BLAHBLAHBLAH Exhibition

an exhibition that will examine the temporary significance of current art trends

Amid these trends, the work of art has become a distant concern. One of the most shocking characteristics of late 20^th century art was the progressive erosion of the art object; and the emergence of a theory-based art and critique, which in turn robbed much of art from any claim to being experimental or avant-garde. Due to this disconnect, comparative isolation has ensued between the artwork and the general public.

An art object no longer applies as the source for one's conviction of its 'value', nor longer stands visually distinct from a non-art object. Instead, its placement in an art space and context has orientated it within a constrictive network of artistic practices, ideas, modes of display and theories otherwise known as the 'artworld'. This leaves art as a uniquely artworld activity, an institutional activity (and not a species of object as such). Such a peripheral focus makes any discussion of the art object irrelevant and instead targets art only in relation to the modes of presentation and the artspeak elucidation that surround it.

In tandem, there have been no “new” art movements for decades. At the extreme, critic Robert Hughes would have us believe that the last original movement was Abstract Expressionism (itself coined from two earlier movements).

blahblahblah . . . will attempt to salvage the art object from such obsolescence and herald in a new aestheticism. As a companion piece, the museum will soon launch a competition in search of the first truly-new and original art movement in decades, let alone the century. The winner or winners of this first-of-its-kind contest will receive a full-blown exhibition spanning the Museum of New Art and all its galleries (to be announced at some future date).

It will change the way you view the world… blahblahblah

by Jef Bourgeau,

excerpted from the catalogue essay "The Truly First and Only Art Movement of the 21^st Century, Even..."

Late in the last century, the loss of blahblahblah spawned the rise of an anti-blahblahblah. Even for cultural theorists, discussions concerning blahblahblah were often carried out in a critical blahblahblah that failed to engage with the work of art, much less any notions of blahblahblah. To see the art object by itself as embodying and conveying blahblahblah quickly became an outdated blahblahblah within the contemporary art world.

People started to make art at university in response to whatever blahblahblah they read. This blahblahblah became instrumental in creating the art: it served the art and the art served the blahblahblah. The practical body of work suffered accordingly. Any changes in the blahblahblah surrounding contemporary art are now intimately linked to art’s overall blahblahblah and specifically to its 'blahblahblahism'.

But now, a distinctly 21^st Century blahblahblahism re-allows the idea that focusing on the total blahblahblah has the potential to open radically different ways of thinking about blahblahblah, blahblahblah and blahblahblah. If we allow the old 'blahblahblah' to enter a more reflective phase, we can expect the appearance of this new blahblahblahism. At a moment that is often termed 'post-blahblahblah', this is a direct index to which there is a renewed willingness among critics and philosophers to consider the ways in which cultural blahblahblah often overlooked key aspects of its reliance on philosophical blahblahblah.

However, with the birth of a new blahblahblahism, there is a will to return to a consideration of the artwork’s blahblahblah itself. Heralding this nascent blahblahblah suddenly becomes a priority for all of art practice to develop an even greater blahblahblah, without being constricted by measurable blahblahblahs but reclaiming such now-mythologized blahblahblahs as 'blahblahblah', 'blahblahblah' and 'blahblahblah': special qualities requiring no further blahblahblah from any externally imposing blahblahblahism.