Art History Midterm

"Contact Zones"

Clifford article; social spaces where disparate cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in highly asymmetrical relations of domination. Museums serve as "contact zones" by bringing together the curators' cultures and the makers' cultures; the items inherently have different meaning to the two peoples, so it then becomes the job of the museum to adequately portray and explain the true meaning of the objects to the viewers.

Museums and Architecture

Early 19th century museums used classical facades (British Museum) that looks like a temple--style adopted around the world. Architecture of museums began to change at the end of the 20th century: lots of extensions and expansions; luxury and modern designs--museums beginning to act like corporations (mega museums).

Museums and Globalization

Museums are gradually becoming more corporative; the expansion of significant museums globally becomes a threat to the field of art history when individuals unfamiliar with the field are the driving force of expansion. This globalization leads is often met with criticism from various groups, particularly those opposed to artwork being intertwined with large-scale corporative business.

Museums and Language

Museums as "temples" brings about a feeling of holiness--workers within museums are performing some kind of priestly function and the objects partake of the sacred. Language determines the way we think about things, not the other way around, so language is inherently a crucial component of our experience in museums. It affects how we perceive and interpret certain displays. Language in museums (or lackthereof) takes away the voice of the creators--language tells stories about collections, buildings, community and institutional histories.

Contemporary Dance

Represents the concept of "embodied knowledge"--that a human body contains certain knowledge and art that can be shared and displayed in a museum. A museum can contain, own and preserve embodied knowledge (like a dance performance or human interaction exhibit) by continuing to put on the exhibit or dance over the years, or even expanding it to other museum curators.

The "Museum Effect"

Svetlana Alpers -- "Museum as a Way of Seeing"; in her article, Alpers argues that museums should serve the sole purpose of visual interest. Museums are a place our eyes are exercised, demanding attentive looking, and we should interact with the art in a way that makes us reflect upon life and ourselves, independent of headsets or other curator mediation. Objects should be separated from their context/history and not explained, but rather presented in such a way that causes great reflection among the viewers.

Bilbao Effect

The building of a large building/attraction in a town with a poor economy as a means to boost the town's economy and even change its industry focus. The Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, Spain was able to do this.

ICOM Statement

A document signed by museum powerhouses that promotes themselves as "universal museums" and thus above the local. As such, they serve to represent global cultures despite their locations in large western cities, and they are capable and expected to house global history not limited to a cultural history from their physical location. Ultimately this document serves to counter the repatriation argument--the objects housed in universal museums have taken on new identities, and universal museums have brought appreciation to non-local art that wouldn't have otherwise been recognized.

Primitivism

An early 20th century artistic movement which was attracted to the directness, instinctivness and exoticism nonurban cultures; romanticizes non-Western cultures; fetishization of the "exotic, tribal and prehistoric"; troublesome because "primitive" implies less than, or not as evolved as western societies

Non-Western Art

Art from outside Europe that has been traditionally excluded from art history; museums began including "primitive" collections in a fetishization of non-western art (being "tribal" and "exotic"). Leads to significant questions of cultural representation given the history of colonialism; the objects of these collections were likely all obtained through imperialism.

Mega Museums

As a result of the Bilbao effect, the branch of mega museums arose under the impression that grand exhibitions could become cultural hubs within nations, bringing tourism, housing and economic growth to a particular region. Four mega museums were planned in Abu Dhabi (including a Louvre and a Guggenheim) at Sadiyaat, intended to create the largest, most spectacular cultural hub. With it brought questions and criticism from the west of the individuals involved in the planning and building--museums were suddenly becoming intertwined with corporations, or were even themselves becoming corporations of sorts. (Questions of scale, spectacle and expansionism)

New Acropolis Museum

Athens; built in direct retaliation to the British Museum (and other "universal" museums); it stands atop the remains of the Parthenon in Greece. The architecture is minimalistic but designed to absorb the impact of earthquakes. It has glass and open sections to look directly onto the remains, though the significant part of the museum is the obvious differences between Greek statues and the casts left by the British when they took statues to the British Museum. Greece argues for repatriation--objects tied to the political movements in Greece recently.

"Field of Play"

Baxandall article; there are three different actors in the "field of play": the maker, exhibitor and viewer. He argues that a museum allows for an interaction between maker and viewer, and thus the exhibitor is the middle man, tasked with how to clearly portray art and artifacts to a viewer in a way that pays homage to the maker. The labels in museums do not describe the objects, they describe the exhibitors' views on the object.

