Leo Steinberg (b. 1920) from Other Criteria, discusses ‘relating Modernist work to a changing continuum of self-reference and representation of the world going back to the Renaissance.’ This text analysing Steinberg’s writing, claims that Other Criteria ‘was received as a powerful counter to what was seen in the early 1970s as an increasingly barren and entrenched formalist orthodoxy’, meaning that he challenged what was considered normative in the 1970s and provided new principles to work by. Contemporary characteristics of art which often are the factors determining the era in which it belongs, are commonly defined by how much they push the boundaries of what is considered of its time.

Steinberg’s essays are further examined and built upon with descriptions of how this perceptive art theory is translated into practical methods of artistic manipulation such as ‘color economies’, ‘proportional attenuation’, and ‘shifting reality levels’; or ‘the “recall to art” may be engineered by the subject matter itself through devices such as internal spectators, the juxtaposition of windows with framed paintings, or mirrors filled with reflections’ in a phrase of ‘art drawing attention to art’.

The text later discusses the idea of a ‘Flatbed Picture Plane’ in order to describe the ‘pictorial surface whose angulation with respect to the human posture is the precondition of its changed content’ -or more commonly- artwork displayed in the traditional format parallel to the observer. It is common when observing artwork through the ages -or simply the view of one’s surroundings- to witness a canvas or frame hung on a gallery wall, a sculpture surfacing from the ground, or a landscape view from a window. Here, the idea is postulated that -to not conform towards custom, or to remove any personified association within the art piece, curation should be experimented from more unorthodox perspectives, as the presentation of the artwork becomes part of the art itself.

Similarly, in The Yale Lecture by Richard Serra (b. 1939), the idea of site-specificity is challenged in the simple phrase ‘You can’t build work in one context and indiscriminately place it in another.’ In this transcription of Serra’s Lecture, the issue of curation and space is repeatedly discussed in order to persuade the listeners to consider the context of the landscape in which art is both created and presented. For art to truly be enjoyed and connected with by its audience (if that is the purpose of its outcome) the energy from its surroundings and the nature of its appearance should be measured and foreseen by the creator(s) to express the idea in which they created, rather than having external elements influence the narrative and manipulate the message (or lack of) which the art is portraying. This is exemplified in Le Corbusier’s letter (1932) ‘if the Sistine Chapel’s wall and ceiling were intended to be preserved a form, they should not have been painted with frescoes… someone wanted to remove forever their original architectural character and create something else’. Though this premise may be the intention of the work itself, Le Corbusier argues the importance of being aware of Art’s context.

As individuals born in 1939 and 1920, Serra and Steinberg’s life experience precedes the Contemporary movement and explore the shift from Modernism to Post-modernism. At this artistic turning-point of the 20^th Century, both have first-hand knowledge and understanding of the zeitgeist, and the way in which factors within politics and global events such as the Second World War influenced the production of artwork. Therefore, their experience with contextual understanding and drastic change is valued in their text.