institutional critique an anthology of artists’ writings

edited by alexander alberro and blake stimson © 2009 Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data

Institutional critique : an anthology of artists’ writings / edited by Alexander Alberro and Blake Stimson. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0- 262- 01316- 1 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Institutional Critique (Art movement). 2. Artists’ writings. I. Alberro, Alexander. II. Stimson, Blake. N6494.I565I57 2009 708—dc22 2009003619

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 institutions, critique, and institutional critique alexander alberro

The fi eld is a network of objective relations (of domination or subordination, of complementarity or antagonism, etc.) between positions. . . . All positions depend, in their very existence, and in the determinations they impose on their occupants, on the actual and potential situation in the structure of the fi eld. —Pierre Bourdieu, The Rules of Art

In actuality, as we all know, things as they are and as they have been, in the arts as in a hundred other areas, are stultifying, oppressive, and discouraging to all those, women among them, who did not have the good fortune to be born white, preferably middle class and, above all, male. The fault lies not in our stars . . . but in our institutions and our education. —Linda Nochlin, “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?”

Art . . . always was, and is, a force of protest of the humane against the pressure of domineering institutions . . . no less than it refl ects their substance. —Theodor W. Adorno, “Theses upon Art and Religion Today” institutions, critique, and institutional critique alexander alberro 3 the pursuit of publicness that had lling, a political position were built into the critical a political position were and understanding of the institution of art and its ac- understanding of the institution of art and rst place. They juxtaposed in a number of ways the immanent, the immanent, of ways in a number juxtaposed They rst place. understanding of the art institution with the (material) actuality of understanding of the art institution with imagining, as an integral element in the constitution of bourgeois identity. element in the constitution of bourgeois as an integral imagining, That gesture of negation, of negating the established conventions of art, was mod- was of art, conventions of negating the established of negation, gesture That The artistic practices that in the late 1960s and 1970s came to be referred to as that in the late 1960s and 1970s came to be referred artistic practices The —René of Action against Politics and Art” Viénet, “The Situationists and the New Forms ciently committed to, let alone realizing or fulfi let alone realizing to, committed ciently the social relations that currently formed it. That juxtaposition sought at once to foreground sought at once to foreground juxtaposition That formed it. that currently the social relations self- the theoretical the tension between brought it into being in the fi brought (ideal) self- normative of that tension or con- and to summon the need for a resolution of operation, tual practice of institutional critique in its moment characteristics central one of the Indeed, tradiction. that both an analytical of formation was strategy—thatinterpretive assessed the soundness of and critically if one problematized be in a better position then one would art institutions, by (often tacitly) the claims advanced art context. to instantiate a nonrepressive in the debate, in the critical exchange, It posited that the aesthetic exists ernist at its core. critically intervene to also dialectical: its aim was It was within the context of the art world. produce would with an expectation that these interventions of things, in the standing order Besides nega- reconciliation. and lead to genuine of power in the relations actual change at least Institutional critique, it also sought the possibility of a moment of synthesis. tion, Like the institutions of the university and the library or public archive, the art institution the or public archive, and the library university the institutions of the Like realized discursively aesthetic, The as dualistic. Enlightenment philosophy by advanced was the coupled with a promise: was of critique, the process through in salons and museums as a It also functioned of a public subject. sphere, of a public of public exchange, production form of self- and Enlightenment, of the European promise that radical institutional critique