Mel Ramsden’s Theoretical Critique of Institutions: A Close Reading of “On Practice”

Authors

  • Marko Đorđević

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25038/am.v0i7.88

Keywords:

institutional critique, artist theory, Marxism, critical theory

Abstract

The work offers a detailed reading of Mel Ramsden’s “On Practice”. The introductory paragraphs bring insight into contemporary discussions concerning definitions of the term “institutional critique” and exhibit different approaches to the historization of these practices. The main thesis is that Marxism was present in the critical practices of the New York-based conceptual artists associated with institutional critique, while the expanded thesis is that their Marxism was a form of interpretation/intervention in the institution of art. The central part comprises a reading of Ramsden’s text. The reading divides the text into three segments: a critique of bureaucracy in art, a critique of the art market, and a call for alternatives. Special attention is paid to the third segment. The communal art alternatives that Ramsden proposes are juxtaposed with the concrete practices of the “social turn” in contemporary art. The final remarks offer conclusions regarding the main and expanded theses and raise the question of the type of intervention that Ramsden’s text performs in the contemporary institution of art.

Author Biography

Marko Đorđević

Independent art teorist
Serbia

References

Alberro, Alexander, and Blake Stimson ed. Institutional Critique: An Anthology of Artists Writings. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2009.

Bishop, Claire. Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship. London: Verso, 2012.

Bryan-Wilson, Julia. “A Curriculum for Institutional Critique, or the Professionalization of Conceptual Art.” In New Institutionalism, edited by Jonas Ekerberg, 89–109. Oslo: Verksted #1, Office for Contemporary Art Norway, 2003.

Buchloh, Benjamin H. D. “Conceptual Art 1962–1969: From the Aesthetic of Administration to the Critique of Institutions.” October 55 (1990): 105–143. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/778941

Fraser, Andrea. “From the Critique of Institutions to an Institution of Critique.” Artforum 44, 1 (2005): 278–286.

Harrison, Charles, and Paul J. Wood ed. “Part VII: Institutions and Objections: Introduction.” In Art in Theory, 1900-1990. Oxford: Blackwell, 1992, 797–802.

Losoncz, Alpar. “How Time Caught up with Marx?.” Thing: Journal for Theoretical Practices 5 (2013).

Raunig, Gerald, and Gene Ray ed. Art and Contemporary Critical Practice: Reinventing Institutional Critique. London: MayFly, 2007.

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Published

15.04.2015

How to Cite

Đorđević, M. (2015). Mel Ramsden’s Theoretical Critique of Institutions: A Close Reading of “On Practice”. AM Journal of Art and Media Studies, (7), 49–56. https://doi.org/10.25038/am.v0i7.88