No thing to say

Essay in Barry Flanagan: Early Works 1965-1982, catalogue published to accompany the exhibition of the same name held at Tate Britain, 27 September 2011 - 2 January 2012.

The title 'No Thing to Say', is taken from Barry Flanagan's artist's pages in the exhibition catalogue 'Between Mind and Matter' - a Biennale in Tokyo organised by Yusuke Nakahara in 1970. It has received much less critical attention than either Op Losse Schroeven and When Attitudes Become form, or Lucy Lippard's number shows (see Afterall' series on exhibition histories and my interview with Seth Siegelaub in the Lippard one).

The essay presents original research drawing on a number of sources. Barry Flanagan's archival material, Tate Gallery archive of exhibition records, MoMA NY archive of exhibitions, the Smithsonian Archive of American Art, and newspaper reviews on the exhibitions sourced in these archives as well as planning, correspondence and so on. I also drew on interviews with Flanagan (mine) and (my) interviews with other key protagonists from the time - artists and exhibition organisers. I referred to the art magazines from 1966-82 published in the UK and USA (Studio International, Art and Artists, Art in America, Artforum, Art International) and little known Conceptual Art exhibition catalogues, (which in some cases served as the exhibition site, as is the case with the artists' pages of the Tokyo exhibition).

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