Experimental Art (LizB)

In Body Knowledge/Body Prejudice the author argues in favor of the philosophical view that “man has no nature but, instead, a history.” It is this history that Allan Kaprow (author of this week’s reading) demands the experimental artist to reject. According to Kaprow, the avant-garde is developmental in that, it too, relies on knowledge of what has come before. The experimentalist on the other hand is certain of nothing and questions everything. “For them all existing values are equally good and equally unconvincing” (pp.74).
One of the themes I see emerging out of this article is the idea that all boundaries are artificial; as Kaprow points out the lines dividing the arts are blurring, and it becomes more difficult to define just why painting is so different from-architecture from-commercial art. Yet in his attempt to erase all boundaries and open up a palate of infinite possibility, he has in a manner placed another limitation (albeit much grander in scale) on the work. This limitation being that the experimentalist must kick the art habit, and he acknowledges that “abstinence of this sort only functions in a context of knowledgeability” (pp.76). In my opinion, the act of creation requires tension; something to push and pull against in the work. Thus experimentalism requires traditional art in order to exist. The boundaries have to be established before we can play with the idea of erasing them. I enjoyed Kaprow’s suggestions for activities the experimentalist might engage in, but ultimately I don’t think that I could hold myself to the lifestyle he proposes.
One of the paragraphs that did catch my eye in this article was concerning the Futurists who considered the idea of burning down museums in an attempt to return to a state of “innocence” and proceed unencumbered by the past. While I certainly am not a fan of this rather extreme idea, it does bring up an interesting point: Why are we so fixated on this idea of “preservation”, of keeping everything in an essentially static, unchanging state? For instance, I often think of the contrast in oral and written historical traditions. In oral histories each new generation weaves themselves into the retelling such that the story never stays quite the same. In some way then, I can relate to Kaprow’s point of view: What’s so wrong with letting go?