What a great thread!

I think that we need to distinguish between artistic intent and museum intent
here.

Once a work is completed by an artist and sold, it's context, presentation,
and interpretation - it's visual and sometimes verbal  "meaning" changes into
the hands and intent of its owners. If you think about it, very much the same
thing happens with antiquities and historical artifacts as well. How many of us
see ancient objects - that were once part of a funerary assemblage -
exhibited isolated from their contexts and presented as "art"?

Very much the same happens to paintings and sculptures when they pass out of
their originators realm and into the museum. Just consider museum intent 40
years ago and how that has changed, or sometimes not changed.

Museums are very much stages, theatres of art and history and science, and
those who conceive and organize exhibits are the directors. There are
innumerable ways of expressing the meanings of the same object or objects over time.

Museums are all over the place in terms of how much information and context
they present their audiences - and experimentation and fresh thinking are vital
to keeping audiences interested and to discover new avenues in presenting a
collection.

To be honest, I personally get tired when I encounter exhibits that have more
words and applied graphics than there are objects on view. I also get more
than humbug when I see objects (especially in a history museum) that have
absolutely no labeling at all.

And look at what technology has done - where some museums are so techno-laden
that the medium really has become the message while other museums eschew
technology in favor of a more primary visitor experience.

I have no problem with an exhibit such as the one described at the Hirshorn,
that jumbles the traditional art historical concepts and shrugs off labels,
and is essentially organized as an art sculpture garden. Sometimes it is a very
relaxing experience to simply "be" in the midst of art and not be bombarded
with concepts and interpretation constantly.

I think that the question is whether this experiment will find and sustain an
audience, and if the museum intent can be communicated more visually than
orally, by the arrangement of objects in a space.

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Artifacts
2930 South Birch Street
Denver, CO  80222
303-300-5257
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