Dematerializing the Medium: How Sol LeWitt, Douglas Gordon, and Lawrence Wiener Reinvented the Art Object.

摘要

fter the modernist turn, the art object was no longer thought of as a monument depicting a specific fixed time and place. Without a fixed definition of what the art object had to be, conceptual artists began exploring new mediums for the creation of art. By examining the works of Sol LeWitt, Douglas Gordon, and Lawrence Wiener, in conjunction with the experimental musical compositions of La Monte Young and John Cage, this thesis explores the way in which the art object had transcended the physical in favor of creating a dematerialized art form. Through the examination of changing contexts, the use of personal and cultural memory, and the translation of language and instructions, these artists have succeeded in creating works that cannot be classified as existing as a single physical object. Beginning with an examining La Monte Young's Composition 1960