TIME TO UPGRADE: OVERCOMING THE CHALLENGES OF EXHIBITING MEDIA ART IN MUSEUMS
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Authors
Faust, Rachael
Issue Date
2010
Type
Capstone
Language
en
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
This topic is pertinent to the majority of art museums that exhibit contemporary art because artists continually embrace technology in the creation and presentation of their works. In the introductory essay for the exhibition catalog 010101: Art in Technological Times, John S. Weber concluded, "Like it or not, high tech has arrived as a component of everyday life, and artists are adopting it in the studio, deploying it in the gallery, inhabiting it on the Internet, and making work that reflects its presence in society today in a stunning range of ways" (2001, p.16). Since 010101, increasing numbers of artists have continued to adopt media as an integral part of their practice, further securing the medium within the annals of art history. Whitney Museum of American Art curators Chrissie Iles and Henriette Huldisch argue, "some of the most important art of the later twentieth and early twenty-first century is technology based," (2005, p. 80). Faced with the challenging task of exhibiting these works, museums are quickly learning that media art does not comply with many current museum standards and best practices used for more traditional art forms.
Three research methods were used in order to investigate the technological needs and challenges faced by, art museum collections and exhibitions departments when exhibiting media-based artworks: a literature review, an online survey sent to museums in the United States that exhibit contemporary art, and a site visit to an art museum in California to observe and document the installation of a media-based exhibition.