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Why Abstract Art? Editor's Letter
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C '
THE
UNCERTAIN
STATES
OF AMERICA
READER
Sternberg Press
Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern An/ Serpentine Gallery
2006
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Contents
6 Curators' foreword / 127 No to Bio-Political Tattooing
Editors' introduction by Giorgio Agamben
11 Eric Beull, Art Mover 129 When Thought Becomes Crime
in John Bowe, Marisa Bowe, by Critical Art Ensemble
and Sabin Streeter, eds., Gig
132 Disciplining the Avant-Garde
15 The Rules of Art Now by Gregory Sholette
by Julian Stallabrass
145 Startling and Effective:
24 When Procedures Become Market Tools Writing Art and Politics after 9/11
Johanna Burton and Isabelle Graw by Alan Gilbert
in conversation
151 From a Chomskian Couch:
32 From the Critique of Institutions to The Imperialistic Unconscious
an Institution of Critique by Robert Morris
by Andrea Fraser
162 The State, Spectacle, and September 11
40 Boundary Issues: The Art World Under by lain Boal, T. J. Clark,
the Sign of Globalism Joseph Matthews,
by Pamela M. Lee and Michael Watts (Retort)
45 Itinerant Artists 173 Torture Culture: Lynching Photographs
by Miwon Kwon and the Images of Abu Ghraib
by Dora Apel
52 Managing the Avant-Garde
by Matthew Jesse Jackson 187 Biraciality and Nationhood in
Contemporary American Art
60 Tent Community: On Art Fair Art by Kymberly N. Pinder
by Jack Bankowsky
197 Notes from New York
67 Whole by Molly Nesbit
by Chris Kraus
201 Trisha Donnelly, 2006
71 American Mutt Barks in the Yard
by David Barringer 202 Further reading
77 Preface and Jane, Susan, Murielle
by Bernadette Corporation
85 Was ist Los?
by Seth Price
92 Why Abstract Art?
by Kirk Varnedoe
100 Editor's Letter
by Tim Griffin
103 Circling the Center
by Ralph Rugoff
107 New Live Queer Art
by Matt Wolf
120 Renigged
by Hamza Walker
123 Sublime Humility
by Paul Chan
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Curators' foreword Editors' introduction
That something should be written about art This reader, a companion volume to the
is taken as self-evident. Russian philosopher "Uncertain States of America" exhibition
Boris Groys has spelled out this unwritten catalogue, began in 2005 when the curators
law in all its might: "Images without text are met with artists in their studios. What were
embarrassing, like a naked person in a public the artists reading? What articles, books,
space. At the very least they need a textual reviews-and, they soon discovered, cartoons,
bikini in the form of an inscription with the cookbooks, memoirs, and film scripts-were
name of the artist and the title (in the worst influencing their practices? A comprehensive
case this can read 'untitled')." survey of these curiosities was not included in
Since our exhibition "Uncertain States the earlier exhibition catalogue. It remained,
of America" already has a catalogue, the function pace Obrist, an "Unrealized Project."
of this additional collection of texts, compiled Invited one year later by the curatorial
by Noah Horowitz and Brian Sholis, cannot team to construct such a list, we began by
be reduced to this fear of nakedness. Nor is surveying the artists in the show and using their
it motivated by that hapless, and endlessly recommendations, many of which are included
replicated, reflex to produce something new in the reading list at the back of this book,
for the sake of further differentiating our as a starting point for the selection of texts
"product," or for having our voices better heard. presented here. What follows is a synthesis of
So why has it been produced? Primarily out of their nominations and our own research into
curiosity. We are not aware of another reader significant recent writings by American artists
such as this and it was among the earliest side and critics on artistic practice and cultural
projects we discussed pursuing before this politics in the United States today. Keeping
exhibition's debut in Oslo last year. Thus we with the theme of this exhibition, emphasis has
offer the fruit of this long-term preoccupation. been placed on identifying "young," "emerging"
If this anthology can provide first hints at writers, though salient pieces by a comparatively
answers to the questions posed in the compiler's older generation and by those who reside
introduction, it has accomplished its task. outside of America are also included.
We want to thank everyone involved. We hope that the following selections
This book is dedicated to the memory ofJ ason introduce some new writing and writers and
Rhoades (1965-2006), a friend and colleague shine a fresh light on more familiar passages.
who was unmistakeably American to the last. Equally, we hope that this book's reception
reaches beyond those audiences who experience
Daniel Birnbaum the exhibition first hand, and that it becomes
Gunnar B. Kvaran a conduit of knowledge outside the immediate
Hans Ulrich Obrist exhibition-going public.
