One of t he ways in which t he Concept ual project in art has

been most successful is in cl aiming new t errit or y for prac-

t ice. I t s a t endency t hat s been al most t oo successful : t oday
it seems t hat most of t he work in t he int ernat ional art syst em
posit ions it sel f as Concept ual t o some degree, yiel ding t he
Concept ual paint er, t he DJ and Concept ual art ist , or t he
Concept ual web art ist . Let s put aside t he quest ion of what
makes a work Concept ual , recognizing, wit h some resigna-
t ion, t hat t he t erm can onl y gest ure t oward a t hirt y year- ol d
hist orical moment . But it cant be reject ed ent irel y, as it has
an evident charge for art ist s working t oday, even if t hey
arent necessaril y invest ed in t he concerns of t he cl assical
moment , which incl uded l inguist ics, anal yt ic phil osophy, and
a pursuit of formal demat erial izat ion. What does seem t o
hol d t rue for t odays normat ive Concept ual ism is
t hat t he project remains, in t he words of Art and
Language, radical l y incompl et e: it does not
necessaril y st and against object s or paint ing, or
for l anguage as art ; it does not need t o st and
against ret inal art ; it does not st and for anyt hing
cert ain, inst ead privil eging framing and cont ext ,
and const ant l y renegot iat ing it s rel at ionship t o it s
audience. Mart ha Rosl er has spoken of t he as-
if approach, where t he Concept ual work cl oaks
it sel f in ot her discipl ines (phil osophy being t he
most not orious exampl e), provoking an oscil l at ion
bet ween skil l ed and de- skil l ed, aut horit y and pre-
t ense, st yl e and st rat egy, art and not - art .
The definition of artistic activity occurs, first of all, in the field of distribution.
Marcel Broodthaers
Hermann Hugo. Pia Desideria. 1659.
Duchamp was not onl y here first , but st aked out t he probl emat ic
virt ual l y singl e- handedl y. His quest ion Can one make works
which are not of art is our shibbol et h, and t he quest ions res-
ol ut ion wil l remain an apparit ion on t he horizon, al ways reced-
ing from t he sl ow growt h of pract ice. One suggest ion comes
from t he phil osopher Sarat Maharaj, who sees t he quest ion as a
marker for ways we might be abl e t o engage wit h works, event s,
spasms, ruct ions t hat dont l ook l ike art and dont count as art , but
are somehow el ect ric, energy nodes, at t ract ors, t ransmit t ers, conduc-
t ors of new t hinking, new subject ivit y and act ion t hat visual art work in
t he t radit ional sense is not abl e t o art icul at e. These concise words cal l
for an art t hat insinuat es it sel f int o t he cul t ure at l arge, an art t hat does not
go t he way of, say, t heol ogy, where whil e it s cert ain t hat t here are pract i-
t ioners doing import ant work, few peopl e not ice. An art t hat t akes Rosl ers
as- if moment as far as it can go.
These bol d expansions act ual l y seem t o render art works increasingl y vul nerabl e. A paint ing is manifest l y art ,
whet her on t he wal l or in t he st reet , but avant - garde work is oft en il l egibl e wit hout inst it ut ional framing and
t he work of t he curat or or hist orian. More t han anyone el se, art ist s of t he l ast hundred years have wrest l ed
wit h t his t rauma of cont ext , but t heirs is a st ruggl e t hat necessaril y t akes pl ace wit hin t he art syst em. However
radical t he work, it amount s t o a proposal enact ed wit hin an arena of peer- review, in dial ogue wit h t he com-
munit y and it s hist or y. Refl ect ing on his experience running a gal l er y in t he 1960s, Dan Graham obser ved:
if a work of art wasnt writ t en about and reproduced in a magazine it woul d have difficul t y at t aining t he
st at us of art . I t seemed t hat in order t o be defined as having val ue, t hat is as art , a work had onl y t o be
exhibit ed in a gal l er y and t hen t o be writ t en about and reproduced as a phot ograph in an art magazine.
Art , t hen, wit h it s rel iance on discussion t hrough refereed forums and journal s, is simil ar t o a professional
fiel d l ike science.
Marcel Duchamp. Rotorelief. 1935.
Robert Smithson. Spiral Jetty. 1970.
Not surprisingl y, t he hist or y of t his project is a series of fal se
st art s and pat hs t hat pet er out , of project s t hat dissipat e or are
absorbed. Exempl ar y among t his garden of ruins is Duchamps
fail ure t o sel l his Rot orel ief opt ical t oys at an amat eur inven-
t ors fair. What bet t er descript ion of t he art ist t han amat eur
invent or? But t his was 1935, decades before widespread fame
woul d have assured his sal es, and he was at t empt ing t o whol l y
t ranspl ant himsel f int o t he al ien cont ext of commercial science
and invent ion. I n his own anal ysis: error, one hundred per-
cent . I mmersing art in l ife runs t he risk of seeing t he st at us of
art and wit h it , t he st at us of art ist disperse ent irel y.
