[NetBehaviour] pourinfos.org [apostils] : Displaying works of art. Some remarks about exhibition design. |Jerome Glicenstein|

Geert Dekkers geert at nznl.com
Thu Sep 28 22:14:26 CEST 2006


Show me :)
Geert

On 28/09/2006, at 4:43 PM, xavier cahen wrote:

> Geert Dekkers a écrit :
>> Thanks for this. RIght in the middle of my own studies into the  
>> "black cube" (as opposed the the white one) and duration on http:// 
>> nznl.com
>>
>> Geert
> Is it really black and cube ? mine is gray, flat and square...
>
> yours
> xavier
>>
>>
>> On 28/09/2006, at 11:12 AM, xavier cahen wrote:
>>
>>> pourinfos.org
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
>>> ---
>>> [apostils] [apostils] [apostils] [apostils] [apostils] [apostils]  
>>> [apostils]
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
>>> ---
>>>
>>> Displaying works of art. Some remarks about exhibition design.
>>>
>>> By Jérôme Glicenstein
>>>
>>>
>>> The issue regarding exhibition design is widely ignored and  
>>> misunderstood, since the display designer’s work is often  
>>> confused with the curator’s or the artist’s. This stems from the  
>>> fact that some exhibition designers also can be artists,  
>>> architects, decorators or interior designers. The misconception  
>>> surrounding exhibition designers can also be explained by the  
>>> fact that they can simultaneously be theater-set designers,  
>>> working for art and science museums, private galleries, biennials  
>>> and professional shows. The task itself seems difficult to define  
>>> since it varies from hanging paintings in a row (as seen in large  
>>> museums) to putting up a few nails in a gallery. The work could  
>>> go completely unnoticed, while some display designers including  
>>> Robert Wilson, Philippe Starck or Jean Nouvel are recognized as  
>>> major creators.
>>> However, exhibition display has existed for a long time, at least  
>>> since art has been shown outside its original context. This is  
>>> why, since the creation of the “Salon officiel” set in France (at  
>>> the end of the 17th century), one of the curators’ main functions  
>>> was to display art pieces in such a way that they relate to each  
>>> other thus proposing a certain order to the visitors. At first,  
>>> this approach was not necessarily related to “aesthetics” but  
>>> followed academic and genres priorities and other rules of  
>>> etiquette. At first, curators were Academy members; later on  
>>> however, during the whole existence of the Salon, it was the  
>>> artists themselves who arranged exhibitions display. Artists as  
>>> different as Chardin, Renoir, Matisse or Léger occasionally  
>>> played this role at the salons [1].
>>>
>>> The “Golden Era” of exhibition design was during the 1920’s and  
>>> 30’s, when many museums were reorganized and the first museums of  
>>> modern art came into existence.
>>> Many of the modern art protagonists of the time were involved,  
>>> Alexander Dorner, Alfred Barr, René d’Harnoncourt, Louis  
>>> Hautecœur, El Lissitzky, Herbert Bayer or Frederick Kiesler...  
>>> Lissitzky summarized pretty well the passage regarding wall set- 
>>> up within the arrangement of the whole space: “One doesn’t look  
>>> at the space through a keyhole, nor through an open door. The  
>>> space is not only meant for the eyes, it is not a painting: one  
>>> wants to live within”. He also added that it was an odd  
>>> experience, “a genuine and moving experience” that could not be  
>>> reduced to a sole instant. “During an exhibition, one strolls  
>>> around. This is the reason why the space should be planned in a  
>>> way to allow visitors to move around freely. He explained how  
>>> important it was that the public physically react to the pieces  
>>> shown in the exhibition [2] ”. During the same period and with a  
>>> similar commitment of “involving” the visitors, Frederick Kiesler  
>>> perfected several systems of displaying paintings that he called  
>>> “vision machines”.
>>> These machines allowed visitors to adjust the height of images  
>>> and objects, (consequently modifying the “whole cohesion” of the  
>>> exhibition [3] ). Other display designers incorporated the  
>>> concept of “physiological” factors in the disposition of the  
>>> space. This is the case of Herbert Bayer, whose “limitations of  
>>> the field of vision” diagrams meant to define the “conditions of  
>>> the visit” from a “scientific” and “deterministic” point of view.  
>>> He explains that “an exhibition… paintings… or photographs, are  
>>> only a part… of new and complex means of communication. A  
>>> particular theme in an exhibition… should penetrate and move the  
>>> visitor inside. It should… lead him to a direct and pre-planned  
>>> reaction [4] ”.
