Abstract
Works of the visual arts in the tradition of European and American modernism have lost many of the features that were considered for a long time to be obvious characteristics of the artistic constitution of art works as such. In fact, it proved to be the case early in the modern period that there did not have to be any features or characteristics — neither material nor phenomenal — by means of which artistic artifacts could be distinguished from non-artistic objects. For works of art and humdrum everyday objects can in borderline cases appear identical to the eye of an observe, as early works of Marcel Duchamp have clearly shown. Works like this demonstrate that modern art is essentially what Arnold Gehlen terms as "kommentarbedürfig (need for annotation)" since background information seems to be necessary even to identify a certain object as an art work. This paper argues that it is not only modern art, but rather all art that intrinsically requires annotation. Annotations highlight the historical identity of the work, which is determined not only by visual but also by non-visual conditions, such as the place and time of the creation of the works, the intentions of the creators, the discourses important in the art world at the time when the work was created etc. It will be shown that the aesthetic concepts, which we are able to ascribe to the works, are largely dependent on this identity which we construe by interpretations and annotations.
First Page
15
Last Page
24
Recommended Citation
Stefan, Majetschak. 2015. "Art and Annotation: On the Relationship of Visibility and Annotation in the Visual Arts." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 35, (4): pp.15-24. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol35/iss4/4
