A Research Program Available to Purchase
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Published:June 2016
This chapter picks up the theme of sociality and explores how this fractious issue stands behind a rift between Art & Language’s English and American sections after their participation in the major exhibition Documenta 5. By attending to indexing projects developed in New York through reference to the work of philosopher of science Imre Lakatos, the chapter provides a counternarrative to the usual England-dominated narrative about Art & Language’s interest in indexing. The artist’s book Blurting in a&l is the best-articulated example of this direction and is the focal point of the chapter. Through close analysis of this work and related unpublished working documents, the chapter interprets Blurting in a&l as a key turning point for Art & Language’s New York section and concludes by showing how it precipitated the New York section’s decision to assert its operational autonomy from its English counterparts by taking up other international collaborations.
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