The present volume is not a "portrait of
this exhibition's artists in text" (an early, and
mightily optimistic, vision). Nor is it a top-down
survey of all that is novel and noteworthy in
today's art world. Cognizant of this exhibition's
ambitious modus operandi, to represent "a 'new'
vision in American contemporary art," we realize,
of course, that some may view this publication
as precisely a currency-enhancing invocation
of already prevalent curatorial/critical interests.
And we understand that such a publication
indelibly sanctifies its content, that it operates
as a value filter or, as Isabelle Graw observes in
these pages, a "sound bite" in order to "underline
claims for art-historical importance or theoretical
erudition." Yet it is our underlying hope that
this reader belies such a roll call of erudite
endorsements and that its contents engage
readers in unanticipated manners.
It is commonplace to note that
contemporary art is swaddled in a haze of
words and that it is futile to attempt a synoptic
overview of art discourse, so we drew simple
boundaries beyond which our inquiry would
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not trespass, several of them congruent with the veil of ever-more-elaborate VIP rituals.
those set by the "Uncertain States ofA merica" Such processes may have aided contemporary
exhibition. The two most binding examples: art's ascension as a lifestyle commodity, but
each piece of writing included here has been the pragmatic need to secure financing and
published since 2000, and each discusses visibility in this competitive economy of
contemporary art, aesthetics, politics, or the symbolic goods and services arguably exposes
amorphous and expansive zone where these three it to opportunism and instrumentalization
concerns overlap. Selecting texts thus became as never before. The lamented "crisis" of
a game, albeit one burdened by methodological contemporary criticism is at least partially a
complications. How to accommodate writings result of this change: How does one distinguish
both by artists in "Uncertain States of America" among so many exquisitely manufactured and
and others critical of their programs, or, for seamlessly managed products?
that matter, the very presuppositions of such a The writings by Jack Bankowsky,
traveling group show? What, we contemplated, Andrea Fraser, Matthew Jesse Jackson,
could be an appropriate framework to muster Miwon Kwon, Robert Morris, and Julian
comprehensiveness in the face of mind- Stallabrass included here explore various aspects
boggling pluralism and attendant information of these developments, and their reverberations
overload? How to play the game? One artist's are palpable elsewhere in this volume and in
advice proved invaluable: "Comprehension and much of today's broader cultural discourse.
coherency are dead ringers for the longing for Book titles such as Art, Money, Parties (2004)
authority. Don't be an authority. And don't have thus come to embody the preconditions
apologize for not being an authority." So we of this moment, while"A rty Party," Hal Foster's
aimed for an eclectic sampling of material by review ofBourriaud's Relational Aesthetics and
writers-art historians, journalists, critics, artists, Postproduction (2002) and Obrist's lnteroiews:
philosophers, a graphic designer-slash-lawyer, Volume I (2003), offers not only a cogent reading
as well as a fictional character devised by an of these three publications but also an instructive
artist collective-whose contributions, we felt, if (glib) synopsis of today's art world at large:
gained from their placement alongside one "Apparently, if one model of the old avant-garde
a
another and from being set in relief against was the Party la Lenin, today the equivalent
a
the project as a whole. is a party la Lennon."
Despite appearances to the contrary,
* * *
the fundamental nature of art production
In recent years, many have noted how fashionable remains largely intact: artists still create, patrons
art that addresses its broader social context has still collect, and critics still critique. Yet some
become. The translation of Nicolas Bourriaud's accentuations within this value chain do indeed
Relational Aesthetics into English in 2002 and the appear to be novel (or at least more apparent):
ongoing debate about this set of essays is one the art industry's privatization and its (at times)
prominent example of this tendency. Others politically suspect diffusion into developing
pertain to the intensification of discussion about economies offer two prominent cases in point.
the Internet's (virtual) social power and the Echoing Bankowsky, one might say that today's
agency of extra-gallery /museum practices, the art is just more: more visible, more mediated,
latter of which inspired "The Interventionists: more spectacularized, more institutionalized,
Art in the Social Sphere," an exhibition curated more scrutinized, more expensive, more
by Nato Thompson and presented at Mass profitable, and more "global." "The international
MoCA in the summer of 2004. Guggenheim conglomerate isn't so much
There has also been a notable upsurge of 'McMuseum,"' Peter Plagens elsewhere
interest in the art world's supposedly mutating reflects, "as it is Boeing or General Dynamics
structural composition. For example, while new contemporary art on a military-industrial scale."
