Art historian Rosalind Krauss's "Notes on the Index" dates from 1976 and 1977, and, like an Isley Brothers single from that period, it comes as part one and two. It attempted to give some coherence to the art of the 1970s, which at the time was perceived as "pluralistic," if not entirely random, especially in comparison to how the art of previous decades was formalized into various movements. She argues that the "pervasiveness of the photograph as a means of representation" led to a preoccupation with indexicality — with finding a way to convey the artist's physical presence through the artwork. The work becomes nothing more than the proof that the artist had been there. The index was sort of the blockchain of its day, a valorization of a kind of pure authentication.
Users who perform an intentional action
Users who perform an intentional action
Users who perform an intentional action
Art historian Rosalind Krauss's "Notes on the Index" dates from 1976 and 1977, and, like an Isley Brothers single from that period, it comes as part one and two. It attempted to give some coherence to the art of the 1970s, which at the time was perceived as "pluralistic," if not entirely random, especially in comparison to how the art of previous decades was formalized into various movements. She argues that the "pervasiveness of the photograph as a means of representation" led to a preoccupation with indexicality — with finding a way to convey the artist's physical presence through the artwork. The work becomes nothing more than the proof that the artist had been there. The index was sort of the blockchain of its day, a valorization of a kind of pure authentication.