Protocolar Art
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Protocolar Art (French: art protocolaire), also known as the art of protocols, is a post-conceptual artistic practice where the ontological status of the work is defined by a rigorous normative framework or administrative governance system. In this genre, the artwork is not localized in the finished aesthetic object but in the execution of a predetermined protocol—a set of instructions that the artist establishes as a legislative mandate for the creation process.[1]
| Protocolar Art | |
|---|---|
 Act of Ontic Densification by Grégoire FALQUE (Administrator of Reality). This document serves as a certificate of densification, proving the completion of the protocol and the weighting of reality through artistic effort. |
While historical Instruction Art focused on the dematerialization of the object, contemporary protocolar art often emphasizes the physical and biological commitment of the executor, transforming the artist into a guarantor of the act's reality.[2]
Historical and Theoretical Evolution
Roots: From visual rules to scores
The use of binding rules to generate images can be traced back to the invention of perspective during the Italian Renaissance. However, it was within the experimental music of John Cage and the Fluxus movement that the protocol became an autonomous art form, often appearing as "event scores"[3].
Conceptual foundations (1960s–1970s)
Sol LeWitt pioneered the separation between conception and execution. In his Sentences on Conceptual Art (1969), he famously stated that "the idea becomes a machine that makes the art"[4]. This logic was furthered by Lawrence Weiner, for whom the linguistic protocol was sufficient for the work's existence. Historian Benjamin Buchloh described this period as the transition to an "aesthetic of administration," where the artist's role shifts towards bureaucratic and structural management[5].
The Ontic Turn: Administration of Reality
In response to what Peter Osborne identifies as the "post-conceptual condition" of contemporary art[6], recent developments have identified an Ontic Turn within protocolar practices. This shift, theorized by Grégoire Falque, seeks to reintroduce material "friction" and existential weight into the artistic act as a counter to digital dematerialization.
Under this framework, the artist functions as an Administrator of Reality. Anchored in the "documentality" theories of Maurizio Ferraris[7], the practice is governed by an internal legislative structure defining the conditions for a "densification of reality." This process, known as lestage (weighting), relies on a metrological certification of the act to produce what is described as a "metrological aura" (aura métrologique). The resulting reality (R) is defined as the product of the effort (E) applied to matter (M) through a determined friction (F):
The work thus becomes a trace of the biological and temporal effort required for its completion, recorded in an official registry and certified by administrative documents.
Typology of Protocols
Contemporary theory distinguishes four primary modes of protocolar existence:
- Delegation Protocol: The artist provides instructions to be executed by third parties (e.g., LeWitt).
- Dispersion Protocol: The work is governed by rules of sharing or gifting (e.g., Felix Gonzalez-Torres).
- Endurance Protocol: The rule tests the limits of the artist's body over a set duration (e.g., Tehching Hsieh).
- Densification Protocol: The rule aims to certify a physical presence or a permanent modification of the world (the Ontic Turn).
Representative Artists
- Sol LeWitt: Precursor of wall drawings and graphic instructions.
- Lawrence Weiner: Theorized the linguistic statement as a work of art.
- Roman Opalka: Protocol of counting living time (series 1 - ∞).
- Stanley Brouwn: Metrology of movement and administrative archiving of space.
- Tehching Hsieh: Protocols of endurance and extreme physical presence.
- Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Protocols of reactivation, gift, and dispersion.
- Claude Rutault: "Definitions/methods" where the work depends on a hanging protocol.
- Hanne Darboven: Systems of numerical notation and protocol calendars.
- Grégoire Falque: Theorist of the ontic turn and the concept of lestage (weighting) through administrative certification.