a A inting in rdinates” of great t negates d, Six Year dered th*957,087" was the first large-scale public exhibition to focus on conceptualist art practices. By naming her show after the population of its host city of Seattle recorded in the census of 1960, Lucy R, Lippard evoked a democratic notion of art as something to be shared by a broad public. When the exhibition traveled across the Canadian border to Vancouver, where it took a slightly different form, its title was the approximate population of that city: “955,000.” Sponsored by the Contemporary Art Council of the Seattle Art Museum, it was centered in the 1962 World's Fair Pavilion and extended to a 50-mile radius around the city. But with only one painter and works ranging from Bill Bollinger’s floating log to everything Robert Barry knew but was not thinking of on 15 June 1969 at 1:36 p.m., its esoteric nature was a challenge to its populist intentions. As critic Peter Plagens wrote, the exhibition produced “a bump in the phenomenology of art.” The catalog was a stack of ninety-five 4 x 6-inch index cards arranged randomly, including twenty for Lippard’s essay and sixty-four cards contributed by the artists. Many of the artists’ cards gave instructions for creating their pieces, or descriptions of things that could be realized by others. The genre of instruction work was an important conceptualist form, developed by Fluxus artists and flowering internationally in the late 1960s. Knowing that there would be little money for shipping and for artist travel, Lippard solicited proposals for works that she could make on site with the help of volunteers. Because the process yielded works that could be displayed inexpensively, art-by- instruction sat outside a commercial art system that highlighted the precious object. This resonated with Lippard’s anti-elitist cultural politics, fitting well with her egalitarian aspirations for “557,087.” E A central feature of instruction works is indeterminacy, allowing works to be realized in different ways. Critical details were sometimes unspecified, as when Carl Andre neglected to state that his piece should be made from finished lumber and Lippard used rough logs instead, And exigencies of circumstance often prompted loose interpretations or departure from instructions because Lippard and her co-workers constructed many works with little budget and in a short time. The open nature of art-by- instruction, and its collaborative character, thus shared creative responsibility beyond the artist and furthered the blurring of artistic roles. mixing of roles was a central feature of the time. Lippard began as an art critic living in a community of artists, and in 1966 she curated the important Post- Minimalist exhibition “Eccentric Abstraction.” But she viewed her curatorial work as a variety of criticism, just as the artists of her generation engaged in critical writing as part of their artistic practice. When Plagens reviewed “557,087,” he suggested that Lippard operated as an artist using other artists as her material, a charge that would be marshaled regularly against future curators. In retrospect she thought the remark appropriate to her work at this time when, say, a dealer could be as artistically innovative as an artist. Such was the case with the activities of conceptual art impresario Seth Siegelaub, who assisted Lippard with both "557,087" and “955,000.” Siegelaub shipped to the World's Fair Pavilion bookshop a large selection of artists’ books as wel i his own publications—catalogs that themselves functioned as exhibitions (Lippard’s stack of index cards can also be seen in this way). After curating two more numbers shows— "2,972,453" in Buenos Aires in 1971 and “c.7,500” at seven sites in ee published a comprehensive archive of the period, Six Years: The pete izal : o the Art Objeet from 1966 to 1972 (1973). She considered this book to most successful curatorial project. t969—557,087 IsAy 102 Chriwtopher St, MOK by Jame 24) 194 diedy BRU waterialer calendar, porteaniay — iter expsnetson datew supontoara ments for the ducation of, the exhibitions tae mune tine #08 day, from The: epita ston ites the City, ta ae tae Pos toanty mae se ‘oslentarr Tis sosatved, eet SSAT TER Stoel, SSeriehie Mau TERRITORIAL RISAVE AY (Ife) FoR. THE DVEATION OF AN £> HIGITION & BOUNDARIED, UN= — MARKED, FRE= ALLOCATE g sp OF MG 6 FG CvsIe INCHES 7! RimAin UMOCCURED. men oa BO re aue He i1ine Dellinger verar 1939 Lives is New Tore reese Salers cts af marily Pleatomy piece Setar 18t‘obart Mera’ catalog card for +8 catalog for “387.087 47,” with natrctiom ter ereating — ¢anuiating of a stack of en Pe bees one aden to Asconet catalog card, th crona fou creating an utile Catalag card for Rebar Sion written merachins far eval Revere A alg carta Rack Bartholoe Halinger, Sol LAW, and BroceLenin seein the wal Eve fever bb Aarti, hich comnts City maaan made ram oerglan and. rain. On the fat Barry anagen s Teo Somme Hope Spare bjott Uheve ever come acrese "The fea! fr Aho he Bells Over #2 begin ‘Thin abies te be ult nthe toner al fFasfeld. Weshington, It wil be an siting to oF Hee bedroom frame fuse wth «bring roam, bitchen, hack The est tr The Bink Chay Pr wid sae, "Thang theses the Megat ame ars could purchens » rapon tea Keinhale would later rent ‘drew cfu taed tabioen 4 Mat Rehow's Unde pe ‘ecie'of manta rope. =tch Son cut fo Whitney Mutou af Ame can At, Naw Yeoh 19 May ly 1908,same yews see pp, 9 films shown wace tel end clu ace ee, Lindow, Cane Sunstone 2 Sotra, Poul Shai. chen Sater eta Garry Schum's Land art pr ; with works by Marinus Boece a Dibbeti. Bary Paagan, wichoa iy, Rehard Lang, Water De Mara, bones Oppenheim, and Rabsert Smithcon Inthe 17 “Att Through the Camera's Eye," Senthson recalled "Once hag, somebody take 400 snapshots of hocizons in Seat, the recordong of er ee EL _— at a 71 cn1909—587,087ocvastnts, INTRODUCTION Lucy ® Uppard $97,087 (esh. cat) Henevolent societies neem