A Study On The Ritual Characteristics Of American Minimalism In The 1960s

This paper takes the relationship between minimalism art and social culture as the starting point.On one hand,based on the analysis and research of the collected data of minimalism works from the east and west coasts of the United States and combined with the existing research results,aiming at the lack of aesthetic experience in the previous study of minimalism art,this paper analyzes the reflection of materials on the characteristics of times perception from the perspective of the expressive force of materials;At the same time,in view of the neglect of the social and cultural part of the works in previous studies,this essay analyzes and study the social and cultural characteristics of the industrial age symbolized by the social organization characteristics presented by the organizational order in the form of minimalism works.The introduction discusses the cultural background,artistic environment and academic context of minimalism.In reviewing the related literature and research,instead of the mindsets that previous analysis methods Michael Fred and Rosalynn Klaus adopted,this essay selects anthropological methods and ritual theory which are based on the symbol mark of materials,organization order and audience participation as the research methods.Thus,this section points out the question on previous research and innovation of the essay.In retrospect of the advent of minimalism,the first chapter systematically introduces the development and introspection of Bauhaus,Constructivism,Avant-garde art and the Abstract expressionism as well as representative artists of minimalism.Then,with the clues of controversies around minimalism.This paper discusses the common points between minimalism and ritual in its place,composition structure of each part,repetition,symbolic meaning,internal contradiction and participation.On the other hand,from the point of view of the audience,minimalism is not just a performance feature.The second chapter starts from the difference of the esthetic characteristics of minimalism on the east coast and the west coast.The objects in the east coast works are mainly made of ready-made industrial materials,building materials and industrial products.They symbolize the basic building elements and summarize the basic perceptual experience of architecture.On the west coast,new organic materials and processing techniques were used to make the base and color of the work.They constantly remind us of the light manufactured items,cars,city lights and so on in our daily life.The third chapter explores the organization order in minimalism works.This section proposes that the organizational relations among multiple shapes in the workare mainly presented as sequence order,series order and constructive order.The two organizational orders are symbols of social production and architectural construction.There is no inevitable conflict between them,but in some works,a certain kind of order plays a dominant role.On the basis of analyzing the ways of audience participation in different types of minimalism works,the fourth chapter expounds how these works change from orderly spatial organization to gradual elimination of perspective and spatial structure.The artists take participants into an unfamiliar realm,connecting them with the work in a close physical and perceptual connection.The fifth chapter makes a general discussion on the symbolic features of the materials,the symbolic organization and the participation of the audience.The symbolism of minimalism not only reflects the perceptual characteristics of the society and the era,but also elevates the simulation of social production to the level of social organization from the perspective of the subjectivity of artists and the integration of people and objects.At the same time,through the participation of the audience,the works provide a model with cultural identity and legitimacy for art recipients.The abstract form of Minimalism combines with people,experience,order and history through its ritualistic symbol and participation,thus the works have social and cultural characteristics.In general,less is more.Minimalism is a social and cultural kaleidoscope integrating industrial production order,construction,interaction,intuitive perception and experience.It is precisely because of the artists' pursuit of "less" that their works are enriched in the sense of extension.