revisited not of art with the claim that it was the institution confronting by did so precisely they suffi Our task is to link up the theoretical critique of modern society with the critique of it in acts. society with the critique of modern to link up the theoretical Our task is the implications we can directly reveal of the spectacle, the very propositions By detourning tactics . the promotion of guerrilla . . propose that we pursue and future revolts. I of present media—anin the mass stage, only at the urban guerrilla of contestation, not important form but even before it. 4 activities ofthe Claire Copley GalleryinLos Angeles inthefallof1974. threaded through,” andinMichael Asher’s integration ofthebureaucratic andoperational there inRobertSmithson’s callin1972foran “investigation oftheapparatus theartistis prompted artiststoscrutinizeandgradually challenge theroles ofmuseum directors, cura- art andthosewhohave assumedresponsibility forcontinuing theestablishedcultural order The parallel increasingly madeinthelate1960sbetween themanagers oftheinstitution FRAMING institutional critique. ner thatfunctionsprecisely according tothestructural thatisatthecore logic ofhistorical public cultural institutionsthatoperate free interests, ofpoliticalandideological inaman- critical reassessment ofthepurportedly autonomousandneutral artmuseum, butalsofor refers toasthe “objective relations” thatstructure it. theactuality ofwhatPierre Bourdieu in of neutral cultural experience—and even theself- presentation—and isolations, andpointingtothefactthatthere isaradical disjuncture between theideal in unexpectedcombinationsoftrajectories, traversing theirseparateness, breaking their linked previously unconnectedspheres ofpublicexperiencetogetherinunexpected knots, large number ofartprojects (someofwhich are featured inthisvolume) thatprovocatively and yet heldontoitatthesametime. cultural institutions, they dialectically negatedthatwhich was thevehicle oftheirvoice, withdrew from theDocumenta4exhibitionandcalledfornoncomplicity withthedominant closed thegalleryforduration oftheirexhibition, orwhenJulio LeParc andEnzo Mari So when, forinstance, artistssuch asEduardo Favario orDanielBuren inthelate1960s old promise, anddidnotrest onthemomentofnegationasifthatwas initselfthetruth. in itsinitialyears ofdevelopment, heldoutfortheidealinstitutionofart;itonto that would protest against thequestionablevalues andpractices oflocalmuseums. helped togalvanize theirpeersinRosario, Argentina, toorganize into anartists’coalition Resist theLures ofComplicity,” withwhich Osvaldo MateoBoglioneandtheotherauthors instances ofinstitutionalcritique. We getaglimpseofitinthe1968tract “We Must Always within theestablishedinstitutionsofpublicsphere, anditisevident inmany otherearly ment, theEnlightenmentmoment, themomentofattemptedproduction ofpublicness 5 understanding ofthemuseum asanautonomousspace 1 That kindofcriticaldialogue isthemodernistmo- 4 These works thuscallednotonly fora 3 We alsoseeitina The Rulesof Art 2 Itis institutions, critique, and institutional critique alexander alberro 5 c- cation cation rst fi ctional museum ction was soon transported and reinstalled several several reinstalled and soon transported ction was ins, disseminating pamphlets, producing false identifi producing disseminating pamphlets, ins, As an institution, the museum is multifaceted and can be critiqued from a number a number and can be critiqued from is multifaceted the museum As an institution, tors, trustees, and the like. One of the most powerful early critiques from this perspective this perspective from critiques early of the most powerful One like. and the trustees, tors, his fi who in 1968 created Broodthaers, the Belgian artist Marcel carried out by was tional museum, the Department of Eagles, Museum of Modern Art. The artist recounts in “A in artist recounts The Art. Museum of Modern of Eagles, the Department tional museum, result to him as a direct (1969) that the idea came 1969” Vree, de with Freddy Conversation a this period had prompted of upheaval The of 1968. political events charged of the highly be- the relations join together to analyze and collectors to gallery owners, of artists, group for the group setting up shipping crates that while recalls Broodthaers art and society. tween of this the similarity by struck he was meeting in his studio, to sit on during a scheduled “the museum that and concluded for an exhibition, artworks to that of installing process dis- This came later.” the concept of circumstance; way but by not via a concept, born, was ‘This once said, Duchamp “Marcel of the readymade: the structure led him to invert covery a fi By creating museum.’” is a ‘This was, saying of art’; all I was is a work implicitly Broodthaers within it part of the art institution, all that circulated that rendered into being but also come museums how only asking not critiqued the logic of museums, to Somewhat amassed. are their collections and how who determines their modus operandi fi the model of the museum his surprise, in Parc Le those of Julio that recall in words to comment, leading Broodthaers times over, into will be absorbed quickly art production every “at present that (1968), Art” “Demystifying nature very the meaning of art but also the not only that transforms cycle the commercial of this art.” frame—a that overde- focuses on the museum’s frame Broodthaers standpoints. of different ideological and made of a myriad that is inherently a frame termines what it encompasses, developed At the same time that Broodthaers and political elements. social, of cultural, internal contradictions used that institution’s which this immanent critique of museums, Warsaw, Paris, Rosario, Aires, of artists in Buenos a number terms, to criticize it in its own as critique of the museum what could be termed a prescriptive launched and elsewhere asserting criticized, outside the objects they modes of criticism stood These institution. facts—offeringnorms against (or criteriologi- a particular point of view judgments from organiz- exhibitions, including boycotting forms, criticism took various The cal position). ing public meetings and sit- and performing actions and other demonstrations entry into museums, free to enable cards York in New example, For the dominant art institutions. transform that sought to radically 6 institutions in 1969, reform isnotenough;there hastobe “ an eliteminority. As Jean Toche ofGAAG notes inhisstatementtothe AWC OpenHearing then thecompositionofboard oftrustees shouldrefl particular. According tothe AWC, ifthemuseum truly isademocratic publicinstitution, and theGuerrilla Art Action Group (GAAG) against theMuseumofModern Art (MoMA)in importantprotests were coordinated inthelate1960sby the Art Workers’ Coalition(AWC) tion as snares to capture the concealed machinations and assumptions of museums—as tion assnares tocapture theconcealedmachinations andassumptionsofmuseums—as as “real- absolute apathy after World War II.” Describinghisprojects ofthelate 1960sandearly 1970s no doubtpushedinthisdirection by thegeneral politicalawakening thatfollowed years of fundamental tenetsoftheartworld. In “Provisional Remarks” (1971), henotes thathe “was probe thebreadth ofthefi out ofsight. thatisoftengendered and windows andvitrines—labor / or raced, andalways carefully kept exhibition, such aspaintingandwashing walls, sweeping andpolishingfl Ukeles emphasizestheindispensablelaborofinstallingandmaintaining siteofanart on thehidden orders ofthemuseum, butmore specifi machinations. MierleLadermanUkeles’s “Manifesto forMaintenance Art 1969!” alsofocuses ideology” toconcealthesocialandpoliticalconsequencesresulting from themuseum’s and price, isdeliberate: itis “a careful camoufl tion ofthevarious supportsofany work,” includingitsstretcher, frame, verso, pedigree, that only theimage isdisplayed. “The non- ported by theway artisinstalledandexhibited. Art ishungonwalls, carefully framed so with economicandmystical value. The sovereign statusofmuseums, Buren writes, issup- which themuseum naturalizes whatisinfacthistorical, andendows theobjectsitexhibits which theinstitutionsimbuedart. tions quickly becomeacritiqueofnationalpolicy meaningswith andoftheideological working withinacontextofpredominantly funds, artiststargeted individual shareholders andcorporate patrons, forEuropean artists, and universities.” While intheUnitedStates, where museums tendtorely heavily onprivate time socialsystem[s]operating inanartcontext,” Haacke claimsthatthey func- Since thelate1960sHansHaacke hasalsoproduced works andwrittentextsthat Daniel Buren’s “The FunctionoftheMuseum” (1970)analyzes theprocess by inthesamemanneras, today, studentsare fi eld of artandcallintoquestionthemany unspoken andyet visibility or(deliberate) non- state- age undertaken by thep effective participationintherunningofthese funded museums, thecritiqueofinstitu- ghting forthecontrol oftheschools cally from theperspective oflabor. ect thegeneral populationandnot revalent bourgeois indication / oors, cleaning oors, revela- institutions, critique, and institutional critique alexander alberro 7 exivity, exivity, refl rever possible rever that the art ect on the