technologies may enable individuals to act and Buttressing these developments is an
transact at a distance, there has of late been a attenuation of interest in specific regional
curious intensifying of interaction among buyers, activities. On one level, this is a natural
sellers, enthusiasts, and pundits at international byproduct of the exhibition industry's
and ever-trendy art fairs, auctions, biennials, and globalization, whereby biennials, project spaces,
symposia that now demarcate the art calendar and conferences from Cuba to Korea take local
as a matter of course. These developments have socio-political contexts as points of departure.
not ruptured the clout of cultural epicenters like Equally, this interest in the regional appears to
New York or London, but they have hastened constitute the inevitable flip side to 1990s-era
the transformation of how contemporary art's globalization hyperbole, with the now hackneyed
specialist community of artists, dealers, curators, promises of multilateral cultural exchange
collectors, critics, administrators, sponsors, and replaced by more nuanced readings of these
policymakers do business: on the run and behind processes' complexities (as epitomized in the
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five "platforms" of Documenta XI, 2001-02). of its definition of"g lobalization" as well),
Whatever its roots, the increasing attention but, on occasion, this thinking-through-form
focused on artistic proceedings outside of counters the obfuscation that now stands for
traditional Western art centers is having a contemporary American political discourse.
formidable impact in the classroom, salesroom, At the very least, it gives a sense of what it is like
and across tireless rumor mills; as in other to live in the United States today, and results in
industries, China, Russia, Eastern Europe, some inspired debate. We hope that this book
and the Middle East have become pivotal foci serves not only as a valuable compendium of
of speculation. recent writing about contemporary art but also
Counterbalancing this trend-and following as inspiration to seek further understanding of
in the wake of 9 / 11 and the 2004 re-election these "Uncertain States."
of George W. Bush-is the zeroing in of
* * *
(primarily European) interest in American art
and artists. In the past year alone, one could cite We would like to thank Julia Peyton-Jones,
"Uncertain States of America," "USA Today" at Daniel Birnbaum, Gunnar B. Kvaran, and
the Royal Academy of Arts in London, "This is Hans Ulrich Obrist for inviting us to undertake
America: Visions of the American Dream" at the this project and for being instrumental in its
Centraal Museum in Utrecht, the Netherlands, realization; Caroline Schneider of Sternberg
and even "Day for Night," the 2006 Whitney Press for ably seeing the book into print;
Biennial (c urated by Chrissie Iles and Philippe the artists for their consistently trenchant
Vergne, Europeans now ensconced in American criticisms of and honest responses; all of the
institutions). authors and publications who granted reprint
Any cross-cultural interpretation is bound permission; Charles Gute and Nicole Lanctot
to create misunderstanding, and surely each for their unflagging copyediting efforts;
of these exhibitions draws a limited portrait and David Reinfurt and Stuart Bailey of
of the culture it seeks to portray. A somewhat Dexter Sinister for their grace under pressure.
atypical example, "The American Effect: Global Likewise we wish to thank Greg Allen, Eric
Perspectives on the United States, 2000-2003," C. Banks, Christopher Bedford, Tom Eccles,
held at the Whitney Museum of American Art Bettina Funcke, Melissa Giannini, Liam Gillick,
in 2003, exemplifies the dangers inherent Rachel Harrison, Michael Ned Holte, Gareth
in such projects. While many of the above James, Miriam Katz, Elizabeth Linden, Molly
exhibition organizers are one step removed from Nesbit, Lauren O'Neill-Butler, Amie Robinson,
their subject matter-in the center looking at Scott Rothkopf, and David Velasco for their
the periphery, or vice-versa-a two-step removal thoughtful contributions to the dialogue that
marked the organization of"The American produced this book.
Effect," in which an American curator, Lawrence
Rinder, traveled outside of the country to find Noah Horowitz and Brian Sholis
artists whose art critiqued the United States;
the resultant exhibition, however, was, in the
words of one reviewer, "hectoring and jejune
and did little to advance the terms of that
encounter."
This is undoubtedly a moment marked
by a serious interest in the actions America
is taking on the world stage-actions that have
been described as a cause for grave concern.
We do not attempt to authoritatively engage
these concerns here. We do, however, think
that this sampling of discourse by and about
a country's visual artists leads to insights about
its politics and society not gained elsewhere.
Many of the artists in this reader's
eponymous exhibition would, of course, be quick
to disavow explicitly political readings of their
work, preferring, as Kori Newkirk recently stated
during a panel discussion at Bard College's
Center for Curatorial Studies, to "seduce first."
He continued: "'Political' content can [simply)
come in through the side door or window."
The art world's definition of the term "political"
remains fuzzy (as Pamela M. Lee rightly notes
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Bruce McCall, Eun, Tr111h. cover of the New Yor.4-«, October 14-21, 2002
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