[Stephen Collington]

Originally Posted by Rick Mullin

[The section you quote goes off into parts that I don't entirely agree with, but he nails it where he says that the Art Establishment (once the avant-garde) has created a system whereby the theory is the thing. Whereby the art itself is secondary to the word written around it. The idea that people have to read a book to experience art is fundamentally a 20th centry idea that reflects back on things like The experience of the art becomes secondary to what you think you are supposed to know and what you seek to be told.

Kenneth Goldsmith: The best thing about conceptual poetry is that it doesn't need to be read. You don't have to read it. As a matter of fact, you can write books, and you don't even have to read them. My books, for example, are unreadable. All you need to know is the concept behind them. . . .

So, in a weird way, if you get the concept—which should be put out in front of the book—then you get the book, and you don't even have to read it. They're better to talk about than they are to read. . . . You're not evaluated on the writing or what's on the page; you're evaluated on the thought process that comes before 'pen is set to paper,' so to speak.

In 1959, Brian Gysin said that writing was 50 years behind painting. And it still is. So if conceptual art happened 50 years ago, we're just beginning to get around to it now.

Way to go Kenny G! You've finally caught up with Lawrence Weiner.

QED