The Idea of Museum in Contemporary Curatorial Projects
The Idea of Museum in Contemporary Curatorial Projects

Summary/Abstract: The assessment of the status of contemporary art is theoretically justified in the context of institutional theory, developed in the works of George Dickie and Arthur C. Danto. Museums are pillars of the institutional theory, as they mainly provide art with an undisputed status. The phenomenon of the museum boom of the present day, as the phenomenon of the emergence of the concept of “imaginary museums” in the second half of the 20th century, is associated with longing for “true” art, which ultimately leads to museums, or to the idea of museum. If in a classical museum a viewer expected to see “authentic”, as in “not fake”, works of the old masters, in a museum of contemporary art they expect to see at least “true” art, i.e. works “with the status of art.” Museums give art the quality of “authenticity”, hence the interest in museums and museum projects nowadays, despite the abundance of publicized images of museum artefacts in the media. Instead of these “simulacrums”, museums offer “real” artworks, and the idea of museum attracts a considerable attention, reflected in numerous curatorial projects dedicated to the image and the idea of museum. Among such projects were, for example, the exhibition Voices of Andre Malraux’s Imaginary Museum at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow and the exhibition The Keeper at the New Museum in New York.

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