my personal favorites:
Marcel Duchamp, A Mile of String, exhibited in New York (1942)
Andre Breton had organized a retrospective of Surrealist art, and Marcel Duchamp basically created an installation in the gallery with a web of string. At the opening reception, he had a whole bunch of little children running around, making it nearly impossible for people to see the art work. fun stuff
Richard Serra, Prop (1968)
This whole series of Prop pieces consist of a heavy piece of lead that is held up precariously with a "prop" or another piece of lead. They are incredibly dangerous to display -- museums had to display them behind plexi-glass because i think someone was severely injured from one of the pieces..... ooops
John Cage, 4:33"
I don't have a visual or sound clip, because these were meant to be performed...but basically it is a musical composition that lasts 4 minutes and 33 seconds. It can be played with any instrument, and the musician is not supposed to play. Instead, the music is considered to be the sounds that are in the room during the performance. I think John Cage performed it once on piano, and just lifted the top of the piano and then shut it after 4:33". People must have been pissed! Could you imagine getting all dressed up to go see a musical performance and then end up with only 4:33" of silence??? haha
Yves Klein, The Specialization of Sensibility in the Raw Material State into Stabilized Pictorial Sensibility, The Void, exhibited at Iris Clert Gallery (April 1958)
Along the same lines of Cage's work...Klein painted the windows blue and hung a blue curtain in the entrance way. He then proceeded to remove everything from the room and painted everything white. He set up an elaborate entrance with guards and blue drinks, and all these people waited in long lines to find out that the gallery was empty. The gallery was basically selling empty space/air, which is completely genius/hilarious!
Gordon Matta-Clark, FOOD (opened in 1971)
A restaurant where cooking and food were considered art. Artists were invited to cook, and the whole dinner was considered a performance piece. For example, Matta-Clark had a "bone dinner" for $4, "which featured oxtail soup, roasted marrow bones and frogs' legs, among other bony entrees. After the plates were cleared, the bones were scrubbed and strung together so that diners could wear their leftovers home." Food served as a meeting center for a lot of the LES artists in the 1970s, and was a popular alternative art space. I wonder if they served Photofry (1969)....DELICIOUS!
Robert Ryman, White Paintings
Same idea as the Rauschenberg piece I posted a couple weeks back.... THE DEATH OF PAINTING!!!!! DUN DUN DUNNNNNN
and on a final note, something short and sweet:
Linda Benglis, Untitled (detail from Art Forum), 1974
There are no words... just ridiculousness.
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