Writings by the conceptual artist Michael Asher--including notes,
proposals, exhibition statements, and letters to curators and
critics--most published here for the first time.
The California conceptual artist Michael Asher (1943-2012) was known for
rigorous site specificity and pioneering institutional critique. His
decades of teaching at CalArts influenced generations of artists. Much
of Asher's artistic practice was devoted to creating works that had no
lasting material presence and often responded to the material, social,
or ideological context of a situation. Because most of Asher's artworks
have ceased to exist, his writings about them have special significance.
Public Knowledge collects writings by Asher about his work--including
preliminary notes and ideas, project proposals, exhibition statements,
and letters to curators and critics--most of which have never been
previously published.
Asher gave few interviews, didn't write art criticism, and rarely
published extensive accounts of his own work. Yet writing was central to
his artistic practice, serving as a tool for working out ideas,
negotiating institutional parameters, and describing thought processes.
In these texts, he considers writing and documentation, discusses
artistic practice, offers notes for gallery and museum talks, presents
artist statements for exhibition-goers, describes individual works and
their situational context, and reflects on teaching and art education.
Among other things, Asher provides his definition of site specificity,
addresses the function of art in public space, and analyzes the
intersection of teaching art and institutional models of education.
Readers will see an artist at work, formulating ethical and political
strategies for making art in a situational world.
