Sam Ismail-Epps

ARTISTS’ PAGES: THE FUNCTION OF THE PAGE IN CONCEPTUAL ART 1966 – 1973

In the conceptual era (1966 – 1973) artists radically challenged how ideas and information could be produced, presented and disseminated using exhibition catalogues, periodicals and printed ephemera that supported, accompanied, and on some occasions, entirely replaced traditional exhibitions in museums and galleries. This thesis will ask if the ‘pieces of paper’ contributed by artists for publication in these inexpensive, mass-produced and widely accessible forms can ‘come up for the count’ as ‘documents as artworks’ according to the intentions of artists, and the attitudes of exhibition organisers and collectors.

Sam Ismail-Epps is a member of the Pattern and Chaos group of collaborative, interactive and networking designers, artists, theorists and innovators in education, all of whom are based at Norwich University of the Arts.