Slippage:

slipping away from a secure definition of art. In contemporary art, slippage can refer to the fusion of art and science, art and music, art and "real life", etc. Slippage can also refer to uncertainty within art (identity, authorship, relational aesthetics). The following artists exemplify the ambiguity of these definitive terms.

David Thorne

Thorne labels himself as a humorist and satirist, but many of his works are strikingly comparative to that of contemporary performative artists. 

10 Formal Complaints

Shannon Eats Lunch

Gilbert and George

Gilbert and George, two men functioning as a single entity, is a living sculpture. Every moment of their lives is dedicated to their artwork; they've established a rigid daily routine that exempts them from all activities unrelated to this artistic calling. Their "sculptures" are usually classified as the work of writers and performers, so the intention is what provides slippage in defining their art.

In The Singing Sculpture, 1969-, Gilbert and George stand on a pedestal in the middle of a gallery space and sing "Underneath the Arches" over and over again.

Their art also represents sordid scenes of loathsome behavior- the tragedy of the human condition. They subject themselves to excessive alcohol consumption and record the experience with multi-panel photographs. In these works the viewer is intended to question whether being drunk can be considered art.

Vito Acconci

Acconci regularly stretched the boundaries of traditional art definitions by becoming the object himself. In Following Piece he followed people around New York City until they went to a location he couldn't go. In Telling Secrets he told incriminating secrets about himself until he ran out of secrets. In Trademarks he sat on the floor of a museum and bit his body until marks were visible on his skin. This slippage provides a question of what exactly is the artwork. The skin? The photograph? The performance?

Psychology experiments

How do these differ from the aforementioned artists? Both provide information and insight for participants/viewers, and both elicit emotional responses.

Violinist in the Metro Station, 2007

The Milgram Experiment, 1961

Allen Kaprow and other Happening artists

Happenings were literally just things that happened and for this reason they are great examples of slippage. These question the art as object and the art as made by an artist, and whether or not these needed to be present in order for the work to be successfully deemed "art". In 18 Happenings in 6 Parts, 1959, Kaprow organized a large room with people inside and the situation would switch at the ringing of a bell. Happenings could be as seemingly random as someone peeling an orange or people playing musical instruments.

Sophie Calle

Calle is another artist who provides an example of slippage by questioning art as object. Here are some descriptions of her "artworks": follows a stranger to Venice, hires a private investigator to follow her, invites strangers to sleep in her bed, sends her bed to a lonely man in California, finds a man's address book and contacts every person in it, and gets a job as a hotel maid and takes photos of peoples' stuff. She uses a narrative photography format to document her process.