From outside to inside: Changing strategies and practices of
institutional critique 1960-2014
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Abstract
Established accounts of institutional critique either turn it into an art historical genre
that is past and finished, or suggest that it is pointless because it is always co-opted
by the institution. This thesis contests the canonisation of institutional critique by
positing that there has been a change in the agents of critique from the academic
critic, to the artist, to the curator. The research also argues against the supposed
futility of institutional critique by drawing on Foucault to consider critique in particular
instances rather than in general. Thus each case study considers whether or not a
particular artwork or project was understood as critical at the time and, if so, in what
capacity. In the course of examining the shifts in the critical agent from artist to
curator, I also identify a sequence of correlative changes. First there is an expansion
in the location of critique from mainstream USA museums to a wide range of art
institutions globally, including biennials. Second there is a change of focus in the
objects of critique, from the physical attributes of the exhibition spaces to modes of
display, museum processes, and the politicisation of content. Third there are different
strategies of critique, as artists and curators variously pursue mimetic, subversive and
symbolic strategies in their institutional investigations, and develop new ones. Overall,
the research demonstrates that institutional critique moves progressively inside the
institution, and becomes an embedded activity, particularly when independent
curators take up positions as directors of experimental institutions. The thesis
concludes that institutional critique has become more politicised and more complex
and that some of its strategies and practices have helped to re-function institutions