The ironic turn: the 'self-portraits' of Dutch conceptual artists Ger van Elk and Bas Jan Ader

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2017-03-02
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en
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Abstract
This research aims to relate two works of art that feature the artists of the works – Ger van Elk in his series The Adieu (1974-1975) and Bas Jan Ader in his unfinished trilogy In search of the Miraculous (1973-1975) – to the genre of self-portraiture. The research question reads: In what way do Van Elk’s and Ader’s ‘self-portraits’ reflect the historical stage of the 1970s, taking into account both the memory of the artistic mentality of the artists and the mediums employed in the creation of their works of art? The first chapter analyses the historical context, the methodology of conceptual art, and the reception of their artistic mentality as one of irony. The second chapter uses Friedrich Schlegel's concept of Romantic irony to further address their presence. The third chapter uses Rosalind Krauss's semiotic square of 'the medium in the expanded field' to analyse the medium of their self-portraits
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Faculteit der Letteren