Critical Review

Nicholas Zurbrugg’s chapter Installation Art- Essence and Existence explores how installation art has developed over time, while discussing what elements are needed to produce a successful installation work. The first paragraph of the chapter reveals Zurbrugg’s opinion of postmodern installation art as being “some of the most interesting of the wider contemporary artistic languages...” as it broadens the audience’s ideas about “art’s material, conceptual, institutional and authorial parameters.”

Zurbrugg gives a rather interesting definition of what Installation Art is; “...most installations extend beyond the picture frame, exploring and asserting a more complex and spatial impact...”This could be “inside, outside or around” and exhibition space, the three-dimensional space, being the most common feature in all installations. Consequently space becomes a major factor to consider in installation art.

Zurbrugg moves onto the history of installations art, attempting to pinpoint its origins, in relation to the twentieth-century. He attempts to draw links between contemporary installation art and various avant-garde movements, such as futurism, dada and surrealism, in order to reveal how installation art has developed over time. I feel that his analysis of John Cage’s work, was quite relevant to the origins of installation art. It reveals how his work is an amalgamation of various avant-garde movements, as it uses technology to allow some sought of movement to the installation. “Cage’s performance installations, and installation performances synthesise both the futurist artists’ and Bauhaus artist’ enthusiasm for technological creativity, and the Dadaist artists’ enthusiasm for chance compositions...” Zurbrugg also points out that some of the most ‘interesting’ installations are “second-hand” installations, which provoke a more ‘figurative’ action, such as Marcel Duchamp’s work, which, according to Zurbrugg, “lay down two of the guidelines of all Installation Art.” By including the artistic opinions of Kurt Schwitter, and comparing them to Duchamp’s installations, I feel that he was successful in drawing this conclusion of second-hand installations. Zurbrugg suggests that the most successful installations are those which evoke some form of movement, whether it be a more literal movement by ‘kinetic structures’ or by evoking actions “within more fugitive circumstances”

Overall, I found the chapter was a rather interesting analysis installation art. I did find the article quite broad, however I thought that some of the points Zurbrugg raised were relevant to the discussion of installation art. By beginning the chapter with a definition of installation art, he moves on to describe the main characteristics which make a successful installation, and also gives us a brief overview of the origins of installation art and how it has developed.