Existing comment:
A WAR OF INFORMATION
The Vietnam War coincided with the rise of conceptual art in the United States. Conceptualism asserts the importance of concept over object and thinking over form. That a work of art could consist of facts -- and that an art gallery could be used to amplify knowledge and stimulate critical thought -- had special resonance in the context of a war driven by information and misinformation. Conceptual artists like Hans Haacke brought real-world reportage into the supposedly neutral context of a gallery, transforming a setting once reserved for aesthetic contemplation into an arena of active questioning.
Likewise, documentary art sought to engage and inform by presenting information. Philip Jones Griffiths's Vietnam Inc. is a groundbreaking photographic examination of the war, unusual for emphasizing sustained observation and analysis over incidents of sensational violence. Emile de Antonio's In the Year of the Pig is an equally independent and deeply researched work, the first American film that contextualized the Vietnam War within a larger historical framework. |