>>>
>>> Recently, the question about the limits between the artist’s  
>>> involvement and the exhibition designer’s has been debated. Would  
>>> the way that light is projected on a work of art be part of the  
>>> design? Should the artist decide on the color of the walls, the  
>>> choice of furniture, the labels and information signs? Louis  
>>> Marin accurately remarked that: “displaying works of art is not a  
>>> minor task unrelated with the art, but the continuity of the  
>>> production of the work of art; the term of production - to bring,  
>>> to move the work of art “forward”- implies that art display ought  
>>> to be recognized as a full part of the art [5] ”. Installations  
>>> shows are obvious and common illustrations of this type of  
>>> problems. The work of art and its design are often overlapping  
>>> and become almost identical. For example, during the 1999 Venice  
>>> Biennial, a video installation by Scottish artist Douglas Gordon  
>>> showed the same two scenes of Taxi Driver in a loop slightly  
>>> unsynchronized on two opposite walls of a room. Obviously this  
>>> was not a screening of Martin Scorsese’s film Taxi Driver, but  
>>> rather a creation based on a “re-interpretation” and a different  
>>> display of the same film. Many similar examples could be found.  
>>> Actually, some site specific works tend to be practically  
>>> inseparable from their design. The only elements that eventually  
>>> escape being part of the work of art would be the “labels”,  
>>> “information signs” and “paths” of access, the light and the  
>>> architecture of the site.
>>>
>>> Problems caused by transforming pieces that were not conceived to  
>>> be shown in the field of fine arts are quite different:  
>>> literature, sound pieces, films, performances, Internet sites…  
>>> and to a lesser extent some forms of non-western art, design,  
>>> graphics, architecture, etc…Then, the vocation of exhibition  
>>> designers becomes the creation of pieces to be exhibited. In  
>>> literature, it means isolating text fragments, creating reading  
>>> lounges or public readings; in architecture, it could be working  
>>> on “representations”, sketches, plans, photographs, models,  
>>> prototypes, synthesized image animations, etc… In performing  
>>> arts, sketches, photos, recordings or even performances and  
>>> concerts are often programmed in the exhibition space, or close  
>>> to the space. The case of non-western arts or “applied arts” is  
>>> somehow different since it implies choosing between a  
>>> “documentary” approach (movies, photos, documents, lectures,  
>>> etc…) and an “aesthetic” approach (setting up objects on stands,  
>>> isolation, light set up). These “adaptations” are implying that  
>>> an exhibition cannot be planned without a “pre-definition” of the  
>>> objects to be exhibited. Moreover, some of the objects needing to  
>>> be adapted to an exhibition format are sometimes “re-invented for  
>>> the occasion”. Recently the development of “reading spaces”  
>>> within the exhibitions -for example, at the Palais de Tokyo –  
>>> shows the need to constantly generate new ways accessing  
>>> contemporary art. This is a crucial issue in the case of  
>>> interactive creations; creations which are usually more “hands- 
>>> on” than “meant to be exhibited” in the traditional sense.
>>>
>>> In recent years, exhibition designers’ most prevalent problem in  
>>> the context of their task in contemporary art exhibits is related  
>>> to films or videos presentations. One of the main challenges is  
>>> the length of the show: while movie theaters are adapted to  
>>> feature films, art shows are not. Françoise Parfait questions:  
>>> “How is it possible to stand in an open space watching an half an  
>>> hour monoband screening (the audience not having any clue about  
>>> the duration of the film) when it is primordial to watch the  
>>> whole film from the beginning in order to grasp its meaning?  
>>> Should we propose video rooms or viewing lounges in museums and  
>>> art centers [6]? ”. ” This issue became critical during Kassel’s  
>>> latest Documenta (in 2002) when hundreds of hours of video  
>>> projection were presented (it was virtually impossible to sit  
>>> through them all). How can one have a satisfactory level of  
>>> concentration when the projection is drowned in the middle of the  
>>> “flow” of an exhibition? How could the problem of sound  
>>> interference be solved when several videos are screened  
>>> simultaneously? Most probably, these issues initiated the  
>>> introduction of expressions such as “exhibition cinema” or  
>>> “installed cinema” to label some cinema styles foreign to a more  
>>> “classical” cinema presentation that could only be achieved via  
>>> contemporary art shows. The issue of animated images exhibitions  
>>> highlights the way relations are managed - relations between  
>>> works of art and the public as well as relations between members  
>>> of the public. In fact, “an exhibition (…) is an installation  
>>> setting-up things and people in a same place [7] ”. The space is  
>>> not only organized around the art works, but also to meet the  
>>> public needs in order to ensure a most satisfactory visit. During  
>>> the 19th century, visiting large exhibitions , such as at the  
>>> Salon’s, meant putting up with dreadful conditions which were a  
>>> permanent source of ironic comments in the press of the time; it  
>>> is not the case now, with an increased number of lounges, audio- 
>>> guides, cafeterias and souvenir shops showing an on-going concern  
>>> to optimize the experience.
