In conceptual art, the idea of the artwork is considered more important than its visual aspect or formal construction. In this respect, it is a profound challenge to long-held notions of what art is. Since its emergence in the 1960s, conceptual artists have kicked against the idea that an artwork should be a thing of aesthetic pleasure or even that the artist need be skilled in traditional modes of artistic expression. Nor does conceptualism accept that the financial value attributed to any given piece ought to be considered a reflection of its true worth. American artist Sol LeWitt (1928–2007) once noted of its impact: ‘Conceptual art became the liberating idea that gave the art of the next forty years its real impetus.’
In 1967 LeWitt published ‘Paragraphs on Conceptual Art’, widely considered a manifesto for the movement. He wrote: ‘What the work of art looks like isn’t too important. It has to look like something if it has physical form. No matter what form it may finally have it must begin with an idea. It is the process of conception and realization with which the artist is concerned.’
Over the next couple of years, what had hitherto been an informal grouping of artists grew in influence, so that in 1969 the Museum of Modern Art in New York held an exhibition of conceptualism. Soon it became commonplace to see non-traditional art forms such as installations, performance art, body art and ‘happenings’. The philosophy that the idea is everything was notably explored by figures like Joseph Kosuth (in works such as Three Chairs) and Lawrence Weiner, who wrote: ‘Art that imposes conditions – human or otherwise – on the receiver for its appreciation in my eyes constitutes aesthetic fascism.’
The birth of conceptualism
The origins of conceptualism may be traced back to the controversial Dadaist, Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968). Works such as 1917’s Fountain (a ready-made porcelain urinal that he signed and dated under an alias before putting it on display) demanded a reappraisal of what constitutes art – including whether the artist must display specific ‘artistic skill’. Dadaist principles remained influential in the 1960s and combined with an appetite for using found objects in artworks, along with industrial fabrication, repetition and simplification. In short, much conceptualist art basked in being non-traditional.
Conceptualism also played with the idea that an artwork is ‘completed’ by the setting in which it is shown – e.g. a museum or gallery – and also by the audience in their response to it. Considering its ability to alienate some viewers as much as it draws in others, conceptualism has been remarkably resilient. Some of the biggest names in contemporary art may be regarded as conceptualists, among them Ai Weiwei and Tracey Emin.