Heather Diack Knihy

This publication poses the question of Nauman?s contemporaneity and situates his oeuvre in the context of artistic positions and art theoretical discourses from the last decades. Six in-depth essays illuminate Nauman?s work, such as in regard to its inherent humour or the practice of endless repetition. The volume of texts examines the mirror image and rear-view figures, for example, along with questions of contemporary subject constitution, digital image production and cybernetics. Theories of labour and globalisation are discussed in reference to Nauman?s creative output, as well as the connections between Nauman?s work and models of behaviourism, software and computer theory, or topology. The essays consider Nauman?s oeuvre in relation to diverse artistic positions such as those of Ed Atkins, Erwin Wurm, Francis Alÿs, Fischli / Weiss, Dara Birnbaum, Yvonne Rainer or René Magritte. In so doing, it seeks to counter the tendency to cast the artist as an outstanding solitary figure of postmodernism and opens up manifold references.00Exhibition: Schaulager, Münchenstein, Switzerland (17.03. - 26.08.2018) / MoMA, New York, USA (21.10.2018- 17.03.2019).

Focusing on key figures like Mel Bochner, Bruce Nauman, Douglas Huebler, and John Baldessari, this project delves into the transformative role of photography in conceptual art during the 1960s and 1970s. Each chapter examines how these artists redefined photography as a "document of doubt," challenging viewers' perceptions of truth and factuality. Through their innovative approaches, they expanded the medium's possibilities and questioned the relationship between image and reality.