persistently enpeged in bringing things sogerber that are apart. and taking things apart thal ace ‘ogres tha towering the perceptia! mobi Ary ob at which desmuctve of genre con- cenraron Eek Wind ‘Act has never succeeded in changing or inte grating with socnety Recently artists (Cage, Kaprow, Rauschenberg, Oldenburg, Rainer) hare moved to encompass the world (or be ‘encompassed by Mon a more fundamental level. Experience and awareness are, after ‘ll shared by everyone. Art intended as pure ‘experience doesn't exnt unt someane expe ences, defying ownership, repreduction, sameness. Intangible art could break down the artificial impoution of “cultura” and provide a broader audience fer a tangibla, object art. When automation Frees milion ‘of hours for leisure, att should gain rather than diminish in importance, for white at is ‘not ut play. in the counterpoint to work. ‘The time may come when art it everyone's daity occupation, though there it no reason ro think thi activity willbe called art ‘The experiences and motivations of w ‘vial artist stil differ from those of « post, ‘though as the media continue to mesh and the pectorming arts provide an increasingly relevant bridge between concrete-art and, ‘concrete poetry, tranatonal figures continue ‘9 emerge (see the work of poets Acconci, ‘Graham, and Perreault or aricts Nauman, Wilson, and Barthelme in this exhibition) AY the moment the performance media offer autensiont rather than alter natives to vidual setsts, since they: a _gererally interested the ventation ofa cof stopped or scrambled, uninear time, not open to the performing art, which exis in aa] time, Some ofthis comes in from lter- ‘tare like that of the very visually oriented Robbe-Grilet, but mutic and dance have seo moved increasingly nascar tothe plan- {he arts ic their fascination with silence and fear statis, or vary slow, extended, and movement, Visual art retains no: “purity of medium,’ but an auionomy of ‘viewpoint remains, and is best translated into fim. ‘Capitaliat progress [--] not oniy reduces the evoroament of Ireedom, the “open space” of the human existence, but alto the “long lng.” the need for such on environment, — Herbert Mercure, The engaged position so run along the earth L] My ideal piece of teulpture is read, Karl Andee The major tculphural innovation of the 60'sis the horizontal viewpoint opened to a tradi- tionally vertical artform, a fact that intinally istinquishes sculpture from most architec= ture and, except forthe linear, perspective depth implied. from painting, Vertical align- mantis antheopomorphie, immediate, but static; the horizontal incorporates time dis~ tance, and is experienced and measured, Enaesthetcally. Ths isa logical result of the Jet age Floor sculpture i en from an serial viewpoint, Man tees everything differently ‘once he has flown, Why did the chicken cross the road? To get fo the othe tbe ‘The courte af development Scufptore a form, ‘Seupture as siructore, Sculpture as place, Carl Andee ‘Sense of place varies: Baxter claims ready- made natural or artificial places. Andve's places are localized by his “found* or indi- ‘gent materials and by his use of sculptural | energy; Lever (1966) ran through a door- ‘way; the line of hay bales at Winha (1968) ‘began inthe woods and moved into an open field. Smithson localices place, though in a. manner that incorporates (shrinks) long dis tance between site and nonsite, landscape and its text-tube counterpart (rock sam= ples): Huebler’s place is generalited when he | lmpases a geometrical or serial plan on large sr003, times, distances, demanding no phyti- cal proot oftheir charactritics, but marking ‘eration or extersion by document. Richard Long! ten-inidewabing tou sexi ras both local aed genera dap tse tance, a very tesla sre was ana the choice of aren which teva Starts rumor Seer Kaberoncd Live in your head —Kaith Serre (Ati only memory anyway Micon se lan Wilton, whose medium is “oral com> munication,” preserves his apparently ‘ephemeral art by “making it mnemonic |. transcending particular fimes and parkc- ular places.” How many people have weer Angkor Wat or the lsenheim Alterpiece more than once? Temporary at ext or leas time but is no less accessible by photo graphic record. A “memorable at acer tile to anyone who wants it enough testers it away. When computers provide atc! memories, our “private collections’ wi be unlimited, and the mind will be freer te pursue itt own expanding awarenest Idee ‘or conceptual art, lke that of Darbowen. Atkinson, Baldwin, Bore onan C7 Kosuth, and physically extant but mpareap= title art like Barry's. share basic conditions with all previous art. What is radically mew isits content, the exhibition and dvenint thon possibilies cf. Seth Siegelaub's March ‘and Summer shows. 1969, which took place all over the world-—simultaneously or how" ‘ever the artists chose to govern hes tre) Photography isa product ofthe nen" ioral sesthatic that pcvades the 0 9" tamificatins fer athe arth ar Shill photography ik notoriously umeleeh though it can be made to faly ot rer"‘materials, than in his elaborately filed *rep>- teaestationsl” places, in photographs (*our ‘srrangement”) and now in holograms. His flrs and tapes play deadpan, act on timely fRetion (Fact taken on faith); “The True Artist Helps he World by Revealing Mystic Truths.” “De you believe that?” "I don’t know. | think | we should leave that open.” (Chance brings us closer to.Nature in her manner of operation:—Jobn Cage ‘The more technologically sophisticated we become, the more we are able to plug into ‘extant natural systems. Ecology, the relation ship between an organism and its environ= | ment, interests some artists as a framework fer control and change, others as means ‘of exploring the ratio of order and lack of order in nature. Haacke’s Live Airborne | Systems (1968) documents the movements of gulls taking bread from the sea. He has tho worked with