>>>
>>> Two points have been raised regarding visitors’ remarks and the  
>>> ways to “utilize” the exhibition. The first refers to the fact  
>>> that while studying visitors “habits”, it becomes necessary to  
>>> “model” their journey. Thus, since the 1920’s, specific studies  
>>> have been conducted to determine the optimum quantity of works of  
>>> art to show and the best placement for them in the space  
>>> provided. These studies showed that visitors behavior varied in a  
>>> relatively “predictable” way, according to the background, the  
>>> type of exhibition, the room layout, the paths proposed, the  
>>> number of objects, etc., something that doesn’t go without  
>>> consequences on the exhibition design [8] . The second point  
>>> derives from the first and is a more “critical” one. It has been  
>>> made by media-historian Jonathan Crary and is related to the fact  
>>> that visitors of an exhibition are usually “observers”, in the  
>>> sense that they “observe”, they “respect”- rules, codes,  
>>> instructions and uses that are imposed. Crary thinks that: “  
>>> Evident as it may seem, a person who sees -an observer- is above  
>>> all, a person who sees within the frame of a pre-determined range  
>>> of possibilities, a person who is inscribed within a system of  
>>> conventions and limits”. As announced by a text distributed at  
>>> the entrance of the 1901 “Pan-American” Exhibition: “We are  
>>> asking you to remember that once you cross the threshold, you are  
>>> a part of the exhibition [9] ”.
>>>
>>> The issue surrounding the value of the design of an exhibition  
>>> has often been raised over the last forty years as it became  
>>> obvious that these designs project a “sense” and various curators  
>>> started claiming authorship over specific designs as expression  
>>> of their “artistic creation”. A creative “set-up” could actually  
>>> bring significant changes over to a work of art (or a collection  
>>> of works of art). A painting by Manet positioned next to a  
>>> painting by Velasquez develops consequences on their “readings  
>>> [10] . An exhibition design is a largely subjective exercise  
>>> based on permanent de-composition and re-composition”. It is  
>>> never neutral: Éric Troncy chose to exhibit a naked woman  
>>> photographed by Helmut Newton next to a plaster Virgin by  
>>> Katarina Fritzsch or a Bernard Buffet’s painting in front of a  
>>> mural by Sol Lewitt thus provoking some critics’ despair [11] .  
>>> The “relations” between works of art are defined by the  
>>> exhibition designer and highlight their specific “comprehensions”  
>>> inherent in their design itself. Is it possible to keep intact  
>>> the memory of such meaningful juxtapositions? As early as the  
>>> 1930’s, the MoMA began exhibiting images and documents related to  
>>> certain “historical” exhibition designs, regardless of their  
>>> status [12] ”. More recently, and soon after the 1970’s, some  
>>> display techniques have been re-created within the exhibitions.  
>>> That was the case for “Paris-New York” (1977) and “Paris- 
>>> Paris” (1981). A large number of recent exhibitions have followed  
>>> this trend, notably the “Dada” exhibition wherein one found an  
>>> approximate re-construction of the Picabia show at Dalmau Gallery  
>>> in Barcelona and also another (also approximate) re-construction  
>>> of the First Berlin International Dada Fair (1920) were launched.  
>>> In fact, exhibition design has become a “genre” of its own: in  
>>> 1989 at the “Stationen der Moderne” exhibition at the Berlinische  
>>> Galerie in Berlin, up to twenty historical German exhibitions  
>>> were re-created [13] .
>>>
>>> Jérôme Glicenstein
>>> Paris, May 4th, 2006
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Notes :
>>>
>>> [1] For a general history of the Salon, see Gérard-Georges  
>>> Lemaire, Histoire du salon de peinture, Paris, Klincksieck, coll.  
>>> Etudes, 2004.
