Reading 10: What does it mean to read theoretical material as a creative practitioner?

Thomas Hirschhorn interview with Hans Ulrich Orbist, Thomas Boutoux ed., Hnas Ulrich Orbist: Interviews volume 1, Milan: Charta, 2003, pp.393-400.

Art works of value are informed by under-girding concerns relating to philosophical, metaphysical or theoretical issues. Works often set up a dialogue, create an argument, or comment on social or cultural phenomenon worthy of interrogation. Hirschhorn confronts issues relating to archeology in a project for the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona. He observes the indiscrepancy pertaining to historical attributions of value, whereby pre-historical ‘rubble and trash’ is verified over modern day graffiti slogans.

Hirschhorn claims, ‘art is able to break down walls; it has a potential for exchange and dialogue. It can liberate activity.’ In order for art to break down walls it must be informed, not only of its own contextual placement within the art historical canon, but within society at large. Art theory often reflects, or prophesies to the deeper ideological issues challenging human ontology. As such art theory is not always confined to the self-reflection of art per se, but investigates deeper surrounding sociological issues and histories.

A creative practitioner conversant with a diverse range of theoretical material is empowered to set up authoritative and convincing arguments capable of shaping, challenging, or informing past and existing social ideologies. Art works founded on diverse theoretical investigations are emancipated from purely self-referential parameters within the art world to comment on inexhaustible social phenomenon such as politics, religion, the environment, and cultural exchange. Informed art has the ability to serve as an altruistic instrument of change, or at least act as an ambassador of thought provocation.

Reading 9: How can creative practice be relevant politically?

Art has become increasingly relational. Artists use social exchanges as material for artistic investigation. The relational analysis of human interaction has significance in evaluating the value of community and the integrity of human relationships. In a world saturated with technological independence and cyber communication the physical interactions of people within an actual space is undervalued and increasingly rarified. This brings into questions of authenticity and authorship in regards to the Fine Art.

I have dealt with issues of authenticity and community in my own work by enlisting community sponsorship to realize my exhibition, ‘To Authenticate’. Members of my authentic community, i.e. friends, colleagues, family, lecturers, were all invited to Sponsor-A-Plinth. Sponsors financial support was then used to produce eleven plinths on which to present final original drawings of black and white photographs. Each sponsor received an authenticity certificate; their name engraved on a plaque and placed on a plinth; and the invitation to an exclusive one-night preview of ‘To Authenticate’ at NKB Gallery, Mt Eden. The purpose of involving my ‘authentic community’ was in direct retaliation to an article by Elizabeth Currid, entitled “The Economics of a Good Party: Social Mechanisms and the Legitimization of Art/Culture”. The function of the overall work was didactic, utilizing authentic imagery to create time and space for the viewer to enlist their own subjective perception in order to assess truth, quality, and the ‘value’ of an original artifact.

Reading 8: Images and Ownership

Issues of authenticity in art have been prevalent throughout history. Fundamental concepts introduced by Benjamin in his essay Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, have been analyzed and reinterpreted by scholars ever since. Benjamin claims that the authenticity of a work is informed by its unique existence in history. The Oxford Dictionary defines authentic as ‘reliable; genuine’, its root word coming from the Greek authentes meaning ‘one who does a thing himself’ (1). Benjamin terms the elusive quality inherent in an authentic work of art as its “aura”. The Oxford Dictionary definition of the word ‘aura’ is simply, ‘a subtle quality associated with person or thing' (2). Benjamin distinguishes between historical aura and natural aura. Historical aura is based on the description above whereby a unique object is located in a unique time and place and carries with it a particular history. He associates natural aura with distance and likens it to experiencing the view of a mountain range on a warm summer day (3). The key concept here is the experience of the actual mountain range. He explains the antithesis of this concept as ‘the desire of contemporary masses to bring things “closer” spatially and humanly' (4). In other words, the increasingly insatiable desire of the masses to ‘own’ by reducing and containing images of an original phenomenon. An early attempt to possess an experience of natural phenomenon can be seen in the advent of the Claude Glass, referring to the effect of the Claude Glass to re-contextualize a natural vista Geoff Park recounts, ‘condensed and framed, in the moment of capture, its miniaturized picture was a private possession’ (5).


1 - D. Mackenzie (compiled by), The Oxford School Dictionary (Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1958), 23.
2 - Mackenzie, 22.
3 - W. Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (Source: Arendt, H (ed), (translated by Harry Zohn). Illuminations: Essays and Reflections. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1968), 219.
4 - Benjamin, 219.
5 - Geoff Park, “Theatre Country”, in Theatre Country: Essays on landscape and whenua, (Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2006, pp. 113-127), 116.

Reading 7: How does creative practice sit within globalization?

In a world embracing immense technological acceleration, national boundaries are being eliminated via instantaneous communication channels such as the Internet. Only half a century ago a six-week journey on ship from New Zealand to England would have been considered to be made in ‘good time’. Now the same journey can be made by plane in less than 24 hours. Everything from travel to productivity has accelerated exponentially. In the past where cultures and societies were historically separated by large bodies of land or water, these natural barriers are now overcome by extraordinary means of transportation and communication at unimaginable speed. A highly sophisticated language of technology is usurping cultural communicative differences. We have built a new tower. Our Babel is technology itself.

