Ian Wilson in Conversation with the Audience

»I present oral communication as an object, … all art is information and communication. I've chosen to speak rather than sculpt. I've freed art from a specific place. It's now possible for everyone. I'm diametrically opposed to the precious object. My art is not visual, but visualized.«
Ian Wilson

In 1968, the American conceptual artist Ian Wilson decided to translate his ideas about visible abstraction in art into the invisible abstraction of language. In this dematerialisation of art, he went further than such other artists of the time as Laurence Weiner, Joseph Kosuth, Robert Barry or Art & Language. He presented oral communication as the actual object, and in doing this freed art from a fixed location.
Wilson opens the discussion with a forceful question, giving the audience the opportunity to present their own views in the form of response, debate, argumentation or interjection. At the artist’s express request, these discussions are never recorded and published. A hand-written or typewritten certificate signed by the artist documents the date and location of the event, and may be purchased by individuals or institutions.