Clip Art, 1985.
What woul d it mean t o st ep out side of t his careful l y st ruct ured syst em? Duchamps
Rot orel ief experiment st ands as a caut ion, and t he fut il it y of more recent at t empt s
t o evade t he inst it ut ional syst em has been wel l demonst rat ed. Canonical works sur-
vive t hrough document at ion and discourse, administ ered by t he usual inst it ut ions.
Smit hsons Spiral Jet t y, for exampl e, was acquired by (or perhaps it was in fact gift ed
t o) t he Dia Art Foundat ion, which discreet l y mount ed a phot ograph of t he new hol d-
ing in it s Dan Graham- designed video- caf, a t ast eful assert ion of ownership.
That work which seeks what Al l an Kaprow cal l ed t he bl urring of art and l ife work
which Boris Groys has cal l ed biopol it ical , at t empt ing t o produce and document l ife
it sel f as pure act ivit y by art ist ic means, faces t he probl em t hat it must depend on a
record of it s int er vent ion int o t he worl d, and t his document at ion is what is recouped
as art , short - circuit ing t he original int ent . Groys sees a disparit y t hus opened bet ween
t he work and it s fut ure exist ence as document at ion, not ing our deep mal aise t owards
document at ion and t he archive. This must be part l y due t o t he archives deat hl ike
appearance, a point t hat Jeff Wal l has echoed, in a crit ique of t he uninvit ingl y t omb-
l ike Concept ual ism of t he 1960s.
Agreement ! A paragraph of cit at ions, a direct ion, t he suggest ion t hat one is get t ing
a sense of t hings. What t hese crit ics obser ve is a popul ar suspicion of t he archive of
high cul t ure, which rel ies on cat al oguing, provenance, and aut hent icit y. I nsofar as
t here is a popul ar archive, it does not share t his administ rat ive t endency. Suppose an
art ist were t o rel ease t he work direct l y int o a syst em t hat depends on reproduct ion
and dist ribut ion for it s sust enance, a model t hat encourages cont aminat ion, borrow-
ing, st eal ing, and horizont al bl ur. The art syst em usual l y corral s errant works, but how
coul d it recoup t housands of freel y circul at ing paperbacks?
It is useful t o cont inual l y quest ion t he avant - gardes t radit ional romant ic opposit ion t o
bourgeois societ y and val ues. The genius of t he bourgeoisie manifest s it sel f in t he cir-
cuit s of power and money t hat regul at e t he fl ow of cul t ure. Nat ional bourgeois cul t ure,
of which art is one el ement , is based around commercial media, which, t oget her wit h
t echnol ogy, design, and fashion, generat e some of t he import ant differences of our day.
These are t he arenas in which t o conceive of a work posit ioned wit hin t he mat erial and
discursive t echnol ogies of dist ribut ed media.
This t endency has a rich hist or y, despit e t he l ack of
specific work al ong t he l ines of Kl ienbergs proposal .
Many art ist s have used t he print ed page as medium;
an arbit rar y and part ial l ist might incl ude Robert
Smit hson, Mel Bochner, Dan Graham, Joseph Kosut h,
Lawrence Weiner, St ephen Kal t enbach, and Adrian
Piper, and t here have been hist orical wat ersheds
l ike Set h Siegel aub and John Wendl ers 1968 show
Xeroxbook.
Dist ribut ed media can be defined as social informat ion circu-
l at ing in t heoret ical l y unl imit ed quant it ies in t he common mar-
ket , st ored or accessed via port abl e devices such as books
and magazines, records and compact discs, videot apes and
DVDs, personal comput ers and dat a disket t es. Duchamps
quest ion has new l ife in t his space, which has great l y
expanded during t he l ast few decades of gl obal corporat e
sprawl . I t s space int o which t he work of art must project
it sel f l est it be out dist anced ent irel y by t hese corporat e int er-
est s. New st rat egies are needed t o keep up wit h commercial
dist ribut ion, decent ral izat ion, and dispersion. You must fight
somet hing in order t o underst and it .
Mark Kl ienberg, writ ing in 1975 in t he second issue of The Fox, poses t he quest ion:
Coul d t here be someone capabl e of writ ing a science- fict ion t hril l er based on t he int en-
t ion of present ing an al t ernat ive int erpret at ion of modernist art t hat is readabl e by a
non- special ist audience? Woul d t hey care? He says no more about it , and t he quest ion
st ands as an int riguing hist orical fragment , an
evol ut ionar y dead end, and a l ine of inquir y t o
pursue in t his essay: t he int imat ion of a cat egori-
cal l y ambiguous art , one in which t he synt hesis of
mul t ipl e circuit s of reading carries an emancipa-
t or y pot ent ial .
