Out of order

This research project considers the tensions between deliberate acts and unexpected encounters that emerge in the activity of making art. The dissertation presents a discussion on the role that the activity of engaging with materials plays in the shifting conceptions of artistic process in the work of Robert Morris and his contemporaries throughout 1960s art historical discourse. During this time, Morris explored rigidly-defined approaches to art production associated with Minimal art, as well as more uncontrolled, materially curious tendencies associated with works of Process art. Specific focus is given to his interest in the tensions that arise between pre-determined and indeterminate aspects of making art, and how engaging with these tensions can be a means of exploring the nuanced relationship between human systems of order and a material world outside of our control. The artworks and theories of Morris and his contemporaries provide a foundation for a discussion on my own work, addressing specific themes of overlap and divergence between his practice, my own, and those of other contemporary artists. My methodology involved conceptualising a material object with a pre-determined purpose and extensive, multifaceted production requirements that would offer a rigid framework for ongoing creative activity. Throughout the object's physical production I remained receptive to unexpected and unintended encounters with the tools, materials and environment I was working with, reading them as manifestations of the indeterminate conditions of art making. The insights derived from this process were used as starting points for further avenues of creative inquiry, while generating the artworks that embody the dynamic relationship between my predilection to impose order on the aesthetic encounter against the tendencies of objects and materials to undermine those efforts. In this way, the artworks presented for exhibition are the result of a recursive process. Their forms, materials and arrangements reflect the tensions that I experienced while translating idea to material form, while offering the viewer an indeterminate web of experiences for their own consideration. This project considers how an art practice that is receptive and responsive to unintended and unexpected encounters with the matter of the world might be a means of exploring the nuanced relationship between human systems of order and a material world outside of our control.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Michaelis School of Fine Art

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Juries, Andrew

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Saptouw, Fabian
• Mahashe, George

• Minimal art
• Process art

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/40998

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/40998