Ralph Rugoff

Until relatively recently the figure of the amateur – someone without professional training who pursues a given activity out of enthusiasm rather than financial incentive – was in danger of becoming an anachronism. Yet we are now in the midst of a cultural revolution that is being defined by amateur practitioners. Millions of amateur media producers are posting homemade films and photographs on websites such as YouTube and Flickr; remixing songs or distributing online their own home-studio-produced music; blogging criticism of books, movies, art exhibitions, etc.; and contributing entries to Wikipedia and other assorted wiki-sites. This flourishing renaissance of cultural ‘do-it-yourself’ activity has been mirrored in the art world by a growing interest in amateurism as both an aesthetic strategy and a field of cultural production. This talk by Ralph Rugoff will consider a spectrum of related work by contemporary artists, ranging from collaborations with amateur practitioners to documentation of existing amateur cultural productions. It will also look at artists who seemingly adopt the role of amateur in another discipline or produce work using amateurish means.