part His immanent critique of the critique of the His immanent 6 uencing which artists receive important grants important grants artists receive uencing which it—thateld should be mobilized against whe called high art,” infl called high art,” eld, making apparent the intersections where political, economic, economic, political, intersections where the making apparent eld, uence is capable of coalescing a whole range of constituencies, including of constituencies, a whole range of coalescing uence is capable of the major of uniformity of interests lack nancial speculation and the relative Thus by the late 1960s and the 1970s it had become especially crucial for artists the 1970s it had become especially the late 1960s and by Thus agents” that enter into the institution of art to show that much of what it presents it presents of what that much of art to show enter into the institution that agents” uential academic positions. Fortunately, Haacke writes, “the peculiar dialectics of writes, Haacke Fortunately, positions. uential academic ltrated by political and corporate concerns. For, as rigorous as many of these early cri- of these early as many as rigorous For, concerns. political and corporate by ltrated as natural is actually historical and socially constructed. and socially historical is actually as natural “double- operating logic of museums and galleries soon expanded to refl galleries soon expanded and logic of museums operating institu- of the and on the instrumentalization quo, maintaining the status in public played “the (1977), Agent” “The writes in As Haacke interests. political and economic tion of art by ‘for ‘what?’ and as to questions such allergy has a natural governments, like state, corporate infl Its whom?’” to sup- together form a block who and dealers, artists, critics, curators, directors, museum interests. to their economic and unthreatening unproblematic, art that is neutral, port only and on the art world galleries have that commercial that the impact also observes Haacke art gal- “Commercial and success in the market: the sale of art artists extends far beyond we consciousness industry which in that small segment of the agents powerful leries are of so- as the world know and infl Hanna Ptasz- Borowski, Wieslaw space (what a provides societies” “liberal in consciousness” site is enabled by This for critical work. “PLACE”) theorize as a Tchorek Mariusz and kowska, the logic of fi cau- and Broodthaers Buren, as Le Parc, artists such Whereas industry. of the culture players instrumentalize anything and appropriate quickly tion that the institution of art is able to as an opportunity and concludes that the internal contradic- reality seizes this Haacke new, tions and inconsistencies of the fi and ideological interests directly intervened and interfered in the production of public cul- in the production and interfered intervened directly and ideological interests reas- a call for a careful by countered was that reality however, At the same time, ture. founded as a was sessment of what is lost when the museum—which, as I noted earlier, and self- historical memory, site for the articulation of knowledge, democratic “the very mechanisms” of the institution of art, what Bourdieu calls its “objective relations,” relations,” “objective calls its what Bourdieu of the institution of art, mechanisms” “the very critique of the dominant system of beliefs.” “should be used without hesitation for a to expose the institution of art as a of institutional critique who took up the challenges fi problematical deeply society—is of civil element in the education and social production and as an integral in- fi that the institution the myths in juxtaposing were tiques of the institution of art clearly 8 between artist andaudienceaswell ason “the relation between thosewhomerely visit of socialclassinthefi that characterizes theinstitutionofartmore generally. Roslerunderscores theimportance dominance oftheNew York artworld, toquestionwhatfactorshave produced theelitism Rosler shiftsthetermsofRamsden’s critique, which isspecifi tutional determination. subjecthood, canbedestroyed, andanartcanbeproduced thatevades thelimitsofinsti- basefrom which traits thatthemarket preys upon,“community”—a such asindividual that hasbecomesointernalized. In particular, hestresses theimportanceofdeveloping a ber ofinitiatives that, working inconcertwitheach other, willalterthe careerist mindset Nevertheless, hemaintainsthepossibilitythatradical change mightresult from anum- tic, allowing themselves tobecomeco- specifi short ofexactingany signifi the