The Studio (Whitechapel: Documents of Contemporary Art)

The evolution of studio―and “post-studio”―practice over the last half century.

With the emergence of conceptual art in the mid-1960s, the traditional notion of the studio became at least partly obsolete. Other sites emerged for the generation of art, leading to the idea of “post-studio practice.” But the studio never went away; it was continually reinvented in response to new realities. This collection, expanding on current critical interest in issues of production and situation, looks at the evolution of studio―and “post-studio”―practice over the last half century.

In recent decades many artists have turned their studios into offices from which they organize a multiplicity of operations and interactions. Others use the studio as a quasi-exhibition space, or work on a laptop computer―mobile, flexible, and ready to follow the next commission.

Among the topics surveyed here are the changing portrayal and experience of the artist's role since 1960; the diversity of current studio and post-studio practice; the critical strategies of artists who have used the studio situation as the subject or point of origin for their work; the insights to be gained from archival studio projects; and the expanded field of production that arises from responding to new conditions in the world outside the studio. The essays and artists' statements in this volume explore these questions with a focus on examining the studio's transition from a workshop for physical production to a space with potential for multiple forms of creation and participation.