>>> http://www.klincksieck.com/accueil.html
>>>
>>> [2] Many works on Lissitzky have been published. His main  
>>> reference is Sophie Lissitzky-Küppers’s book, El Lissitzky :  
>>> Life, Letters, Texts (1967), New York, Thames & Hudson. 1992.
>>> http://www.abebooks.com
>>>
>>> [3] Among the well-documented catalogues on Frederick Kiesler,  
>>> see specifically, Frederick Kiesler artiste-architecte (under  
>>> Chantal Béret’s supervision). This book was published for the  
>>> exhibition CNAC - Georges Pompidou , Paris, Editions du Centre  
>>> Pompidou, 1996.
>>> http://www.cnac-gp.fr/
>>>
>>> [4] Regarding Herbert Bayer, see in particular, Alexander Dorner,  
>>> The Way Beyond “Art” – The Work of Herbert Bayer, New York,  
>>> Wittenborn, Schultz, Inc., 1947.
>>> http://www.questia.com/
>>>
>>> [5] See Fabrice Hergott, « Réponses au questionnaire “Accrocher  
>>> une œuvre d’art” », in Cahiers du MNAM n°17/18, « L’œuvre d’art  
>>> et son accrochage », Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou, 1986, p. 207.
>>>
>>> [6] Françoise Parfait, Video : un art contemporain, Paris,  
>>> Regard, 2001, p. 170.
>>> http://www.editions-du-regard.com/regard/essais.html
>>>
>>> [7] Claquemurer pour ainsi dire tout l’univers. La mise en  
>>> exposition (under the direction of Jean Davallon), Paris, MNAM/ 
>>> CCI, coll. alors :, 1986, p. 205.
>>>
>>> [8] See, for example: Publics et Musées n°8, « Études de publics,  
>>> années 30 », Lyon, PUL, July-December 1995.
>>> http://presses.univ-lyon2.fr/article.php3?id_article=19&id_livre=194
>>>
>>> [9] Jonathan Crary, L’art de l’observateur. Vision et modernité  
>>> au XIXe siècle (trad. F.Maurin), Nîmes, Jacqueline Chambon, coll.  
>>> Rayon photo, 1994 (original edition: Cambridge, MIT, 1990), p. 26.
>>> http://fr.bookbutler.com/
>>> http://books.google.com/
>>>
>>> [10] This is the topic of Victoria Newhouse’s book, Art and the  
>>> Power of Placement, New York, The Monacelli Press, 2005.
>>> http://www.rochester.edu/in_visible_culture/Reviews/MGreview.html
>>> http://www.amazon.com/Art-Power-Placement/dp/product-description/ 
>>> 1580931480
>>>
>>> [11] Daniel Buren, “Where are the Artists”, in The Next Documenta  
>>> Should Be Curated by an Artist, June-November 2003; available at  
>>> http://www.e-flux.com..
>>> http://www.e-flux.com/projects/next_doc/d_buren_printable.html
>>>
>>> [12] Concerning this topic, see, in particular, Mary Anne  
>>> Staniszewski’s book, The Power of Display. A History of  
>>> Exhibition Installations at the Museum of Modern Art, Cambridge  
>>> Ma-London, MIT Press, 1998.
>>> http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=8169
>>>
>>> [13] Stationen der Moderne. Die bedeutenden Kunstausstellungen  
>>> des 20. Jahrhunderts in Deutschland, Berlin, Berlinische Galerie,  
>>> 1988.
>>> http://www.berlinische-galerie.de
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Jérôme Glicenstein’s biography:
>>>
>>> Jérôme Glicenstein is an artist and Associate Professor in Fine  
>>> Arts at Paris University (Saint-Denis).
>>> His lectures and his field of research deal with theories and  
>>> practices of exhibitions. In addition, he is in charge of a  
>>> university gallery and of the cycle of exhibitions “ To place/to  
>>> displace” at the Saint-Denis Museum of Art and History.
>>> He is also a regular collaborator for various magazines, in  
>>> particular la Revue d’Esthétique and directs the magazine Marges.
>>> He published various articles on the relations between art and  
>>> the new media.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Publications to come:
>>>
>>> « Dispositif », in Dictionnaire du corps (sld. Michela Marzano),  
>>> Paris, PUF, 2006.
>>> « L’art contemporain peut-il être populaire ? Remarques à propos  
>>> de Nuit blanche », Revue d’Esthétique n°46, 2006.
>>> « From Spectator to Actor: Experiments in the Gallery of Paris8  
>>> », in Proceedings of the XIXth Congress of IAEA (sld Jean- 
>>> Christophe Vilatte), Avignon, IAEA, 2006.
