170 x 240mm, 84 pages, Colour printing, Perfect bound, Softcover, 2026

The core thesis of Art as Conceit is that an idea is inherently fluid, existing in a state of constant potential that cannot be fixed, owned, or definitively possessed. Its meaning is perpetually shaped by context, interpretation and language. From this perspective, the traditional attempt to materialise an idea into a static art object was a fundamental category error.

… this purist, theoretical stance encountered a practical obstacle: the art world operates on economies that require identifiable authorship and ownership. To function within this system, conceptual artists created stand-ins or proxies for the immaterial idea, such as certificates of authenticity, photographs, instructions, or written descriptions. These artefacts served to secure authorship and income by seemingly assigning title to an idea, thus enabling it to be owned, sold, and collected. This process formed the necessary materialisation of conceptual art.

Herein lies a fundamental tension: the art itself (the idea) was proposed as fluid and democratic, yet its economic and social vehicle (the certificate, description or photograph) was a concrete asset that reinforced the very system of ownership and authorship that analytical conceptualists sought to critique. The financial and cultural value of this asset depended on the stability of the artist’s reputation and on a fixed, positive interpretation of the work.

Conversely, the nature of an idea ensures that its meaning inevitably shifts with language and culture over time. New critical perspectives and changing contexts alter how any idea — including art as an idea­ — is understood.

Therefore, the history of conceptual art is the history of this enduring tension: between the desire to liberate art from materialism and the practical need to manifest ideas in a world that demands objects to possess, authors to celebrate, and singular meanings to fixate upon.

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