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!!!Language & Chance operations {br}{br} ---- \|t {cap}'''LANGUAGE'''{/cap}{br}{br}{small}{cap}« When language begins to break down a little bit, it becomes exciting and communicates in nearly the simplest way that it can function : you are forced to be aware of the sounds and the poetic parts of words. If you deal only with what is known, you’ll have redundancy; on the other hand, if you deal only with the unknown, you cannot communicate at all. There is always some combination of the two, and it is how they touch each other that makes communication interesting. » — (Bruce Nauman, 1989){br}{br}Nauman has cited Wittgenstein as a major influence on his work and shares the philosopher’s concern with language and logic. Wittgenstein argues that without rules and shared attitudes towards the things around us, communication would be impossible. For example, in order for us to be able to discuss colour, there has to be an agreement or shared concept on what different colours are. Nauman presents us with what can happen if these understandings break down. {br}{br}« The limits of my language mean the limits of my world » – Ludwig Wittgenstein{br}{br}Nauman is also interested in the theories of Mikhail Bakhtin which are concerned with how human beings act and think and, particularly, how they communicate. His writings focus primarily on the concept of dialogue and the relationship between speaker and listener or respondent. He argues that all language and any form of speech or writing is dialogue, in other words, language is always the product of a speaker and a respondent. {br}{br}« Any speaker is himself a respondent to a greater or lesser degree. He is not, after all, the first speaker, the one who disturbs the eternal silence of the universe » — Mikhail Bahktin{br}{br}In Philosophical Investigations, Wittgenstein likens our use of language to a game, best described as a continuous play of meaning governed by various guidelines. While the definitive meaning of a statement resists determination, due to variation in private interpretations, this indefinite aspect finds its complement in the very real actions that result from communication. Investigation #77 suggests that in lacking definitive rules able to bridge the gap between private and public, our statements lack the ultimate truth we imagine them to have. Yet they are not without their function. The rules that govern language should be seen not as hard and fast laws, but as a variable set of guidelines. These are aimed at allowing communication to continue much in the way the rules of a game exist in order for play to continue. What we often fail to realize is that the rules need not be interpreted identically by the players, only that they continue to allow for further action and communication. {br}{br}Grounded in usefulness, Nauman’s artistic ethic can be described as “functional”; Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language will be referenced, both for its concern with the functional play between the private and public, subjective and objective dimensions of language, as well as for the philosopher’s influence on Nauman’s work.{/cap}{/small}{br}{br}---- {small}^[[Source\|http://chax.org/eoagh/issuefive/hullman.html]^]{/small}{br}{br}---- \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t {cap}'''CHANCE OPERATIONS'''{/cap}{br}{br}{small}{cap}Chance operations are one well-known application of a problem-solving approach to art-making. {br}Nauman cites John Cage’s use of chance as influential, in particular as he used chance to integrate his artistic practice with his everyday life. Cage “opened” his compositions by incorporating everyday sounds, and the absence of sound, thus “transforming normal activity into a formal presentation” (Nauman, in Chris Dercon, “Keep Taking It Apart : A Conversation with Bruce Nauman” (July 12, 1986), Parkett 10, 1986). In a 1988 interview, in response to the comment that the phrase “a direct statement on how the artist lives, works, and thinks” could be applied to any number of Nauman works, he replies, “There was also the idea that if I was in the studio, whatever I was doing was art. Pacing around, for example” — (Bruce Nauman, in Joan Simon, “Breaking the Silence : An Interview with Bruce Nauman” (January, 1987), Art in America, n. 9, septembre 1988).{br}{br}It seems as though more of my life is concerned with things I care about that I can’t get into my work. It is important to me to be able to get these things into the work so that the art isn’t just something that I do off in the corner, while hiking in the mountains remains separate. — (in Joan Simon, “Breaking the Silence : An Interview with Bruce Nauman” (January, 1987), Art in America, n. 9, septembre 1988){br}{br}Nauman explains, « ^[I^]t comes from some thoughts about earlier work where you could control the length of the film or video tape or activity by having a specific job. You began when the job started, and when the job was over, the film was over. And that became a way of structuring it without having to think about it, other than deciding what the job was that you were going to call the work » (Bruce Nauman, in “[Setting a Good Corner\|http://www.art21.org/texts/bruce-nauman/interview-bruce-nauman-setting-a-good-corner]” par. 4, interview originally published on PBS.org in September 2001 and was republished on Art21.org in November 2011). The work acquires a sense of time as continuous and looping; the tape becomes something the viewer can walk away from and return to without “missing” a vital statement on the part of the artist. While Nauman, unlike Cage and the I-Ching, does not profess to a preferred method for incorporating indeterminateness, the decision to present the everyday as art, in combination with structuring of the work by way of the natural duration of its content allows for the incorporation of unexpected meanings. Even the most banal aspect of the task at hand – tool-care, for example – can acquire significance and invite interpretation. {/cap}{/small}{br}{br}---- {small}^[[Source\|http://chax.org/eoagh/issuefive/hullman.html]^]{/small}{br}{br}---- \| {br}{br}{br} ---- \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t [../files/articles/nauman/1971_avalanche1_410.jpg\|../files/articles/nauman/1971_avalanche1.jpg] [../files/articles/nauman/1971_avalanche2_410.jpg\|../files/articles/nauman/1971_avalanche2.jpg] [../files/articles/nauman/1971_avalanche3_250.jpg\|../files/articles/nauman/1971_avalanche3.jpg]{br}{small}Bruce Nauman — Avalanche, no. 2 (Winter 1971) — Photos : Gianfranco Gorgoni. © Liza Béar and the Estate of Willoughby Sharp — ^[[Source\|http://www.ccindex.info/iw/avalanche/01-ccindex-avalanche-2-nauman-2/]^]{/small}\| {br}{br}{br}{br}{br}{br}{br}{br} ---- {br}{br}
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