Creative practices have inevitably succumbed to the challenges and triumphs of rampant globalization. Notions of national identity within the arts are becoming increasingly archaic as the world is opening itself to global art discourse. Unlike any time in previous history, art practitioners no longer have to travel to art capitals in America and Europe to be influenced by the latest art trends. An antipodean artist can simply flip open a laptop and google ‘what’s hot’ in contemporary art?! Biennales, Triennials, Art Fairs (1), etc, etc, serve to centralize the latest developments in Fine Arts as a means of gathering and showcasing a milieu of ‘whose who?’ in global representatives of the art world. The challenge for creative practice is not to become more global, but more particular, more original, and more unique.

1 - Cathrin Schaer, “Foreign Affairs”, Canvas, Weekend Herald, July 25, 2009, pp. 6-10. P 6.

2- Arun Appadurai, “Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy”, Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalisation, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996, pp. 27-47.

Reading 6: How does creative practice sit within globalization?

Currid argues that success in the art world is essentially founded on social networking. The value of an artwork is determined by the endorsement of the most well connected voice, or ‘gatekeeper’(1). Professor Warren Brookbanks has termed the phenomenon of success through social status a ‘who-you-knowcracy’(2) meaning merit is given to an individual based primarily on who-they-know rather than attribution of skill.

An explicit illustration of the intricately established social hierarchies underpinning the art world is seen in “The Art Universe,” published in Vanity Fair magazine, 2006. “The Art Universe” is a complex map of the contemporary art world as observed ‘from the V.F. Observatory High Atop Times Square’(3). It is the whose-who of the who-you-knowcracy. Replete with solar systems and constellations, Larry Gagosian is affixed firmly in the ‘center of the universe.’ In ‘the heavens’ is a list of deified dignitaries, names that have attained god-like status in the art world including Basquait, Duchamp, Pollock,Warhol etc.

The inclusion of a highly commercial synopsis of the art world within one of the worlds ‘sexiest’ magazines, suggests that art, as we know it, has all but lost its physicality in the making of artifact. The witty observation of Vanity Fair to categorize art giants in such a playful yet cynical way bespeaks of an even more ironic hierarchy. Vanity Fair is so in-the-know it is able to observe and organize the elite of the art world ‘who-you-knowers’. Vanity Fair has effectively become the eye of God, viewing the universe from an objective distance whilst ingratiating its star players. An art world commercially driven becomes increasingly aligned with the world of advertising and branding. Art as pure commodity crosses a fundamental boundary questioning the integrity of its own ontology once again begging the question…what is art?


1 - Elizabeth Currid, “The Economics of a Good Party: Social Mechanisms and the Legitimization of Art/Culture”, Journal of Economics and Finance, vol. 31, no.2, Fall 2007, pp.386-394.
2 - Prof Warren John Brookbanks, Auckland University Law School. 5/06/09.
3 - “The Art Universe,” in Vanity Fair. December 2006, pp. 340-341.

Reading 5: What does it mean to have a creative practice here in Aotearoa NZ?

According to James Clifford’s definition of culture as that which is ‘elevated, sensitive, and precious –most uncommon – in society’(1), New Zealand can boast a truly rich and diverse cultural heritage. Levi Strauss’ observations of New York as an anthropological chronotope(2), pale in light of Aotearoa as a cultural Petri dish.

New Zealand art and artifacts literally embody the discourse illustrated in Clifford’s diagram, The Art-Culture System, Machine for Making Authenticity(3). The cross-fertilization of ethnographic objects into the ‘elevated’ status of Fine Arts objects is frequently seen in the exhibition of cultural artifacts in Art Gallery Environments.

The quintessential example of indigenous artifacts displayed as artworks was seen in the highly controversial exhibition Te Maori, which traveled from New Zealand to New York in 1984(4). The organizers of Te Maori ensured extremely thorough and rigorous observations of Maori protocol surrounding the objects was maintained throughout the duration of the exhibition. Maori representatives were consulted regarding the presentation of objects. A significant Maori presence accompanied the exhibition to New York ensuring traditional Maori blessings and ceremonies were observed for the opening of the exhibition. The exhibition recognized the richness of a cultural legacy, which, in this instance, was willingly shared by Maori tangata whenua.

New Zealand society represents an increasing amalgamation of cultures. Cultural diversity has become generic. Subsequently, having a creative practice in Aotearoa is essentially unfettered by cultural constraint. Essentially a creative practitioner in New Zealand can present art from any cultural lineage provided a nominal percentage of applicable blood, or a significant ‘other’ of some description (be it partner, spouse or friend) is traceable to verify investigations and commentary with some authority.

