Robert Morris's 2011 statement 'Unavailable' rejects art world's performative demands

In a 2011 statement titled 'Unavailable,' Robert Morris, the American artist who died in November 2018, explicitly refused to participate in the social rituals of the contemporary art world. He declared he did not want to be filmed pretending to work in his studio, take part in staged conversations about art, or be interviewed by curators, critics, collectors, or journalists. Morris explained that he had long preferred writing to speaking and that art-making appealed to him because talking and being in another's presence were not required. He also rejected questions about his stylistic diversity or reasons for his art, asserting that there are no reasons in art. The statement is analyzed by Christian Caliandro in an article for Artribune, who argues that Morris's refusal is not a caprice but integral to his poetics, pointing to a fundamental issue in contemporary art: the dominance of performance and likeability. Caliandro connects Morris's critique to Bret Easton Ellis's reflections on the erasure of contradictions, questioning whether the emphasis on staged performances has benefited art. The article references Morris's last works exhibited at La Galleria Nazionale in Rome in 2019.