Do you like it wet or dry? Conceptual art that is...

A residency announcement in Art Forum caught my eye this morning - not for the residency itself - that's a distant dream - but for the fact that it referenced 'wet conceptualism'! I wondered if it was a 'thing' so I Googled it, and indeed it is! I was motivated to read a very interesting article by Gary Ryan in CultBytes called "Interview with Warren Neidich About Wet Conceptualism". 

Warren is the inventor of the term, and is championing the idea that conceptual art comes in two varieties - the conventional 'dry' variety, but also the less recognised 'wet' variety. The 'dry' being like 'dry humour' - abstracted, pared down, uninterested in the aesthetic, understated. The 'wet' being conceptual art that deals with more human and personal experiences, political positions etc. A nice example given being “Semiotics of the Kitchen” by Martha Rosler.

Given that I often refer to my work as 'concept-led', I was wondering how this distinction might apply. I'm not sure... But I find the tension between the more universal experiences and understated dry vs the more human, personal, wet, immediately familiar. I wonder if Tomgos makes 'dry' conceptual art and Tathos makes 'wet'? I my head, Tathos is laughing gleefully at the term 'wet', and is very clearly drawn that way...

I'm also wondering about Postmodernism vs Metamodernism - I managed to miss the talk the first time, and I am about to miss it again, but it feels like 'dry' conceptualism is quite postmodern, whereas 'wet' conceptualism might be more metamodern?

The other aspect of the article that drew my interest was the discussion of the indexical and non-material nature of conceptual art. It's again something I have also reflected on - is the object just the indexical mark of the 'art'? Ironically Warren relates the shift to 'wet' conceptualim as reflecting a shift from ford-ian physical labour with physical products, to post-ford-ian mental labour, with intangible results. I need to reflect more on that [right now my brain is just screaming about the PhD selection day tomorrow] but it feels funny and relevant given my previous work, and my potential future work...