A ROSE HAS NO TEETH: CONCEPTUAL ART AND ANALYTIC

PHILOSOPHY

INSTRUCTOR: NAT HANSEN (HANSENN@UCHICAGO.EDU)

A distinctive preoccupation of conceptual art between roughly 1966 and 1972 was with what is known as analytic philosophy, which is concerned with relations between linguistic meaning, logic, and reality. For example, Bruce Nauman took a striking phrase from Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations, “A rose has no teeth”, cast the phrase in lead, and exhibited it nailed to a tree in a garden. Wittgenstein offers the phrase as an example of a true statement (even “obviously true!”, Part II, xi), but the meaning of which is not clear. Nauman’s work is not an isolated phenomenon: Joseph Kosuth, drawing arguments expounded in A.J. Ayer’s Language, Truth and Logic, argued that art, like logic, has no content, and produced photostats of dictionary entries of philosophically significant words, like “universal” and “meaning”. And the British collective Art & Language argued, in the quasi-academic format of their journal Art-Language that “the making of art and the making of a certain kind of art theory are often the same procedure”. What is the significance of Nauman’s appropriation of Wittgenstein’s “obviously true” sentence, Kosuth’s argument that art, like logic, is tautologous, and Art & Language’s content that art and “a certain kind of” theory are identical? In this class, we will consider the relation between conceptual art and philosophy by viewing the work of conceptual artists (including Nauman, Kosuth, Art & Language, Paolini, Arnatt, and LeWitt) alongside the philosophical texts that were incorporated into their art, including works by Ludwig Wittgenstein, A.J. Ayer, J.L. Austin, G.E. Moore, and Bertrand Russell. We will assess the possibility of a purely conceptual, non-sensuous form of art, and evaluate the historical and critical significance of conceptual art produced during the period of 1966-1972. And we will investigate whether art can serve as a medium for philosophical reflection. The class is composed of six case studies of works of conceptual art that interact with, illuminate, or are illuminated by, works of analytic philosophy. We will view those works, talk about the context of their production, read texts produced by the artists, and carefully analyze the works of philosophy they make use of. Our aim will be to achieve a comprehensive understanding of those works and their philosophical context. Assignments will include short analytic essays responding to works of philosophy and critical responses to the art works we view in class. We will also visit Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art as a class to view works by Baldessari, Kosuth, Lewitt and Nauman in their permanent collection. As a final assignment, students will either produce a longer essay on the interaction of analytic philosophy and conceptual art, or they can choose to produce a work of conceptual art on their own, and write an account of how it constitutes a significant engagement with the philosophical texts we discuss in class.

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TEXTS: Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, Blackwell A.J. Ayer, Language, Truth and Logic, Penguin J.L. Austin, Sense and Sensibilia, Oxford Alberro and Stimson, Conceptual Art: A Critical Anthology, MIT Goldie and Schellekens, Philosophy and Conceptual Art, Oxford + electronic reserves

COURSE REQUIREMENTS Prior knowledge of neither conceptual art or analytic philosophy is required or expected for this class.

This is a discussion-based class. You should complete all the readings and come to class prepared to discuss them. Study questions for the readings will be available before class. You should think about the questions and be prepared to talk about them, as well as any other aspects of the readings that you find interesting. Small groups of students (3-5 students) will work together each week to produce written responses to the reading questions. These responses will be made available on Chalk before class to facilitate discussion. You will write two short class papers and complete a final assignment, which will consist either in a longer (10 page) essay or on an original work of conceptual art responding to the texts we discussed in class. Papers must be typed, double spaced in a twelve point serif typeface (Times, Times New Roman, Baskerville, Garamond, etc.) with 1 inch margins. Copies should be delivered to Nat Hansen's in electronic format (MS Word, or pdf) by 4:00 on the date due. Papers turned in late will lose one mark (e.g. from A- to B+) for each day they are received after the deadline. Your final grade will be determined as follows: In-class participation and writing assignments: 25% Course papers: 75% First paper: 3 pages worth 15% of course grade Second paper: 3 pages worth 25% Final assignment (paper or art work): 35% If you have any questions or concerns please speak to me as soon as they arise.

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SCHEDULE OF TOPICS

PART I: INTRODUCTION TO CONCEPTUAL ART Meeting Topic Reading/Viewing Assignment 1st Week

Historical overview, 1966-1972; introduction to the idea of conceptual art, introduction to analytic philosophy

--Lucy Lippard, The Dematerialization of the Art Object, 1966-1972 [excerpt] [Chalk] --Michael Dummett, “The Linguistic Turn”, Ch.1 of Origins of Analytic Philosophy [Chalk]

In-class writing assignment on concepts and art

CASE STUDY #1: JOSEPH KOSUTH, TITLED (ART AS IDEA AS IDEA)

2nd Week

Art and Emptiness

-Joseph Kosuth, “Art after Philosophy” [Chalk] -A.J. Ayer, Language, Truth and Logic [excerpts] -Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus [excerpt] [Chalk]

First paper topics distributed

CASE STUDY #2: JOSEPH KOSUTH, ONE AND THREE CHAIRS

3rd Week

What makes something a representation?

-Tim Crane, “The Puzzle of Representation”, in The Mechanical Mind [Chalk] -Nelson Goodman, Languages of Art [excerpt] [Chalk]

CASE STUDY #3: BRUCE NAUMAN, A ROSE HAS NO TEETH

4th Week

Truth, Meaning, Context, Skepticism

-Bertrand Russell, The Problems of Philosophy [excerpt] [Chalk] -G.E. Moore, “A Defense of Common Sense” [Chalk] -Barry Stroud, The Significance of Philosophical Skepticism, Chs.1-2 [Chalk]

First papers due

5th Week

Skepticism and Nonsense

--Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, Part II, xi -Stanley Cavell, “The Availability of Wittgenstein’s Later Philosophy” [Chalk]

Second paper topics distributed

CASE STUDY #4: KEITH ARNATT, TROUSER WORD PIECE

6th Week

The meaning of “real” -J.L. Austin, Sense and Sensibilia [excerpts]

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CASE STUDY #5: ART-LANGUAGE, VOL.1, NO. 1 7th Week

Can theory be art? -Art & Language, “Introduction”, Art-Language, Vol. 1, No. 1 [Chalk] --Immanuel Kant, Critique of Judgment, “Analytic of the Beautiful”, §§1-8 [Chalk] --Elisabeth Schellenkens, “The Aesthetic Value of Ideas”, in Philosophy and Conceptual Art

Second papers due

8th Week

Language and seeing

--Ian Burn and Mel Ramsden, “The Role of Language” [Chalk] --Sapir, “The Status of Linguistics as Science” [Chalk] --Whorf, “Science and Linguistics” [Chalk]

CASE STUDY #6: SOL LEWITT, FOUR COLOR DRAWING

9th Week

Idea, responsibility, action

-Sol LeWitt, “Paragraphs on Conceptual Art” [Chalk] -Gregory Currie, “Visual Conceptual Art”, in Philosophy and Conceptual Art

Proposals for final papers or projects due

CONCLUSION: THE LEGACY OF CONCEPTUAL ART AND ART’S RELATION TO PHILOSOPHY 10th Week

Theory and Practice -Art & Language, “Emergency Conditionals”, in Philosophy and Conceptual Art