The National CollegeEditor's Foreword:
On Transgressing Boundaries
Christa-Maria Lerm Hayes
The essays in this volume are as varied and multifaceted in their approaches and as adventurous in the breadth of subject matter chosen as those featured in the previous volumes of Thought Lines. It is worth emphasising, however, that they also show a great internationality of outlook. The short biographies provided - and the essays themselves - tell the reader that NCAD graduates are not only intellectually adventurous, but that, apparently, their studies have prepared them to look beyond the confines of the Irish art world. They work with companies abroad or pursue post-graduate studies in other countries - and not only English speaking countries either. Some have settled abroad in order to enrich their knowledge of artistic traditions and contexts and therefore inevitably their work. Presumably, they are welcomed as equals within the art and crafts communities around the world. Maybe they will come back and enrich us all with their insights into art and design practices as a mode of communication transgressing many boundaries, certainly national and linguistic ones.
What these graduates have proven with their excellent theses is not only how to carry out specific research projects - most often interests originating in their practice - but how to work with one of art's most indispensable media, language. Within the framework of art, conceptualising ones practice is one of the more challenging exercises for students, one requiring much hard work. Conceptualising artistic practice and thus placing oneself into theoretical frameworks can be witnessed in these essays as serving a unifying role within all diversity. It enables some craft students to write first class honours theses in what would be classified as a fine art topic and vice versa. Transgressing boundaries in terms of genres, achieving a transfer of what is taught in one class to the confines of another course thus proves to be possible for the better students. I would argue that such an achievement not only enriches their practical work, but also enhances their general development as creative human beings. (Transgressions of a different kind may also seem to be part of this, but not surprisingly, graduates featured here were usually among those who did attend lectures and who submitted essays on time).
One could claim that the Joint Course in NCAD provides the most enriching thinking and studying experience available. It includes courses on a wide variety of art historical subjects, catering for different career paths or a highly conceptualised artistic practice. While any graduate of the college would be very well prepared to enter very many different avenues open to artists and designers - again, the biographies are testimony to this - one field would usually remain closed to the single honours students. While artists are certainly (through peer acclaim) involved in the creation of a canon of contemporary art, they would not normally have the breadth of in-depth research to become curators of or writers about art - i.e. work as art historians - beyond the general area of their thesis research, even though such research was thorough and intense. (Using their theoretical studies as a basis, however, some could over time develop into critics of contemporary practice in art and design.)
Is it then a futile endeavour to let them write a piece of art historical or critical scholarship as their final year thesis? Certainly not: the varied uses for careers and personal development have been alluded to. One more important use of these theses and especially a publication like this lies elsewhere. It is to show others, especially those who are art historians of contemporary art - like myself - what it is they need to be proficient in. In short, the essays in this volume are necessary reading. Thought Lines is a good mirror of the interests of contemporary artists. I need to know about these, transgress the perceived boundaries of art history proper and follow NCAD graduates in their intellectual adventures if I want to interpret their work in times to come. I am looking forward to this.
Transgressing boundaries may be a topos in art, but it is also true that the borderline between reality and art has been the locus of much art practice since time immemorial, i.e. modernism (from over a century before the contributors to this anthology were born). The authors of the current volume walk this tightrope with incredible ease. The frontier, however has shifted considerably once again. Now, we are not just directed towards subjects previously unworthy of depiction or still pertinent issues of high and low, but also to those concerning this world and other possible worlds. These are usually virtual or media constructs. Interestingly, however, the connection with political and social concerns of the 'real' world is always paramount. Thus we are not dealing with escapism or a disenchantment with real world issues: far from it. Instead, we are witnessing the concerns of a committed generation of artists.
In order to study priorities, the essays could be arranged in what turned out to be an almost conclusive narrative - if there is such a thing. The borderline between what has been called art and what has not is also of great concern to several authors. Outsider art is both Lisa Moran's and Eimear McNally's topic, while Andrew Keogh takes a historical look at Brecht's and Vertov's methods which wanted to let reality creep into theatre and film.
Neill O'Dwyer implicitly raises the question of the appropriateness of a book as a medium for tackling the issues raised. One may however go along with Clarissa Beattie and hold againt O'Dwyer's doubts the evidence that artists like Annette Messager are still interested in the fusion of visual elements and meanings, which the word and writing in two dimensions can provide.
The wealth of cross-references can only be alluded to here and should be experienced by reading - in as much or as little a hypertextual way as it is possible to convey on paper. Mary Ruth Walsh has provided us with an exceptionally complex account of labyrinthine cross-references in a different publication, Brian O'Doherty's Aspen 5+6. Unfortunately, only the cover of this volume can come close to a box - and thus amount to a homage to such far-sighted work (see also p. 56). Ideally, the content would consist of tapes, videos and, of course, many, many web links, as well as a sample of stitched buttonholes, a model of an Opsvik chair, a soundbite with the slamming of the door of a Renault etc.
The more tangible hyperlinks or cross-references in these articles are the Big Brother programme, approached in two essays (via Baudrillard and Foucault respectively). There is a whole animation section, featuring an introduction to the Irish situation. Homer Simpson not only appears in the study of The Simpsons' series, but also as an avatar in online gaming culture. Identity in online culture is a separate but, of course, related topic. ;)
Is anyone still writing about 'art art', one may ask. Yes, the spiritual side of it (Pierre Soulage's and Antony Gormley's work), or the organisational feats of John Kelly and the Project Arts Centre featuring Colm Ó Briain as main source. Meanwhile, Mark Swords seeks to unravel the myth of an artist, Sean Scully, and in the process deconstructs the related linguistic edifice built by art historians and critics. The 'genius' and his (mostly) formalist endeavours have certainly been buried - under a wealth of relevance. Well done.
My gratitude is due to the Faculty of the History of Art, Design and Complementary studies: to John Turpin for asking me to edit the present volume and for his introduction, and to Jane Behan for her unfailing assistance throughout the editing process. I am grateful to the new Director, Colm Ó Briain, for the College's continued support of Thought Lines, as expressed in his introduction. I would also like to thank those lecturers, who read the essays arising from the theses they had supervised. The Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences generously supported me during the final phase of my work on this volume. Many individuals and institutions have granted the authors permission to reproduce images: thank you. Along with the unfailing commitment to Thought Lines of the Faculty of Visual Communication, namely Bill Bolger, images have greatly enhanced this volume's visual appearance. I would particularly like to thank Brian O'Doherty for his generous offer to use a photograph of Aspen 5+6 for the cover. Finally, a big thank you to all authors for their co-operation and their incisive work.