frost, condensation, avap- ‘oration, snow, mist, grass, representing the laboratory aspect of the more physically assertive earth sculpture. Hesse. Serra, and Sacet in varying degrees of dematerializa- tion, explore the effects of natural forces and controlled randomness on materials, while Ruscha's inclusiveness (*All the Buildings on the Sunset Strip”) applies a sirilaridea fo the _arficial environment; Artechwager's “bps” and Buren’s posters accent urban ecology. A word is worth 1,000th of a picture. wisn Bastar The visual artist usex words to convey information about sensorial or potentially ‘perceptible phenomena; his current pre~ ‘occupation with linguistics, semantics, and social structures as exposed by anthropology ‘snot surprising: The fact that its, Indeed, structural patterns that are the basis of these ‘Fields brings them into visual range. Pacha ny that word have any thing to do ‘with pictures. | don't accept that. They do- ‘Act it 9 soures of information (J the ork Concer isaif sith things whose interrela~ onthip is beyond perceptual experience All ert originates in the human mid, in our ‘action tothe word rather tha i the vsbie word in its —Enat Gombrich the intstent phyrical presence ofthe pei- ‘Mary struclures'satime-stopping device that ‘Fetists the modern world's flux by creating new, frontal, static monuments tothe pret ‘ent, most of the work hore deals with energy, animation, non-sequential and relatively irrational lines of time and material. can, however, be speculatively concrete, even when it is inviible. Despite deceptively sci- ‘entific oF pragmatic prerentations, the artists generally accept and are involved with the “unknown on a diferent level than scientist. Artists do not analyze circumstances with progress in mind so much as expose them, making themselves and their audience aware of things previously disregarded, ifetmation alread in the environment which can be har= essed into aesthetic experience. And what con't be? The structures within which man func~ tions should not be fortresses which exclude the external world, buf interacting st ters through which hi Ife ix made posnble, Uving and working space will then becorme ‘organizational antiias that wil change #8 ‘humans and the nafural environment evo. =the Pulse Grove The conwietion thet geometry i the most neutral vehicle for either physical or conceP tual act ideas has been more direct trans ferred from mlesmal art into the new Forms : hee ‘enwironments” (Jack Bursham}, Thus social comment (Oppenheim’s extermination Piece, Baldessar's ghetto boundaries) fs Possible, &s wall ms “regional art” made by foreigners through remote contol Ferrer’ ‘memerial 10a Seattle engineer; McLean's Lata Wathington pecs) ‘The most important seston is Why af the avers belong fo What and evry rel ner ‘ev1pertan to Howt Frederick Caste When the artist determines the materials and allows the materials to determine the final shape or shape possibilities, he is dew! ing witha set of factors producing dificul- fiat naw fo contemporary art, The Serres, and Pollock, had in mind an often unarticu Inted image contest within » broad Freudian ‘or hungian framework, even when thi eon tent was nat immediately recognizable The ew “materials,” experience-orieated art thas a recognizable content only thal it summons up a how-te-do-it picture of ta ‘execution in the viewer's mind. The lead ‘was spared against the wall with ach and such 9 gesture; the rubber was poured and ‘allowed to runoff the edge ofthe meld this ‘way, the sand war dumped that way and has. spread according to succeeding events in ‘ts space. Ryman. the only painter enrsived. states vnaquivecaly by his negation of the abject quality of panting, thatthe path of what brush In whal paint fo produce what kind of surface is what matters. ‘Delibecately iow-heyed at often reser bles eins, He neclibicrabar than lacalDion] Scares an th enpesenct sible to me a mee at you and them ak emake widen the otters thresh ‘i ue avr, Th sh er oe! phenomenology #0: Laing ‘Act questioned the nabject matter and ceees star tathnata etdoar pr fects, documentary. and some "Antiform’ seuiphare question the experience of art they suggest that like the tree falling ia the forwst, art can be anything perceived as art by anyone at that time. An artist can sake his own or his environments pres ssoce felt by deopping # point, # line, an accent, a word into the world, embracing all ‘para of any aren or period a any place ‘oc time: Goncurrenty, the area's or pert- ‘od't importance can be neutralized wntil the lnc becomes more abstract than ever, even ‘when virally inseparable from We. The implication it that what we now consider art ‘will eventually be unrecognizable. On the ther hand, the houndares of teeing he the perceptible aipech of ralure or outer apace, som to extend es inital as man's expert ‘ence and sxpieriments.can take them. Ait teacher people how to see. — ‘Ad Rebar Freadom it » negative, it's freedom trom something —Ad Rear The word lof atc, mor res iter ‘tng. ao mish ac any more peer, sorely. lo stal the mentenceo things tars of time and-or place Douglas Huebier ‘Andre's ure of hit materials as “the cut in space” has been extended by Weiner's “removals” and Heivée's ‘negative objects” (Wrenches, holes). Freeing the world from an \nsndation of ‘precious objects” is only aby | product, but it has aho freed younger art- ‘nt from restrictions impoved by trecitonal | afirtions of the platic arts. Kowuth, who | from the work of art [| Non | et ton oman song with rae becaute they ore nat excited by he | idea of at. They nowd that physical excretion slong with te ort fo keep them interested But te fist has that samme eet in art that the physiciat has in physics and | philosopher in philovephy.” | 7,087: APY TITLE, | UNPREDICTABLE ART | Don Duncan Seattle Times, 1969 Logic ic logic, is all cary say. And 557,087 is the very logical ttle chosen far a contempo- rary att show opening here Friday