist such as authenticity, originality or autonomy*. What art gained in status, it lost in content and power of communication. The art theoretical vacuum after the end of art, postmodernism and the invasion of professional marketers in the art world did not challenge these notions. Can we imagine that we substitute the notion of genius by receptiveness, communicative power, taste, knowledge, inventiveness, thoroughness, determination, vision or talent? Could we substitute the notion of authenticity by more verifiable qualities like engagement, empathy, curiosity, affinity or sensitivity?

The notion of the artists’ genius alienates us from art like no other

Romantic notions about art and artists may contribute to the development and appreciation of art but can also stand in their way. We may want to abandon some of these unverifiable and unattainable notions and introduce more realistic ones about art and artists and create new playing fields.

You may want to learn to detect and identify romantic notions about art and artists and trace them back to their origins*. It will be an illuminating experience. Q: You may ask your teacher with what faculties one could understand and appreciate the works of genius. * For more reading on romantic notions of art I recommend you to read Maarten Doorman: The Romantic Imperative (Amsterdam: Prometheus/Bert Bakker, 2004) -‐ The Art of Making Art in the Age of CO2 includes an analysis and study of the relative share and recurrence of an extensive list of specified notions of art in descriptive art essays over several periods.

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EDUCATION

‘[…] one of the most challenging and creative things to do [as artists] is to explore the context, technologies and conventions – exhibition, institutions, galleries, museums, art schools, peoples homes, catalogues, lectures, tutorials, openings, etc, through which we work, and through which our work engages its public.’* Which objects do not belong in this summing up? None of them except for people’s homes: People’s homes are part of the world of the audience and it is there where art is to have impact. The most challenging thing to do for artists is to explore the world of the audience -‐ not the world of the artist. This study may be broken down into different disciplines: 1 -‐ The study of the world; 2 -‐ The study of how the audience experiences this world; and 3 -‐ The study of how this world is presented by the media and other actors in the field of representation. A combination of the first two may reveal discrepancies that allow art to show what is not seen. A combination of 1 and 3 may show gaps that allow artists to see what is not shown and develop strategies to fill that void. Of course all this will become more interesting and complicated when the students zoom in and acquire new skills to analyze and describe what they study. It will help them to make interesting contributions to our experience of the world and our self. This makes the study of art multidisciplinary. E.g. an art student could study economy just for the sake of analyzing the view of economists in relation to other views and make this discrepancy the subject of art.

The study of art does not need to be about art only

It is fortunate that the audience takes an interest in the study of art. It is most unfortunate when this interest is not reciprocal. Therefore art students should study the world of the audience and we may want to find out how art institutions can facilitate this.

Even if your own view becomes the center-‐point of your work, it will not acquire meaning or have appeal unless it relates to the world of the audience. Q: You may ask you mentor if your academy can facilitate some extracurricular studies on the world, its representation and the audience and an introduction in sociological or anthropological methods to study the world outside the academy. * Excerpt from the lecture Oil of the 21st Century by Neil Cummings, Professor of Practice and Theory of Fine Art, University of the arts London. From Chelsea Wiki, http://www.chelseawiki.org/index.php/Oil_of_the_21st_Century, as last modified on 11 June 2008, 14:34.

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ART CRITICISM

Let us presume that art critics write about art. That implies that the hurdle of pushing something into the sphere of art has been taken: At least on person applied an art concept and considers something art. The art critic may now congratulate the audience for the application of the art concept. He may also congratulate the artist for whatever it took him or her to persuade the audience to apply an art concept to a given object. He may then determine the concept that was applied by the audience and compare it with what was anticipated by the artist: What was taken into account in the identification of the art object and what gave direction to the art experience or attribution of meaning by the audience. How did vertical framing contribute to the application of the art concept, what did it consist of and how did the horizontal framing contribute to the experience and attribution of meaning and what did it entail. Finally the critic may determine what the application of the art concept brought about, how this became relevant to the audience and how the result was evaluated. Now the critic has the information necessary to give an opinion on the effort of the artist, the success of the application and its relevance. He may relate this to other applications. The critic may also describe the art object itself. This could reveal meaningful information about what properties were (not) taken into consideration in the application of the art concept. He has to make this description factual because if he applies his own concepts then, by the definition of art perfect, he is making art.

Art criticism is the art of not judging art objects

One should not tell art critics how to go about their business. They are the salt of the earth and often more critical then the art they describe*. One may, however, ask them to stick to their trade: Writing about art, not making art. Art perfect may require the reinvention of art criticism and other disciplines.

