From The "action" To "concepts"

As the title shows, this thesis takes the basic ideas and changes of art theory between 1950 and 1970 as its subject. The ideas included in my research are those theoretical categories, such as objectivity, avant-garde, conceptual, body, medium and performance. The system made up of these categories constitute on aspect of my research, while the other aspect, which is more important, is my attempt to situate the research of these theoretical categories in social practices such as writing, critique, argument, exhibition, confliction and revolution, to see what concepts had been adapted, abandoned or refuted by artists from different regions and of different medium before, during and after the change and revolution, as well as game in artistic practice. except for theoretical change in art mentioned above, these change, conflict, revolution and game also include:the influence of socialism to avant-garde artists and its change in capitalist society; the mutual recognition and imagination of America and Europe in the early post World War II period; the expansion of American hegemony resulting from cultural cold war; the anti-authority movement in America and Europe at the end of 1960s that assumed the appearance of international communist movement. In regard to art institutions, it also include:establishment of museum and other institution; the rise of private collection and modern gallery; the emerging of independent curator and exhibition and the change of artistic production and transaction ensured. Given this frame, the unprecedented change in art institutions between 1950 and 1970 constitute the other important dimension of this thesis, which is seldom touched in research at present.In this thesis, I will try to sort out two traditions of modern art:formalism and avant-gardism. I will explain their origins, relations and how they separated during the 1930s and 1940s. Along this line, efforts are given to prove how avant-garde spirit is inherited in the years of my focus, and resulted in the development of the ideas of change in late capitalist society or consumer society. The reason is explained why formalist theory in its development goes from emphasize on vision to that on concept, which is the opposite side. We will be able to see the dialectical relation between subjectivity of artists and visuality of art works, as well as its effects in the formation of concept's importance in contemporary art, in order to reflect the thinking of medium, concepts, social awareness and art institution in contemporary context.