For many years, the artist Hiro Yamagata has been using lasers to create large-scale works of art that are displayed -- or, rather, performed -- in public spaces. His latest plan, scheduled to come to fruition in 2007, is to project more than a hundred laser images, averaging 150 feet tall, on to the face of the Bamiyan cliffs near Kabul in Afghanistan, in commemoration of the 1,600-year-old statues (the Buddhas of Bamiyan) that were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. A book about this particular artwork, or about Yamagata and his oeuvre, would class at 709.2 in DDC: "Class here description, critical appraisal, biography, works of artists not limited to or chiefly identified with a specific form, e.g., painting, or group of forms, e.g., graphic arts." But how should we classify general works about the kind of art that Yamagata produces? "Laser art" is not a term that is currently in common usage. The LC subject heading "Light art" is to be used for works about art that uses light as an artistic medium, and is mapped to 709.0407 Composite media and sensations, as is the narrower heading "Projection art," which is to be used for "works on environmental or ephemeral art created totally or partially by using still or moving projected light images." Taking a slightly different approach, we might prefer to consider art such as Yamagata's primarily as installation art -- or, more precisely, as site-specific installation art. The LC heading "Installations (Art)" is for "works on a type of art form in which an entire exhibition space is transformed into a three-dimensional work of art by the arrangement of objects and materials within the space"; "Site-specific installations (Art)" is for "works on art installations created for a specific site that use elements of the site as an integral part of the work of art and are intended to be displayed and viewed only at that site." The DDC class 709.04074 Happenings, environments, events is indexed by "Installations (Art)"; and although "Site-specific installations (Art)" has been mapped to 702.81 Mixed-media and composites, that class falls under 702.8 Techniques, procedures, apparatus, equipment, materials, and its class-elsewhere note reads "Class finished works of mixed-media and composite art in 709." Another issue is that both 709.0407 and 709.04074 fall under 709.04, which is the number for the fine and decorative arts of the 20th, not the 21st century. Of course, we want to develop 709.05 for art forms that have emerged since 2000. But how should those forms be identified, distinguished, and arranged? In other words, how should 709.05 be subdivided? Is it still desirable, or even possible, to subdivide by anything other than period? As ever ... don’t panic. We’re on it.
Hello there, i am working at a contemporary art library and i come across this problem all the time. It is difficult for me to classify new forms of art under the DDC as they are still undeveloped.
Also can you tell me what is the difference between 709.4 and 709.04?
I classify all the group exhibitions under 709.4 and all the biennials under 707.4
What is your opinion?
Posted by: Foteini | 09 March 2011 at 08:02 AM