Ant Farm, 1960s.
Cert ainl y, part of what makes t he cl assical avant - garde int erest ing and radical is t hat it
t ended t o shun social communicat ion, excommunicat ing it sel f t hrough incomprehensibil it y,
but t his isnt useful if t he goal is t o use t he circuit s of mass dist ribut ion. I n t hat case, one
must use not simpl y t he del iver y mechanisms of popul ar cul t ure, but al so it s generic forms.
When Rodney Graham rel eases a CD of pop songs, or Maurizio Cat t el an publ ishes a mag-
azine, t hose in t he art worl d must acknowl edge t he art gest ure at t he same t ime t hat t hese
product s funct ion l ike any ot her art ifact in t he consumer market . But difference l ies wit hin
t hese product s! Embodied in t heir embrace of
t he codes of t he cul t ure indust r y, t hey cont ain
a ut opian moment t hat point s t oward fut ure
t ransformat ion. They coul d be writ t en accord-
ing t o t he code of hermeneut ics:
Where we have spoken openl y we have act u-
al l y said not hing. But where we have writ t en
somet hing in code and in pict ures, we have
conceal ed t he t rut h
This point s t o a short coming of cl assical concept ual ism. Benjamin Buchl oh point s out t hat
whil e it emphasized it s universal avail abil it y and it s pot ent ial col l ect ive accessibil it y
and underl ined it s freedom from t he det erminat ions of t he discursive and economic fram-
ing convent ions governing t radit ional art product ion and recept ion, it was, nevert hel ess,
perceived as t he most esot eric and el it ist art ist ic mode. Kosut hs quot at ion from Roget s
Thesaurus pl aced in an Art forum box ad, or Dan Grahams l ist of numbers l aid out in
an issue of Harpers Bazaar, were uses of mass media t o del iver coded proposit ions
t o a special ist audience, and t he impact of t hese works, significant and l ast ing as t hey
were, revert ed direct l y t o t he rel at ivel y arcane real m of t he art syst em, which not ed t hese
effort s and inscribed t hem in it s hist ories. Concept ual isms crit ique of represent at ion ema-
nat ed t he same mandarin air as did a canvas by Ad Reinhart , and it s at t empt s t o creat e
an Art Degree Zero can be seen as a kind of negat ive virt uosit y, perhaps part l y at t ribut -
abl e t o a New Left skept icism t owards pop cul t ure and it s generic expressions.
Dan Graham. Figurative. 1965.
The radical nat ure of t his work st ems in part from t he fact
t hat it is a direct expression of t he process of product ion.
Market mechanisms of circul at ion, dist ribut ion, and dissem-
inat ion become a crucial part of t he work, dist inguishing
such a pract ice from t he l iberal - bourgeois model of produc-
t ion, which operat es under t he not ion t hat cul t ural doings
somehow t ake pl ace above t he market pl ace. However,
whet her assuming t he form of ad or art icl e, much of t his
work was primaril y concerned wit h finding exhibit ion
al t ernat ives t o t he gal l er y wal l , and in any case oft en used
t hese sit es t o demonst rat e dr yl y t heoret ical proposit ions
rat her t han address issues of, say, desire. And t hen, one
imagines, wit h a t wist of t he kal eidoscope t hings resol ve
t hemsel ves.
A. Eleazar. Ouroboros. 1735.
2000.
One coul d cal l t hese niches t heat rical , echoing Michael Frieds insist ence t hat
what l ies bet ween t he art s is t heat er t he common denominat or t hat binds
l arge and seemingl y disparat e act ivit ies t o one anot her, and t hat dist inguishes
t hese act ivit ies from t he radical l y different ent erprises of t he Modernist art . A
pract ice based on dist ribut ed media shoul d pay cl ose at t ent ion t o t hese act ivi-
t ies, which, despit e l ying bet ween t he art s, have great resonance in t he nat ional
cul t ure.
Some of t he most int erest ing recent art ist ic
act ivit y has t aken pl ace out side t he art market
and it s forums. Col l aborat ive and somet imes
anonymous groups work in fashion, music,
video, or performance, garnering admirat ion
wit hin t he art worl d whil e somehow ret aining
t heir st at us as out siders, perhaps due t o t heir
preference for t heat rical , dist ribut ion- orient ed
modes. Maybe t his is what Duchamp meant by
his int riguing t hrowaway comment , l at e in l ife,
t hat t he art ist of t he fut ure wil l be underground.
