Quelle - email <H-Soz-u-Kult>
From: "Claudia Rueckert"
<claudia=rueckert@rz.hu-berlin.de> |
November 6-9, 1997
Session Chairs:
contact via e-mail: claudia=rueckert@rz.hu-berlin.de
The recent resurgence of interest in public art institutions has focused upon museums as agents which influence and shape public perception of art and culture. Art museums, in particular, have been studied as powerful catalysts in the formation of social, political and sexual identity through cultural policy and shared experiences. Given the abundance of current research on museums, we organise a session geared towards extending scholarship around museums from a different angle; the interchange between strategies of display and commercial impact outside the institution. We believe, that the histories of museums in the past and present have demonstrated that strategies of display, that is, the selection of objects and/or the way they are exhibited, greatly influenced aesthetics and the market, vice versa.
Scholarship thus far has carefully separated aesthetics from commerce, by focusing on writing histories of institutions, their collections and systems of display. As a consequence, the study of the role of museums as facilitators of artistic production and their influence upon the market has generally been ignored. Despite the strong impact of corporate culture and art sponsorship in recent years, the `institutional myth' of the art museum, related to its historical symbolism and its status as non-profit organisation has prevented scholars from considering the relationship between educational and commercial structures. This is especially the case in Europe. Furthermore, it strengthened the reputation of the museum as didactic and anti-commercial realm.
At the same time, the focus on `texts' in discursive theories of cultural phenomena has neglected the museum as a space in which meaning is generated visually. Throughout the history of this institution, the diverse contexts fashioned for the objects were highly symbolic and reflected the social and/or political purpose envisioned by its founders and curators. Recent attempts at adressing these issues could be systematically expanded by focusing on strategies of museum display before the background of commercial art exhibitions. The influence of profit-oriented institutions, such as temporary sales shows and commercial art galleries might prove to be valuable resources and stimuli for innovations in museum practice, leading to the discovery of characteristic differences between private and public displays.
In an attempt to integrate and supplement current debates, this session aims to consider the museum in a triangle of inseperable issues: the institution, the market and various strategies of display. Encouraged are papers that examine museum displays as political and visual strategies in their function as interface between the institution and the market. Futhermore, papers might adress the significant influence of commercial strategies of representation in museum practice. Which objects would be displayed and how they are presented are questions which could be discussed in connection with the interests of the commercial art world, such as dealers, artists and collectors. Papers are not limited to a chronologically and geographically defined area, as we hope that the session will help to uncover general patterns which link the distribution of culture with the particular features of the museum.
Papers are supposed to consider a lecture time of 20 minutes, followed by a discussion. There is no limit as to the amount of referees within the session. At the descretion of UAAC, limited funds are available for travel costs etc. on application.
Deadline for Proposals: July 22, 1997
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