Daniel Buren

Daniel Buren’s oeuvre over a 60-year span represents contemporary art itself. Taking the lead on the anti-modernist movement of the 1960s, Buren criticized the traditional institutions and led a movement against art museum works, expressing his dissent to the value of ‘autonomy’ pursued by modern art. He was in absolute discord with the traditional authority of modern art institutions that restrictedly reinforced purity of the medium, and thus he led the break from the museums–the modern symbol of authority. Roland Barthes, who attempted to tear down traditional authority through his essay on the death of the author, had a profound influence on the artist. Buren amplifies the value of the existence of art and its meaning through his own artistic intervention.