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In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work. When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.

Conceptual art as a movement emerged during the mid- 1960s, in part as a reaction against formalism as it was then articulated by the influential New York art critic Clement Greenberg. However, the work of the French artist Marcel Duchamp from the 1910s and 1920s paved the way for the Conceptualists, providing them with examples of prototypically Conceptual works (the readymades, for instance) that defied categorisation and could not be said to be art by virtue of their specific visual properties alone.

Many artists turned to conceptualism because of a belief that creating commercially marketable works was in some way unethical.

Conceptual art often makes use of materials such as photographs, maps, and videos. It is sometimes reduced to a set of instructions documenting how to make a work, but stopping short of actually making it--the idea behind the art is more important than the artefact itself.

Out of this concept artforms like fluxus and mail art have emerged.

1 Conceptual artists

• Art & Language
• John Hilliard
• Douglas Huebler
• Joseph Kosuth
• Lawrence Weiner
• Robert Barry
• Mel Bochner
• Adrian Piper
• Ian Burn
• Hans Haacke
• Hanne Darboven
• Dan Graham
• Daniel Buren
• Henry FlyntHenry Flynt (born 1940) is a visual artist, philosopher, violinist, and composer. Like La Monte Young he studied with Pandit Pran Nath. He is especially concerned with logical paradox and contradiction. External links February 26, 2004 (3 hours) http://ww

2 See also

• Visual arts and designThe area of visual arts and design is extremely broad. Essentially, it is any art that you can see, excluding the performing arts. Such forms of art fall into other categories such as theater, music, or opera, although there is really no clear boundary; s
• Modern artModern Art is a general term, used for most of the artistic production from the late 19th century until approximately the 1970s. Recent art production is more often called contemporary art). Modern art refers to a new approach to art where it was no longe
• Contemporary artThis article is part of the Art history series. Pre-historic art Arts of the ancient world European art history Islamic art history Arts of the Far East Contemporary art The term contemporary art encompasses all art being done now. It tends to include art
• Installation artInstallation art is a genre of western contemporary art which came to prominence in the 1970s. Installation art incorporates any media to create a visceral and/or conceptual experience in a particular environment. Installation artists often use the space
• Video artAs opposed to film and theatrical cinema, video art is a subset of artistic works which relies on "moving pictures" and is comprised of video and/or audio data. The precise medium of storing this data is variable and at the discretion of the artist; the m