Let s say your aest het ic program spans media, and t hat much of your work does not funct ion
properl y wit hin t he inst it ut ional ized art cont ext . This might incl ude music, fashion, poet r y, fil m-
making, or crit icism, al l crucial art ist ic pract ices, but pract ices which are somehow st ubborn and
difficul t , which resist easy assimil at ion int o a market - driven art syst em. The fil m avant - garde, for
inst ance, has al ways run on a separat e t rack from t he art worl d, even as it s pract it ioners may
have been pursuing anal ogous concerns. And whil e art ist s have al ways been at t ract ed t o music
and it s rit ual s, a person whose primar y act ivit y was producing music, conceived of and present -
ed as Art , woul d find art worl d accept ance el usive. The producer who el ect s t o wear several
hat s is perceived as a crossover at best : t he art ist - fil mmaker, as in t he case of Jul ian Schnabel ;
t he art ist as ent repreneur, as in t he case of Warhol s handl ing of I nt er view magazine and t he
Vel vet Underground; or, as wit h many of t he peopl e ment ioned in t his essay, art ist as crit ic, per-
haps t he most t enuous posit ion of al l . This is t he l ake of our feel ing.
The discourse of publ ic art has hist orical l y focused on ideal s of universal access, but , rat her t han
considering access in any pract ical t erms, t wo goal s have been pursued t o t he excl usion of ot hers.
First , t he work must be free of charge (apparent l y economic considerat ions are primar y in det ermin-
ing t he divide bet ween publ ic and privat e). Oft en t his bars any percept ibl e inst it ut ional frame t hat
woul d normal l y confer t he st at us of art , such as t he museum, so t he publ ic art work must broadl y and
unambiguousl y announce it s own art st at us, a mandat e for conser vat ive forms. Second is t he direct
equat ion of publ icness wit h shared physical space. But if t his is t he model , t he successful work of
publ ic art wil l at best funct ion as a sit e of pil grimage, in which case it overl aps wit h archit ect ure.
The probl em is t hat sit uat ing t he work at
a singul ar point in space and t ime t urns
it , a priori, int o a monument . What if it
is inst ead dispersed and reproduced, it s
val ue approaching zero as it s accessibil it y
rises? We shoul d recognize t hat col l ect ive
experience is now based on simul t aneous
privat e experiences, dist ribut ed across
t he fiel d of media cul t ure, knit t oget her
by ongoing debat e, publ icit y, promot ion,
and discussion. Publ icness t oday has as
much t o do wit h sit es of product ion and
reproduct ion as it does wit h any supposed
physical commons, so a popul ar al bum
coul d be regarded as a more successful
inst ance of publ ic art t han a monument
t ucked away in an urban pl aza. The al bum
is avail abl e ever ywhere, since it empl oys
t he mechanisms of free market capit al ism, hist or ys most sophist icat ed dist ribut ion syst em t o dat e.
The monument al model of publ ic art is invest ed in an anachronist ic not ion of communal appreciat ion
t ransposed from t he church t o t he museum t o t he out doors, and t his not ion is received skept ical l y by
an audience no l onger so int erest ed in direct communal experience. Whil e inst ant iat ed in nominal
publ ic space, mass- market art ist ic product ion is usual l y consumed privat el y, as in t he case of books,
CDs, videot apes, and I nt ernet cont ent . Tel evision producers are not int erest ed in col l ect ivit y, t hey
are int erest ed in get t ing as cl ose as possibl e t o individual s. Perhaps an art dist ribut ed t o t he broadest
possibl e publ ic cl oses t he circl e, becoming a privat e art , as in t he days of commissioned port rait s.
The anal ogy wil l onl y become more apt as digit al dist ribut ion t echniques al l ow for increasing cust om-
izat ion t o individual consumers.
If dist ribut ion and publ ic are so import ant , isnt t his, in a sense, a debat e about publ ic art ? I t s
a useful way t o frame t he discussion, but onl y if one underl ines t he hist orical deficiencies of t hat
discourse, and acknowl edges t he fact t hat t he publ ic has changed.
Puppy, after Jeff Koons. S. Price.
The monument al it y of publ ic art has been chal l enged before, most successful l y by t hose for whom
t he t erm publ ic was a pol it ical ral l ying point . Publ ic art ist s in t he 1970s and 1980s t ook int er-
vent ionist praxis int o t he social fiel d, act ing out of a sense of urgency based on t he not ion t hat
t here were social crises so pressing t hat art ist s coul d no l onger hol e up in t he st udio, but must
direct l y engage wit h communit y and cul t ural ident it y. I f we are t o propose a new kind of publ ic
art , it is import ant t o l ook beyond t he purel y ideol ogical or inst rument al funct ion of art . As Art and
Language not ed, radical art ist s produce art icl es and exhibit ions about phot os, capit al ism, corrup-
t ion, war, pest il ence, t rench foot and issues. Publ ic pol icy, dest ined t o be t he t erminal as- if st rat egy
of t he avant - garde! A sel f- annihil at ing not hing.