Become an art critic: Hide behind your work and watch the audience. Satisfied? You may need more inquiries to learn how your audience received your work. Q: Ask your teacher whether your institution offers courses in art criticism. That would be a good thing to ask, given the fact that you and your teacher need to be critical of your work as well. * This has become an enormous challenge in the post-‐modern era and in the art theoretical vacuum after the end of art. Art criticism became rare when being adopted as a marketing tool by professional art promotion and lifestyle entrepreneurs. You may have to consult your history books to familiarize yourself with the métier, resourcefulness and power of art criticism.

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ART HISTORY

When, seen with the perspective of art per se [sic], at some point in time, the appreciation for a category of art objects evaporates but the objects themself remain, then this is -‐ technically – not to be regarded as a development of art but merely as a contextual development. When this is seen with the perspective of art perfect, then this development would surely be seen as a development of art. From a dualist art perspective, art history is the description of art concepts and their application made informative with the function of time. The current practice of art history amounts to something very different: The description of dated objects that, by virtue of the retrospective application of art concepts by present day historians, acquire the status of art in the present. This practice is informative about the application of art concepts by art historians. They assume the role of both critic and historian. This double role has been institutionalized by Hall Foster: ‘I’ve never seen critical work in opposition to historical work […] History without critique is inert, criticism without history is aimless.’* This double role, however, compromises the academic standards of art history. There is nothing inert about the history of the development and application of art concepts. It will prove worthwhile to describe this history. It gave rise to the very production of art and explains its spatial and temporal variety. The concept of art perfect could facilitate a less discretionary and more rewarding choice of subject matter by art historians and restore academic standards for the practice of art history as well as back-‐ and forward continuity in the history of art.

Art history should become an academic discipline

Reconstruction of experience and attribution of meaning to objects and reconstruction of concepts that facilitated or shaped these, may proof to be more difficult than the description of objects. It may however be more rewarding since we learn something about people and societies rather than things. It may become the very subject of study, rather than mere context.

There is a world to be discovered by the academic study of art. Become part of a generation of academics that take art history into the next century. Q: Ask for external courses in history because present internal curricula of art history after the end of art history may not meet academic standards. Hall Foster in: Polemics, Postmodernism, Immersion, Militarized Space, Journal of Visual Culture, December 2001 vol. 3 no. 3 p. 322

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CURATING

The academic integration of art history with art criticism is not the only combination of disciplines we see after the end of art. Another practice is the combination of curating and art history and the combination of making art and curating. Such combined practices make sense when the history of art has come to an end. In a desperate attempt to make art after the end of art, any new work needs to reflect on, or be associated with, the canon of the history of art in order to become part of that history. By suggesting this historic link, the curator takes care of pushing the work into the realm of art. It is the curator that makes art in this case. To ensure this, the artist may even take up the job of curating himself. Seen from a dualist point of view, this is not a strange thing to do: It is the establishment of this necessary link that pushes the semi-‐product of the artist into the realm of art because art requires the application of an art concept: In this case the concept of the end of art and the link to the history of art as a special element of that concept. Art perfect, however, can do without this special element: It just requires the application of any art concept to become art. It is the application of concepts that make art and determine its success. For this reason one would expect artists to take charge of the presentation and framing that address these concepts. Curators should accept the role of expert facilitators. Curating in the sense of conserving art may amount to something entirely different: The conservation of concepts. Documentation, reconstruction and communication of concepts of art are an efficient indirect way of preserving art objects. Due to their local absence we have lost the Buddha’s of Bamyan.

The main threat to art is institutional appropriation Making art is not just about producing objects. The art of making art seems to be a process in which even the art historian and curator play an active role. We may want reconsider these roles and find out how the artist can gain control over the presentation of his work to direct the application of concepts by the audience.

It is essential to your work that you, as an artist, keep control of the presentation of your work by institutional partners. Don’t expect these partners to know what your work requires unless you have communicated your strategy and goal. Be articulate. Q: Ask your institution for curricula on negotiation with institutional partners. -‐ Avoiding appropriation by art critics, curators or art historians to maintain the integrity of my art project was the initial reason for writing this manifesto: Negotiating a theoretical and institutional environment in which my work feels at home as preparation for an unconventional art project: The M/S/E PROJECT.

