1. Conceptual Art

2. John Baldessari. I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art. 1971
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Conceptual art is a form of art that emerged in the late 1960s. Conceptual art emphasizes ideas and theoretical practices rather than the creation of visual forms. In 1967, the artist Sol LeWitt gave the new genre its name in his essay “Paragraphs on Conceptual Art,” in which he wrote, “The idea itself, even if not made visual, is as much a work of art as any finished product.”
Conceptual artists used their work to question the notion of what art is, and often rejected museums and galleries as defining authorities. The work of Conceptual artists helped to put photographs, musical scores, architectural drawings, and performance art on an equal footing with painting and sculpture.
John Baldessari. I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art
Lithograph, composition: 22 3/8 x 29 9/16" (56.8 x 75.1 cm); sheet: 22 7/16 x 30 1/16" (57 x 76.4 cm).
John B. Turner Fund
John Baldessari. I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art. 1971
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3. Language and Art Share this information with your students:
Language was an important tool for Conceptual artists in the 1960s. Many Conceptual artists used language in place of brush and canvas, and words played a primary role in their emphasis on ideas over visual forms.
MoMA Learning Conceptual Art Theme

4. Joseph Kosuth. One and Three Chairs. 1965.
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Though text had been used in art long before this, artists like Joseph Kosuth were among the first to give words such a central role. The way the words look plays a role in Conceptual art, but it is language itself that has the ultimate significance.
In One and Three Chairs, Kosuth combined three different objects that represent the idea of a chair: a manufactured chair, a photograph of a chair, and a copy of a dictionary entry for the word “chair.”
How do the photograph and the dictionary definition function differently than the chair itself?
Is one representation of the chair—visual or written—more accurate?
How might your interpretation of this work have differed if Kosuth had selected an ornate chair? 
Joseph Kosuth. One and Three Chairs
Wood folding chair, mounted photograph of a chair, and photographic enlargement of a dictionary definition of "chair," chair 32 3/8 x 14 7/8 x 20 7/8" (82 x 37.8 x 53 cm), photographic panel 36 x 24 1/8" (91.5 x 61.1 cm), text panel 24 x 24 1/8" (61 x 61.3 cm).
Larry Aldrich Foundation Fund
Joseph Kosuth. One and Three Chairs
MoMA Learning Conceptual Art Theme

5. John Baldessari. I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art. 1971
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I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art was my response to Nova Scotia College of Art and Design to do an exhibition there… As there wasn’t enough money for me to travel to Nova Scotia, I proposed that the students voluntarily write “I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art” on the walls of the gallery, like punishment. To my surprise they covered the walls.” – John Baldessari
We all agree that the word “art” signifies art, but everyone has a different interpretation of what the word art means.  While one person may consider a work of art boring, another may find it brilliant, and still another might not consider it art at all. Do you consider I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art a work of art? Why or why not?
John Baldessari. I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art
Lithograph, composition: 22 3/8 x 29 9/16" (56.8 x 75.1 cm); sheet: 22 7/16 x 30 1/16" (57 x 76.4 cm).
John B. Turner Fund
John Baldessari. I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art. 1971
MoMA Learning Conceptual Art Theme

6. Let’s compare each artist’s approach to making art.
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How is Baldessari’s role in making I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art similar to Kosuth’s role in making One and Three Chairs? How is it different?
John Baldessari. I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art
Lithograph, composition: 22 3/8 x 29 9/16" (56.8 x 75.1 cm); sheet: 22 7/16 x 30 1/16" (57 x 76.4 cm).
John B. Turner Fund
Joseph Kosuth. One and Three Chairs
Wood folding chair, mounted photograph of a chair, and photographic enlargement of a dictionary definition of "chair," chair 32 3/8 x 14 7/8 x 20 7/8" (82 x 37.8 x 53 cm), photographic panel 36 x 24 1/8" (91.5 x 61.1 cm), text panel 24 x 24 1/8" (61 x 61.3 cm).
Larry Aldrich Foundation Fund
John Baldessari. I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art. 1971
Joseph Kosuth. One and Three Chairs
MoMA What is Modern Art?