and continving through the month. For one thing, 557,087 wat the 1960 Seaitie census. For another. it has a nicer | ting than 2,98, which isthe distance in miles between Seattle and New York, where most ofthe show originated. The latter string of digits received seri~ us consideration from the sponsoring Contemporary Art Council, But it finally agreed that it tended to reduce Seattle 10 “an outpost of New York.” Personally I think 34.1, our average rain~ fall, would have been very logical. But nobody asked me. ‘Anyways, 557,087 itis, And the show ill mke place in the Seattle Art Museum's Seattle Center Pavilion and way points. You Wwillneed a road map to find those way points. Although the show may not be wild by New York and San Francitco standards, many here wil throw up their hand and ask, “What is the art world coming tof" |W is coming to dirt trenches, shotgun Bits 9 floating in pond and iat i sourds covered with masking t che tinge ing tape, among Morrie Athadeff, President of the Contemporary Art Council, is better known {or his work on behalf oF improving the breed of racehorses in tht state. He may with he had stuck with the more predictable nags ‘then $57,087 indies toe own wth “tg by. ost shies” Mrs, Ann Gerber, widow of the much. loved Sidney, is ane of the show's hardes workers Haw tarrible if we thould bw ignored * Mrs. Geeber said. “lke t0 get a lot of hi ples to attend. We can always count onthe stoid, michdle-class, middle-aged people” Mrs. Gerber handed me a stock of lite white cards on which divections for assem: bling the show were printed. The cards rep resent the show's “catalog.” They wore assembled by Miss Lucy Lippard, a New York ‘art-magazine critic who it gaining » con- siderable reputation for promoting art at « vehicle for social commentary and philo- sophical insights Sort of, a painting isa painting is» paint ing. But a dirt trench. well, i's coo! and W's a good hiding plece for tin cans and trap rodents. Not al the artists whose work wail be de played will make it to Seattle, since they wil receive no pay. But quite a number are com- Ing on the promise of free lodgings and grub. ‘One young lady has specified a high-protein diet, “and I expect to bicycle if there is no public transportation.” You can raadily see that Seattle's big- Jongue status hasn't made much impact on New Yorks. For that reason, Mrs. Gerber sent about two dozen road maps to artists, to give them ‘an idea of Sentio's geography. 557,087 Peter Plagans AdHlorum, November 1969 557,087," the show that Lucy Lippaed has ‘organized for the Seattle Art Museum, will ‘be recalled generically as the first sizable (ot, public institution} exhibition of “con Cept art,” but itis in fact an amalgam of non-chromatic work running a gamut from late, Funky Minimal to a point at which att replaced, literally, by literature. The show‘Shreatar-thinking from ganuinaly danger ‘gus substantia! material. “587,087” (which ‘cexincidentlly, he population of Seattle in 900; the ttle changes whan the exhibition reaches Vancouver) deals with the idea of ‘dens as act (roughly quoting Joseph Kosuth, ‘ona of the more idestional and difficult art- ‘ata Unfortunately, the context of exhibition bestows an unmetited exaticiam on sev- ‘ral ideas, which, as with mast of the lesser or, rely on the quality f theater: biology or electronics o¢ typing prevented as art, unlike art presented 91 biology or electron- ‘ser typing, inherits the benefit of the doubt since art has no ‘there just as long as a good one. Ideas have» ougher time considered as ideas thar as a “Iv any field, some ideas are important ‘and some are trivial. The importance of an idea is measured by 1.) the number of things to which the idea appiies—its spplicabil- ly: 2} how often the idea is used in dizcus- sion and explanation—its relative frequency; 2) to what extent other ideas flow from it ‘or can be derived from it—its fruitfulness; 4) to what extent the idea benefits human bbeings—its practical advantages: and simi- lar factors." ‘The author (Edmund C. Berkeley, A ‘Guide to Mathematics for the Intelligent ‘Non-Mathernatician) tenders the theory of ‘evohtion (natural selection) as a ‘profoundly important” biological idea, while the color classification of bears, although more widely tenown, is trivial. While “557,087 has its col- ‘ered bears, there are quite a few good, hard, ‘icky Ideas (concepts?) around. (The cat {og is # set of label cards, one per artist, in ‘mot! instances completed by the artist. The cards are randomly ordered and, in constant ‘exbuffing, constitute a technique for apper~ ceiving the show.) Bulshit, most of which is found in the ‘ataiog cards, seems a product of ideolog- {8 Fervor and occurs, mainly, in two forms: Matements 10 extended and ersatr-profound sto-cancel significance, and specious asser~ ‘Sens. Some ofthe former: “the boundaries of Seeing, ike the perceptible axpects of nature (OF Outer space, seem to extend at infinitely tm sure there are ‘8 yet know aber ‘acited by the ideas of art, Th wy ved that Bhrscalescitetion along with heat toheep them interested. But, the artist has that same obsetsed interest in art that the physicist has in physics, and the philotopher in phils. ‘ophy.” (One of the con jobs of newer ante ‘thinking i the straw-man scientist whe does ‘everything right thatthe old, garet-iye ar ist did wrang); “Because the work is beyond Perceptual experience |...