Gregory L. Ulmer

IKB 79 by Yves Klein

In ‘How to Make a Theory of Method’,  Ulmer explores the idea of creating the reverse of a manifesto. He suggests taking each point in an existing manifesto and providing its opposite as an alternative, displacing the original examples given. As his example, he writes a short “anti-method” which takes as its starting point Descarte’s Discourse.

The statements Ulmer ends up with, after sketching out the anti-method, are things like this:

-Take Don Quixote as a positive emblem

-Assume that any given part suffices, that completeness is not necessary

-Wander aimlessly

-Do not look or seek anything in particular, but let things come or happen as they will.

-I am without importance, therefore I play

-Anyone could do this, could discover these things and write this discourse.

-Seek publicity rather than work.

What strikes me about this “anti” to Descartes is not just, as he later says, its relevance to experimental arts in the twentieth century, but the relevance of each part of it to particular philosophies in life today – in particular the final two points I’ve listed above. “Anyone could do this, could discover these things and write this discourse” seems like the original “my kid could do that.” Art, both visual and performance, has over the past few decades become more about discovering the point of something than the act itself – for examples, IKB 79 by Yves Klein which hangs in the Tate Modern, and Marina Abramovic’s “The Artist Is Present” at MoMA (a piece of performance art I am a little bit obsessed with). The concept or execution of artworks like these seems very simple, but the point is not in what’s happened but why it’s happened and what reactions it causes.

The second, “Seek publicity rather than work” seems to be the overarching cry of this century. Life becomes less about substance and more about how many people saw you do it. The use of things like Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and blogs means more people can see the brilliant thing you’ve done quicker.

Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present