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DICTIONARY

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Minimalism
Art movement that emerged in USA in the 1960s, primarily in sculpture and painting. The sculptures' materials are typically factory-made: crates, boxes, etc. executed in simple, geometric shapes.

The Minimalists adopted a stance in opposition to the existing definition of art, instead seeking an art without content and higher order. Instead the Minimalists focused on the concrete experience of the work in time and space.

Minimalism stages the space, materials, form, the onlooker's position and other exterior factors, thus underscoring the concrete experience for the understanding of the work.

Olafur Eliasson, Per Kirkeby, Dan Graham, Mona Hatoum, Jeppe Hein


Modernism
A problematic term which principally characterises Western culture and art after 1850. The term was defined by the French art critic Charles Baudelaire (1821-67) who encouraged the artists of his time to consider the life here and now rather than persisting in painting historical and mythological subjects.

The term Modernism attempts to capture the characteristics of the modern world and the modern life. The human experience and psychology are central to a large part of the art defined as Modernist.

Furthermore Modernism is a collective term for as disparate styles as Impressionism, Cubism and Surrealism. Arguably Modernism has no clear-cut termination but to a certain extent is replaced by Postmodernism in the 1960s-70s.

Jean Arp, Clay Ketter, Dan Graham