1969: The Black Box of Conceptual Art

Overview

To most of us, a black box is an aviation term, referring to the famously indelible record of the events of a flight. To fans of artists Ian Burn, Roger Cutforth and Mel Ramsden, the term brings to mind both the method by which they posted the contents of their seminal combined exhibition to Melbourne’s Pinacotheca Gallery in 1969, as well as the nature of Ramsden’s famous ‘Secret Painting’, an entirely black, square canvas which promises an invisible artwork beneath its monotone appearance.

For 1969: The Black Box of Conceptual Art, the idea of the black box as a record of data is still apt. The exhibition recreates the artists’ 1969 project The Field, a controversial, provocative collection of three installations that sparked debate and conversation about the purpose of art in Australia at that time. This restaging acts as a time capsule, against which the progression of conceptual art can be measured.

1969 opens at QUT Art Museum on 11 September, and continues to 8 November.

 Image: Ian Burn, Installation photograph for Xerox Books, Pinacotheca 1969 (detail) black and white photograph. © Estate of Ian Burn