|* (Darby Bannard hax pointed out the forced hyper-posl= tive uve of “beyond” whore “short of might well apply); “Artichwager's blasand Buren's posters. accent urban ecology.” But there are first-rate idea pieces: |.) Robert Morris's wall, » process piece. the wall suffers & shotgue blast, the blasted wall is photographed, and the photograph is mounted over the buckshot crater. The pro- ces it repeated at exch succeeding ecation of the exhibition, each consecutive photo graph a couple of inches larger than the last 2.) Joseph Kosuth’s series of cards, part of a larger work entitled Art as Idea as ides, 3.) Robert Huct's room painted Pratt & Lambert 195017 aya fat bla; 4.) Wiom Bolinge's log floating in Seattle Bay: and 5) Dennis ‘Oppenteim’s Infected Zone, anather pro- ‘cess piece: an area of land undergoes bom bardmeants of gasoline, rat poison, grass poison, eb | did not soe Huots room (19 be done when the show reaches Vancouver) oF Bollinger's log. or, excep! through “pholo= documentation’—a standard manseris Ying power of “S57.067" Pen-corpoceality: fequires a hail of lot of, Hosts 00 » sen of woe “vee* ch SSNS ert grt dnd . ‘ut I once make 8 oncesity of ar’ thus nor een ‘der physicality of the cards is reluctant, bt the philosophy is honest: Konth ats he ‘embarrarsment of ring te find snryern ‘his typed cutie, ether than meray ily, “posing question” The quality of Kost’ ‘hinting in evident whan compared Rober) Barry's geahity: “Al the thing know but ‘of which Lam not atthe moment hiking 1:36 pam; 15 June 1969 New York Huo, | room and Balinge’s ig have in commen ‘of Concept art—Oppeniain’s Zone nev" | id rihelest, the ideas are appesing, oy sri this find mys ha e with the exhibition. In these ins aa ‘we are head-on against quality Ere pac f po are + physical, but conceptually extended connec— ‘fem te “art” which gives rise to multiple possl- bier —comments on painting and sculpture, explorations of materials, participation ‘environmental-time pieces, etc.—white retairing » gritines inthe work (ores of the work) tell, Oppenheim’ Infected Zone 1s, among the other, an old master: a sich, mature finished product (color photographs, chical specications, “ffi” grate). The relationship of art to objecthood, pchaps the true problem of *S57.087," ‘volved In a literary way, by literature. The pi in Concept art are eer x0 large, ‘general, profound, abstract, permanent, ‘rs small, personal, complex, til ae ticular, ephemeral as te mock any rahonale for an art abject, Into the vacua aber donedd by the act object comes “concept passe marie by Berance (pects photo-documentation, For renee | ordinary narrative prove): APM brat the a excands ert and in piecs by Mar san a Err Heese (Accretion, an obiect ing of yf glans hubes leaning in aro unas?secuuens so he wal), Ed Ruscha (the book Evecy ‘Bulking on the Sunset Strip mounted as & single horicontl sip so thatthe south side of Samet Boulevard is upside down), Robert Serithion’s 400. drugstore-tite snapshots of “Searle horizons.” Mal Bochners Territorial Reserva #4 (which at lean! anticipated the ‘eed for boundaries), and Fred Sandbect’s untied rectangle of elatic cord, the pres ‘ence i felt rather then read about. When the ‘particular properties of literature dominate, the renults become curiousar and cuniouser, (One of Edwacd Kiesholt’s Tableaus entitled After the Ball contains the following first- novel prose: “in the kitchen, siting at a table, der an urshade! ight bulb is he father, ted, rigid, menacing, Hw has been teased Into lating his daughter go tothe dance (this Jn harfst mal te). He doesn't know why, ‘but right now he hates the young man.” Dan. Graham's work.» melange of wring. pe, and astorted evidence, contains such heavy Sociology 1A ruggets a atrology consid ‘red an0 torial sence, magatnes a osio~ ‘economic ttatements, and the porsibaity of non point-of-vew wring, And there are indifferent ides pleces {rot bad, realy, but ailing from precictabide ‘lan Wort ecu of ora comm rwcations” (aet-talk. talk-aseart); 2) Raber! Rahm's 40 by 20-foot 12 x 6-meter| rope ‘id in which certain cuts have been made, .aswhle vectionfalieng imply tothe base (the ‘nffect it palpably visual. the ‘documenta |) (one bad traditional, pro bed “easly” mod core Seat 2) Richard Arche ger® | bashape sila toi 100 Location piece | Whitney Annual, but here adhusted for ae rurpoves "When you see 8D! you recognize ita an image of the true bip ‘which isin your mind”; 3.) Rick Barthelma’s televiion sot (not present) which instead of ‘making any art, | bought": 4.) On Kawara's nelebooks, | Mel and | Went in (medium) “poopie and cities”; end 5.) Adrian Piper's dupiay of two notebooks and a map docu- | menting travel from Point A (New York) to Point 8 (Seattle), including, helpfully, text~ ‘book definitions of pein and line. There is a fotality of style to the show. 1 syle so pervative a8 fo invite the conclu sion that Lucy Lippad isin fact the artist and that har medium is other artists, a foresee able extension of the current practice of a ‘museums hiring a crc to “da a show and ‘he critic then aking artists to “do” pieces for the show, The mest salient aspect of 387,087's Materent is precisely the lengths {fo which it refuses to go. For instance, iis ‘explained thal part ofthe show are not con- fined by the its. ofthe museum, Seattle, or, Ineoed the dates ofthe exhibition, a hedg- ‘ing that asks why the show was not merely declared without benefit of a World's Fair Paviion embellithed in the traditional man ‘er, with the untraditional objects and ideas General kind of art in which there are few, any, material prerequisites, we have it of glowty photographs. notebooks, and ‘ypewrtten copy and. by contrat, ery few ‘echnical of, more Brosdly, non ‘Haterents, Finally, mest of the intensely lit the specie (persons) ane the obitract spun Bargy’s concur or the rok becomes, sue- cessively, relentios scat chen eer a np I its parts, 557,087" mantld source, of sing ete eae depend on belief of "387.087." Alto, is noticeable that, in a endless refinement: °557,087" is about issues). In Allen Ruppersberg's Hay at the Ambassador, a table covered with, amen other things, greenish hey, the allusions to Duchamp’s Fountain and Man Bay's Le Cadeau aro obvious, as is the a-historcat specter (Abstract Expressionism to Pop to Minimal to Earthworks fo Concept art) hoy. ering over most of the: exhibition. The single most pertinent source is, | think, an almost Puritan, moralistic concern with