hello all,
thinking about our in-class discussion on materiality the other day and noticing the lawrence weiner link on the wiki, i decided to embed this short video which, i think, nicely illustrates weiner's practice in relation to the materials he engages with. he is working in a discursive space where materials--language, paint, museum walls, etc--are used to both define that space as well as dissolve that which defines the space. he aims to collapse the art object ("a-r-t"[language]) and art material (paint, wall, floor, language, etc.) into one complicated loop of circular fun in a way that plays with the importance of the material art object's relational status.
it is also worth noting that L.W. has done several "art" books which consist only of words on a page (yet which somehow escape being labeled poetry [not even concrete poetry!] or even writing!) our library has several of these in the art stacks and they are all worth checking out (with your eyes not your id since artist stacks are reserve only:). I wish i had cough syrup as an excuse for that horrible joke but i don't so i will just see you all in class tomorrow.
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Thanks for this, Jon. It is very interesting how Weiner's books are classified in the library. I wonder if it's because there's an idea of how a "reader" is supposed to engage with these texts. Is there something about the experience of his books that strays from the idea of the bookworm lounging on the sofa with a novel? Are we experiencing Weiner's text differently because they are "art objects"?
ReplyDeleteAnd yes! The CalArt library staff make it difficult to peruse the art book collection!!! Try visiting Sukanya on Wednesdays and Fridays when she works. She'll help you out. ;) (look! facial punctuation! is that text or object?! buh dum bump!)