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INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Title: Significant object for aesthetic appreciation Description: Ink on canvas on museum wall (Supplies: H. Schelm; Saachi Real Estate Inc.) Artist: Curator Bob Lits in cooperation with The British Press Association.

(With thanks for the pioneering theory on medium specificity by Rosalind E. Krauss) Suppose you have used your four years at the art academy to study the world, the audience, its experience of the world, and representation of the world by others. You have come up with something that is not shown or want to show something that is not seen. You have developed a strong conviction on how your work could be relevant and to whom. You have familiarized yourself with art concepts among the audience and developed a strategy to address or negotiate these concepts with your prospective audience. As a real visual artist, you have devised an object that, upon application of an art concept by the audience, lends itself for the attribution of meaning or experience by the audience you intended. You have tested your work and presentation among a smaller audience. You can be proud of your work because you put your soul into it. It may provide a valuable experience in the life of the audience. You may call it your intellectual property. You hand it over to your agent to discover that it is presented as an art historical reflection whereas you intended it as an urgent social reflection. It is displayed between works that should not be associated with your work and you are interviewed about your technique instead of content or message. You cannot do anything to mend this because you have sold your work or gave your agent a free hand. Your object maintains its integrity but your work is destroyed.

Intellectual property right protects objects, not art The protection of art perfect requires institutional change beyond the domain of art itself. We may want to take a closer look at the institutions of the art world.

You cannot expect anyone involved in the presentation of your work to respect your ideas about strategy and presentation unless you specify them. Q: Ask your teacher for a basic course in professional marketing and communication to learn about questions that precede strategy and presentation. * The merits of art perfect as opposed to art per se [sic] may be established in a court case as well, just as it has apparently been established in court that there was some art after the history of art. Until the protection of intellectual property is extended to include the presentation of art, you will need to adopt a perpetual clause or chain condition in your contract to protect your work from unauthorized public presentation.

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ART INSTITUTIONS

‘ The artist, the gallery, the practices of art history, and the discipline of philosophical aesthetics must all, in one or another way, give way and become different, and perhaps vastly different, from what they have so far been’* After the proclamation of the end of the history of art, this is a logical conclusion of Arthur Danto*. Any ‘art’ after the end of art will become commerce and the production and sale of products will become ‘art’. In the absence of ‘artists’, ‘art’ will be positioned and promoted by professionals in marketing and communication and the idea of art will be kept afloat by the promotion of romantic notions about art and artists. This may not be the change foreseen by the late Arthur Danto. It is however a change that is facilitated by the absence of a philosophical basis for art theory, art practice and development of art after the end of art. Restoration of the history of art by acceptance of the idea of art perfect necessitates institutional change as well: We would have to abandon the idea of art per se [sic]. This idea was the basis of our art institutions up to the present. Danto’s object oriented approach of the Brillo boxes is a last testimony to that. We should expect change either way. We may have speculated that globalization or technology of the worldwide web would bring about change in the institutions of the art world. It is, however, the contribution of the discipline of philosophy that provides the most compelling arguments for major changes in the practice of art and its institutions.

Art institutions must change For traditional artists, a work of art is finished upon material realization. The very abandonment of that idea however was the beginning professional marketing, promotion, communication and branding: The professional management of perception. We may want to find out more about these professional practices.

We live in an exciting era. The future of art and its institutions are at stake. You may choose to become part of a generation of ‘artists’ after the end of art or give shape to a new chapter in the history of art. Pick you philosophical narrative! Q: Ask your teacher to join you in giving shape to a new chapter of the history of art and participate in the institutional change that is required to make art perfect. * Arthur Coleman Danto in: After The End of Art, Contemporary Art and the Pale of History, The A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts, 1995, Bollingen Series XXXV: 44, Princeton, preface.

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PROFESSIONALS

Imagine you are the CEO of a company that has commissioned an ambitious professional in marketing to promote a new product or idea. He comes up with a campaign and you ask him about it. He then tells you that he had a moment of genius and produced a campaign that is unique in the history of promotion. It will become a textbook case and will secure his name in the annals of the history of promotion. You congratulate him and after that you will probably ask him if it works. If you get the frown, then you probably hired an artist instead of a pro: Artists are not interested in results. For artists, creativity is not a tool but their subject. Artists do not look at the world to see how their work takes effect but instead ask the audience to look at the artist’s world and see how art is doing. In the world of the professional, credits for results take the place of speculation about creativity, originality, authenticity, inspiration, spontaneity etc. that are the topics of the art world. These qualities will of course be discussed in peer-‐to-‐peer situations, but what is a behind-‐the-‐scene matter for professionals is front stage for artists. There may have been a time, before the invention of the printing process, photography, computer drawing and modern communication, that art had a near monopoly on the visual representation of the world. This has been lost in self-‐reflection. Result oriented professionalism has not been less creative, resourceful, successful or revolutionary. It has attracted a lot of investments and talent and still embraces the idea of progress and a world for the making.

