From Fountain to Moleskine : The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Producibility

The dematerialization of contemporary artworks is only apparent. They highlight their link with contract and a character proper to the artworks of all times and types: a document dimension. As a consequence, this is not a break with traditional art.

Why should a box of soap pads or an urinal be a cause for reflection? Avant-garde art knows how to answer better than classical and romantic art. What makes art prophetic is not a mysterious inspiration, but the creative answer to emergencies coming fromtechnology and incorporated into objects. What are the pen and the pen drive for? They are there to make plans and renegotiate contracts. Technology does not disappear: we are not dealing with the dematerialization or sublimation of an artwork that becomes pure spirit. Technology is transformed, bringing to the fore the link between artwork and reproducibility as well as between artwork and contract. Contemporary art highlights a character proper to the artworks of all times and types: a document dimension. Indeed, this dimension is not a break with the essence of traditional art: the latter postulates cooperation (and therefore an implicit contract) between author and user.


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