Revisited the display at Tate Britain: Charles Harrison and Conceptual Art in Britain. In the case displaying catalogues and books relating to ' July/August Exhibition 1970 Studio International London and Seth Siegelaub, New York.' I read the following helpful quote:
Charles Harrison:- Have the conditions for exhibitions changed as art has changed, and if so how?
Seth Seigelaub:- When a painting was hung, all the necesary intrinsic art information was there. But gradually there developed an 'art' which didn't need to be hung....Because the work was not visual in nature, it did not required the traditional means of exhibition, but a means that would present the intrinsic ideas of art.'
Conceptual art can be very information based and making books and catalogues ideal for recording the ideas. This can affect the way that we encounter the art and how we interpret it. This will depend to some extent on how we view books and how used we are to mulling over ideas in our heads. A catalogue that can be taken away from the exhibition can be read and re-read so that understanding comes over time and the viewer doesn't have to make sense of everything straight away. If that catalogue is part or all of the 'artwork' or 'idea' or 'concept' does the art come into being as the viewer engages with it by reading and thinking so that it lives in the viewer's mind as an idea?
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