Rosalind Krauss Reinventing The Medium Pdf ((top)) File

Ultimately, Krauss teaches us that a medium is not just oil on canvas or bronze cast in a mold. A medium is a complex web of technical limits, historical memory, and formal rules. By reinventing these structures, artists continue to find new ways to make us look at the world critically.

The Crisis of the Medium: Beyond Modernism and Postmodernism

This is where Krauss departs most dramatically from formalism. A medium is no longer defined by its material properties (like paint's thickness) but by its operational logic—its "differential specificity". A work's medium is the set of rules and techniques that generate its form.

Krauss begins by looking back at the 1960s, a period when photography converged with traditional art forms. Paradoxically, she argues that photography’s triumph as an art form occurred just as it was becoming commercially and technically obsolete due to the rise of digital technology. Theoretical Object:

: For much of the 20th century, modernist critics like Clement Greenberg championed the idea of "medium specificity." This meant that each art form (painting, sculpture, film, etc.) had its own unique, intrinsic properties—its "essence"—that defined it. For example, the essence of painting was its "flatness," and a good painting would emphasize this quality and nothing else. This approach was a cornerstone of high modernism. rosalind krauss reinventing the medium pdf

For art historians, students, and curators searching for the , understanding the core arguments of this text is essential for navigating contemporary visual culture. This article provides a comprehensive analysis of Krauss’s thesis, its historical context, and its enduring relevance. 1. The Historical Context: The Shadow of Clement Greenberg

A: No. She rejects the modernist idea of a medium (medium specificity). She argues that we must "reinvent" the medium for the postmodern era, defining it as a "technical support" or "recursive structure" rather than a physical material.

. Krauss argues that for art to be meaningful, it must work within a set of constraints—it must have "rules" that the artist can follow or break.

Rosalind Krauss's 1999 essay "Reinventing the Medium" addresses the "post-medium condition," proposing a shift from traditional material purity to a concept of "technical support" or "differential specificity" in art. The text analyzes how artists like James Coleman and William Kentridge redefine mediums through the use of obsolete technologies and discursive systems. Access the PDF version of the article via the University of Chicago Press . Rosalind Krauss: between modernism and post- medium Ultimately, Krauss teaches us that a medium is

Krauss’s writing is famously elliptical. She does not offer bullet points. Instead, she builds her argument through case studies. In “Reinventing the Medium,” she moves between:

Krauss doesn't suggest returning to oil on canvas. Instead, she argues that artists must find a new "technical support"

Reinventing the Medium" (1999) Rosalind Krauss explores how photography shifted from an aesthetic object to a theoretical one, eventually leading to a "post-medium condition" where artists must invent their own specific "technical supports"

She emphasizes that a medium is not just a technique but a set of differences (e.g., how the photograph is different from the drawing) that the artist navigates. The Crisis of the Medium: Beyond Modernism and

It offers a way to appreciate contemporary art that uses traditional materials in non-traditional ways, acknowledging that the "medium" is always a reinvention rather than a fixed, historically ordained concept. Conclusion

Krauss examines three artists who, each in their own way, reinvented a medium:

The essay originally appeared in the peer-reviewed journal Critical Inquiry (Vol. 25, No. 2, Winter 1999, pp. 289-312). It was later reprinted in Krauss’s essential collection, Perpetual Inventory (MIT Press, 2010).

While Krauss wrote this text at the dawn of the digital age, her insights are arguably more urgent today. As we navigate an era dominated by algorithmic feeds, generative AI, smartphone screens, and virtual reality, the boundaries of traditional art media have dissolved even further.

In the landscape of contemporary art theory, few figures have been as influential—or as provocative—as Rosalind Krauss. A co-founder of the prestigious journal October , Krauss spent decades defining the parameters of postmodernism, structuralism, and post-minimalism. However, at the turn of the 21st century, she enacted a surprising pivot, moving away from the "deadening generality" of postmodernism to advocate for a renewed understanding of the artistic medium.