The Art Museum: the Space of Freedom and Violence
The Art Museum: the Space of Freedom and Violence

Summary/Abstract: The concept of freedom, although not explicit in the definition of the museum, is expressed through the principle of the general public having free access to the artistic achievements of various historical eras and cultures, gathered and analyzed by academics. These obvious facts effectively conceal the areas of enslavement, to which both works of arts and the public are subjected, since the dialectics of freedom and violence is inherent in the museum practice. Works of art embody the act of unrestrained creativity, which is eradicated by the removal of works from their original context, their uprooting. It is, however, the violence of uprooting that makes it possible to invest works with stylistic features and aesthetic value. Another type of violence is the violence of exclusion, which entails the selection of particular works in order to promote ideological or political goals, fundamentally alien to art. The most radical form of violence is the actual physical destruction of works. The mechanism of symbolic violence, as described by Pierre Bourdieu, involves the public who willingly conforms to the disciplinary procedures as long as they guarantee the inclusion in the elite circle of art-lovers. Since the end of the 20th century, the museum has undergone a profound transformation and become open to the multitude of artistic and cultural discourses. It does not mean, however, that it has become the space of unrestrained freedom of artistic expression and public reception, but that the freedom and violence within the museum have assumed different forms. Museum directors, who guard the general ideas, still methodically foster injustice, as J.-F. Lyotard points out. New elements emerge thanks to the artists who deconstruct the exhibition space, take the viewer by surprise or even go as far as oppressive action.

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