The Museum is Dead, Long Live the Museum! Contemporary Art Interventions in the Field of Museum Cover Image

Музеят е мъртъв, да живее Музеят! Интервенции на съвременното изкуство в полето на музея
The Museum is Dead, Long Live the Museum! Contemporary Art Interventions in the Field of Museum

Author(s): Svetla I. Kazalarska
Subject(s): Anthropology, Social Sciences, Museology & Heritage Studies, Customs / Folklore, Library and Information Science, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Culture and social structure
Published by: Институт за етнология и фолклористика с Етнографски музей при БАН
Keywords: contemporary art; institutional critique; new museology; museum’s perspective; critical reflexivity

Summary/Abstract: Generally known as New Museology, the museological methods which appeared in the 1980s in response to the epistemological crisis of the museum sometimes borrow from the tools of contemporary art (conceptual art, institutional critique, performanceetc.) in order to “disenchant” the museum, to turn it into space for public debate and cultural interactions, to use it as a tool for social critique. The article attempts at offering an original typology of the contemporary art interventions in the museum space from the point of view of the different critical reflexivity which they show: to the mechanisms of the museum institution; to the “museum’s perspective” – the means of looking and producing knowledge in the museum; to the museum narrative and its interpretations; to the museum object, its meanings and representations; to the collection and collecting as specific and basic museum practice; and last but not least, to the museum experience. Using various examples of artistic interventions in the museum space, the possible new transformations of the museum and its socio-critical potential are illustrated.

  • Issue Year: 2020
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 318-340
  • Page Count: 23
  • Language: Bulgarian