O que é um artista? O dilema da autoria no conceitualismo

What is the influence of conceptualism on ourunderstanding of authorship in contemporary art? In the realm of creative processes, what happens when we encounter artworks whose material traces simply do not depend on the artist’s body? Executed 32 years after the author’s death, Robert Smithson’s artwork Floating island is analyzed here as an example of these questions. By hypothesis, it is perceived that proposals like this entail a renewed understanding of what an “artist” is or can be. At the core of the argument are Michel Foucault’s concept of “author-function” and Caroline Jones’s concept of “artist-function”. In conclusion, it is evident that the historical significance of conceptualism demonstrates the coexistence of two authorial models of the artist-function.