7. “I think the wonderful irony about this piece is that it's text
“I think the wonderful irony about this piece is that it's text. But in fact it is a painting, because it's done with paint on canvas. So I'm really being very slyly ironic here in saying, ‘Well, this is what painting is.’”
– John Baldessari
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Though text had been used in art long before this, artists like Joseph Kosuth were among the first to make art using words only. The way the words look plays a role in conceptual art, but it is the language itself that has the ultimate significance. Baldessari didn’t make this work of art, he found the definition for painting and had a sign letterer paint the words on the canvas. Should Baldessari be considered the artist of this work since his only role in its making was to provide the idea and instructions? If the artist’s hand isn’t present, does that mean the work of art isn’t art at all?
John Baldessari. What Is Painting. 1966–68.
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 67 3/4 x 56 3/4" (172.1 x cm).
Gift of Donald L. Bryant, Jr. © 2012 John Baldessari
John Baldessari. What Is Painting. 1966–68.
MoMA Learning Conceptual Art Theme

8. Share this information with your students:
Serra began experimenting in the mid-1960s both with nontraditional materials like fiberglass, neon and rubber, and with the language involved in the physical process of making sculpture. The result was a list of action verbs—"to roll, to crease, to curve"—that Serra compiled, listed on paper, and then enacted on the materials he had collected in his studio. This work, made from discarded rubber recovered from a warehouse in lower Manhattan, is a result of the rubber's unique response to the artist's enacting of the action verb "to lift.”
How does the title of this work contribute to your understanding of it? Would it mean the same thing if the sculpture was untitled?
Richard Serra. To Lift
Vulcanized rubber, 36" x 6' 8" x 60" (91.4 x 200 x cm). Gift of the artist.
© 2012 Richard Serra/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Richard Serra. To Lift
MoMA Learning Conceptual Art Theme

9. Sol LeWitt and Instruction-based Art
MoMA Learning Conceptual Art Theme

10. “The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.”
– Sol LeWitt
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In “Paragraphs on Conceptual Art” LeWitt wrote, “The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.” What do you think the artist meant by this statement?
Sol LeWitt. Untitled from Squares with a Different Line Direction in Each Half Square
One from a portfolio of ten etchings, plate: 7 5/16 x 7 5/16" (18.6 x 18.6 cm); sheet: 14 1/2 x 14 1/2" (36.8 x 36.8 cm).
Gift of the artist, Parasol Press, and the Wadsworth Atheneum
Sol LeWitt. Untitled from Squares with a Different Line Direction in Each Half Square
MoMA Learning Conceptual Art Theme

11. Share this information with your students:
Untitled from Squares with a Different Line Direction in Each Half Square was made using sets of instructions, or what LeWitt called “operational diagrams” for others to follow. According to LeWitt, if his instructions were carried out, then he was satisfied with the result.
Sol LeWitt. Untitled from Squares with a Different Line Direction in Each Half Square
One from a portfolio of ten etchings, plate: 7 5/16 x 7 5/16" (18.6 x 18.6 cm); sheet: 14 1/2 x 14 1/2" (36.8 x 36.8 cm).
Gift of the artist, Parasol Press, and the Wadsworth Atheneum
Sol LeWitt. Untitled from Squares with a Different Line Direction in Each Half Square
MoMA Learning Conceptual Art Theme

12. Outside the Museum
MoMA Learning Conceptual Art Theme

13. What are the unexpected places where you have seen art?
What are some of the locations where you typically encounter works of art?
What are the unexpected places where you have seen art?
How do your reactions to works of art differ in relation to where you encounter them?
Do you agree or disagree with Buren’s belief that context or location affects the interpretation of a work of art. Why or why not?
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The painting in this photograph was one of two hundred Buren pasted in the middle of the night in public spaces around Paris, without authorization. Buren’s work is partially covering an announcement about a leftist student protest soon to take place. Like other conceptual artists concerned that museums and galleries were assuming the authority to define art, Buren intended his white paper printed with green stripes to free painting from the confines of the museum by pasting them in very busy and highly visible public spaces.
What are some of the locations where you typically encounter works of art? What do these locations have in common?
What are the unexpected places where you have seen art?
How do your reactions to works of art differ in relation to where you encounter them?
Do you agree or disagree with Buren’s belief that context or location affects the interpretation of a work of art. Why or why not?
Daniel Buren. D’une impression l’autre. 1983
Daniel Buren. D’une impression l’autre. 1983
MoMA Learning Conceptual Art Theme

14. Share this information with your students:
These five “Untitled (Wide White Space Gallery Announcements” ( ) are one in a series of striped materials—including posters, billboards, fabric, and clothing—that Buren began producing in Buren considered this motif of alternating colored and white vertical stripes (each precisely 3.4 inches [8.7 centimeters] in width) to be a stand-in for painting, and hoped it would free painting from its traditional burden of having to tell a story, represent something or someone, or express emotion.
Daniel Buren, Untitled (Wide White Space Gallery Announcements),
Five folded double-sided lithographs, sheet (each): various dimensions. Publisher: Wide White Space Gallery, Antwerp. Printer: Altypo, Antwerp. Edition: The Associates Fund. © 2012 Daniel Buren / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Daniel Buren, Untitled (Wide White Space Gallery Announcements),
MoMA Learning Conceptual Art Theme

