Under Blue Cup

by Rosalind E. Krauss

A personal journey leads a celebrated critic to discover “knights of the medium,” contemporary artists who battle the aesthetic meaninglessness of the post-medium condition. In Under Blue Cup , Rosalind Krauss explores the relation of aesthetic mediums to memory—her own memory having been severely tested by a ruptured aneurysm that temporarily washed away much of her short-term memory. (The title, Under Blue Cup, comes from the legend on a flash card she used as a mnemonic tool during cognitive therapy.) Krauss emphasizes the medium as a form of remembering; contemporary artists in what she terms the “post-medium” condition reject that scaffolding. Krauss explains the historical emergence of the post-medium condition and describes alternatives to its aesthetic meaninglessness, examining works by “knights of the medium”—contemporary artists who extend the life of the specific medium. These artists—including Ed Ruscha, William Kentridge, Sophie Calle, Harun Farocki, Christian Marclay, and James Coleman—reinstate the recursive rules of a modernist medium by inventing what Krauss terms new technical supports, battling the aesthetic meaninglessness of the post-medium condition. The “technical support” is an underlying ground for aesthetic practice that supports the work of art as canvas supported oil paint. The technical support for Ruscha's fascination with gas stations and parking lots is the automobile; for Kentridge, the animated film; for Calle, photojournalism; for Coleman, a modification of PowerPoint; for Marclay, synchronous sound. Their work, Krauss argues, recuperates more than a century of modernist practice. The work of the post-medium condition—conceptual art, installation, and relational aesthetics—advances the idea that the “white cube” of the museum or gallery wall is over. Krauss argues that the technical support extends the life of the white cube, restoring autonomy and specificity to the work of art.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

152 pages, Hardcover

First published November 10, 2011

About the author

American art critic, professor, and theorist who is based at Columbia University, teaching Modern Art and Theory.

Reviews

[Jedikaya]

So funny that Krauss awoke from her coma because her husband pronounced 'unconscionable' wrong when reading to her and she woke up to correct him

[Audrey A · Rating 4 out of 5]

She uses my least favorite word (imbrication) twice

[Tobias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting blend of theory, history, and personal narrative -- all wrapped up with a treatment of the book-as-art-object.

[Egor xS · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although her main argument is consistent with what she has been writing about for the past fifteen years (with a rupture from the 70's and 80's), her latest book is stylistically striking in its oddity and comes as an almost complete reversal of the tone adopted even by "Perpetual inventory," the one that came out only a year earlier. Yet it is a pleasurable, smooth and to some degree sad read

[Stanimir]

Post-medium art is dead, they said. Long live… what exactly? Rosalind Krauss storms in with a blue cup and a sharp pen to ask: where did the medium go, and why did we let it slip away? Between memory loss (literal) and aesthetic amnesia (figurative), she fights for art that still feels — where structure, material, and meaning hold hands and refuse to let go.

Tired of concept-only, deskilled spectacle? Krauss skewers it like marshmallows over a bonfire, warming our brains with big, brilliant thoughts. If art theory could sip espresso and throw shade, Under Blue Cup would be doing both.

Drink it up.

[Shane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personal and professional, this account by Krauss of installation art is poetically written with alphabetical 'rules' (to be broken!). It discusses theory on surface and method of communication of idea with case studies from some internationally recognised contemporary artists, and Documenta X, pushing Krauss' view that the white cube still has relevance in art. Excellently written, well chosen case studies with images, and very enjoyable.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Testo antiquato ma molto interessante.
Sono completamente in disaccordo con la Krauss ma ho trovato la sua analisi molto importante e rilevante per quanto concerne l'arte contemporanea, anche se totalmente anacronistica se pensiamo che è un testo scritto nel 2012.
Secondo me dovrebbe essere analizzato oggi da qualcuno per controbattere alle sue teorie con la stessa lucidità e analisi critica con cui lei ne discute.

[jennifer]

given to mike mergen - winter 2011

[dv · Rating 3 out of 5]

Generato da una buona idea (la critica delle "installazioni" si arte contemporanea) e da uno spunto autobiografico (un aneurisma cerebrale con conseguente perdita della memoria a breve termine), il testo giunge a una formulazione brillante, quella del medium come paradigma della coppia di opposti memoria vs oblio. Nel far questo, esplora molti riferimenti artistici contemporanei (e alcuni teorici, con inc ima Barthes) in un percorso che alla lunga pecca di concettuale pretenziosità. Lettura a ogni modo interessante, impreziosita da un'edizione Bruno Mondadori sontuosa per ricchezza di illustrazioni e cura dell'impaginazione e tipografia.