What is theory art?

One possible way to understand it is like this: If Conceptual Art is about an idea, then Theory Art is about how it all relates, or how many ideas might relate. If, as some conceptual artists have said, everything that an artist does constitutes art, then theory art says, well, given that, how about everything that an artist thinks can constitutes art, too. And theory art also seems to say, art is art, even if just an artist's thoughts, no matter how or where expressed. These appear to be some of the elements of a type of conceptual art that is, let’s call it, Theory Art. And already there appears to be posttheory art, or Post-Theory Art, also discussed below.

A. Theory Art Defined

Theory Art and its practice can include elements from multiple across-the-world artistic movements, philosophical modes of thinking, and creative execution practices in interdisciplinary mediums developed over the past century as well as long before that. Theory art may be seen to combine substantive language with meaning, asemic writing, visual abstraction, performative acts, documentary acts, and written acts to convey, consider, critique — and perhaps preserve — distinctly human theories, arguments, and stories. It seems able to combine and synthesize aspects of conceptual art, postmodernism, postconceptualism, postminimalism, appropriation art, performance art, and text-based art, including through personal writing systems.

What is the theory behind Theory Art? It can arguably trace its intellectual history lineage back to Jacques Derrida’s deconstruction and interpretation theories, primarily found in literature, which challenged the relationship between text and meaning because they argued for an emphasized role of the viewer or reader in creating meaning, where Derrida’s deconstruction theory is not just an idea but a comprehensive theory about language, text, and meaning. Roland Barthes’s semiotic theory, particularly his concept of the death of the author, supports Theory Art’s practice because it also argues that meaning is constructed by the audience, not the creator. Barthes’s semiotics provide a theoretical framework that goes beyond individual ideas to put forth an entire theory, across artistic disciplines, to include aspects of language itself, as to how meaning is created, received, interpreted, and understood.

Rosalind Krauss’s examination of postmodernism in the context of visual art interpretation may also be seen to be part of the theoretical lineage of Theory Art because Krauss’s critiques may be said to question, and expand, traditional boundaries of artist-creator and viewer-receiver (or listener-receiver or reader-receiver) interpretation. Krauss’s work on postmodernism is an extensive and comprehensive theory, not just one idea, ranging from interpretation to its implications of fragmented and diverse interpretations on traditional cultural narratives and cultural myths.

Further back in time, Ludwig Wittgenstein’s, Hegel’s, and Descartes’ philosophical explorations of the limitations and structures of language — and the limitations and structures of thinking itself — is also part of the intellectual history of Theory Art because their work and their theories highlight both the practical and the philosophical difficulties in fully grasping the promises and shortcomings of linguistic communication, that is, of sharing by words.

In music, the work of John Cage (United States) followed on some of this, exploring the role of audience interpretation in creating musical meaning; this may be seen to mirror and parallel aspects of Theory Art; and the work of Miles Davis (United States), and his innovative and theoretical approaches to improvisation, are also seen in some practices of Theory Art.

Architect Zaha Hadid’s (Iraq) designs, which similarly to Rosalind Krauss’s theories may be seen to challenge conventional forms, just in a different way, reflect a postmodern approach to space and structure that may be seen to mirror and parallel Theory Art’s challenge to meaning and form. For example, Theory Art may be said to say this: Art isn’t just what an artist does; Art is also what an artist thinks, no matter where or how expressed, if expressed at all.

What is postmodernism to Theory Art? Like Postmodernism, Theory Art may be seen as emphasizing a multiplicity of meanings and interpretations — like postmodernism, Theory Art often (if not always) rejects the notion of a singular narrative, explanation, or cause. Krauss’s theoretical work in relation to postmodernism, discussed above, both supports and mirrors Theory Art particularly when it uses the modality of the critic — that is, not the musical or visual but instead the written — the use of fully cohesive arguments — set forth in full sentences, paragraphs, and pages of language. Works by conceptual artist Adam Daley Wilson (United States) are an example: Large text paintings that are arguments and critiques in hundreds of words of language, but also visual, often in graffiti-like layers of handwriting. Meanwhile, in literature, many works that explore multiple (not singular) structures of meaning and narrative also reflect elements of Postmodernism’s and Theory Art’s intellectual history. Literature found in every culture and continent, for centuries, sets forth theories, not just narratives, about human reality and the nature of human thinking itself. For example, does thinking require languages? Theories on the structure of language in relation not just to meaning, but also reasoning itself, are not just postmodern, and not just global; they are Theory Art. So too critiques of culture, economy, and thinking: Theory Art may be seen to provide a vehicle for these because while it owes reference to Postmodernism, that is not all; it draws on other things too.