The probl em arises when t he const el l at ion of crit ique, publ icit y, and discussion around t he work is
at l east as charged as a primar y experience of t he work. Does one have an obl igat ion t o view t he
work first - hand? What happens when a more int imat e, t hought ful , and enduring underst anding comes
from mediat ed discussions of an exhibit ion, rat her t han from a direct experience of t he work? I s it
incumbent upon t he consumer t o bear wit ness, or can ones art experience derive from magazines,
t he I nt ernet , books, and conversat ion? The ground for t hese quest ions has been cl eared by t wo
cul t ural t endencies t hat are more or l ess diamet rical l y opposed: on t he one hand, Concept ual isms
hist orical dependence on document s and records; on t he ot her hand, t he popul ar archives ever-
sharpening knack for generat ing publ ic discussion t hrough secondar y media. This does not simpl y
mean t he commercial cul t ural worl d, but a gl obal media sphere which is, at l east for now, open t o
t he int er vent ions of non- commercial , non- government al act ors working sol el y wit hin channel s of dis-
t ribut ed media.
An art grounded in dist ribut ed media can be seen as a pol it ical art
and an art of communicat ive act ion, not l east because it is a react ion
t o t he fact t hat t he merging of art and l ife has been effect ed most
successful l y by t he consciousness indust r y. The fiel d of cul t ure is
a publ ic sphere and a sit e of st ruggl e, and al l of it s manifest at ions
are ideol ogical . I n Publ ic Sphere and Experience, Oscar Negt and
Al exander Kl uge insist t hat each individual , no mat t er how passive a
component of t he capit al ist consciousness indust r y, must be consid-
ered a producer (despit e t he fact t hat t his rol e is denied t hem). Our
t ask, t hey say, is t o fashion count er- product ions. Kl uge himsel f is an
inspirat ion: act ing as a fil mmaker, l obbyist , fict ion writ er, and t el evi-
sion producer, he has worked deep changes in t he t errain of German
media. An object disappears when it becomes a weapon.
Anonymous.
Ettore Sotsass. Lamiera. Pattern design, Memphis collection. 1983.
One of t he videos most st riking aspect s is not t he grisl y,
t hough cl inical , cl imax (which, in descript ions of t he t ape,
has come t o st and in for t he ent ire cont ent ), but t he sl ick pro-
duct ion st rat egies, which seem t o draw on American pol it ical
campaign advert isement s. I t is not cl ear whet her it was ever
int ended for TV broadcast . An apocr yphal st or y indicat es
t hat a Saudi journal ist found it on an Arabic- l anguage web-
sit e and t urned it over t o CBS, which prompt l y screened an
excerpt , drawing heavy crit icism. Somehow it found it s way
ont o t he I nt ernet , where t he FBI s t hwart ed at t empt s at sup-
pression onl y increased it s not oriet y: in t he first mont hs aft er
it s I nt ernet rel ease, Daniel Pearl video, Pearl video,
and ot her variat ions on t he phrase were among t he t erms
most frequent l y submit t ed t o I nt ernet search engines. The
work seems t o be unavail abl e as a videocasset t e, so anyone
abl e t o l ocat e it is l ikel y t o view a compressed dat a- st ream
t ransmit t ed from a host ing ser vice in t he Net herl ands (in t his
sense, it may not be correct t o cal l it video). One quest ion
is whet her it has been rel egat ed t o t he I nt ernet , or in some
way creat ed by t hat t echnol ogy. Does t he piece count as
info- war because of it s nat ure as a prol iferat ing comput er
fil e, or is it simpl y a video for broadcast , forced t o assume
digit al form under pol it ical pressure? Unl ike t el evision, t he
net provides informat ion onl y on demand, and much of t he
debat e over t his video concerns not t he l egal it y or moral -
it y of making it avail abl e, but whet her or not one shoul d
choose t o wat ch it as if t he act of viewing wil l in some way
enl ight en or cont aminat e. This is a charged document freel y
avail abl e in t he publ ic arena, yet t he discussion around it ,
judging from numerous web forums, bul l et in boards, and dis-
cussion groups, is usual l y debat ed by part ies who have never
seen it .
