Limited seating available, arrive early to ensure availability
Following Duchamp, the concept of the ‘value’ of art changed. With the notion
of ‘concept’ behind the creation of a work gaining greater importance, new
questions were asked of the artist, such as: ‘What research went into the
work?’ and ‘How did it add to the assemblage of the piece?’. These questions
belong to one of the founders of Conceptualism, Joseph Kosuth, who vocalized
these and other concerns in his seminal essay, Art After Philosophy (1969).
This series of lectures looks at 20 key artists of the twentieth century who
have shaped contemporary art practices today.
Join Irina Kulik as she looks at the work of controversial American artist Jeff
Koons, a cryptic figure who has consistently eschewed explicit socio-political
critique and instead opted to embrace an outlandishly kitsch and baroque
aesthetic. Since the beginning of his career, Koons has consistently generated
a shift towards a new understanding of what constitutes a work of art, and the
artist’s and art’s role in a specifically consumer-oriented society. By
concentrating on everyday, household items and taking them as literal models
for his artwork, Koons has complicated discussions centering on “good taste”,
aesthetic and value in art.
Irina Kulik is an art critic, culture theorist, lecturer at the Institute of
Contemporary Art and the MKhAT studio school in Moscow, columnist of Kultura
newspaper and author of numerous publications on contemporary art, music and
cinema.
