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Abstract
This text by the Czech philosopher and art theorist Petr Rezek investigates the phenomenology of Body art and the resulting issues of aesthetic boundaries and the intersection of art object and “real reality.” The principal focus of the study is the sculpture of George Segal.
Notes
1 Charles Burden, Data No 18 (1975): 69.
2 Willoughby Sharp, “Body Works,” Avalanche, Fall (1970): 14–17.
3 The term ‘aesthetic boundary’ was developed by E. Michalsky in “Die Bedeutung der ästhetischen Grenze für die Methode der Kunstgeschichte,” Kunstwissenschaftliche Studien, vol. 10 (1932).
4 The spiritual reality of the work will be further mentioned in the analysis of Pope Sixtus in the Sistine Madonna painting; broadly speaking, it relates to the perception of a picture as ‘a window’ into the world of reality. See E. Fink, “Vergegenwärtigung und Bild. Beiträge zur Phänomenologie der Unwirklichkeit,” Studien zur Phänomenologie, vol. 21 (1966): 1–78.
5 Segal’s technique consists of 1) wrapping the model in gauze dipped in a thin plaster of Paris mixture, 2) removing the solidified mould, 3) joining parts and adjusting the surface (without pouring into a mould).
6 G. Kreytenberg and George Segal, “Ruth in her kitchen,” Koinzidenz von Real- und Kunstraum (Stuttgart, 1970), 13.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 The expression ‘real reality’ is used by a number of artists and critics; our interpretation will be clear in the course of this study, see also section Happening as a memory included in this collection.
10 The author of the comparison between Magritte and Johns is Suzi Gablik, see her monograph Magritte (London: Thames & Hudson, 1971).
11 B. Kerber, Amerikanische Kunst seit 1945 (Stuttgart: Reklam, 1975), 110.
12 Kreytenberg and Segal, 14.
13 The picture was constructed based on a description from a book by Jan C. Bouman, The Figure-Ground Phenomenon in Experimental and Phenomenological Psychology (Stockholm: Fallmarks Boktryckeri, 1968).
14 K. Badt, Modell und Maler von Vermeer (Cologne: DuMont, 1961).
15 Ibid.
16 The reality of a poster in relation to Pop art is mentioned in W. Biemel, “Pop-art und Lebenswelt,” Aaachener Kunstblätter, 40 (1971). Compare with the author’s critical notes in the section Phenomenology of Pop art.
17 Ibid.
18 E.g. W. Biemel in the cited study.
19 M. Boss in Grundriss der Medizin (Bern: Huber 1971), calls bodying forth ‘Leiben’ (bodying) and understands it as a feature of the openness of human existence in the world. Compare with the author’s talk “Introduction to psychopathology of bodying and sensual modality” in the manuscript collection Four talks on phenomenological psychology and psychopathology (Prague, 1975).
20 This characteristic is likewise mentioned by R.G. Dienst, Pop-Art (Wiesbaden: Limes Verlag 1965).
21 Cited according to Dienst, p. 136.
22 Data 18, September / October (1975) 70.
23 Ibid.
24 Ibid.
25 May 1975, Chicago.
26 Ibid.
27 Domus, No 549, August (1975).
28 According to W.C. Seitz, Segal (New York: Abrams, 1972).
29 Avalanche Newspaper, May–June (1974).
30 Ibid.
31 An analysis of Nietzche’s understanding of tragedies with an emphasis on the term “presence” is offered by D. Jähnig, Welt-Geschichte: Kunst-Geschichte (Ostfildern: DuMont, 1975).
32 Burden decided to make this piece after his sculptures became larger than thirty feet and he realised that if no one is moving around them, they lose their meaning. From an interview in Data No. 18 (1975).
33 Let us not forget the volunteer from among the audience who was at the camera, he however had a different function than in Back to You.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Petr Rezek
Translated from Czech by Eva Spišiaková Originally published as “Body art: Paradigma proměn v současném umění,” in Tělo, věc a skutečnost v současném umění, 1982: 49–79.