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VPSA63H3 BUT WHY IS IT ART? | STUDIO | ARTS, CULTURE, AND MEDIA, UTSC | WINTER 2025.

IN-CLASS EXERCISE 5: The Minimalist Phenomenon

Imagine your own Minimalist Artwork and then situate it in an appropriate situation

The Externality of Meaning'

Meaning emerges not from some “internal truth” about the object, or by extension its

maker, but arises through the 'connection of these shapes [of the work] to

the space of experience', a space Rosalind Krauss characterises as a 'public’ rather than

a ‘private space'.

 The significance of Minimalist work depends on the viewer's engagement with

them as physical objects that occupy the same space in the world as the viewer. With Minimalist art, the viewer's phenomenological experience of is privileged, rather than an empirical or philosophical understanding of it.

 The situation - no matter how temporary it is, makes a context for these new phenomenological works of art. Appropriate situations and contexts allow the effect of the works to function within them – allows them to be representative of a new category of art that we now refer to as 'Minimalist'.

Robert Morris put it this way, “The object itself has not become less important. It has become less self-important”.

Think of a context where you could develop and install a minimalist work of art. Briefly state: (One or two sentences) why you selected this location?  (1 Mark)

 2.  Imagine and then briefly describe a minimalist work of art, that is appropriate for this location. Then draw a rough sketch of it.  (1 Mark)

3.   What material will your artwork be constructed from (imagination there are no financial limits)   (.5)

4.   What size is appropriate for this work?   (.5)

5.   Situation: How are people expected to interact with this work? Is it in an art gallery? Or is it in a public space (a courtyard or a park, on top of                a mountain? etc.)   (1 Mark)

6.   If the meaning of this work arises through a 'connection between it’s shape/size in relation to the space of experience', then what kind of  phenomenon would you expect the public to experience while encountering this work? (It could be related to the scale of the work, the colour of the work, the location of the work, the medium of the work, etc.)   (1 Mark)

The object itself has not become less important.pdf