The avant-‐garde never left us. It just changed sides. Professionals have an economical or political agenda and tend to address, for reasons of efficiency, our primitive faculties and popular tendencies. Independent artists can form an invaluable counterweight against these agenda’s and reflective art may address other faculties and tendencies. We may want to think about the role of art after the end of art and the departure of the avant-‐garde. Art has lost the initiative in the visualization of the world. You can however make all the difference in the world once you adopt a professional interest in the audience. Q: Ask your institution for on-‐course testing facilities with relevant audiences and evaluation trajectories to bring professionalism into your work and study of art. * Artists who do care about results, their effects on the audience, will at best be confronted with a disregard of these results once their work is being discussed by institutional members of the art world. -‐ More on demarcation and the relation between professional and artistic practices in the art manifesto The Art of Making Art in the Age of CO2.

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FUTURE

There is an experiment in The Netherlands to find alternative employment for artists. It is called Social Design* and meant to involve artist in the work of change-‐management teams to solve real world problems. The experiment revealed some clichés: Artists want no change but a view, do not focus on questions of others, cannot easily take distance from their work, put their personality first, lack methodic and analytical skills, work intuitively, stray away from the problem, cannot work as a team and think the sky is the limit. The artists were to personify estrangement and their contribution would amount to a live performance to this effect during team sessions to explore the limits of the tolerance of the client. This is a depressing role for an artist, even after the end of art. If there ever is a moment to reconsider all what we think we know about art, then the moment we start looking for alternative jobs for artists is that moment. We may ask about their aspiration and perspectives. We may ask questions about their skills and we may ask questions about the institutions that took care of their training. We may ask questions about their contribution to society and we may ask whether their contribution to society became obsolete. And if not, by what and by whom this contribution is replaced. We may finally ask whether this replacement is satisfactory. There is another reason to address these questions: Restoration of the history of art, by acceptance of the idea of art perfect, offers a new perspective for the development of art, its institutions and the contribution of art to society. The Brillo boxes opened up an exciting perspective for art to make history We can try to imagine an era where art is again self evident, self-‐conscious, articulate, sensitive, in full swing and not in the defense. Such art will not be art after the history of art but will be a continuation of its history. This will require a consistent, applicable and relevant alternative to Danto’s narrative about the end of the history of art. We may have to consider an art manifesto.

There is a world to explore for the artist: The world of the audience. And when artists explore this world there will be a world to be discovered by the audience too. Q: Ask your teacher if he ever considered another profession after the end of art. * Social Design for Wicked Problems: http://issuu.com/hetnieuweinstituut/docs/sdfwp_english/17?e=1. -‐ The Dutch minister of Culture hired a partner of this experiment to take part in the administrations of a state-‐sponsored program that extends grants to artists who found a way to have some verifiable impact on society. The program is called The Art of Impact. For more info see www.theartofimpact.nl.

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MANIFESTO’S

What you are reading is an art manifesto. It is a relic of the past and dates from an era before postmodernism. It is a narrative by an artist about art and its place in the world. It is usually meant as a breach with the history of art -‐ not necessarily a breach with the idea of art history itself. Apart from personal reasons, there are many reasons for not writing or reading art manifestos. If you want to familiarize yourself with these you may want to read the French philosophers. The bottom-‐line is: We do not trust them. And that is reasonable. It is equally reasonable to accept that art does not exist without a narrative when art is the result of the application of an art concept, when you think of an art concept as a little narrative. These concepts or narratives will suffer from flaws, may be complete nonsense or even abject. To establish these flaws, we have to make these narratives explicit. This is not different for grand narratives. After our collective post-‐modern rejection of authoritative or common grand narratives, no narrative about art is self-‐evident any more. We may all have our own little narrative. If we want to communicate these narratives we may have to tell our individual narratives: Post-‐modernism does not mean an end to narratives: It necessitates a proliferation of a multitude of narratives.

