In a group of works executed between 1966 and 1970, Bruce Nauman - for the first and only time in his career - made aspects of himself the focus of his art. Using a variety of media, including sculptural objects in diverse materials, photographs, holograms, films, videos, and drawings, he explored the theme of the artist's presence or absence in his work. What at first appears to be a multi-facetted form of self-portraiture reveals itself on closer inspection to be an interrogation of the role of the artist under the premisses of post-structuralism, in which the discursive treatment of traditional notions of the artist stands central. The strategy employed in this series allowed Nauman to both position himself in relation to his public and establish a platform for his future artistic practice.