Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work are prioritized equally to or more than traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions. This method was fundamental to American artist Sol LeWitt's definition of conceptual art, one of the first to appear in print:
In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work. When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.
Joseph Heinrich Beuys was a German artist, teacher, performance artist, and art theorist whose work reflected concepts of humanism, sociology, and, with Heinrich Böll, Johannes Stüttgen, Caroline Tisdall, Robert McDowell, and Enrico Wolleb, created the Free International University for Creativity & Interdisciplinary Research (FIU). He previously in his talks and performances also formed The Party for Animals and The Organisation for Direct Democracy. He was a member of a Dadaist art movement Fluxus and singularly inspirational in developing of Performance Art, called Kunst Aktionen, alongside Wiener Aktionismus that Allan Kaprow and Carolee Schneemann termed Art Happenings. Today, internationally, the largest performance art group is BBeyond in Belfast, led by Alastair MacLennan who knew Beuys and like many adapts Beuys's ethos.
Documenta is an exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany.
A Gesamtkunstwerk is a work of art that makes use of all or many art forms or strives to do so. The term is a German loanword accepted in English as a term in aesthetics.
Pierre Huyghe is a French artist who works in a variety of media from films and sculptures to public interventions and living systems.
Events from the year 1982 in art.
Benjamin Heinz-Dieter Buchloh is a German art historian. Between 2005 and 2021 he was the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Modern Art in the History of Art and Architecture department at Harvard University.
Nicolás García Uriburu was an Argentine artist, landscape architect, and ecologist. His work in land art was aimed at raising consciousness about environmental issues such as water pollution.
7000 Oaks – City Forestation Instead of City Administration is a work of land art by the German artist Joseph Beuys. It was first publicly presented in 1982 at documenta 7.
The Free International University (FIU) for Creativity and Interdisciplinary Research was a support organization founded by the German artist Joseph Beuys. He founded it together with writer Heinrich Böll, Klaus Staeck, Georg Meistermann and Willi Bongard (secretary), Caroline Tisdall and Robert McDowell who wrote the FIU's feasibility report for the EC's Ralph Dahrendorf, and Enrico Wolleb, R.D. Laing, Tapio Varis, Dorothy Walker, Conrad Atkinson, Dr. Rhea Thöngens, and many others, based on principles laid down in a manifesto written by Joseph Beuys and Heinrich Böll and the 1975/6 feasibility study by art critic Caroline Tisdall. It was founded as a "organizational place of research, work, and communication" to ponder the future of society including political-economy. As a free University it was intended to supplement the state educational system with interdisciplinary work and cooperation between the sciences and the arts while at the same time campaigning for legal equality within educational systems.
Charles Townsend Harrison, BA Hons (Cantab), MA (Cantab), PhD (London) was a UK art historian who taught Art History for many years and was Emeritus Professor of History and Theory of Art at the Open University. Although he denied being an artist himself, he was a full participant and catalyst in the Art and Language group.
Kirill Preobrazhenskiy is Russian artist, participant of Documenta 12. Works mainly with video and installations.
Hann Trier was a German artist, best known for his giant ceiling painting in the Charlottenburg Palace. He was married to the sociologist Renata Mayntz and was the elder brother of the art historian Eduard Trier.
Anatol Herzfeld was a German sculptor and mixed-media artist, and also a policeman. A student of Joseph Beuys, he primarily used wood, iron and stone as materials. As an artist, he simply signed Anatol. He received attention for a happening, crossing the Rhine in a boat he created with Beuys, after Beuys had been expelled from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.
Joseph Beuys Sculpture Park is a park located on the campus of the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) in Baltimore County, Maryland, inspired by Joseph Beuys' extensive 7000 Oaks tree planting project. The original project transformed the sidewalks and landscape of Kassel, Germany, with the planting of 7,000 oak trees between 1982 and 1987. As part of the Tree Partnership, over 200 trees were planted among Patterson Park, Carroll Park, and Wyman Park in Baltimore.
I Like America and America Likes Me, also known as Coyote, was a 1974 performance by conceptual artist Joseph Beuys.
Mel Ramsden is a British conceptual artist and member of the Art & Language artist group.
Michael Baldwin is a British conceptual artist, author and founding member of the Art & Language artist group.
Harold Hurrell is a British conceptual artist and former member of the Art & Language artist group.
David Bainbridge was a British sculptor, Conceptual Artist and member of the artist group Art & Language.
