I imagine art was once an intuitive melding
of vision and craft and judged on those terms, albeit with a nod to the idea
that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Conceptual art has elevated the ‘nod,' making it part of the ‘art’ itself.
For the conceptual artist, the idea or concept behind the art is apparently more important than the finished work. A conceptual artist may use whatever materials and whatever form is most appropriate to putting their ideas across. It is the thought processes and methods of production that create the value of the work.
For the conceptual artist, the idea or concept behind the art is apparently more important than the finished work. A conceptual artist may use whatever materials and whatever form is most appropriate to putting their ideas across. It is the thought processes and methods of production that create the value of the work.
Another authority claims that ‘it raises the issue
of authorship, time, space, and even ownership.’
Hence, I present to you:
The bottle.
It was given to me some years ago
by friends who’d discovered the joys of deep sea diving. They found it embedded
in mud at Scapa Flow where, on the 21st June 1919, Rear Admiral
Ludwig von Reuter scuttled the German fleet rather than allow it fall
into Allied hands.
Between 10am and 1700 pm on that day, 52 German warships were deliberately
sunk much to the displeasure of the British who got there too late to stop it.
Admiral Freemantle felt obliged – through an
interpreter – to give the Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter a public dressing
down for behaving ‘dishonourably,’ though privately he admitted ‘I could not resist feeling some sympathy for von Reuter,
who had preserved his dignity when placed against his will in a highly
unpleasant and invidious position.’
Another
British Admiral – Wemyss – even expressed relief:
‘I look upon the sinking of
the German fleet as a real blessing. It disposes, once and for all, the thorny
question of the redistribution of these ships.’ He may have had the French in
mind, who’d set their hearts on acquiring at least some of them and perhaps the
very bottle I occasionally stroke.
After
almost a century beneath rolling seas, scoured by sediment, weed, and small
scuttling things, it has the feel of warm silk; it conjures up images of the
man that last drank from it, and when you blow over its top, you detect the
echo of German Imperial pride—if you’re so minded.
In the words of Admiral Reinhard Scheer:
‘I
rejoice. The stain of surrender has been wiped from the escutcheon of the
German Fleet. The sinking of these ships has proved that the spirit of the
fleet is not dead.The last act is true to the best traditions of the German
Navy.’
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So
then, my bottle is a work of art if the idea or concept is more important than
the finished work itself. In this case my bottle was conceived and created by
man, has been further shaped by oceanic currents and will be forever associated
with a specific historic event. As for ‘authorship, time and space,’ thing, when I
hold it, I think of the transience of life
