The Art of Provisionalism by Robin Carter May 2020 Director of Thesis: Jim Tisnado Major Department: School of Art and Design Art is in itself meaningless; the significant thing to consider is the social formation and how it is reproduced. If an artwork is assigned a value, it is due to the iterative ability of the subjects involved. The most efficient means of artistic production is then the one that anticipates the interpellative function of its subjects, the inadequacy of the artistic medium, and the political climate of the moment. As such, the production of this work is contingent upon the eternal deferral of aesthetic signification and the temporal window(s) of application. This document serves as an attempt to engage with these terms and to formulate a theory for the art of Provisionalism. The Art of Provisionalism A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the School of Art and Design East Carolina University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Fine Arts by Robin Carter May 2020 © Robin Carter, 2020 The Art of Provisionalism by Robin Carter APPROVED BY: DIRECTOR OF THESIS: ____________________________________________________ Jim Tisnado, MFA COMMITTEE MEMBER: ____________________________________________________ Ron Graziani, PhD COMMITTEE MEMBER: ____________________________________________________ Matt Egan, MFA COMMITTEE MEMBER: ____________________________________________________ Gerald Weckesser, MFA DIRECTOR OF THE SCHOOL OF ART AND DESIGN: ____________________________________________________ Kate Bukoski, PhD DEAN OF GRADUATE SCHOOL: ____________________________________________________ Paul J Gemperline, PhD DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to my nieces Emily and Carol, and my nephew Gavin. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of this thesis would not have been possible without the help of my family, the compound, my committee, and the faculty, staff, and students of ECU. Thank you, Russ, Anne, Mabel, Gizmo, Carol, Mindy, Pete, Marilyn, Gavin, Carol, Ryan, Emily, Caitlin (CL$), Opal, Hans, Lucy, Cody, Kaylee, Finch, Jackson, Candy, Greg, Darcy, Hurley, Holly, Mary Lee, Ray, Minnie, Boo, Henry, Jim, Ron, Matt, Gerald, Tom, Cat, AJ, Helena, Heather, Ronson, and Lacey. I am forever grateful for all that you have taught me. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF PLATES ....................................................................................................................................... vii THE MEDIUM .............................................................................................................................................. 1 THE USER .................................................................................................................................................... 3 THE ART-WORK ......................................................................................................................................... 5 PLEASE STANDBY FOR A MESSAGE FROM OUR PARTNER STAND-IN ........................................ 7 THE 0.20 EXHIBITION AND THE ART OF PROVISIONALISM ......................................................... 14 WORK CITED ............................................................................................................................................ 23 LIST OF PLATES Plate 1: Betsy DeVos’s Stand-in at the DC Women’s March, 2019 ............................................................. 8 Plate 2: Betsy DeVos’s Stand-in marching at the DC Women’s March, 2019 ............................................. 9 Plate 3: Betsy DeVos’s Stand-in at ECU, 2019 ........................................................................................... 10 Plate 4: Who is Beth Merkleson?, 2017 ....................................................................................................... 11 Plate 5: Roommates Needed!, 2018 ............................................................................................................. 12 Plate 6: Subleasers Needed!, 2018 ............................................................................................................... 13 Plate 7: 99, 2020 .......................................................................................................................................... 16 Plate 8: Map of The Gray Area .................................................................................................................... 17 Plate 9: Black Square with text that reads, “The title of this artwork…”, 2020 ......................................... 18 Plate 10: Black Square with text that reads, “This artwork is indistinguishable…”, 2020 ........................ 19 Plate 11: Black Square with text that reads, “This artwork exists…”, 2020 ............................................... 20 Plate 12: Black Square with text that reads, “Visitors have access…”, 2020 ............................................. 