There is no art without a narrative.

If concepts of art are small narratives, experiences create narratives, and meaning cannot exist without a narrative, then we may want to put our finger on these narratives, explain why they matter and communicate them. This is even more urgent when these narratives are the objects of our art practices. We may want to learn more about the dynamics of the narratives that can help us share our experiences and knowledge about art. If nothing is self-‐evident about art then you may want to learn something about the art theoretic ideas of your teacher. He may ask you the same. Writing an art manifesto may, one day, become a requirement for a Ph.D. in visual art. Q: Ask your teacher for his academic credentials: An articulate narrative that relates his own views to relevant narratives about art philosophy, art theory and institutional art practices. -‐ As is tradition in art manifestos, the manifesto The Art of Making Art in the Age of CO2 will produce a list of protagonist and antagonist to the ideas, convictions and perspectives expressed in this student edition. I would like to think of Danto as a protagonist, even if I do not agree with his views: He demonstrated the power of philosophy to the point of questioning the very idea of art history itself. That is an accomplishment.

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PARADIGM SHIFT

Changes of paradigm have their pro’s and con’s: They expand horizons of the future but may limit our understanding of the past as well. Imagine a moment in the future when a student of art history exclaims: ‘What in heaven are these art scholars writing about!’ and the teacher answers: ‘They are writing about the objects of art, not art itself. They firmly believed that art, and even meaning and beauty, was embodied in these objects. We may call it superstition or animism now, but for them the study of art was the study of objects, concepts, installations, performances and all these modern art objects. All the rest -‐ including the study of our perception, projection, their determinants, manifestation, structure, content and the spread thereof – was nothing more than context to them. You must understand that it was this very confinement that forced artists to explore the freedom of form of material of art objects that we take for granted now. This gave rise to the unsurpassed variety of forms of modern art objects we see in that era – up to the point where the development of new forms became the raison d’être of art on expense of its meaning outside the sphere of art. Do not make the mistake to think that this peculiar preoccupation with art objects was the prevalent approach then. It was not. The approach in the professional domain of communication, marketing, advertisement, creative industry and branding was very different: The art world and the professional world were just two contemporary worlds apart.’ The acceptance that art by itself is a concept constitutes a paradigm shift

Paradigm shifts change the way we look at the history of art, the way we practice art history, and are part of art history itself. The substitution of the notion of art per se [sic] by art perfect may change all these. As changes of paradigm can cause rifts in our history and our understanding of history, they can also restore perceived rifts in our history: The proclamation of the end of the history of art by Arthur Danto*. We may want to understand more about the role of concepts that cause rifts or a change of paradigm.

Developments in philosophy and theories of art are of little interest if they do not result in perspectives for art practices. You may take note of them when they do. Q: Ask your teacher for his expertise when you are at loss with art theory. *Arthur Coleman Danto on the end of art: After the End of Art. Contemporary Art and the Pale of History, Arthur Coleman Danto, Princeton University Press, Princeton New Jersey 1997.

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ART & CONCEPT

The idea that concepts could have something to do with art, in a way that is more than non-‐committal or contextual, has been lingering for a while. It found an application in what we now call conceptual art: Concepts as new objects of art that could either be substitutes for the traditional art objects, or be added to them as complimentary object matter. This was an art theoretical expansion of our concept as to what can be taken into consideration as an object of art. It was a departure from traditional medium specificity and a step further than the inclusion of everyday objects. The Brillo boxes did not only stretch our concept of art to include concepts as object matter, they also put the feasibility of our orientation on the art objects to the test. This orientation could no longer serve as a means to identify art or distinguish it from non-‐art. This was not a new problem but the Brillo boxes made it more urgent than ever. It put so much pressure on our concepts of art that they gave way. As in physics, when we test atoms in every possible way, we may at some point break them up and see them fall apart in two or more constituent parts: Protons and neutrons in the case of atoms, object and concept in the case of art. The Brillo boxes demonstrated duality of art. As an alternative to this analysis Danto proposes Hegel’s dialectic. He presents object and concept not as constituent counterparts but as anti-‐poles: Objects as art and concepts as their opposite. Danto describes how concepts have substituted object matter and thus put an end to the history of art. His conclusions are the product of dialectic reasoning, not of critical testing as in the analytical approach above. Danto did not scrutinize his concept of art* but demonstrated the limits of his uncontested concept of art instead.

