Edmond de Belamy or Bel Ami: The Rise of the ‘Non-Artist’ vs. the Artist’s Retreat

In October 2018 for the first time Christie’s auctioned a work of art created by artificial intelligence, the Portrait of Edmond Belamy. Printed on canvas, the picture was produced by the Paris-based collective Obvious, and signed with the algorithm that produced it, nourished with a set of fifteen thousand images of portraits from five centuries of art history. This case is an illustrative example of an ongoing process in the system of contemporary art, that seems to move a step forward in the perspective traced by André Malraux when, in his well-known Museum Without Walls (1947), reflected on the new relationship with the work of art imposed on viewers by museums. This article offers a reflection on these issues through a series of case studies aimed at highlighting a process, rooted in conceptual art, in which artists assume the role of critics, trying to act from a point of view external to the art system, to probe its limits and put it in check, often recurring to practices of anonymity, but also to extreme elusiveness and even to retreat. The acquisition or the invention of another identity by artists as well as “non-artists”, including art professionals, is also the result of a critical strategy, which instead seeks to carve out a space in the exhibition and market systems, highlighting its weak points. The proposed cases explore the deep connections between topics such as authorship, appropriation, art education, copyright, reproduction technologies, and language of the critics. They include: John Dogg, artist invented in the 80’s by Colin de Land and Richard Prince, Gregor Schneider’s alter-ego Hannelore Reuen, The Anonymous Artist Projects (2004-05) and the Art-less Exhibitions, (2005-08), organised by Triple Candie in New York, the exhibition Robbie Williams Solo Show, conceived by Natascha Sadr Haghighian, and presented at Museion in Bolzano (2014).