Bruce Nauman - (Studies and Texts in Scepticism) by Adi Louria Hayon (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book investigates the audio/visual works created by American artist Bruce Nauman (b.1941) from 1965 to the present. A particular attention is given to sensual perception and the limits of epistemological equipment. By focusing on contraptions o

Book Synopsis

To date, scholars explored Bruce Nauman's oeuvre through various perspectives, concepts and premises, including linguistics, performance, power and knowledge, sound, the political and more. Amidst this vast and rich field, Nauman's pieces have been regarded by critics in terms of systematic skepticism, tragic skepticism, skepticism of the medium, and linguistic doubt. This book methodically analyzes the notion of performative skepticism and its relevance to various dimensions of Bruce Nauman's post-minimalist artistic practice. It is argued that Nauman performs the perpetual failure of perception, hence, demonstrating its doubtful validity to produce certain knowledge without allowing a resolution. This kind of skepticism, here called performative skepticism, exposes the impossibility of epistemological equipment to produce knowledge, and the impossibility of attaining certainty in bridging the gap between knowledge and the real.

Review Quotes

"Adi Louria Hayon's Bruce Nauman offers a deeply researched examination of the artist's oeuvre, bringing focus to his unique engagement with philosophical scepticism. From failure, delay and error to repetition and breakdown, Louria Hayon astutely positions the work of Nauman, as well as related art of the 1960s and 70s, as performative interruptions of sense-making. Disclosing the praxis of doubt as an aesthetic experience the book includes insightful readings into philosophies of logic and mind, mathematics, and deconstruction. Louria Hayon eloquently shows how Nauman's performative scepticism continually exposes a productive gap between perception and representation, knowledge and the real; a manner of making art and a mode of being." - Brandon LaBelle, artistic director, The Listening Biennial.

About the Author

Adi Louria Hayon, Tel Aviv University, Israel.