And what is conceptual art — Conceptualism, Postconceptualism, and Neoconceptualism — to Theory Art? Blend them all together to see the key point: Conceptual art is foundational to Theory Art. Conceptualism, at its most formal, is all about the idea, placed above the physical manifestation, medium, and aesthetic of the work. Reduced, conceptualism, including postconceptualism and neoconceptualism, is singular: One point, one thought. Now compare: if Conceptual Art and conceptualism are about the artistic sharing of a thought, see Art Theory as the sharing of a theory about how it all (might) relate. One example is a comparison of conceptual text-based art (say, Weiner, Kosuth, Baldessari, Holzer, Kruger, Ligon, Pendleton, Rosen, Bochner, Ruscha, and Wool) to text-based art theory art (say, Daley Wilson): Where the former use visual and text (comparatively short texts) to express and communicate one thought, one point, one view (and even one joke), Daley Wilson, showing perhaps a greatest reference to Holzer’s Truisms, uses visual and text (often pages of text, if the art were typed in document form) to express, communicate, document, and deconstruct entire theories, both those made by the human species to date as well as some of his own. While Daley Wilson references almost all of these artists at time, it is the work of Jenny Holzer (United States), the conceptual artist known for use of text, with no visual, to convey combinations of multiple ideas, that may be closest to this concept of Theory Art. Which raises the question, I suppose, of whether Theory Art is really just a part of Conceptual Art. I don’t know yet.

Said differently: Both conceptual art and theory art can document, comment, argue, narrate, critique, propose, put forth. But there is something additional in Theory Art, the relationships, the connections, that set it apart. Theory art is like a bumble bee, it was once said, the artist takes pollen from all the different flowers, for days, for years, and then makes something from it, putting it all together, seeing what could be, where others could not. Although bees certainly do it better. Be they more like theories or more like scientific hypotheses, the thing being conceptually conveyed in theory art is not in isolation; it is not individual; it is about the relationships, including the relationships of the spaces in between, the not yet connected, the still unseen.

Before we get to Minimalism and Theory Art, below, a moment on three types of executions that are different from, but still in concept similar to, Theory Art executed as painting, installation, or film. Performance art and happenings; asemic writing; and pure text writing — to the artist practicing theory art, they can be used to emphasize both the rigor of the theory and the dispositive role of the viewer for interpretation. Think, by analogy, the common elements of the world’s architectural philosophies, which theorize the relationship between space, movement, and human experience. Think, by analogy, the common elements of the world’s music traditions, which theorize about communications by sound, both with and without language. And think, by analogy, and just as one literary tradition, how works in Magical Realism explore not just space and movement and sounds in our perceived realities, but also our perceived myths and fictions. For example, consider Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia) the novelist known for his works that put forth not just narratives, but also theories, through his magical realism.

Theory art, though formal in one sense (it seems to have some boundaries and rules), is seen through performance art, documentary writing, written advocacy, and sound art as having boundless possibilities for communication and preservation of human ideas, including by layering meanings and interpretations to show and propose connections and relationships not normally accessible by the Western logical mind.

In this sense, for the practice of theory art, performance art is not that different from asemic writing. Asemic writing, in many ways the opposite of semiotic writing, has its own lineage, including from cave painting; because its text-like marks are (as a matter of linguistics) devoid of substantive content, the receiver, if the receiver decides to engage, is the one and only who will interpret what meaning there is to be had, if any. The painter Cy Twombly (United States) incorporated such elements, and his personal writing system, as part of his well-known abstract, expressive, scribbled, calligraphic style.