the threat» ‘ning, nagging, perverse presence of “at” and, a subsource, anti-technology. One notebook admits the questions, “Are works of art PHYSICAL objects? Are works of art phytical OBJECTS?" Poignant, not sridect, the idea pieces in *557,087" ricochet around, ‘figures begging for grounds. The choice of ‘non-technology, a modus opererd, validates in the exhibition (or that part of it concerned | with asking) since new media (opposed to non-media) avoids the business of re- defining art; new media asks only rechan- ‘cal questions; non-media aks almost al the ‘other questions. Miss Lippard’s exhibition is if not what it might be {concept}, at least 3 compilation of emphatically non-decora- five. technical art, and art-thinking, And, the quality and force are uneven, ifthe con- cept of concept artis unlikely to retain much ‘cohesion before most of the artists are fur ther dispersed, the show effects a bump in the phenomenology of at.08 PI oo Information Pera NAM VALUSCLOLAL of Modern Art, New York PANS i 20 September 1970“Information” was an exhibition of radical content ir Presented in the poe of Modern Art, The catalog featured photographs of Caceres iti lemonstrations, and corporate sponsors Olivetti, ITT, and Xerox conf: ‘ibuted the en technology, lis contradictions were announced at the exhibition ain 2 hi ene Haacke's MoMA Poll asked visitors to decide whether a former muteur onan ne not stating his opposition to the Vietnam War would be reason to vote ae ene se who replied vated “yes.” e eee @ most confrontational work, thé t controversial was John Giorno’s Dial-A- i i Bee readings day accessible yllophone fem bolnncered ee ena mr In addition to poems read by literary figures, there were sinene oe eam as Black Forth Kathie, Cleaver and Bemnardine Dohrn of the V Weslerac inte press it was called “Dial-A-Revolutionary.” ith his i 6 the fatal shooting of student demonstrates af Ken Sic Usveery coco nt MeShine connected the fullrange of work in “Information” with redical elie ire face of oppression around the globe, he stated, many artists had ee ie al : the significance of “applyling] dabs of paint from a little tube to @ square of peer a no wonder that the new museum director, John Hightower, walking the line belween his sympathy for protesters and the need to mallify his conservative trustees, warned the museum's governing board that much in the show was “tough, upsetting, and angry.” But in calling the exhibition “Information,” McShine referred primarily to something other than political words and images and the politics of artistic medium. For the show essentially was an international survey of conceptual art in all of its variety. Less austere than the simultaneous “Conceptual Art and Conceptual Aspects" at the New York Cultural Center, “Information” included participatory installations by Brazilian Helio Oiticica and the Argentine Group Frontera, dramatic constructions staging abstract and a giant “information machine” designed by Ettore Sottsass simultaneously showing multiple films to multiple viewers. The international roster of artists was a critical aspect of the exhibition, not only demonstrating the global use of conceptual strategies but also the existence of a McLuhanesque “global village" created by electronic systems of communication. McShine took this technology to have decentered the art world, a point suggested by the messages sent by lain Baxter from Vancouver toa telex machine in the gallery. And of course there was much else to read, with Sacco beanbag chairs on which visitors could take a break from their reading. The catalog functioned asa kind of exhibition site in itself, Apart from a short text by McShine and an extensive film list and bibliography of recommended readings, it consisted of pages solicited from artists—many referring to works other than those presented in the museum—and a long visual essay. Taking up abouta third of the catalog, the pictures ranged from the surface of Mars with the corresponding digital information from the Mariner 4 spacecraft to Black Panther Party members juxtaposed with Duchamp’s Three Standard Stoppages, along with newspaper headlines, utopian architectural drawings, and political imagery. Among the latter was a poster of dead bodies at the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam, with the question “And babies?” at the top and on the bottom the answer: “And babies.” Planned jointly ele Art beet Neate a ‘and the museum’s design department, it ultimately was nix imuseurt ss inclusion in the catalog and in the exhibition suggests the growing capacity of museums to accommodate the radical gesture.& Cover of the inkormation wih ‘operating in Beal at that timei {Later kee Gar & Gone zit Syrecten UaShen,expoevany grt tor =e o> thet ran ona wrote re ‘Sema eee aes art for all Ahem nen coin : eoliccacaionn a gran na AED OLA M0 Catimatccmeeanat . ane a a sea bare been veer ony with shown ae the stant. we eee corey. Telad the siremectances plants fool gy eatunis the fase phetagresh portraits toquuner ein tee ther setatnl atadogne metertal vo mnt te rm ded od Some curt fer GT lantem 1770 « ri ft1 Instalation view, showing at back Felt)» quote ky Andy Warhol: “Inthe future everybody will be world famour for fifteen minutes” In the center is Joseph Kosuth’s One of Three Choirs, fand to the right are eight photo-panels showing Rebert Smithion's Spice! Jetty ‘nt Greet Salt Lae, Utah INFORMATION * On the laf it Roget Cutforth’s Noon Time Plece, comprising thity photo- graphs ofthe sky at noon in April 1969. Joseph Kosuth’s One of Three Choirs and three works from the Art os Ideo 0% idea series are on the wall at canter; on the floor Kowuth’s work are Sacco beanbags. To the right, on the floor, is Stig Breggee’s ‘green-coloced platform, with a series of accompanying photographs of the work installed in public locations around New York.and Now Jersey, showing the sections of passersby to the