RESEARCH POINT: CONCEPTUAL PHOTOGRAPHY

John Hilliard talks about being known as a conceptual artist in the 1960s and 70s. Hilliard is still taking photographs today. Watch the video What is Conceptual Photography? (SOURCE Photographic Review, 2012) and then write a paragraph explaining what you understand by the term ‘conceptual photography’. Provide some examples of recent work that you believe falls into this category. (Boothroyd, 2020:41).

My response:

The video discussed conceptual photography predominantly in relation to the art movement of the late 60s. It was suggested that though the term “Concept” is important for understanding modern work, artists don’t use the term it is more commonly applied by others. In the late 60s artists were working in many ways that were difficult to categorise or even talk about, and the term conceptual art seemed to give a greater rationale for talking about the work. It was also suggested that as Modern art was different from what viewers were used to, the work is more dependent on documentation. It was suggested that some conceptual photographers claimed not to be interested in fine art or outstanding examples of photography.

Hilliard calls conceptual photography a prescriptive activity, such as when he drafts out the idea before taking a photograph. This becomes a “nameable” a set of ideas which you can speak about; and if the purpose is to embed the ideas in the image, then they are in turn intended to be retrievable. Hillard explained that his conceptual art must be contextualised by what is around it, as different contexts can give it quite different readings.

Additional research to illustrate this:

During the 60s and 70s photography became used by conceptual artists to record their ideas and projects. Liz Wells (2015) writes that where Modernist theory had focused on the medium of photography, Conceptual art focuses on ideas rather than objects; with artists concentrating on the way they have expressed themselves an as Hilliard suggested the contexts of interpretation, as well as the influence of the situation to which a viewer might respond.

Photography can be a useful bridge between conceptual art and the gallery. It doesn’t have to have traditional aesthetics, “its beauty could emerge in the clarity of ideas” (Company, 2012:17). Some say that form in photography is not important to conceptual artists, however once photography was accepted into conceptual art, importance was given to its form.

JOSPH KOSUTH in “One and three chairs” represents one chair in 3 ways, a photograph, an installed chair, and a dictionary definition; none of these were created by him, only the gallery installation by bringing them together. In doing so he invites us to question the meaning of the work, using art as a platform for exploring new meanings. The value of this work is rooted in its concept.

Douglas Huebler a pioneer of conceptual art, used his work to challenge photography’s documentary abilities. From 1970 he made a series of “Duration Pieces”, “Variable Pieces”, and “Location Pieces”, documenting everyday activities with photographs, drawings, maps, and text. He experimented by shooting at intervals of 5 miles, 5 yards, or 5 feet, where it was the information, not the technique, the composition, or the material that mattered. He said he only aimed to state the existence of objects in the world.

Within the document above he shares that several photographs were made to document various aspects of “everyone alive”, and one was chosen to represent “At least one person who is most probably more interesting than the artist” (Huebler, 1971). I find his concepts perplexing, but this is one of the purposes of conceptual art, provoking thought.

The conceptual artist Keith Arnatt made a series of images “Self-burial” and broadcast them on television over several days, intriguing viewers. His work plays with themes of trace and an artist’s presence in the landscape. He didn’t consider himself an artist but used photography to document his concepts, such as the notion of the invisibility of the artist.

• 

• 

                          

Conceptual art interests me more than it used to. It is photography that illustrates an idea, but I would say and abstract idea. In this way to me it has some things in common with theatrical/cinematic photography: construction, layering and ultimately ambiguity. I am surprised to find after revisiting conceptual photography that it may have some influence on my photographic project, and I do have other conceptual photographers that I am holding off sharing my research on for now.

References:

Boothroyd, S (2020) Photography 3: Body of work coursebook. Open College of the Arts. Barnsley.

Campany, D. (2012) Art and Photography. (s.l.): Phaidon Press.

MutualArt (2021) Douglas Huebler. At: https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/VARIABLE-PIECE–70–IN-PROCESS-/7DCC8CAF45EE01F4 (Accessed 18/09/2021).

SOURCE Photographic Review (2012) What is Conceptual Photography? (Part 1). At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc-BQZ8SvRw (Accessed 07/10/2021).
MoMA (2021) One and Three Chairs. At: https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/joseph-kosuth-one-and-three-chairs-1965/ (Accessed 18/09/2021).

Sritharan, B. (2015) Keith Arnatt: the conceptual photographer who influenced a generation – 1854 Photography. At: https://www.1854.photography/2015/09/keith-arnatt-the-conceptual-photographer-who-influenced-a-generation/ (Accessed 19/09/2021).

Wells, L. (2015) Photography: A Critical Introduction. Abingdon: Routledge.

Next post: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/body-of-work/coursework-body-of-work/part-one-genres/genre-as-a-photographic-concept/