A good exampl e of t his l ast dist inct ion is t he
phenomenon of t he Daniel Pearl Video, as
it s come t o be cal l ed. Even wit hout t he l abel
PROPAGANDA, which CBS hel pful l y added t o
t he excerpt t hey aired, it s cl ear t hat t he 2002
video is a compl ex document . Formal l y, it
present s kidnapped American journal ist Daniel
Pearl , first as a mout hpiece for t he views of his
kidnappers, a Pakist ani fundament al ist organi-
zat ion, and t hen, fol l owing his off- screen mur-
der, as a cadaver, beheaded in order t o under-
l ine t he gravit y of t heir pol it ical demands.
Computer Technique Group. Cubic Kennedy. 1960s.
Bot h of t hese exampl es privil ege t he I nt ernet as medium,
most l y because of it s funct ion as a publ ic sit e for st orage
and t ransmission of informat ion. The not ion of a mass
archive is rel at ivel y new, and a not ion which is probabl y
phil osophical l y opposed t o t he t radit ional underst anding
of what an archive is and how it funct ions, but it may be
t hat , behind t he veneer of user int erfaces fl oat ing on it s
surfacewhich generat e most of t he work grouped under
t he rubric web art t he I nt ernet approximat es such a
st ruct ure, or can at l east be seen as a working model .
This exampl e may be provocat ive, since t he videos
depl orabl e cont ent is cl earl y bound up wit h it s ext raor-
dinar y rout es of t ransmission and recept ion. I t is evi-
dent , however, t hat t errorist organizat ions, al ongside
t ransnat ional corporat e int erest s, are one of t he more
vigil ant l y opport unist ic expl oit ers of event s, spasms,
ruct ions t hat dont l ook l ike art and dont count as art ,
but are somehow el ect ric, energy nodes, at t ract ors,
t ransmit t ers, conduct ors of new t hinking, new subjec-
t ivit y and act ion. A more convent ional inst ance of
successful use of t he media- sphere by a non- market ,
non- government organizat ion is Linux, t he open- source
comput er operat ing syst em t hat won a cont roversial
first prize at t he digit al art fair Ars El ect ronica. Linux
was init ial l y writ t en by one person, programmer Linus
Tor val ds, who pl aced t he code for t his radical l y incom-
pl et e work on- l ine, invit ing ot hers t o t inker, wit h t he aim of pol ishing and perfect ing t he operat ing
syst em. The I nt ernet al l ows t housands of aut hors t o simul t aneousl y devel op various part s of t he work,
and Linux has emerged as a popul ar and powerful operat ing syst em and a serious chal l enge t o profit -
driven giant s l ike Microsoft , which recent l y fil ed wit h t he US Securit ies and Exchange Commission
t o warn t hat it s business model , based on cont rol t hrough l icensing, is menaced by t he open- source
model . Col l ect ive aut horship and compl et e decent ral izat ion ensure t hat t he work is invul nerabl e t o t he
usual corporat e forms of at t ack and assimil at ion, whet her enact ed via l egal , market , or t echnol ogi-
cal rout es (however, as Al ex Gal l oway has point ed out , t he st ruct ure of t he Worl d Wide Web shoul d
not it sel f be t aken t o be some rhizomat ic ut opia; it cert ainl y woul d not be difficul t for a government
agency t o hobbl e or even shut down t he Web wit h a few simpl e commands).
Wit h more and more media readil y avail abl e t hrough t his unrul y archive, t he t ask becomes one of pack-
aging, producing, reframing, and dist ribut ing; a mode of product ion anal ogous not t o t he creat ion of
mat erial goods, but t o t he product ion of social cont ext s, using exist ing mat erial . Anyt hing on t he int ernet
is a fragment , provisional , point ing el sewhere. Not hing is finished. What a t ime you chose t o be born!
After an anonymous cameo, circa 18
th
century. S. Price
Computer Technique Group. Return to a Square. 1960s.
An ent ire art ist ic program coul d be cent ered on t he re- rel ease of obsol et e cul t ural art i-
fact s, wit h or wit hout modificat ions, regardl ess of int el l ect ual propert y l aws. An earl y
exampl e of t his redempt ive t endency is art ist Harr y Smit hs obsessive 1952 Ant hol ogy
of American Fol k Music, which compil ed forgot t en recordings from earl y in t he cent ur y.
Cl oser t o t he present is my own col l ect ion of earl y video game soundt racks, in which
audio dat a rescued by hackers and circul at ed on t he web is t ranspl ant ed t o t he ol d
media of t he compact - disc, where it gains resonance from t he cont ext s of product and
t he song form: t ake what s free and sel l it back in a new package. I n anot her exampl e,
one can view t he ent ire run of t he 1970s art s magazine Aspen, republ ished on t he art -
ist - run sit e ubu.com, which regul arl y makes out - of- print works avail abl e as free digit al
fil es. Al l of t hese works emphasize t he capacit y for remembering, which Kl uge sees as
crucial in opposing t he assaul t of t he present
on t he rest of t ime, and in organizing indi-
vidual and col l ect ive l earning and memor y
under an indust rial ist - capit al ist t emporal it y
t hat works t o fragment and val orize al l expe-
rience. I n t hese works, resist ance is t o be
found at t he moment of product ion, since it
figures t he moment of consumpt ion as an act
of re- use.
