Theater of the Conceptual: Autobiography and Myth
Artforum, Oct. 1973, v. 12, no. 2, pp. 40-46
This article presents a broad ranging thesis of connections between the later work of Marcel Duchamp, and that of Jasper Johns, Bruce Nauman, and Vito Acconci, and then further into how this work contributes to possibilities of conceptual theatre. Spanning notions of the androgyne, as represented by Duchamp in transvestiture as Rrose Sélavy, a predilection for plaster casts of body parts, the spiral structure of the pun, and Duchamp’s Objet-Dard (Dart Object) paralleling Johns’ targets, writer Robert Pincus-Witten attempts to chart a course for post-conceptual modernism. He predicts a possible return to the tangible objects of painting and sculpture.
ITEM 1973.019 – available for viewing in the Research Centre
Videos, Artworks and Artists Cited
Objet-Dard – Marcel Duchamp
Female Fig Leaf – Marcel Duchamp
FIgure 7 – Jasper Johns
Large Glass: The Bride Stripped Bare by the Bachelors, Even - – Marcel Duchamp
Etant Donnés – Marcel Duchamp
Wedge of Chastity – Marcel Duchamp
Target with Plaster Casts – Jasper Johns
Window or Wall Sign – Bruce Nauman
Le Cellule auriculaire – Odilon Redon
Seedbed – Vito Acconci
Gallery Installation – Richard Long
Spiral Jetty – Robert Smithson
Adrenochrome – Dennis Oppenheim
Untitled – Donald Judd
Wedge Piece – Bruce Nauman
photograph of Marcel Duchamp as Rrose Sélavy, for the perfume bottle Belle Haleine, eau de voilette – Man Ray
Openings – Vito Acconci
My Name As If It Were Bounced Off The Surface Of The Moon – Bruce Nauman
My Name Engarged Vertically 14 Times – Bruce Nauman
Template of the Left Hand of My Body at Ten Inch Intervals – Bruce Nauman
On Screen – Lynda Benglis
Live Video – Keith Sonnier
After the Ball is Over #2 – Edward Keinholz
An object tossed from one country to another – Lawrence Weiner