Screaming Is My Art

the first page of a photocopied transcript of a conversation with ian wilson and robert barry on oral communication, dated 10 july 1970, yellowed with some age in the collection of moma. i am not going to transcribe this whole thing here, but i will be recording a re-enactment, stay tuned

From the moment I learned of them, Ian Wilson’s Discussions were the great, mysterious apotheosis of Dematerialized Art. Memorialized in a simple statement: “On the 23rd of January 1972 there was a discussion between Herman Daled and Ian Wilson.”, yet with the essence impossibly private and inaccessible: “What was said remains in the collection of Herman Daled.”

What ever might be said in an Ian Wilson Discussion? Only a collector would know, and even he’d only know his own memory of his own piece. Line up at Art Basel and collect yours today!

So you’ll understand why I am screaming to learn, when we get a rare transcript of the damn thing, that Ian Wilson’s July 10th, 1970 Discussion as art was seven pages of him and Robert Barry discussing how “oral communication is my art.”

a still from the simpsons where marge is standing in front of a loom, looking back proudly over her shoulder for a reaction from, presumably, bart, because the loom has woven on it, "Hi Bart I am weaving on a loom!" via some animation cel dealer i forget but it's in the watermark

Ian Wilson, Discussion, 10th of July 1970 [moma via @garadinervi]
Previously, related: Hi, Bart. I am making a stained glass window!
Hi, President Lincoln. I am telegraphing from a balloon!