Wonders of Conceptual Art: The Certificate as the Artwork
The provocative and still appealing nature of conceptual art lies partly in the ambiguity of ownership and authorship. Let’s look at Sol LeWitt’s Wall Drawings as an example. A wall drawing can arrive at a museum in an envelope containing a diagram, instructions, and a certificate. The instructions cover everything from the color palette and line thickness to density and wall specifications. Once the exhibition is over, the wall can be painted over. So, is LeWitt’s artwork destroyed? Not exactly. The physical drawing is temporary, while the instructions and certificate provide the permanent basis for realizing the work again.
Strange Property Arrangements of Conceptual Art
The situation discussed above is a real source of discomfort for art dealers and curators. Conceptual art has introduced some of the strangest property arrangements in the art world, with the market still trying to come to grips with them. In LeWitt’s case, the owner of the certificate has the right to have the work realized according to the artist’s instructions. Viewed from this angle, the conceptual artwork is centered on a creative idea, with walls and pigments serving as the means of realizing it.
Tino Sehgal’s approach is even more radical, with the removal of conventional documentation from the ownership transfer process. The artist creates constructed situations, such as two people kissing on a gallery floor or an attendant asking a visitor a question about progress. Sehgal’s works can be sold through an oral agreement conducted before a notary and witnesses, rather than through a conventional written contract or invoice. In this way, the transaction itself becomes part of the unusual structure of the artwork and its ownership.
Dematerialization Pushed to Extremes
The process discussed above may look uncommercial in the deepest sense of the word, but saying that the collector is paying for nothing would be a huge understatement. Following the ideas discussed by Lucy Lippard, conceptual artists challenged the traditional emphasis on the physical art object, making the idea behind the work primary and its material form secondary. Her influential book, Six Years: The Dematerialization of the Art Object from 1966 to 1972, documented this development in conceptual art.
The use of certificates and instructions makes this dematerialization more manageable for the art market. Collectors may own documentation that allows a conceptual artwork to be realized under specific conditions, without possessing a conventional, permanent object. This can significantly change how the artwork is stored, transported, insured, and exhibited.