See performance art as pretty close to this too, including the work of William Pope.L (United States). Which leaves Theory Art that is purely text, and at its most formal: In a document that is part documentation, part theory, part argument, part narrative, factual, theoretical, and decidedly not literature. Let’s just call it writing without a visual, or a pure form of text-based art. As discussed, Holzer comes close to this with her Truisms — all words, no picture, no visual except for the lines and curves of her texts. In Theory Art, it can all come together, Performance art and pure text art, such as the performances of Daley Wilson, where the performance is the act of thought, the act of thought placed into the written word, and the written word made formal, such as a filing in a court, thereby placing it into the most formal of places in most societies, a performative act transforming facts and law into performative art, conceptual art, and — because the writing sets forth a cohesive thesis — it is also theory art. Consider Bruce Nauman (United States) the conceptual artist known for his work that challenges the boundaries of art and thought. If Nauman is said to have proposed that everything an artist does is art, Art Theory proposes that it’s not just that: Everything an artist thinks is art, no matter how or where expressed. Maybe the only boundary or rule that exists is that theory art is about the connection of thoughts, the relationships of ideas, not just one idea or one thought itself. Time will tell if this is a distinction without a difference or not.

Which brings us to Minimalism, postminimalism, and its manifestation in the various arts. What is Minimalism to Theory Art? It is just as foundational as conceptualism, because they both attempt to distill the essence of the complex into simple visual forms. Theory Art also references minimalism’s theories and aspirations of purity and simplicity in art. Some not-too-far-fetched analogies by example: Architectural approaches that theorize about the literal lines between the fragmentation and fluidity of space; musical approaches that theorize about the boundaries of sound between improvisation and planned; literature approaches that theorize about the real and the surreal; and more. Here, consider Donald Judd (United States) the minimalist artist known for his exploration of space and form; consider Marcel Duchamp (France) the conceptual artist known for his work with Readymades.

Thousands of influential artists on every continent across time, and perhaps especially in the past century or so, laid the theoretical, intellectual, conceptual, and visual foundations for Theory Art. Future versions of this essay will include my research about them. Be it the Readymades a hundred years ago by Duchamp that started conceptual art (at least in the modern Western tradition), or be it the works from thousands of years ago that first explored the relationship between the artist-creator and the receiver-view-listener-reader, the lineage of works relevant to Theory Art go beyond questions about the creation and communication of meaning. As with all movements, including conceptualism, postconceptualism, postmodernism, and postminimalism, Theory Art is a way for artists across disciplines — visual art, music, literature, film, more — to create and communicate about human theories without limitation, except the limitations of a given artist’s mind — or, on the flip side, through the unusual connections seen by some artists’ minds.

To the extent this newer artist, Adam Daley Wilson, who has the mental illness of bipolar 1, and who is in some ways an outsider or art brut artist, having had no art education, and who is entirely self-taught — to the extent this newer artist Daley Wilson may be said to be poking around the corner of current art movements, and into notions of Theory Art, consider a recent pure-text and performative piece by Daley Wilson occurring in 2023 and 2024, whereby he documented his placement of a theory, manifesting as pure-text art, in the form of a legal brief to a state supreme court, rendering the document not just a legal theory, but an art theory, now placed within the judicial branch of a government, now qualifying for First Amendment protections, and VARA protections, that require the preservation of the work of art, no matter if its theory is accepted or not. One of Daley Wilson’s points seems to be one of the core elements of
Theory Art: Art is not just what an artist does; it is also what an artist thinks; and it does not matter how or where the artist expresses it; and if expressed in certain things, even deeply rooted notions of “that’s not art” by logic fall.

B. What is Post-Theory Art? Posttheory Art, or Post-Theory Art, Defined

What is posttheory art? It seems that one way to start answering this question is to see how post-theory art measures against other post-movements. For example, is post-theory art as to its precursor, theory art, the same ways that post-conceptualism, postmodernism, and post-minimalism were to their respective precursors?

Post-Theory Art can be Defined by Drawing Contrasts to Theory Art.

