Conceptual Art - What's it all about?

Conceptual Art

I watched part of the BBC documentary 'Who's afraid of conceptual art?' to learn more about it. It introduced several conceptual artists and their work and how it influenced people. Around 100 years ago, the line between art and object begin to break down, and it became hard to separate the two.
Martin Creed, a conceptual artist is creates work of art out of a crumpled paper ball. Which he described that he does it because he liked it and he sometimes introduces humor into his work too. As most people would be confused at first when they see a paper ball described as 'art'. He also half filled a room with balloons and called it 'half the air in a given space' which introduced humor but also the title of the piece makes the viewer think. Marcel Duchamp, a revolutionary artist who thought art should not just please the eye, but serve the mind. He considered that the concept mattered more than the actual art itself. Craig Martin, created a piece of art entitled 'An Oak Tree' where a glass of water wasn't a glass of water, but an oak tree according to the artist.
Conceptual art is used to make people think, and in some cases mentally interesting and emotionally dry. Some artists use words more that images, and the words provide the imagery which becomes specific to the viewer and that allows the art to become more powerful. Robert Montgomery uses words to get a message across and allows it to become more relatable as well, also he believes words can be more powerful the imagery. A blank piece of coloured paper can be transformed with a meaningful title given by the artist, giving something so simple a deeper meaning.  
Some art requires the viewer to analyse the work in order to understand it, like 'Post Partum' by Mary Kelly, a six part work on her relationship with her son, which is very intimate for her and the viewer has to understand her work, but is rewarded when they do once they understand their work.
Some artists use them self as the art, Bruce McLean who was a performance artist also, posed in different positions on plinths to create a series of black and white photographs. 
In all I've learnt that conceptual art is about how someone interprets the art and that it can be anything, not just a painting.

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