Zurbrugg, Nicholas, “Installation art- essence and existence” in What is installation? An anthology of writings on Australian installation art, Edited by Adam Geczy and Benjamin Genocchio, Sydney, Power Publications 2001 (pp.25- 31)
It is essential to regard the practice of installation as “challenging and extending” the development of the artistic language and material constraints in response to preconceived notions of the “institutional and authorial parameters”. Zurbrugg's synopsis provides a succinct acknowledgment of the history of the art and regards the factors, intrinsic to the installation process by its practitioners.
The article offers perspectives on the art form's drives and catalysts and describes the often differing, yet inclusive philosophies. It defines the particularities of the “more complex” spatial relationship and points to how the ideas are transferred across media by actions and augmented by technology. He dedicates a reference to the role the artist must newly perform within the confines of the exhibition space, and makes warning, if not judgment, upon the the necessities of documentation and static, non -interactive installation, making notable exception to the idiosyncrasies of his referenced artists.
The reflection of previous art movements give context to some of the processes and infatuations associated with the installation artist, the initial experimentation and relationship with satire and performance. Zurbrugg cites the ideas of Marcel Duchamp definitively as the source of the “conceptual impact”. Duchamp, provided a freedom for the what the artist can work with in material terms. He divides the major philosophical references between Duchamp and Kurt Schwitters, but also relates its foundation, quite importantly to the practice of John Cage, an artist practicing as musician, whose galleries were music halls and recordings, who produced innovative and influential performance, fifty years after Duchamp and R Mutt. Cage's work seems to exemplify a dadaist “enthusiasm” for the idea of chance in art. The technological advancement of the twentieth century, gave the medium to Cage, who exemplifies characteristics of Futurist imperatives, the mechanical or kinetic is certainly present in terms of modern installation. In the article, modern artists such as Joseph Beuys appear to challenge beliefs held by more historical artists, perceiving restrictions in their aesthetic values and purposes.
The writer is aware of the failings in translation between the often oblique examples of installation art and its audience in terms of relevancy, he makes comment in regard to both the more asinine and acerbic of the artwork. Zurbrugg indicates the importance of an inclusive natured work, equal to the varying responses and discoveries of its audience. A possible factor determining this, could be controlled by the specific qualifying of an exhibits space. Zurbrugg has preferences toward a sense of movement within the artwork. He is aware of the sense of “inauguration” and the “commemoration” an audiences interaction with spaces and contexts can create, and will allow for an installation to develop an aura out of its earlier incarnations. He maintains that in Installation Art a real liberty exists through the freedom of mediums and technologies, and from the construction of the redefinition of the space within a gallery by an artist.
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