canon in order to lay a new groundwork and to raise important ques-

(2) I would hope that individuals who are informed about

and contemporary art and culture but who are not fa'Dilial 1
'rodem
with .ertain aspects of modern and corrtemporary art history and
theory uould hnd thi, booL a helpiuluverview I
(3) I aho hope th3t individuals who are interested in art and t Whot ls Art?
culture in general would fnrd thn book an inhiguing intloduction to :
these subiects and a response io the question, What is ail?

Ihis is a book about Art, what is not Art, and how things
come to have meaning and value.
The most powerful and obvious "truths" within culturcs are
often the things that are not said aod not directiy aclnowledged. ln
the modern era, this has been the casc with Art.
Everything that we know about ounelves and our world rs
shaped by our histories. Nothing n "natural" in the sensc that it car
be outside of its particular time and place. When we see, {eel, touch,
think, remember, invent, create, and dream, we must use ourcultnlal
symboh and languages. Among these "languages," Art holds r p.rrtic-
ubny visible and privileged plrce. By looking at Art, we car bcgi,r to
undentand the way our representations acquire meann,g aud powcr.
To question what is Art and to see it as somethiog that has a
specific history and belongs to a particular cra cln tell us so rnuch
about our culture and ourselves.
For example, what would you think ifyou were told thrt . .
 t
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[ (he onglh (rorDr 0/ld0m tuim tlr0p6l, 1508 l?

l/m6 otr&l6ndmt, ?5,000-?0,000 i {

And this was not Ad

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ltu f0douirllmi4 louir le \lor, And,o to ilorr.: plho 0t hroilor, l66 t-t i l0

And this was not Art.

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If!tnhug0rcfie6't!b,ury'Ircm&rnaJtr.t*,tuuard!,rd,SuL l'll3 16

NoL tl:is Noi ihis

 R.liqdry li{ue, Go[or, Bolo'0, Derni olmiw 00i(lm, (i nu i, t83
hrcimhmrl { } r*orr6fi ortury

Nor this Nor this

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 temodo d. Vii{ . ,lmo 1r,,1503 05 /iu(erD!, Ln r l rrl0l 919

N(, rl,ir

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Prh 0 Piar0:1,J DdM lrleJ dil,!nm, l9l/

t1,i' i\,\,I
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tlrtl det t!rcll, dE aav Bt tlh r (t]ur0i rrts![u Jr', Gi N]t. t9 r!

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I

I '9tr,

Rob!rr5( trn tp,ol la,rx l li0, 0horoEoClr br 1j tr,mo 6m00.

And th,s.

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'41

,,\,,d this And th,s

2u 2t
 tdimC I sre rhh fdri',8,1:0. 1909

And tlris.

11
 lo.lsi iollo(t: ora,,mro, r,, 1950

trAAiE 0.1$ a | ,ratt ol Sodaiopalli, t811

?4 2t
 ''Ali' is nD nrvent(,r of thc nodenr err-ihat is, thc past two
'I'hrs rvrs rr rr of thc thnigs to bc s(c,, $1,c,, \1lr((l l)r.l,.i,rrp
hundrecl yraro 'Ihe m,gnificc.t obiects ald ftagnrents and buildngs begar makurghis "rcedymadcs" n l9l3
created br preflodenr peoples lvere app(,priated by our cultrue and
trer6fonrcd nrh) Art
A,i, as $e Inow it, is r rehtively rcce,rt phe,ronrenon and ,s
s(,nethi,t8,rudc to be sccn in gallcric!, prcseNed ni muscunrs, pur-
chlsrd Lv collectors, and reproduccd within the mass nredia. When
an artrst crert.s x work ol tui it has no mtrntsic usc or valuc: but whel
this ,(work cir.ul,tes within the systems of Art (galleries, art histo-
ries, art puhl,cations, nuscums, and so o,,) it acqutres a dcpth of
n,ernnrg, a breadth of importancc, and an incrcase in value ih:t is
grcater proporti.,nately than pcrhaps anyih;ng else in the nrodern
world.
Everytlrurg in life rs shaped and defu,ed by its various institrr
tit,rs lnstituiions set up the l,ourdaries and convcntions for thi'rgs-
rhc w.y a panrti,tg s frame sbapes its prch,re and the way a pedestal
denrarks r particular object,s lculpture rlr.d Srpqlll phoro!rcph 01iimcloudrnmD 5 ron,,n n fte 8ld rt1@ m ?,l,lq l9l7