statusquo(hementions AWC andconceptual art), butheseestheseashaving fallen between aestheticpractice andeveryday politicsisunbreachable. making resistance close toimpossible. Undertheseconditions, the chasm ordisconnect the artmarket has beencompletely internalizedby allthosewhoparticipate init, thereby become “masters,” andtheNew York artists “imperialist puppets.” The capitalist structure of art world. Heobserves that “the administrators, dealers, critics, pundits” ofhistimehad eral instrumentalizationofart, andinparticularthehegemonicdominanceofNew York Ramsden, writingasamemberofthecollective Art &Language, criticizestheoverall gen- 1960s andearly 1970s, fi The term “institutional critique,” usedtodescribethepoliticizedartpractice ofthe late INSTITUTION OFART realign itsactualfunctionwithwhatitisintheory. in ademandtostraighten uptheoperation ofthiscentral siteofthepublicsphere andto it, they ultimately championed andadvocated fortheinstitution:critiquesculminated perpetuates withthenetwork ofsocialandeconomicrelationships that actually structure c changes intheinstitutionofartbutaffi In “Lookers, Buyers, Dealers, andMakers: Thoughts on Audience” (1979), Martha Ramsden acknowledges thatinthelate1960sthere were genuine challenges to eld of art, acknowledging itssignifi rst appeared inprintMelRamsden’s “On Practice” (1975). Here cant change becausethey were eitherameliorative, callingfor opted by thesystemtoattaincommercial success. rming itsbasicstructure, oropportunis- cant impactontherelationship cally focusedontheoperative institutions, critique, and institutional critique alexander alberro 9 on goers absolutely gallery- uent visitors uent eld of art is much more com- more eld of art is much owing, have a great deal of leverage with mu- deal of leverage a great have owing, rst place. An understanding and appreciation of and appreciation An understanding rst place. gure of the artist (as “utterly alone,” “unassimi- alone,” “utterly of the artist (as gure uencing museum exhibitions and collections. Rosler notes that “big that Rosler notes exhibitions and collections. uencing museum rst and foremost in the importance of the formal aspects of the artwork; sec- in the importance of the formal aspects of the artwork; rst and foremost For Rosler, then, the role that class plays in the fi that class plays role the then, Rosler, For nition of art by infl nition of art by in “The Constituency” (1976) one step further by insisting that the relatively affl that the relatively insisting by further (1976) one step Constituency” “The in in the art market, involved those who become directly including to galleries and museums, and ideological formations existent same values the very the art world through reproduce in society at large. what insidiously, far more it is also, power; determining purchasing plicated than merely and art in the fi determines what is culture of aesthetic taste occurs. cultivation the where education, to a liberal linked art is intricately “depends and its social value monitored, be carefully has to though, High art, the Rosler traces culture.” a low and a high culture the existence of a distinction between that the notion Kant’s Immanuel to constitutes high art back foundations of what presently and the Enlightenment philoso- of taste, other than the cultivation aesthetic has no purpose aesthetic social and political concerns should be excluded from direct belief that all pher’s of artistic areas impact of this aesthetic ideology is manifest in several The contemplation. fi production: fi ond in the construction of the romantic existence”); and also in the “uncomfortable in his own social order,” lable within bourgeois a relationship the artist and the audience, between alienated relationship even distanced, and disconnect are passivity This “passive.” as being inherently that Rosler characterizes from “gallery is a space apart that the that ensures an exhibition structure by reinforced Rosler Ramsden, Like Art.” rightful milieu is only just as art’s Art, concern other than any of art into and for a reintegration of the institution of art, calls for an expansion of the frame and and showing, production over our control expand inventively must “We life: everyday with and for people outside the our opportunities to work widen simultaneously must we of thinking about ways the false boundaries between to rupture . . . audiences for high art, the world.” changing of actively art and ways collectors, . . . aside from keeping the cash fl the keeping from aside . . . collectors, members of muse- trustees or board and often are and