Whats missing?

Thierry de Duve “When Form Has Become Attitude – And Beyond” (1994), Theory in contemporary art Since 1945, Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2005, pp 19-31.

This text is written by Thierry de Duve in 1994. Thierry de Duve is a philosopher, art critic and art historian. One of the issues this text deals with is the role of the art schools and its approach to educating artists.

How do we educate the current artists? Should art schools influence artists to be concept driven, inventive, theory based or to provide technical skills? What’s missing? 

One of the concerns with using the academy model is that it can be uninventive and bound by conditions of technique. If we aren’t able to or don’t possess the appropriate skills are artists improvising or compromising their practices?

For conceptual art to be materialised into art the artists must have some ability to manifest the idea into an object(s).When it comes to dealing with painting image or casting sculpture skill becomes part of the reading of the work. The academic model paired with the knowledge of theory aids in the ability to articulate concepts. ‘Thierry de Duve states “…all teachers know by experience that talent exists and creativity is a myth.”(When Form Has Become Attitude – And Beyond 23).

Art schools possess a tendency to pursue the Black Mountain utopian ideals; ideals about a pure art uncorrupted by commercial influences. The pretence that the art market doesn’t exist would be misleading and potentially disadvantaging for studying artists. When they leave the safety of art school the art world as they have known it will be completely different. Money in art school has become a dirty topic along with the use of traditional techniques.

A project in Germany at Berlin’s Universität der Künste has been taken up to free artists from the usual space of the university. Olafur Eliasson has negotiated his students to work in his studio describing; “…the tradition of sequestering students in an academy as ‘dogmatic, static and conservative’ and believes the learning environment doesn’t have to be a ‘cocoon’; he wants his school to be ‘closer to the street, closer to reality’.”(Frieze, Open Studio. 2008)

In a Frieze art fair discussion Saskia Bos states “…..art schools provide conditions for risk taking and research that museums catering to ever broadening constituencies have difficulty matching.” (Frieze Art Fair, Theory and Practice: Art Education Today. 2007). Protection from the need for consumerism provides a ‘safe’ place to trail and contemplate work; works that could potentially be unsuccessful in a gallery or museum setting.

Thierry de Duve asks where the meeting of the two trains of thought is. Do we look back to the academy for training in skill or are we just clinging to some sort or romantic notion of the past? It could be that in order for us to convey our new concepts we need to find some compromise between trained skill and conceptual practice. Provide the skills; cognitive and technical and then facilitate the discussions so that artists can hit the ground running when they leave the safety of art school.

de Duve, Thierry “When Form Has Become Attitude – And Beyond” (1994), Theory in contemporary art Since 1945, Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2005, pp 19-31.

Lange, Christy. “Frieze.“ Open Studio. Issue 18 October 2008. [accessed 2/04/11] http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/open_studio/

Rugoff, Ralph et al. Frieze Art Fair. 2007. Theory and Practice: Art Education Today Podcast [online]. [accessed 1/04/11]. http://www.friezeartfair.com/podcasts/details/theory_practice_art_education_today/)