It s cl ear from t hese exampl es t hat t he readymade st il l t owers over art ist ic pract ice.
But t his is l argel y due t o t he fact t hat t he st rat egy yiel ded a host of new opport unit ies
for t he commodit y. Dan Graham ident ified t he probl em wit h t he readymade: inst ead
of reducing gal l er y object s t o t he common l evel of t he ever yday object , t his ironic
gest ure simpl y ext ended t he reach of t he gal l er ys exhibit ion t errit or y. One must
ret urn t o Fount ain, t he most not orious and most int erest ing of t he readymades, t o see
t hat t he gest ure does not simpl y raise epist emol ogical quest ions about t he nat ure of
art , but enact s t he dispersion of object s int o discourse. The power of t he readymade
is t hat no one needs t o make t he pil grimage t o see Fount ain. As wit h Grahams maga-
zine pieces, few peopl e saw t he original Fount ain in 1917. Never exhibit ed, and l ost
or dest royed al most immediat el y, it was act ual l y creat ed t hrough Duchamps media
manipul at ionst he St iegl it z phot ograph (a guarant ee, a short cut t o hist or y), t he Bl ind
Man magazine art icl erat her t han t hrough t he creat ion- myt h of his finger sel ect ing
it in t he showroom, t he st at us- conferring gest ure t o which t he readymades are oft en
reduced. I n Fount ains el egant model , t he art work does not occupy a singl e posit ion
in space and t ime; rat her, it is a pal impsest of gest ures, present at ions, and posit ions.
Dist ribut ion is a circuit of reading, and t here is huge pot ent ial for subversion when
deal ing wit h t he inst it ut ions t hat cont rol definit ions of cul t ural meaning. Duchamp
dist ribut ed t he not ion of t he fount ain in such a way t hat it became one of art s pri-
mal scenes; it t ransubst ant iat ed from a provocat ive objet dart int o, as Broodt haers
defined his Muse des Aigl es: a sit uat ion, a syst em defined by object s, by inscrip-
t ions, by various act ivit ies
The Blind Man. 1917.
i-D Magazine. 2002.
This t endency is marked in t he discourses of archit ect ure and design. An echo of Publ ic Art s cher-
ished communal spaces persist s in t he art syst ems fondness for t hese modes, possibl y because of t he
Ut opian promise of t heir appeal s t o col l ect ive publ ic experience. Their crit ical it y comes from an
engagement wit h broad social concerns. This is why Dan Grahams pavil ions were init ial l y so pro-
vocat ive, and t he work of Daniel Buren, Michael Asher, and Gordon Mat t a- Cl ark before him: t hese
were int er vent ions int o t he social unconscious. These int er vent ions have been guiding l ight s for art of
t he l ast decade, but in much t he same way t hat quasi- bureaucrat ic administ rat ive forms were t aken
up by t he Concept ual ist s of t he 1960s, design and archit ect ure now coul d be cal l ed house st yl es of
t he neo- avant - garde. Their appearance oft en simpl y gest ures t oward a t heoret ical l y engaged posit ion,
such t hat a represent at ion of space or st ruct ure is figured as an ipso fact o crit ique of administ ered
societ y and t he social , whil e engagement wit h
design codes is seen as a comment on advert is-
ing and t he commodit y. One must be careful not
t o bl ame t he art ist s; archit ect ure and design forms
are al l - t oo- easil y packaged for resal e as scul pt ure
and paint ing. However, one can st il l sl ip t hrough
t he cracks in t he best possibl e way, and even in t he
l argest inst it ut ions. Jorge Pardos radical Project ,
an overhaul of Dias ground fl oor which successful -
l y reposit ioned t he inst it ut ion via broadl y appeal ing
design vernacul ars, went l argel y unremarked in t he
art press, eit her because t he piece was t ransparent
t o t he ext ent of cl aiming t he museums bookst ore
and exhibit ing work
by ot her art ist s, or
because of a cynical
incredul it y t hat he
get s away wit h cal l -
ing t his art .
Ettore Sottsass. Design of a Roof to Discuss Under. 1973.
The l ast t hirt y years have seen t he t ransformat ion of art s
expanded fiel d from a st ance of st ubborn discursive ambi-
guit y int o a comfort abl e and compromised sit uat ion
in which were wel l accust omed t o concept ual int er-
vent ions, t o art and t he social , where t he impul se
t o merge art and l ife has resul t ed in l ifest yl e art , a
secure gal l er y pract ice t hat comment s on cont em-
porar y media cul t ure, or apes commercial pro-
duct ion st rat egies. This is t he l umber of l ife.