At the risk of sounding overly utopian, art practices within New Zealand are becoming increasingly culturally diverse. There is a sense of permission among practitioners to express cultural particularities freely and largely without contestation, take for example works by renowned artists such as Michael Parakowhai, Reuben Paterson, Yuk kin Tan and Shane Cotton. Each artist works within a cultural affiliation albeit implicit or explicit. Perhaps inevitably New Zealand art is to be the catalyst for the cultural acceptance and recognition sought and desired by the likes of Tze Ming Mok (5).

1 - James Clifford, “On Collecting Art and Culture”, in The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1988, pp. 215-251. P 234.
2 - Ibid P 241.
3 - Ibid P 224.
4 - http://www.aucklandartgallery.govt.nz/exhibitions/0706temaorianniversary.asp. 26/05/09
5 - Tze Ming Mok, "Race You There", Landfall 208, Dunedin: Otago University Press, 2004, pp. 18-26.

Reading 4: What does it mean to have a creative practice here in Aotearoa New Zealand?

Site specificity is the essential alliance between an art object and the specific site in which it is placed or performed. To borrow Meyer’s term, literal site encompasses an artwork that by its nature is dependent upon the site in which it is situated. An archetypal example of a literal site-specific work is Richard Serra Tilted Arc, located in Federation Square, New York. Serra explains, “the specificity of site-oriented works mean they are conceived for, dependent upon, and inseparable from their location”[1]. In comparison functional site-specific works are not dependent on a physical place to inform their meaning. A functional site is an ephemeral, transitional space it is not fixed but transient.

In his essay Theatre Country, Geoff Park recalls the progressive objectification of landscape culminating in its recognition as an autonomous painting genre. Through the invention of the Claude Glass and later the camera, the surveyor of landscape was empowered to minimize and contain a personalized image of nature. Pre-eminent literary scholars such as the poet Thomas Gray championed the re-contextualization of nature into image. Gray once wrote of the view witnessed through his Claude Glass, “I saw in my glass, a picture that if I could transmit it to you, and fix it in all the softness of its living colours, would fairly sell for one thousand pounds,”[2] thus the commodification of landscape as genre began.

The Claude Glass simultaneously reduced the uncontainable image of immense landscape into a quantifiable, consummerable whole. Government, politics and tourism all contributed to the commercialization of land as a vista to be owned. Images of a place encountered proved the presence of the spectator, which in turn attested to the actual experience of a particular scene. In its broadest sense the genre of landscape painting relates most directly to the precepts of site-specificity. Landscape painting could theoretically be linked to literal site-specificity given its specific relationship to the site depicted. Conversely landscape painting is not contingent on its placement within a particular environment to be understood. In this sense it is more closely aligned with the categorization of functional site-specificity.

Notions of site-specificity in relation to landscape are particularly prevalent in New Zealand art. The population to land ratio in New Zealand, combined with the particularly exotic landscape, presupposes a strong affiliation between New Zealanders and their surrounding environment. The relationship between people and place is expressed by artists in various guises, often references made to land and culture are shamelessly explicit and thus deemed National.

Issues surrounding National identity within New Zealand art are often highly contentious. Creative New Zealand, the governmental funding agency for the Arts in Aotearoa New Zealand, has strict guidelines underpinning it Strategic Priorities to aid in ascertaining National identity within various artistic genres [3]. However, in an increasingly globalized world, the nature of a ‘National identity’ is becoming more ambiguous. Subsequently the categorization of (often ephemeral) art practices as ‘National’ becomes exceedingly problematic. A highly controversial example of the inherent dilemma of National identity in art provoked national outrage when The Fundamental Practice, an installation by Et Al was presented at the Venice Biennale in 2005 [4].

Arguably Et Al’s installation was not accessible, nor understood by the majority public of New Zealand. Ironically the project was largely funded by taxpayer money enabling New Zealand presence at a highly esteemed international art event. Much of the furor generated by Et Al provoked issues pertaining to the definition of National identity. How was a multi-media installation indicative of native New Zealand?

Does an artwork have to incorporate a recognizable component of place or culture to be considered National? Take Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst for example, both have attained superstar status within the art world, yet even the supposedly art illiterate public could place Warhol as American and Hirst as British. Likewise excellence in sporting achievements often positions a sporting hero within a national context. The identity of a nation is contingent on the quality of its representation. A poorly rendered image of a Tui in a Pohutakawa tree is no more national than the exquisite surface treatment of a Stephen Bambury icon. Surely national identity should be assessed according to the superiority of the work produced rather than the country it reflects.

1 - James Meyer, “The Functional Site; or, The Transformation of Site-Specificity,” in Space, Site, Intervention: Situating Installation Art, ed. Erika Suderberg, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2000, 23-37. P 24.
2 - Geoff Park “Theatre Country”, in Theatre Country: Essays on Landscape and Whenua, Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2006, pp. 113-127. P 116.
3 - Refer to Creative New Zealand Strategic Plan: http://www.creativenz.govt.nz/WhatWeDo/StrategicPlan/tabid/4771/language/en-NZ/Default.aspx. 6/05/09
4 - Refer to Et Al Venice Biennale: http://www.e-flux.com/shows/view/1673. 6/05/09