Overview
In Under Blue Cup, Rosalind Krauss explores the relation of aesthetic mediums to memoryāher 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 āpost-mediumā condition reject that scaffolding. Krauss explains the historical emergence of the post-medium condition and describes alternatives to its aesthetic meaninglessness, examining works by āknights of the mediumāācontemporary artists who extend the life of the specific medium.
These artistsāincluding Ed Ruscha, William Kentridge, Sophie Calle, Harun Farocki, Christian Marclay, and James Colemanāreinstate 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 ātechnical supportā 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 conditionāconceptual art, installation, and relational aestheticsāadvances the idea that the āwhite cubeā 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.
This book title, Under Blue Cup, ISBN: 9780262551236, by Rosalind E. Krauss, published by MIT Press (February 6, 2024) is available in paperback. Our minimum order quantity is 25 copies. All standard bulk book orders ship FREE in the continental USA and delivered in 4-10 business days.
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