Wc "scc" this urn,3l as sculpture becausc,t\ h,,rchon

charged when Duchamp placed this picce of plurrrl,urs witlrnr rI rcs
ihctic uxtitution .n art exhib(nn If sec lluDld;r be
you hrve
fore, most Iikely it was wiihin an nestheiic rn!tiiuiroD n,r ( \r,rit,l., J
rruseum or a book Lke this one These sih,.rtxnrs x,c xt!,,,s tl,. con
vrlltions that ftamc this urinal rs Art
'lodry lrornid,n rs onc o{ thc cl,ssi. rrt$1trkr o{ tl)c INrnlr
eth century But tl,e origutal irounrdirl h.s drsrppearcd shicl, i\ rp-
propnate, considcrnrg Duch.rDp s nriiirl ine!.rcDt, rDi,ic\lll(tic
concerrs and his particip,txn nr Dxdris lf lou sc( Ii,uala,r rrr r
private collection, it is p()brblv ouc ol lhc rdrtroDs
Ducharnp produced ir the l9s0s and 1960s, *4,cn r grcrt dc.rl ol thc
coDtempolar! Art s,xs (rlled "Nco-lh<h "

28
 We can understand Duchampt lTormtarn as a .oDrnrcnt on
the modern practice of treatnrg and understanding obiects hon) dil
ferent cultures and periods as Art In a sense Duchamp s t.rktr,g.
piece ofbathroom plumbing, puttinS it on a pedestal n, an art cxhibi
tion, titling it Fountdin, and thereby trrnsfomurg a urirrl ilto Art is
not so different from art historians' taking this 25,000-ycar old fig
urine, placing it in a museum, titling it Venus, and christcDnrg it Art.
Duchamp has spoken specifically about this in tcrDs of our
htu! o, willoido'i, 25,000-20.000 I (.
culture's aesthetic appreciation of African ritual objects as so orlled
"Primitive" Art, an appreciatioo that dates pri arily fronr the begin
Snnilar to Duchampt Fountain, the Venus of Willendorf is ning of the tweDtieth century: "lt is we who have giveD the nxnrc art'
seen as tut
because its meaning and value for our culture have been to religious things; the word itself doesn't exist arnong 'priuritivcs'
created within the institut;ons of Art-for example, the arr histories We have created it in thinking about ourselves, aborrt our sarisfac-
th,t have des.rih.d ir tion. We created it for our sole and unique use "

ll

Thi book conforms to myriad institutional frameworks.
There are the literal limits of the pag€s themselves and the enframing
covers. But there are the more abstract institutions of art criticism, art
history, and critical theory to which my text conforms. I am aware of
some of these institutional frames, but some are less obvious, and
some I cannot perceive. These frameworks are less obvious because of
ideology.
1Z
tlolog,oli ol Sullroserrss n n.v h*, l9l4
Almost twenty years ago the novelist and critic lohn llcrger
created a TV show and a book about Art, popular culture, and rdeol-
oBy !irledWa$ of Seeine. The questions this program and book raised
are the kinds of questions this text is dealhgwith.
Ideologyhas been described as our "lived relatioD kr thc real "
Id€ologies appear to be natural or the way things should be Idcology,
like everything, however, is always ur ilux and is shaped by its p.rrticu-
lar historical moment Efficient ideology is accepted rnd u,rques-
tioned. Historical drstance often allows us to see id€ology at work: A
hundred y€ars ago in the U.S. it was generally believed that \r,nren
should not have the right to vote. This was generally seeu cs tlie way
lite should be. lt was "natural" for only nren to vote But thir nDton
was, ofcourse, not natural but ideolosic?l.
ll