21 THE MEDIUM “The dominant spirit…that haunts this enchanted region, and seems to be commander-in-chief of all the powers of the air, is the apparition of a figure on horseback without a head. It is said by some to be the ghost of a Hessian trooper, whose head had been carried away by a cannon-ball, in some nameless battle…His haunts are not confined to the valley, but extend at times to the adjacent roads, and especially to the vicinity of a church at no great distance. Indeed, certain of the most authentic historians of those parts, who have been careful in collecting and collating the floating facts concerning this specter, allege that the body of the trooper having been buried in the churchyard, the ghost rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head…”1 – Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow All cultural production takes place within complex interconnected networks of social relations. When questions of significance are on the table, it is crucial that we identify these relations rather than waste time contemplating the intentions of the artist, the immediacy of the artwork, or the autonomous nature of either. Unfortunately, these latter concerns continue to frame the dominant historicizations of our cultural production today. It seems we have yet to learn our lesson regarding our fetishization of the artist. Over half a century has passed since Roland Barthes decapitated the “author,” or rather, he showed us the deed had (always) already happened, yet here we are, tracing the author’s steps, as though we still plan on arriving at an original intention, or even worse, meaning.2 This tendency, during the search for meaning in art, to separate the author’s supposed intentions from the social conditions of its production encourages a repetitive, hauntingly empty search. Like the Headless Horseman returning night after night, to reclaim his head, those who seek the artist’s intention blindly trust the medium to get them there. But like the text on a page, or brush strokes on a canvas, the medium is an apparition in itself, a trace of manipulated material that reflects the fears and desires of those it haunts. The haunted believe that if they follow this ghostly medium, it will lead them to the 1 Irving, W. (1882). Rip Van Winkle, and other sketches. New York: Useful knowledge Pub. Co. 2 I mean this quite literally, as we (you and I, the trace of an ECU MFA student) read the text of this thesis, there is an unfortunate possibility that you may find yourself hoping to arrive at some sense of meaning that aligns with the intentions of the individual, Robin Carter. artist’s intention, but since medium is blind to the social formation that defines its path, those who follow are cursed with an endless search for artistic autonomy. This approach to art privileges the dominant social formation by negating its conditions as though they were neutral stage scenery or the blank page on which the author’s words reside. Social relations are merely distractions to the Headless Horseman and the apostles of the medium. The prospect of culture interfering with their flawless conceptual transportation system obstructs their ability to see that culture is the very thing that defines their sacred medium. 2 THE USER The dominant class has always used art to reproduce the social conditions which allow for their privileged position. This simple Marxist illustration of the reproductive relations between power, art, and subjectivity has perhaps never reflected the order of things more clearly than today. The privatized structure of cultural production leaves its trace on every artistic good or service that it produces. The concentration of media ownership is but one obvious example of this, as nearly all popular media is owned by a handful of conglomerates.3 Universities are seeing growing admissions in graphic design programs amidst otherwise struggling art departments. Political candidates are paying professional meme- creators to make campaign content for their social media accounts.4 Museum scandals, starring the most caricaturesque billionaire board members imaginable, frame the optics of the ‘high art world.’ No matter which appendage of the culture industry we turn to, it appears obvious who owns the means of cultural production. It might not seem too far off then to claim that owner-class of late capitalism has not only commodified the social relations of art but privatized the (re)production of art, in terms of both the artistic medium and the art institution. In doing so, it seems that a procedural change has taken place within the culture industry. Participants today are no longer hailed as merely consumers. They are hailed as users. Though neither the 20th-century consumer-subject had nor the 21st-century user-subject have access to owning the means of cultural production, the latter is hailed with the added expectation of contributing their own content. Subjects are compelled to be active on social media and to customize their entertainment sources. This user-centric version of consumption produces a surplus of data which can be used to analyze and predict a