Cabinet of Curiosities (Wunderkammer)

In Renaissance Europe, those in power, in their quest for dominion over nature and their fellow man, began amassing collections--artifacts, antiquities, scientific instruments, minerals, fossils, human and animal remains, etc.--that have recently become objects of considerable interest to historians. They served as a display of wealth, power and privilege, as well as a place of study. This started the dual function of collections as places of study and places of display by museums; knowledge begins to get attached to how items are displayed. Within the cabinets (the first use of glass encasement) there was a lack of classification.

World's Fairs

International exhibitions that allow for crossover of art, technology, thought and experience between nations. Hosted every few years in major cities. Initial world's fairs were art-oriented, creating a large-scale stage upon which artwork and collections could be exhibited.

Museum of Jurassic Technology

LA; Playful museum in a serious way; it is imaginative, provoking curiosity and wonder. This museum is a counter-model to mega-museums that has a strong alliance with the little story, frail history. It uses falsehoods to open up truth about the viewer, as opposed to truth about the world.

British Museum

London; director Neil MacGregor was staunch opponent of repatriation and strong proponent of concept of universal museums being justified in housing non-local objects. Along with the Louvre, this is one of the main "universal" museums.

Abu Dhabi Museums

Louvre Abu Dhabi, Guggenheim, The Maritime Museum and Zayed National Museum; all to be built on new, luxurious cultural hub called Sadiyaat Island ("Island of Happiness"); multi-billion dollar project commissioned by UAE.

History of Museums

Museums began as simple collections (Wunderkammer/Cabinet of Curiosities) that were amassed by the royal or wealthy, exhibited only to immediate family, friends and other nobles as a display of wealth. Gradually, particularly during the Renaissance/Enlightenment periods, museums shifted towards public displays commissioned by the state so that everyone could view and experience the art. This created the field of art history, allowed for the middle class to interact with art and reimagined the way art was displayed in a museum (led to the White Cube approach).

MoMA

New York; first exhibition of non-western art, exhibit entitled "Primitivism"; showcased juxtapositions between modern and primitive art in an effort to show affinities; why did they show similarities as opposed to differences?

The Louvre

Paris; became the first universal survey museum, shifting displays from a princely exhibition to a grander, national wonder. The Louvre was established during the Revolution in France--philosophes hoped a national museum would become a ceremonial space belonging collectively to the people.

Musee du Quai Branly

Paris; features indigenous arts of Africa, Asia and Oceania; works to deepen our understanding by looking at different angles--jungle wall on the side of the building. Lighting in the museum is very dark, adding to the jungle feeling, and the only lighting falls on the objects on display. This makes it feel like the art is considered "different", especially given the contrast of the dark museum directly in the heart of the beautiful city of Paris (located right on the Seine).

New Museology

Peter Vergo; widespread dissatisfaction with "old museology," being too concerned with museum methods and not concerned enough with the purpose of museums; it is necessary to understand historical, political, economic and social contributions to museum collections and descriptions; it is the study of the history and underlying philosophies of museums, how they've been established and developed, their aims and political roles, and the audiences towards which they are catered.

The Carters at the Louvre

Rented out the Louvre for $100 million to shoot the music video for "Apesh*t." The music video featured key works of art from the museum, and included symbolic dancing in front of particular paintings to comment on race, colonialism and power in art. The dancers are all black women, and much of the imagery in the video is symbolic of black wealth and excellence in a location that has been dominated by white, Euro-centric ideologies since its foundation.

The "White Cube"

The notion that the ideal gallery subtracts from the artwork all cues that interfere with the art itself. The work is isolated from everything that would detract from its evaluation. Museums rid of distractions and flashy frames, intended to give a purely interactive experience with the art. Began at the MoMA in 1970.

Repatriation

The return of something to its country of origin.

The Universal Survey Museum

The shift of museums from princely displays to state displays--representing a state's wealth and serving as an epicenter of culture and education. Museums now display spiritual wealth that in theory belongs to everyone; publicly owned through the medium of the state. Art can be used to realize the transcendent values the state claims to embody. Museums foster the illusion of a classless society. The new museum also changed the way we interact with art--it led to the development of art history. The primary function of a museum becomes ideological.