Getting back to Fried as an example, if I've understood correctly they were interested in the notion of a work of art's reliance on an audience to validate its existence, something Fried called 'theatricality'. If I've got this right, Fried is saying that a work of art is valid independently of any eventual audience. For me, this is similar to saying "if a tree falls in a forest and nobody is around to hear it...", it's a little chaotic.
That said, in the final episode of The Shock Of The New, The Future That Was, Robert Hughes begins the program in the middle of the Nevada Desert, four hours away from Las Vegas to look at a work by artist, Michael Heizer, called Complex One. Part of a series of five (?) works called City, Complex One is the ultimate Avant Garde statement as you will see in the opening minutes of this video.
His monument would seem to corroborate Fried's idea... IF I've understood it correctly. Either way, really interesting guy and really interesting viewing...