>>>
>>>
>>> Main recent publications:
>>>
>>> « Internet — Sites d’artistes », Encyclopædia Universalis (CD- 
>>> Rom), Paris, 2000.
>>> http://www.universalis.fr/
>>>
>>> « Le paysage panoptique d’Internet. Remarques à partir de Jeremy  
>>> Bentham », Revue d’Esthétique n°39, Paris, Jean-Michel Place,  
>>> 2001, p. 97-115.
>>> http://www.jeanmichelplace.com/fr/revues/detail.cfm? 
>>> ProduitID=1114&ProduitCode=7#
>>>
>>> « Statistiques, rumeurs et anarchie », Parpaings n°25, 2001, p.  
>>> 21-22.
>>> http://www.jeanmichelplace.com/
>>>
>>> « Le Guggenheim Virtuel », dans http://www.mudam.lu (sld Claude  
>>> Closky), musée Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, 2002.
>>> http://www.mudam.lu
>>>
>>> « Qu’attendez-vous du Palais de Tokyo ? », l’Info Noir/Blanc n° 
>>> 23, 2002.
>>> http://www.caap.asso.fr/spip.php?rubrique2
>>>
>>> « Le Palais de Tokyo : un “cinéma de situations” », Revue  
>>> d’Esthétique n°42, Paris, Jean-Michel Place, 2003.
>>> http://www.jeanmichelplace.com/fr/revues/detail.cfm? 
>>> ProduitID=628&ProduitCode=7
>>>
>>> « La muséologie d’Internet : quelques remarques à propos du  
>>> Guggenheim Virtuel », dans L’art à l’époque du virtuel (sld  
>>> Christine Buci-Glucksman), Paris, L’Harmattan, coll.Arts8, 2003.
>>> http://www.editions-harmattan.fr/
>>>
>>> « Changer de convictions ou changer de rôle ? Remarques à partir  
>>> d’une enquête menée par le Site de création contemporaine du  
>>> Palais de Tokyo », dans Art : changer de conviction (sld Jacques  
>>> Morizot), Paris, L’Harmattan, coll. Arts8, 2004.
>>> http://www.editions-harmattan.fr/
>>>
>>> « La création artistique contemporaine face aux nouveaux médias  
>>> », dans Arts plastiques et nouvelles technologies, Saint-Denis,  
>>> Musée d’art et d’histoire, 2004.
>>>
>>> « Quelques remarques à propos de Matrix », Revue d’Esthétique n° 
>>> 45, Paris, Jean-Michel Place, 2004.
>>> http://www.jeanmichelplace.com/fr/revues/detail.cfm? 
>>> ProduitID=1114&ProduitCode=7
>>>
>>> « Le commissaire d’exposition entre auteur et interprète »,  
>>> Dossier signature n°57, Montréal, Esse arts+opinions, 2006.
>>> http://www.esse.ca/fr/sommaire_ar.php?no=57
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Author’s recommendation / Current events:
>>>
>>> Exhibition: Architects' Exhibition Designs
>>> 115 European exhibitions designed by architects
>>> 7/7/2006 > 22/10/2006
>>>
>>> Pavillon de l'Arsenal
>>> 24 bld. Morland
>>> 75004 Paris France
>>> http://www.pavillon-arsenal.com/en/expositions/thema_modele.php? 
>>> id_exposition=175
>>> http://www.pavillon-arsenal.com/img/exposition/175/cp/PAV_175_CP.pdf
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Translation: Kristine Barut Dreuilhe
>>>
>>>
>>> Original version:
>>> La mise en scène des œuvres d’art. Remarques à propos de la  
>>> scénographie d’exposition.
>>> http://www.pourinfos.org/
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ---------------
>>> All text is available under the French license Creative Commons :
>>> non-commercial attribution – no derived work. 2.0. In order to  
>>> encourage a free pedagogic or associative usage.
>>> http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/fr/
>>>
>>>
>>> --pourinfos.org
>>> --------------
>>> XAVIER CAHEN
>>> Direction de la publication
>>> xavier.cahen at pourinfos.org
>>> http://www.pourinfos.org
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> NetBehaviour mailing list
>>> NetBehaviour at netbehaviour.org
>>> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
>>
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>
>
> -- 
> XAVIER CAHEN
> --------------
> cahen.x at levels9.com
> Paris France
> http://www.levels9.com
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