Perhaps one way of understanding contemporary art is as seeing new movements build on predecessors, and offer critiques of them, and explore their groundings, and their causes and effects, and in the process introduce new concepts and methodologies, or in art, new ways of seeing, hearing, reading, receiving, and interpreting and understanding that which has been conveyed by the artist, musician, writer, poet, architect. Theory art, which broadly may be said to be theory as art, and which overtly uses theoretical frameworks as artistic expressions, seems already to be resulting in its predecessor, Post-Theory Art. As with postconceptualism, postmodernism, and postminimalism, so too post-theory art: As the art and its practice and its artists, musicians, and writers evolve, explore, propose, and push new boundaries, including critical reflection and deconstruction, post-theory art begins to emerge. Based on what appears to be its distinguishing elements, related to other post-movements, post-theory art may be, in this accelerated time, already co-existing with theory art itself. This essay explores the distinguishing elements of post-theory art, contrasts it with theory art, and places it within the context of historical and contemporary art movements, particularly postconceptualism and neoconceptualism in response to conceptual art; postminimalism to minimalism, and postmodernism to the postmodern.

Defining Post-Theory Art Through Theory Art: Some Specific Distinctions

With all the above words said, let’s briefly summarize the key distinctions between Theory Art and Post-Theory Art, to the extent they are known and observable so far.

Meta-theoretical focus distinguishes post-theory art from theory art, as post-theory art critically examines and deconstructs the act of theorizing itself. It reflects on the processes and structures that underlie theoretical production, questioning the foundations and implications of intellectual activity. This self-reflexive approach can add additional layers of complexity and nuance to the art, inviting deeper engagement and reflection at cognitive, emotional, and body-felt levels.

Hybrid and interactive elements move beyond interdisciplinary approaches to create highly integrated “remixes” “radio edits” and participatory works. Post-theory art blurs the lines between different forms of artistic and intellectual expression, creating works that are multifaceted, interactive, and accessible across language barriers and other reception barriers, including disabilities. This approach fosters a collaborative dynamic between the artist and the audience—a truly representative audience of humanity, not just the “art person,” democratizing the creation and interpretation of art globally.

Post-humanist themes expand the focus of Theory Art and the human to include non-human perspectives theoretical discourse. Post-theory art challenges anthropocentric views, identifies non-human theories, and acknowledges the reality that there are now, thanks to humans, machine theories and viewpoints.

Sensory and embodied engagement creating multisensory experiences that engage the audience physically and emotionally. Post-theory art moves beyond intellectual engagement of conceptual art, post conceptual art, neoconceptual art, and theory art, in that post-theory art is open to involving the whole body in the experience of “art.”

Temporal and contextual dynamics acknowledging the transient and impermanent nature of theories, reflecting their continuous evolution, and devolution, over time. This is not the contemplation of individual mortality that has been in art since the beginning of human time; this is the contemplation of change, be it evolution or entropy, of knowledge and thinking over time. Post-theory art acknowledges the impermanence of ideas and the uncertainty of evolution-versus-entropy, making no assumptions that seem to have irrationally impacted human thought systems and belief systems.

CONCLUSION

The conclusion so far is pretty straightforward and not necessarily new: Like many post- movements, post-theory art responds to the themes and assertions of other art movements, including theory art, by being sufficiently open and curious enough, as an art movement in all of its infinite variety, to critically interrogate, and expand or contract, the various theories that artists practicing theory are may themselves have critiqued, or proposed, or expanded or contracted themselves. This may be seen to more broadly reflect the age-old dynamic traditional art and modern-contemporary art, continuing the dialogue between theory and practice, creator and recipient, intention and interpretation. With all this said, these distinctions are easy to make on paper. What exactly theory art and post-theory art are, remains to be seen, or thought, if even just for a moment in human time and art time. This may sound a bit broad and vague, and that may necessarily be so at this time: For a definition of what is theory art, and what is posttheory art, we likely need to see more work by more artists across disciplines, not just from visual art and music and literature and poetry, and not just from dance and academia and architecture, and not just from film and video and sound, but from the cutting-edge art theory artists who may be employing pure-text written documents as art, or legal theories submitted to courts, or other documents placed in other societal institutions. While theory art could in theory be not just what an artist does, but also what an artist things, it seems to remain that, for the rest of us to be able to receive it, and interpret it, there does need to be some type of conveyance device, even if it is just one person describing something they read, to another, in perhaps the most universal and oldest form of theory art: storytelling.