variety of user behaviors. This data, which is owned by the host company (Facebook for example), contains both a use-value and an exchange-value: it can be used to develop a prescriptive strategy for the production of future content, and it can also be sold for a profit (of which, 3 Comcast, AT&T, Disney, and Viacom/CBS 4 Perhaps the most memorable political meme patron is former presidential nominee and multi-billionaire Michael Bloomberg. naturally, users do not have access). Unwittingly influenced by their hauntological user-fingerprint, they enjoy what seems like an autonomous personalized experience with limited spontaneous, off-brand, interruptions, while producing an enormously profitable trail of data for the owners to transform into capital. The time-honored capitalist prescription of individualist ideology seals the deal: present the subject with a representation of freedom that displaces social antagonisms. If the subject chooses to engage in this representation of freedom, they confirm the position of their unfreedom. If the subject chooses not to engage, they also confirm their position of unfreedom. This is where I am cautiously optimistic, however. If the subject truly takes their duty seriously, identifying with their symbolic position within the imagined order of things, they will disturb the repressive function of individualist displacement. In other words, via overidentification, the user can obtain class consciousness. 4 THE ART-WORK “Invented dreams can be interpreted in the same way as real ones and … the unconscious mechanisms familiar to us in the 'dream-work' are … also operative in the processes of imaginative writing.” 5 – Sigmund Freud If we are to find any meaning in art, it will not be thanks to its ability to speak to us. The search relies solely on our ability to make the art speak. Art requires iterative subjects to perform its duty. The participants (users) of art unlock its potential during this moment of re-articulation. It is through this socially reproductive moment that the conceptual terms and conditions of art are produced, and deferred, enabling art to make any sense at all. It would be appropriate then to approach the notion of “the artwork” not as an autonomous historical clipping of human creativity, but as an idea denoting the ongoing processes that are always at work in art. These processes transform latent cultural desires into manifest forms of consumable content. If we are to arrive at any productive sense of meaning associated with these products of the culture industry, it will be through the discourse of art-work. The obvious allusion to Freud’s dream-work, albeit perhaps vulgar, provides a useful illustrative approach to the ideological function of artistic production. Working back through the transformative processes of art-work, we can discover which latent cultural desires have been hidden which can provide us with a better understanding for the how the functions and disfunctions of culture work. My chop shop treatment of Freud’s dream-work retains the transformative, signifier, “work” while replacing the “dream” with a slashed “art” to signify the Lacanian divide that occurs when something is anointed as an artwork. As Lacan’s mirror stage describes the moment when the subject becomes divided, the moment of artistic anointment similarly exhibits a split in signification. Thus art, having been “born into language,”6 symbolically represents a whole autonomous body—via the secularized eucharist of medium—yet forever 5 Freud, S., & Gay, P. (1999). The Freud Reader, p. 40. New York: Norton. 6 Lacan, J. (2006). Ecrits: The First Complete Edition in English, p. 262. New York: Norton. falls short of totality as its signification is entirely contingent upon its various metonymic relations. The ability of art to interpellate its subjects remains the determinant of its operating potential, and thus the sustainability of the culture industry. 6 PLEASE STANDBY FOR A MESSAGE FROM OUR PARTNER STAND-IN Hi there! Do you feel like your elected officials are doing a good job? Do you feel like your voice is getting heard? What if there was a way for users to connect with their respective leaders outside of the ballot box? What if those leaders were able to make an appearance—answering questions, noting concerns, and voicing their intent—without physically being present? That’s where Stand-in comes in! Stand-in, a surrogate spokesperson provider, offers our clients the ability to engage with their constituencies without physically being present. By providing a surrogate for our client, we create an opportunity for “face-to-face” dialogue, written-letter collection, and literature distribution. Each surrogate spokesperson is carefully handcrafted to have the likeness of our client. Our event management team develops a personalized strategic plan of action to best suit our client’s needs while maintaining optimal event participation. Stand-in for DeVos Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and her family have certainly been tenacious in their fight