Conceptual art

Conceptual art is a school in literature and art of the late 20th century (the school was formed in the end of 1960's - beginning of the 1970's). A concept in this art has the main meaning and conveys the main idea, and the main aim of art in general is the communication of ideas. Conceptual ideas can exist in the form of texts, phrases, schemes, diagrams, drawings, photographs, audio and video materials. An object of conceptual art can be any object, phenomenon or process as this art represents pure artistic gesture. Conceptual art is seen as reconsideration of how art is supposed to function and moreover, how culture in general is supposed to function.

There is a dispute among artist about whether conceptual art has the right to be called an art at all. When first works of such art were created in the beginning of the 20th century (for example a urinal with the creator's name on it), many artists claimed that if an object is created by a non-artist, doesn't convey any emotional meaning and doesn't have any aesthetic effect on the viewer (listener or reader), is not unique and is a usual object seen in everyday life, it cannot be called a work of art. One of the specific features of conceptual art in general is that it doesn't appeal to emotional perception by the human but is rather intended for intellectual comprehension. Unlike regular art where certain physical skills are required (for example skills of writing pictures or playing music) a work of conceptual art often does not require any physical craftsmanship of execution.