3. Minimalism, Conceptual Art & Arte Povera

Question 1

MINIMALISM - BASIC TRAITS

Answer 1

• 1960s - 1970s
• Emerged in New York in the 1960s.
• Also called: Minimal Art, Literalist Art, ABC Art.
• Form of geometric abstraction in sculpture.
• Emphasis on simplified shape and scale.
• Interest for seriality.
• Surfaces are either unprimed of monochrome.
• Site-specificity: relating to the formal characteristics of the site.
• Use of industrial materials, normally adopted for constructions.
• A direct consequence but also a reaction against Greenberghian modernism.
• Major theorist was Michael Fried who criticized Minimal Art.
• Major figures: Anne Truitt, Carl Andre, Donald Judd, Dan Flavin.
• Minimalism also in music and dance.

Question 2

Minimalism and modernism

Answer 2

• Viewer is conscious of the fourth wall.
• Viewer is self-conscious and active.
• Medium-specificity.
• Painting about painting.
• Sculpture about sculpture.
• Faktura: materials dictates the form

Question 3

PROCESS ART - BASIC TRAITS

Answer 3

• 1960s - 1970s
• Offshoot of Minimalism or rather a form of Post-Minimalism.
• Emphasis on the “process” of making art.
• Works intended to express the actions of the “process”.
• Major figures: Robert Morris, Richard Serra, Sol Lewitt.

Question 4

CONCEPTUAL ART - BASIC TRAITS

Answer 4

• 1960s–1970s
• Emphasis on concepts or ideas over aesthetics or formal qualities.
• Critique of formalism and of the commodification of art.
• Often based on instructions and documentations.
• Development of systems, series, and processes.
• Recurring use or reference to language.
• Forms of conceptual art are also: Minimalism, Process Art, Arte Povera, Land Art,
Fluxus and some forms of Institutional Critique.
• Productions of multiples and ephemera such as books, records, posters etc.

Question 5

ARTE POVERA – BASIC TRAITS

Answer 5

• 1960s–1970s
• Italian avant-garde movement.
• Theorized and initially put together by curator Germano Celant.
• The work of art identifies itself with life.
• Reference to nature (vegetables and minerals).
• Use of industrial materials as well.
• Explores social and political conditions.
• Major figures: Iannis Kounellis, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Alighiero Boetti.