How to Do Things with Art: The Meaning of Art's Performativity

by Dorothea Von Hantelmann, Hans Ulrich Obrist (Foreword), Karen Marta (Editor)

Art has never been as culturally and economically prominent as it is today. How can artists themselves shape the social relevance and impact of their work? In How to Do Things with Art , German art historian Dorothea von Hantelmann uses four case study artists--Daniel Buren, James Coleman, Jeff Koons and Tino Sehgal--to examine how an artwork acts upon and within social conventions, particularly through the "performing" of exhibitions. The book's title is a play on J.L. Austin's seminal text, How to Do Things with Words , which describes language's reality-producing properties and demonstrates that in "saying" there is always a "doing"--a linguistic counterpart to the dynamics envisioned by Von Hantelmann for art, in which "showing" is a kind of "doing." Von Hantelmann's close analysis of works by Buren, Coleman, Koons and Sehgal explores how each of these artists has taken control of how their work conducts itself in the world.

Genres: Art

208 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2010

Reviews

[Federico · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked this, especially chapters 2 and 3

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book. REALLY interesting. If you're looking for something that explains performativity from an art perspective, this is the best book I've found. I also found it great for explaining art-world concepts such as the museum, objects, the commodification of art, etc. The way than von Hantelmann approaches her subject matter makes these peripheral topics really clear for those of us who are new to them without, I suspect, over-simplifying for those who are already familiar. Her approach is interesting too - each section focuses on a single artist, but develops by pulling in ideas and references to support relevant concepts, and gradually pulling together all the strands of the book. It's a fascinating book and handles a complex topic very well.

[Gonzalo Avila · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

其实作者对performativity和exhibition format的梳理都很基础且浅显易懂，有点像基础读物，不够五星；但是我很喜欢作者用四个艺术家的实践串联起来整本书对于visual art在museum context下如何以自身critique博物馆的传统materiality的模式，如何实践其社会影响力，我很喜欢作者frame整本书的思路，很完善而且圆润，适合我这种初级读者。