Sutherland, Zoë Dominique (2013) A phenomenology of conceptual art. Doctoral thesis (PhD), University of Sussex.

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Abstract

This thesis emerges from and responds to certain recent philosophical writings on
conceptual art, in particular from the British analytic tradition. Having identified a
recent tendency implicit within this tradition towards an increasingly phenomenological
reading of the ontology of the conceptual artwork, I aim to develop such ideas through
an analysis of Heidegger’s theory of art, and through a subsequent enquiry into its
applicability to conceptual art. This will involve a lengthy analysis of several conceptual
artworks on the basis of this theory.

The thesis consists of three substantive chapters. The first is a critical examination of
certain recent philosophical texts on conceptual art. This chapter takes a series of
philosophical texts representing a range of positions with regards to both the specific
role and, by virtue, the significance accorded to the material in the constitution of the
conceptual artwork. The second chapter looks at Heidegger’s phenomenological enquiry
into the ontology of the artwork, and specifically at the role of the concepts of Earth and
World in this ontology. On the basis of this study of Heidegger, the third chapter
engages with a range of conceptual artworks. Each artwork is shown to exemplify a
general tendency of conceptual artworks to explore of the bounds of the artwork as such
and its relation to its context.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Schools and Departments:	School of Media, Arts and Humanities > Philosophy
Subjects:	N Fine Arts > N Visual arts (General) For photography, see TR > N0061 Theory. Philosophy. Aesthetics of the visual arts
Depositing User:	Library Cataloguing
Date Deposited:	12 Dec 2013 07:02
Last Modified:	16 Mar 2022 15:37
URI:	http://srodev.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/47228

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