Documentation and the Horizontal Way of Understanding Art Cover Image

Dokumentacja a horyzontalny sposób pojmowania twórczości artystycznej
Documentation and the Horizontal Way of Understanding Art

Author(s): Grzegorz Sztabiński
Subject(s): Fine Arts / Performing Arts
Published by: Akademia Sztuk Pięknych w Gdańsku
Keywords: contemporary art; documentation; horisontalism; transdocumentation; mock-documentary; ethnographic turn; documentary turn; pop art; conceptual art; Zbigniew Libera; land art; Jozef Robakowski; Yves Klein

Summary/Abstract: Abstract The ‘horisontalism’ of artistic activity and reflection on art is connected with current life and surrounding reality. Their elements flow into works of art. Artworks are not examined historically (according to the history of a medium, style or individual creative evolution) but as a reaction to the network of object arrangements and functioning discourses that surround artists. Such comprehension of art has made Sztabinski introduce the concept of a ‘documental turn’. Moreover, it has been depicted by him that the idea of ‘documentation’ is getting extended. Therefore, ‘transdocumentation’ appears. The term allows us to notice the specifics of such contemporary phenomena in which documentation does not only perform an informative function but also gives feedback upon what is documented. It is possible to distinguish many artistic approaches and practices within transdocumentation. One of them is a ‘mock-documentary’ – an ironic documentation that refers to documentary stereotypes and the audience’s trust in the reliability of documents. ‘Transdocumentation’ as a practice and theoretical scheme, possible when understanding art ‘horizontally’, reveals a great potential for artistic activities and the critical practice.

  • Issue Year: 2011
  • Issue No: 5
  • Page Range: 6-15
  • Page Count: 10
  • Language: Polish
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