platform, + On the aft, Walter De Maria's page from an article on the artist published in Tima magazine, 2 May 1969. enlarged at the scale of |-foot-to-l-inch (30 centim- aters-1o-2.5 centimeters), In the center is Sith Armajani’s Nomber Between O and J. column of computer printouts ofall the digits between rero and one. To the fights Armajan\'s North Dakots Project a series of photographs and photostats documenting » propotal for a tower to be built on the eastern border of North Dakota, which would be tall enough to cast a shadow across the entire langth of the state to its wentern border.ee ietietitin cai es iN 3 we INSTALLATION= SITATION THE DiAqe; OF THE CIRCLE VARIES ACORDING + THE HEIGHT OF THE , iGNT OF WA ee AREA OF GRCLE= [Tt pee. RADIUS = 7’ (D2 2 nit ae AREAS 3.141 x 7” The 3-14 i. G. ‘ ee pacsitiexd¢ [ete] * TO DIAMETERE aa Cire \CUMF ERENCE of ORCLE = T~ Cle Cur FERENCE z G “INE x ig ») BINGtech included four slhscre ‘on the wal) and his jon the table}: four telephones installed in the gallery, on which wuitors could hnten to = program of ipeken poems that changed sdadly (s0e alse p. 127). The porrms could aio be accessed from outside the gallery bby calling the number (212) 956-7: the wall above ie James Lee Byars’: Pencited in gold leaf, announcing th “JAMES LEE BYARS (S THE POET LAUREATE OF THE UNITED STATES - > Group Frointers's installation, cbew booth in which visitors scwmernd quattions on Frpecta wat valtors Ye participate in the completion of the artwork, a1 well as 10 watch themselves Inet and on a delayed video tape played back on TV monitors outside the booth. The wall driming to the right is Mal Bochner"s Meoneremant Series: By Formule {Circle View of the eniiition, with Jeff Wall's beclet. Londacope Manval,on the: wal end NL E Thing, Ca., Ld tolox machines+ Mora than forty films, ranging in length from three minutes to eight hours were shown simultaneously on the forty screens of the Olivetti “visual jukebor,” designed by Ettore Sottsass, Many of the films were also shown in the Museum's auditorium throughout the courts of the exhibition. Films shown included ones by Amado (Brazil), Baruchello (Italy), Robert Breer, Christo, Bruce Conner Hollis Frampton, Les Levine, Standish Lawder, Willoughby Sharp (USA + Helio Oiticica’s Borracao Experiment 2 was 2 12-foot (3.6 meter) high “nest” structure that the Brazilian artist invited the public te climb, rest, and st in. Oiticiea stated that the work was a “Ipiture proposition’ using different sorts af m which are not important at such... but in the way they can be used during the exhibition *— Oiticica, MoMA Press Release, 1970,Hon Homcke's MoMA Poll asked visitors te vate on the question, "Would the fect that Governor Rockefeller has not denounced President Nixon's Indochina Policy be a reason For your ‘not voting far him in Novembert” The ‘question raterred to Nelion Rockefeller’s campaign for re-election as Governor of New York state, Nelson Rockefeller had been pretident and chairman of the MoMA Board, and bis brother David was chairman at the fie of the 1970~INFORMATION ‘axhibition, Haacke did not at of his question until the opening. The artist has noted that “David Rockefeller was not amused. Word has it that an emisiary cof his arrived at the Museum the next day to demand the removal of the pall However. Jahn Hightower. whe hadl just been appointed director of the Museum, did not Follow orders. He lasted in his job lass than two years.*—Tote Ropers, 2009,Mer Kynanton Me Shine nforonations (axl. cot], 1970 ach wis! wan invited f0 create hit own to thes book, @ situahon which weet thal the material prevented mould be ether rectly related to the actual work in the show, oF independent of it. Therefore, this book it exsentially an anthology and considered 8 nacestary adjunct to the ‘edubition, Contrary to the McLuhan the- ‘v4, books are still » major communication item, and perhaps becoming even more important, given ‘the global village” that ‘the world has become, After ail Time mag- asine it available almost everywhere on Wednesday mornings The material presented by the artists In considerably varied, and also spirited, if tat rnbelliaus—which is not very surpris- ing, considering the general social. political, aed economic crits that are almost unever- tal phenomena of 1970. If you are-an atist in rath, you know of at least one riend who is being tortured: if you are ane in Argentina, you probably have had a neighbor mho has been in jail for having long hair, or for net being “dressed” properly; and if you are liv= lng the United States, you may fear that you will be shot a ether in the universities, lin your bod, oF more Formally in tndochina. i may seem inappropriate, if not absurd, 10 get up in the morning, walk into roor, ‘ted apply dab of paint from a litle tube Yo @ square of canvas. What can a young art ‘do that seems relevant and meaningful? One necessity is, therefore, at least 'o ‘ove with the cultural stresses and pre- ‘sccupations (as if you hed m choice), ‘Particularly with the obvious changes in life thle. The art cannot afford to be provie~ Sal, oF 10 exist only within itt own history, ‘or}0 continue ta be, perhaps, only a com= imantary on ort. An alternative has been 10 = the idea of art, to renew the defi- the highly \eteectual and ser strapemventad hee hae sdareceed an sabres to the question of how to cevete an O71 that reaches out to wn udkence la than that which has been terested in gone temporary wrt in the last few decaden Thor Superficiaily considered, some might seem to be directly involved with the dan- dyism and the “gesture,” and while some ‘are, others use these as approaches fo more subtle, sophisticated, and profound end The activity of these artists i to think of con- ‘cepts that are broader and more cerebral than the “product” of the studio. With the sense of mobilty and change that pervades their time, they are interested in ways of rap- ‘ey exchanging