Book Description
This provocative and highly original examination of installation art demystifies and deconstructs the artistic medium most likely to induce the question, But is it Art? When we think of installation art we imagine enormous, perhaps bewildering, multi-media environments. But the world’s earliest known installation projects were created millennia ago on the walls of caves in Lascaux, France. Although the genre has been evolving ever since, its primary impulse—a dialogue between artist and space—remains the same. In Understanding Installation Art, Mark Rosenthal offers an historical interpretation and concise critical analyses that will help deepen readers’ appreciation of this often confusing medium. Citing examples as diverse as the Sistine Chapel, Colonial Williamsburg, Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, and Vito Acconti’s Seedbed as well as works by Richard Serra, Rebecca Horn, Claes Oldenburg, Jenny Holzer and Bruce Nauman, the author defines installation art as a medium with broad possibilities for expression, universal appreciation, and democratization. He creates a new taxonomy of his subject, identifying four specific forms—enchantments, impersonations, interventions, and rapprochements—and shows how installation art is steering the concept of museums and galleries in new and exciting directions. Most importantly he helps readers feel more comfortable with site-specific art, a genre that dates back to man’s earliest artistic expression.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"This examination of installation art demystifies and deconstructs the artistic medium most likely to induce the question, But is it Art?" "When we think of installation art we imagine enormous, perhaps bewildering, multi-media environments. But the world's earliest known installation projects were created millenia ago on the walls of caves in Lascaux, France. Although the genre has been evolving ever since, its primary impulse - a dialogue between artist and space - remains the same. In Understanding Installation Art, Mark Rosenthal offers an historical interpretation and concise critical analyses that will help deepen readers' appreciation of this often confusing medium." Citing examples as diverse as the Sistine Chapel, Colonial Williamsburg, Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty, and Vito Acconci's Seedbed as well as works by Richard Serra, Rebecca Horn, Claes Oldenburg, Jenny Holzer and Bruce Nauman, the author defines installation art as a medium with broad possibilities for expression, universal appreciation, and democratization. He creates a new taxonomy of his subject, identifying four specific forms - enchantments, impersonations, interventions, and rapprochements - and shows how installation art is steering the concept of art spaces in new and exciting directions. Most importantly he helps readers feel more comfortable with site-specific art, a genre that dates back to man's earliest artistic expression.

FROM THE CRITICS

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