Adrian Piper: Artist Talk

This post focuses on Cornered, an art installation, by conceptual artist Adrian Piper. For the purist, traditionally an art installation may not fit the definition of an artist talk; however, Cornered proves an exception to the rule, and fits appropriately into BAP's on-going series of "Artist Talks." 

As a conceptual artist, Adrian Piper introduces her ideas of race in  Cornered which is presented here in two parts of approximately 16 minutes. As Piper directly addresses viewers from a video monitor, many of them will probably begin to examine their values and behaviors relating to race. This examination may result in either self-defense or confession, questioning or affirming, agreeing or disagreeing, and etc with the ideas presented. 

"In conceptual art the idea or the concept is the most important aspect of the work...all planning and the decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes the machine that makes the art." Sol LeWitt

Further Readings on Conceptual Art:

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• The Art Story

Adrian Piper, Cornered, 1988. Collection Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. © 1988, Adrian Piper