for Personal Freedom and Traditional Values. That’s why, in an effort to repay such an investment, Stand-in vowed to put Sec. DeVos in touch with hundreds the students and teachers that depend on her leadership every day! Between Washington DC and ECU, Betsy DeVos’s Stand-in surrogate met with over 1000 individuals! Each participant got the chance to meet and ‘grade’ Betsy DeVos. The completed report cards were then sent to the Department of Education for review. Plate 1. Betsy DeVos’s Stand-in at the DC Women’s March, 2019 8 Plate 2. Betsy DeVos’s Stand-in marching at the DC Women’s March, 2019 9 Plate 3. Betsy DeVos’s Stand-in at ECU, 2019 10 Stand-in for Staton Have you ever thought about changing your name? Is wielding the authority of just one individual starting to be too much? Do you need a hand getting through all of those emails? Well Stand- in, surrogate spokesperson provider, is here to help! Our detail-oriented staff is particularly careful about online communication and social media. At Stand-in, we believe that re-Presentation is everything. Upgrade to the Alternate ID Stand-in package today! Need help managing your properties? Renting? Subleasing? We have you covered there too! Plate 4. Who is Beth Merkleson?, 2017 11 Plate 5. Roommates Needed!, 2018 12 Plate 6. Subleasers Needed!, 2018 13 THE 0.20 EXHIBITION AND THE ART OF PROVISIONALISM 0.10 Life and its manifestations have hitherto been considered from two different standpoints—the material and the religious. It would seem that a consideration of life from the standpoint of art ought to become a third and equally valid point of view.”7 – Kazimir Malevich It has been a century since Malevich unveiled his Suprematist plan to reclaim of art from the landfills of the church, the State, and, the rising petit bourgeois class. Suprematism replaced the pragmatic, hegemonic art employed by these authorities with an art that “[represents an] altogether new and direct form of representation of the world of feeling.”8 This version of artistic representation, although still mystical, contradicted the previous dominant artistic verification system of the church wherein artworks were only to be considered artworks, let alone significant artworks when they represented God's order. The aristocratic leadership was verified by divine right after all. Suprematism also opposed the Enlightenment-inherited goal of representing Nature’s order. Malevich considered such works to be valued on their utility instead of their sincerity. Malevich did not, however entirely dismiss the artistic use of re-presenting a big Other’s order of things in his Suprematist plan. The Suprematist big Other just happened to be Art in the absolute sense. By over-identifying with the artistic medium as such, Malevich had arrived at his previously announced, zero point. The empty signifier, the apparition of a figure on horseback, without a head is gone. 7 Malevich, K. (1959). The Non-Objective World, p. 78. Chicago: P. Theobald. 8 Ibid., p. 76. 0.20 This thesis exhibition exhumes the Suprematist cadaver from the desert. The Provisionalist form has risen. Victory over the One is on the horizon. 15 Plate 7. 99, 2020 16 The Gray Area The title of this artwork is The Gray Area. This artwork, like the institutional parameters that define it, no longer exists as such. There are no office hours. The artist is absent. Plate 8. Map of The Gray Area 17 Plate 9. Black Square with text that reads, “The title of this artwork…”, 2020 18 Plate 10. Black Square with text that reads, “This artwork is indistinguishable…”, 2020 19 Plate 11. Black Square with text that reads, “This artwork exists…”, 2020 20 Plate 12. Black Square with text that reads, “Visitors have access…”, 2020 21 The Provisionalist Manifesto Under Provisionalism I understand the provisional nature of art. To the Provisionalist, artistic production is in itself meaningless; the significant thing is the social formation and how it is reproduced. The true value of the work of art resides solely in its ability to contribute to the reproduction of the social formation of tomorrow. Hence, to the Provisionalist, the appropriate means of representation is the one that responds to the conditions of the moment in question, and as such, has a temporary window of application. Art, in itself, is meaningless to the Provisonalist; concepts of the essence of materials are worthless. Relations are the determining factor . . . and thus art arrives at a conscious contingency—at Provisionalism. The art of the past which stood, ideologically, in the service of religion, the state, and most recently the 1%, will take on new life in the spontaneously applied art of Provisionalism, which will build the world of provisional order. 22 WORK CITED Freud, S., & Gay, P. (1999). The Freud Reader. New York: Norton. Irving, W. (1882). Rip Van Winkle, and other sketches. New York: Useful knowledge Pub. Co. Lacan, J. (2006). Ecrits: the first complete edition in English. New York: Norton. Malevich, K. (1959). The Non-Objective World. Chicago: P. Theobald. 24