The Recent Art Gallery, Wroclaw, February 1977
ART IN THE CONTEXT OF ART
If something is named by some
person (persons), group that something is art - than it is art.
A
We can state the truthfulness of the contemporary
meaning of the word "art" only if we know the manner of using it; we cannot
state however, distinguishing through observations, the characteristic features
of on object named art. We define correctly by means of the word "art" such
objects which came into being in the context of culture and its institutions to
become art. (everyday object acquires meaning of a piece of art when it is
placed for that reason at an exhibition; when it is described as work of art).
B
The operations performed in modern art lead to tautology
as they do not create new meanings. One does not make art but defines something
as "art".
ART IN THE CONTEXT OF CULTURE
A
Culture: the output (achievement) of mankind in social
development. The society considering its social interests decides upon what is
the achievement. Social group decides what is the achievement, establishes the
system of values. Culture influences reality which we create giving it the value
to copy.
B
The patterns of culture. Reality, as a
perpetual process of change, is preserved, is being retained in the patterns of
culture. (The patterns of culture idealize history givinig it a pretension of
reality.
C
We create reality on the basis of ideas
(conceptions) which we have of it.
The patterns of pretended reality lead to
the construction of objects of pretended value.
Reality which performs the
correction functions with a fixed delay.
ART AS ACTIVITY IN THE
CONTEKT OF REALITY
A
ceases to be object "description"
immobilized in cultural patterns of history.
B
ceases to
be an active subject, which takes a relativistic view of culture, cultures (as
such) as these which have no values but obtain them in the contexts of
constantly self - actualizing realities.
26.01.77 Jan Swidzinski
Notions such as art, artist, the world of art, function only as convenient identifiers which are useful only so long as they can serve in a given situation. As soon as the situation changes they can be rejected. They have a function but they have no independent value- their value is only in their current usefulness.
Art does not destroy or construct or create anything. Art is just a 'performative' activity, one of many movements. Art participates, not at all unrestrictedly, in the process of constant changes.
Those who deal with art today are in a similar position to someone driving a car as a tourist. He can stop for a beer, stay in a motel, meet other tourists like himself, whether belonging to his own culture, or some other culture subject to the influence of other myths. He drinks a beer with these acquaintances, exchanges some comments and then gets in his car and continues his journey. He does not want to persuade, convert, or argue someone's point of view. What others communicate to us does not have the character of a statement. We do not know if it is true or false. And likewise do others see us.
There is the fact of a meeting and a performance-my own and that of the others involved; the action of forces which influence, stimulate and inspire one another and which cause unpredictable effects, which in turn produce even more effects.
Art is not similar to life, it is a part of life. Art is neither natural nor artificial, it is the way it is, the way it happens to be.
Today, art functions as a fact
only, like anything else. It is a fact among other facts. Its ascertaining act
of expression must be replaced with a performative-occurrence existence, a
certain acting force, and at the same time it must be submitted to other
external forces - the context of something whose part it is not. This mutual
interaction of forces defines its position each time - a partial effect achieved
in the course of the process. When the acceleration is very high, the effect is
constantly done away. There is no possibility to decide what there is at the
beginning or at the end. Our logocentric philosophy based on the opposition of
yes/no, present/absent, natural/artificial, culture/nature, true/false,
value/fact stops functioning, it is done away. A fact becomes a value. Art as a
meaning does not function, it functions only as a fact. There is no use saying:
art/anti-art, non-art. These are only changing situations whose future states
cannot be predicted. Notions like art, artist, the world of art, the place of
art function only as convenient identifiers which are useful as long as they can
serve in a given situation and as soon as it changes they can be thrown away.
They have got a function but they haven?t got an independent value - their value
is their current usefulness.
Art does not destroy or construct, or create anything. It is just
a performative activity, one of many movements. Art participates - not at all
unrestrictedly - in the process of constant changes. If you want, you can read
out the process on the basis of the art?s behaviour. You can also do it by
watching anything else.
Thus art as the travelling art.
Those who deal with art today are in
the position of someone driving his own car as a tourist. He can stop to have a
beer, lunch or dinner in a motel; he meets other tourists like him belonging to
his culture or other cultures submitted to the influence of other myths. He
drinks a beer with them, exchanges some comments and gets on his car again. He
does not want to persuade, convert, withstand or argue someone?s point. What
others communicate to us has not got the character of statements, we do not know
whether it is true or false. And so do others see us.
There is the fact of a meeting and a
performance - my own and that of the others, the action of forces which
influence, stimulate and inspire one another and which cause unpredictable
effects producing even more effects.
Art is not similar to life - it is a
part of life. Art is neither natural nor artificial - it is the way it is, the
way it happens to be, the way we perceive it as observers, though we are never
uncommitted. Since we all are performers - we act, we are submitted to a certain
force and we transmit it further on.
Jan SWIDZINSKI, Warszawa
FLYING CARPET /INTERAKCJE 2001/
02.11.1991JAN SWIDZINSKI - Performance-"Jan in wonderland" WIZYA France
IMPORTANT WORKS:
1995 Warsaw, Poland
- "25 Years of My Contextual Art" (exhibition)
1995 Kong-Ju, Korea
- "Natural/Unnatural" (Nature Art)
1993 Nagano, Japan
-
NIPAF '93 Festival (performance)
1985
Banff, Canada
- one-man show
1982 Lublin, Poland
- "Freedom and Limitation"
(one-man show)
1979
Vancouver, Canada
- Western Front Gallery
(performance)
1977 Paris, France
- L'Ecole Sociologique (manifestation)
1977 Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Appel Gallery (exhibition)
1976 Toronto, Canada
- "In the Context of the Art World"
1976 Malmö, Sweden
-
"Art as a Contextual Art"