ideas, rather than embalm- ing the idea nan “objec.” However. he idea may reside on paper or film. The public it constantly bombarded with strong visual imagery, be it in newspapers or period! Cals, 07 television oF in the cinema. An art= iat certainly cannot compete with a man ‘20 the moon in the living room. This has, therefore, created an ambiguous and ionic position forthe artist, a dilemma as to what he can do with contemporary media thet reach many more people thin the gallery. In the re-evaluation of their situation, some artists have attempted to extend thern- sehves into their environment and work with its problems and events. Some hare become ‘aware of their own bodies, in a way that has nothing to do with the accepted ides of the self-portrait, but more with the questioning ‘and observing of sensations. Others have ‘embraced natural phenomans in ways that ‘ace at fimes romantic and at fies bordar= ing on scientific. ‘An international climate that embraces Marcel Duchamp, Ad Reinhardt, Buckminster Fuller, Marshall McLuhen, the | CRiog, the Beatles, Claude Levi Strauss, John Case: Peers it new comparatively simple The hier’ potion och dat ‘simatt getting to the paiet of having to date ‘Dy the how. Increasingly, ota ose mail, talegrams, telen machines, atc, for rans mission of works files, documents. or of information about ‘their acthity. For both artists and thei pu lic itis a stimulating and open situation, and certainly bes parochial than even fe years 2890. Its mo anger imperative fora arti ‘be in Paris or New Yori. Those far from the “art centers” contribute mare eaaly. =thout the often artifical protocol thet at one fone seemed essenhal for recognition. Inevitably. the art film and videotape are growing in importance, It is quite obwious that a hs pit they are major mas mea Their inflvence hat meant that the general audience tx beginning to be uring tg the delicate responses needed for looking at 2 painting, Artists are beginning Yo vs this to their advantage, They hope to introduce # wider audience to a more refined aerthatic experience, The fms and videotapes in thin exhib tion and listed inthis back have often been ercribed at ‘minimally sructured,” which that the style, while being almost an ester: ton of cinema vari ike so much ofthe ‘ether wor in the show, spy « mato of darbuting the veal iforation that iner=shay the sense of ctats are quesitoning ow prejucicor, asking ste renounce ou inhibitions, and thay are re-ewahiating the nature of art, they are alto ‘ssbng thal we rmavens what we have aba taker far granted as our accepted and cul tuaallycoreitioned sesthati response fo art, It Is only 100 obvious thet thera are unpredictable implications for the estab lished syitems. For example, the whale ‘nature of collecting is perhaps becoming, {ality What aredicaliceall Certainly too rad ‘cal for the museum to contemplate, ‘What this unhappy development really represents is = yearning to be delivered from the problems and complexities of ‘modern indi ciation. For alts indl- gence in the parsphernalia of technology ‘aed communications systems, this so-called “afermation” movement Is nothing but an il-conceived attempt to turn madem tach- ‘olagical cilhure into a form of pastoral. Its, ‘nother words, the latest species of weithatic ‘ecapitm—in this case, an escape From mirc ‘elf would be lamentable even if it were, ‘et 10 agregiously boring, but inthe endit ‘isthe showr weight of Its boredom that is ‘rst repellent, MIRACLES, “INFORMATION, ECON ENDED READING” Hilton Kramer ‘The New York Times, 12 July 1970 1.) Kynaston MeShine, the museum's asso: late curator of painting and sculpture, who ‘Srganied the show, was good enough to tate roe on a lengthy guided tour ofthe exh: bitfon—explaining the retionale—ar should ‘ay the hrationale?—of each itor iit. must confers found # difficult at times to follow his discourse, The night befare | had span fare time examining the=-whal can one cal S8—souvanie album which Mr. MeShine had Pst together in leu of a catalog of the exhi- bion| wan pacity struck bythe at of Mr; MeShine has bewn very ban bbling this exhibition. which eine mais cca ee People wil ling to those oxtmedg eae sonst—from 15 counties When cect, have found the te to ead hg hace and Gregory Batter’: Commancaton he Social Mat of Paychitry Mae Te-tngy Problems of Art and titerstre ce use Villegas Lopes's E! Cine 0 a Socindas gg Massas: Arte y Communicacion Mr. MeShine’s "Essay" for the tourer. alburn was, on this question, nc hulp wat But it did raise another interesting que, *Hf you are an acts in Brasil you know of least one friend who is being toned yey ‘r0 one in Argentine, you prety hay bad 4 neighbor who has been in jal for bag “1ang hair or for not being ‘deeied” pop. tty and if you are ing the United Sate, ‘youmay fear that you will be shot at. therm ‘he ueiverstes in your bed, are fomaly in Indochina. t may seem tes ingperopate if not absurd, te get up in the maining, wal inte a room, and apply dabs of paint froma. litle tube to.» square of canvas, Wha! can you as a young acti do tha yer relat and meaninghult® The “Information” exhibition is Mr MeShine's answer otha question The“ event and meaningful thing to doa he face of this grave political crisis et, appar 12 Took at inane ime through ve ‘Olivetti “visual jukebox,” ak spectators questions on closed-circuit delayed-tpe television, scraw! circles and other grat {iti on the walls, go te town with the Karox machine, collect # fat of pointless photo ‘graphic junk, isten to. poem onthe Ye Phone, or simply go to sleep. Never med ‘what any of this ha te do with Claude Lee ‘Steauss's Shuctural Anthropology oF Herta Macite's Eros and Civiaatono Gets Steiner's Language and Silence—more © the “Recommended Reading" Suth 3 fons are, ques relevant and ines For Mr, MeShine and his “artist ey quality a infra.” ‘What unrniigatednoraens is oh tion iat What tripe we a offered hee! an intelectual scandal