Liam Gillick. Post Legislation Discussion Platform. 1998.
Iakov Chernikhov. Constructive Theatrical Set. 1931.
A simil ar st rain of disbel ief greet ed t he const ruct ion of his own house, produced for
an exhibit ion wit h a good deal of t he exhibit ors money. I t seems t hat t he avant - garde
can st il l shock, if onl y on t he l evel of economic val orizat ion. This work does not simpl y
address t he codes of mass cul t ure, it embraces t hese codes as form, in a possibl y quix-
ot ic pursuit of an unmediat ed crit ique of cul t ural convent ions.

An argument against art t hat addresses cont empo-
rar y issues and t opical cul t ure rest s on t he virt ue
of sl owness, oft en cast aside due t o t he urgency
wit h which ones work must appear. Sl owness works
against al l of our prevail ing urges and requirement s:
it is a resist ance t o t he cont emporar y mandat e of
speed. Moving wit h t he t imes pl aces you in a bl ind
spot : if youre part of t he general t enor, it s difficul t
t o add a dissonant not e. But t he way in which media
cul t ure feeds on it s own l eavings indicat es t he para-
doxical sl owness of archived media, which, l ike a
sl eeper cel l , wil l al ways rear it s head at a l at er dat e.
The rear- guard oft en has t he upper hand, and some-
t imes del ay, t o use Duchamps t erm, wil l ret urn t he
invest ment wit h massive int erest .
Let s not overreach. The quest ion is whet her ever y-
t hing is al ways t he same, whet her it is in fact possi-
bl e t hat by t he age of fort y a person has seen al l t hat
has been and wil l ever be. Must I consul t art t o underst and t hat ident it y is administ ered,
power expl oit s, resist ance is predet ermined, al l is shit ?
Michael Green. From Zen and the Art of Macintosh. 1986.
To recognizethe relative immutability of historically formed discursive
artistic genres, institutional structures, and distribution forms as obstacles that are
ultimately persistent (if not insurmountable) marks the most profound crisis for the
artist identified with a model of avant-garde practice.
So t he t hread l eads from Duchamp t o Pop t o Concept ual ism, but beyond t hat we must t urn
our backs: a resignat ion, in cont rast t o Pops affirmat ion and Concept ual isms int errogat ion.
Such a project is an incompl et e and perhaps fut il e proposit ion, and since one can onl y
adopt t he degree of precision appropriat e t o t he subject , t his essay is writ t en in a provi-
sional and expl orat or y spirit . An art t hat at t empt s t o t ackl e t he expanded fiel d, encompass-
ing arenas ot her t han t he st andard gal l er y and art worl d- circuit , sounds ut opian at best ,
Benjamin Buchloh
Albrecht Drer. Melencolia I. 1514.
and possibl y nave and undevel oped; t his essay may it sel f be a disjoint ed series of nave
proposit ions l acking a t hesis. Compl et e encl osure means t hat one cannot writ e a novel ,
compose music, produce t el evision, and st il l ret ain t he st at us of Art ist . What s more, art ist
as a social rol e is somewhat embarrassing, in t hat it s t aken t o be a usel ess posit ion, if
not a react ionar y one: t he pract it ioner is dismissed as eit her t he producer of over- val ued
decor, or as part of an arrogant , parasit ical , sel f- st yl ed el it e.
But hasnt t he art ist ic impul se al ways been ut opian, wit h al l t he hope and fut il it y t hat
impl ies? To t hose of you who decr y t he Ut opian impul se as fut il e, or worse, responsibl e
for t he horribl e excesses of t he l ast cent ur y, recal l t hat each moment is a Gol den Age (of
course t he Soviet experiment was wil dl y wrong- headed, but l et us pret endand it is not
so hardt hat a kind of social Dispersion was it s aim). The l ast hundred years of work
indicat e t hat it s demonst rabl y impossibl e t o dest roy or demat erial ize Art , which, l ike it or
not , can onl y gradual l y expand, voraciousl y synt hesizing ever y aspect of l ife. Meanwhil e,
we can t ake up t he redempt ive circul at ion of al l egor y t hrough design, obsol et e forms and
hist orical moment s, genre and t he vernacul ar, t he social memor y woven int o popul ar cul -
t ure: a privat e, secul ar, and profane consumpt ion of media. Product ion, aft er al l , is t he
excret or y phase in a process of appropriat ion.
Albrecht Drer. Melencolia I. 1514.
2002-
With thanks
to Bettina Funcke