Saturday, 27 April 2019

Appropriation and Détournement or Intervention?


Is using William Smith’s Geological Section from London to Snowdon, Showing the Varieties of the Strata, and the Correct Altitudes of the Hills (1817) an act of appropriation or détournement? Or is it an intervention?

Appropriation is the adoption of the iconography of another culture, using it for purposes that are unintended by the original culture (Wikipedia). The original culture is voiceless. This is not what I am doing since I work within and re-present my own culture; that of capitalism Smith helped to create.
Détournement is the subversion of a work of art. Peter Kennard’s (b.1949) Haywain with Cruise Missile uses a détournement of John Constable's The Hay Wain, created for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in the 1970s (Tate).
I am not subverting Smith’s work: I am adding another layer. How is this done? It is created outside the conventional studio by sharing skills and knowledge, with artists and farmers, so that the piece plays a more active role in society. This layer is indeed an intervention. The Artist Placement Group (APG, 1966-89) used art interventions to reposition the role of the artist in a wider social and political context.



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