15. “Why hang things on the wall when the wall itself is so much more a challenging medium? A simple cut or series of cuts acts as a powerful drawing device able to redefine spatial situations and structural components.”
– Gordon Matta-Clark
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Sawing huge pieces out of buildings might sound destructive, but Matta-Clark believed it ultimately created visual order. Giving new life to buildings with demolition in their future—a process Matta-Clark called “anarchitecture”—opened up a view into the invisible—the normally hidden interior walls and floors. Of his choice of medium, Matta-Clark said, “Why hang things on the wall when the wall itself is so much more a challenging medium? A simple cut or series of cuts acts as a powerful drawing device able to redefine spatial situations and structural components.” The artist called this work Bingo because the facade, when cut into nine pieces, resembled the grid of a Bingo game card.
Gordon Matta-Clark. Bingo
Building fragments, three sections, overall 69" x 25' 7" x 10" (175.3 x x 25.4 cm).
Nina and Gordon Bunshaft Bequest Fund, Nelson A. Rockefeller Bequest Fund, and the Enid A. Haupt Fund.
© 2012 Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Gordon Matta-Clark. Bingo. 1974
MoMA Learning Conceptual Art Theme

16. Let’s compare each artist’s approach to making art.
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To create Bingo, Gordon Matta-Clark cut pieces from the façade of a house in Niagara Falls, New York slated for demolition. Matta-Clark kept the three sections of the building you see here, and deposited the remaining five in a nearby sculpture park, where he hoped they would be "gradually reclaimed by the Niagara River Gorge." Giving new life to buildings with demolition in their future a process, Matta-Clark called “anarchitecture,” opened up the view to the invisible – the normally hidden interior walls and floors.
In One and Three Chairs, Kosuth combined three different objects that represent the idea of a chair: a manufactured chair, a photograph of a chair, and a copy of a dictionary entry for the word “chair.”
Do Matta-Clark’s building fragments offer criticisms of art and the museum similar to those in the work of Joseph Kosuth?
Does the meaning of these works change when they are displayed in an art museum?
Gordon Matta-Clark. Bingo
Building fragments, three sections, overall 69" x 25' 7" x 10" (175.3 x x 25.4 cm).
Nina and Gordon Bunshaft Bequest Fund, Nelson A. Rockefeller Bequest Fund, and the Enid A. Haupt Fund.
© 2012 Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Joseph Kosuth. One and Three Chairs
Wood folding chair, mounted photograph of a chair, and photographic enlargement of a dictionary definition of "chair," chair 32 3/8 x 14 7/8 x 20 7/8" (82 x 37.8 x 53 cm), photographic panel 36 x 24 1/8" (91.5 x 61.1 cm), text panel 24 x 24 1/8" (61 x 61.3 cm).
Larry Aldrich Foundation Fund
Joseph Kosuth. One and Three Chairs
Gordon Matta-Clark. Bingo. 1974
MoMA What is Modern Art?

17. Performance into Art
MoMA Learning Conceptual Art Theme

18. Marina Abramović. Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present. 2010
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For 7 ½ hours each day over 2 ½ months, Marina Abramović sat in a gallery where visitors were invited to sit silently across from her for as long as they wished while other visitors looked on. Is Abramović’s role as an artist similar to that of a painter, actor, conductor, choreographer or director?
Marina Abramović. Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present. 2010
Marina Abramović. Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present. 2010
MoMA Learning Conceptual Art Theme

19. “I think a person who moves into an apartment and puts curtains on the window is also being an artist at that point, you know? There’s something that exists, and you’re trying to see what it would be like if it was another way.”
– Vito Acconci
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Vito Acconci said: “I think a person who moves into an apartment and puts curtains on the window is also being an artist at that point, you know? There’s something that exists, and you’re trying to see what it would be like if it was another way.”
Do you think Marina Abramović would agree with this statement? Why or why not?
MoMA Learning Conceptual Art Theme

20. Carolee Schneemann. Up to and Including Her Limits. 1973–76.
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In this work, a rope and harness hang above a huge canvas. Video monitors showing a recording of the artist Carolee Schneemann suspended naked above the canvas using her body to paint it. Often all that is left of a performance artist’s work is the remnants of the performance, and multimedia documentation.
Is the documentation of a performance an adequate stand-in for the actual work of art?
Should the documentation of the performance be displayed at all?
Performance art takes the form of live action, but it has reached a large public audience through documentation of the performance. Now that you have explored the performances of Abramović, Acconci, and Schneeman, consider how each artist chose to document their works. Does the documentation add anything to your understanding of the work? Would you change anything in the documentation of any of these works? 
Carolee Schneemann. Up to and Including Her Limits. 1973–76.
Crayon on paper, rope, harness, and two-channel analog video with audio transferred to digital video.
Courtesy the artist and P.P.O.W Gallery, New York.
© 2012 Carolee Schneemann/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Carolee Schneemann. Up to and Including Her Limits. 1973–76.
MoMA Learning Conceptual Art Theme