Under Blue Cup

In Under Blue Cup, Rosalind Krauss explores the relation of aesthetic mediums to memory — her own memory having been severely tested by a ruptured aneurysm that temporarily washed away much of her short-term memory. Krauss emphasizes the medium as a form of remembering; contemporary artists in what she terms the “post-medium” condition reject that scaffolding. Krauss explains the historical emergence of the post-medium condition and describes alternatives to its aesthetic meaninglessness, examining works by “knights of the medium” — contemporary artists who extend the life of the specific medium. These artists — Ed Ruscha, William Kentridge, Sophie Calle, Harun Farocki, Christian Marclay, and James Coleman.