Kerrie Poliness

Conceptual Art Conceptual art is where the idea or concept behind a work of art may be more important than the art work itself. First coined in the 1960s, conceptual art has come to embrace a range of practices - including art projects that remain as written statements or instructions for others to carry out.

Museum of Contemporary Art Australia Kerrie Poliness follows a history of twentieth century abstraction with her wall drawings that can be produced (though never precisely) on any flat surface, in any dimension, and by any individual following the artist’s instructions.

Sol Lewitt "An architect doesn't go off with a shovel and dig his foundation and lay every brick. He's still an artist."

John Cage

TASK TASK is an improvisational event with a simple structure and very few rules. TASK can be a planned, more formal set-up with an application process and a pre-determined number of selected participants TASK’s open-ended, participatory structure creates almost unlimited opportunities for a group of people to interact with one another and their environment. TASKs’ flow and momentum depend on the tasks written and interpreted by it’s participants.

RESPOND Instructional Drawing Challenge Ask your students to complete a 5 minute drawing of lines, shapes, and colors. Next have them compose detailed step-by-step directions as to how the artwork should be carried out. Once the directions are written, each student should exchange their directions with someone else in the class. Students should re-create the artworks to the best of their ability based on the directions their classmates have composed. After they have finished the artwork, students should exchange back with the “author” of the artwork. Authors should compare the executed artwork with the one they originally envisioned. Is the replica what they intended? Were their directions clear enough for the work to be executed in the way they desired? How close was the instructional drawing to the original? THINK Ask students to reflect on the following: How important is it to give clear instructions for the replication of the drawing? Following the exercise, re-visit the idea of who is the artist and what is the art in this scenario – is it the original drawing? Is it the instructions? Is it the replica? Have their thoughts changed from the previous slide?

DEBATE This artwork is part of the museum collection (owned by the museum). What exactly does the Museum own? The instructions? The artwork each time it is drawn? The idea?

Display

Sources: 1.Museum of Contemporary Art Australia 2.Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art Williams College Museum of Art National Gallery of Art activities/new-angles/sol-lewitt.htmlhttp:// activities/new-angles/sol-lewitt.html 5. MOMA and-instruction-based-arthttp:// and-instruction-based-art