We have never seen a piece of art without a concept of art Now that we have tested the limits of what can be an art object under given concepts of art, we may develop new art concepts and discover their limits**.

You may want to differentiate between a concept in conceptual art and an art concept. The first is the object matter of the artwork. The second is an art theory or notion of the audience of what art is and how it can be approached. Q: Ask your teacher about the academic merits of testing and an analytical approach compared to a dialectical approach. * Arthur Coleman Danto: After the End of Art, Contemporary Art and the Pale of History (1997). ** The Art of Making Art in the Age of CO2 explores new art concepts that facilitate new objects to become art. The art project M/S/E PROJECT adopts strategies for the application of new concepts of art.

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THE AGE OF CO2 The title of the art manifesto The Art of Making Art in the Age of CO2 makes reference to the title of a monograph on Marcel Duchamp: The Art of Making Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction*. The latter title denotes an era of art history and connects this period with an existential question about art, put forward by Walter Benjamin**: The threat that mechanical reproduction poses to the existence of art itself. This preoccupation of the art world with itself characterized the passed era of art production, although mechanical reproduction of art did not proof to be the biggest threat to art. It was the very preoccupation with itself that would lead to the proclamation of the end of the history of art. The Art of Making Art in the Age of CO2 directs our attention to another existential question: Not about art itself, but about the condition of the world in which art operates. Similarly it would also like to denote another era: One in which the audience and the world of the audience is the main preoccupation of art. The Art of Making Art in the Age of CO2 provides arguments for a restoration of the history of art and seeks to revive art beyond the need for self-‐existential questions. It produces philosophical, theoretical and practical arguments that could legitimate and facilitate new practices, institutional change and a focus on the audience and the world. It discusses contemporary practices and romantic notions about art. It reintroduces an old format for this purpose: An art manifesto. When art is a concept, then progress in art is the development of concepts Mechanical production suggests mindless production and mindless production suggests a blind spot for the consequences of production. An art world that is preoccupied with itself shows similar disregard to its audience and the world of the audience where it is to manifest itself. We may want to leave the mechanical age behind.

The development of new concepts of art need not be the ultimate occupation of artists. There is history to be made in the application of these concepts too: Making art is one thing, making it worthwhile is another. Are you ready? I wish you success! Q: Ask your institution if it is ready for a new era in the history of art: The Age of CO2 *Francis M. Naumann: Marcel Duchamp: The Art of Making Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (1999). ** Walter Benjamin: Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner Technischen Reproducierbarkeit (1935) [The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. First published in French in 1936 and in English in 1961.].

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AFTERWORD

Inspiration and creativity are not necessarily feet-‐on-‐the-‐table things that require quiet, isolation and freedom. Bend over your work or palette and in confrontation with the audience and the world around you, you may get inspiration and encounter obstacles that require creative solutions beyond imagination: e.g. the end of art or the practice of art institutions. Making your work meaningful in the life of the audience will make your work more interesting, bring out your talent and give satisfaction to you and your audience.

JOIN Are you ready to depart from the notion of art per se? Do you believe in the history of art and do you want to be part of it? Then make art happen! • Join your local Art Perfect Society. Art Perfect practices require institutional change. You may have to negotiate this in your own environment. Do this together with your teachers and fellow students. Here you can discuss your new orientation and cooperate on new art perfect projects.

• For more information about this manifesto and your local Art Perfect Society: E-‐mail [email protected] or subscribe to our newsletter.

• Please keep us posted at [email protected]

MORE

This student edition of the manifesto The Art of Making Art in The Age of CO2 is part of the M/S/E PROJECT. This art project includes the production of a series of wall objects by the author and a multi-‐disciplinary art expo with third party contributions on a contemporary issue. As an art project it deliberately seeks manifestation outside the sphere of art. A keynote presentation of this art project, its subject, art strategy and contributions is available on request. The expo and its contributions will be subject to testing before various audiences. Individuals and institutions are welcome to take part in this. The first expo is to take place in 2020. Funding, research and your contributions are welcome. More info: e-‐mail [email protected]

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CONTENT

Art Philosophy Art History Art Perfect Curating Art Art Theory Intellectual Property Art Strategy Art Institutions Vertical Framing Professionals Horizontal Framing Future Autonomy Manifesto’s Romantic Notions Paradigm Shift Art Education Art & Concept Art Criticism The Age of CO2

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Art Manifesto 2020 - With 20 questions 4 your teacher

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