curators seum and gallery directors conclusions about Haacke’s leads her to push This agencies.” ums and granting cultural artifacts and those who are in a position to buy them.” The purchasing power of power purchasing The position to buy them.” in a and those who are artifacts cultural cannot be under- in aesthetic production it plays role class and the fundamental the upper very artists but also the of individual the immediate livelihood only It affects not estimated. defi 10 artists must fi therefore cansurvive withoutthesupportofartmarket. Buttoproduce such work, ducing work thatcanbeeffectively insertedintofi regard anddisa are reprimanded by negative reviews, butthey are more likely tomeetwith completedis- well- lectors andthemarket. All ofthese constituenciesdemandthattheartistremain withina the institutionofart, thosewhosewritings onartare mostpublicwork intandemwithcol- career. Underpinning thisassessmentis thebeliefthatunderp her isthatthecriticcomestocontrol themeaningofartworks, andinturntheartist’s of thecriticisyet anotheraspectof “aesthetic acculturation.” What particularly troubles tween theartistandcriticwithinarteducationconcludesthatauthorialvoice counts asart, period.” interests” ofthesefortunateindividuals defi and collectorswillpurchase. As Piperputsit, “The socioeconomically determined aesthetic ing toproduce formalistapolitical works thatmuseums willexhibit, dealerswillsupport, or completely absent.” The result isthereproduction ofthestatusquo, withartistscontinu- and theinterests render “political andsocialsubjectmatter. . . eitherlargely subordinate These values include “a concernwithbeauty, form, abstraction, andinnovation inmedia,” artistic values andinterests ofthosesocially andeconomically advantaged individuals.” portionately composedofstudentsfrom wealthy backgrounds andthereby reproduce “the likely todecidebecomeartists. As aresult, institutionssuch asartschools are dispro- creatively inclinedindividuals whogrew upinconditionsofeconomichardship are less the identityofanartistispreconditioned by adegree ofeconomiccomfortandprivilege; background orclassofthesubjectasfundamentaltothisprocess. The decisionto take on social, intellectual, economic, andcreative autonomy.” Like Rosler, Piperseestheeconomic ondarily, ascritics, dealers, etc.)withinexistingartinstitutionsandthereby abdicatetheir which individuals are recruited intotheranks ofartpractitioners asartists(andalso, sec- springboard theconcept ofwhatPipercalls “ tion withinthefi up theconversation begunby Haacke, Ramsden, andRoslerontheimportanceofeduca- established formula anddevelop asignature style. At best, departures from thenorm Piper isalsoskeptical oftheartcritic’s role. Shetraces thedivision oflaborbe- The two essays by Adrian Piperincludedinthisvolume, bothfrom 1983, pick rst rigorously question theconstellationofelementsthatgointotheirown vowal. Pipercallsonartiststorespond totheseadverse conditionsby pro- eld ofart. “Power RelationswithinExisting Art Institutions” takes asits ne notonly whatcountsasquality, but “what aesthetic acculturation elds outsideoftheinstitution ofartand ”—i.e., ”—i.e., “the process by revailing conditionsof institutions, critique, and institutional critique alexander alberro 11 ?” ?” seek Third Text Third Third Text Third based visual culture journal journal based visual culture nd a third way, an alternative an alternative way, nd a third ne the institution of art. To ac- To of art. ne the institution British- expression. This is sheer myth, according to Araeen, for it is “only “only for it is Araeen, to according is sheer myth, This expression. In striving to eliminate binary models, Araeen and Araeen to eliminate binary models, In striving 7 ha once remarked, the center depends on the periphery in order to in order on the periphery the center depends ha once remarked, the periodical’s mission is to expand and redefi mission is to expand the periodical’s The institutional critique strategy of shifting the viewer’s perspective, or making perspective, the viewer’s of shifting institutional critique strategy The construction as artistic producers. Piper’s concluding remarks are similar to those of similar are concluding remarks Piper’s as artistic producers. construction not as much to expand the center to the periphery as to dissolve those established bound- to expand the center to the periphery as to dissolve not as much impasses. aries and theoretical complish this, Araeen asserts, the publication will seek to fi asserts, Araeen complish this, self- sec- in my expressed of Linda Nochlin as to the thoughts as well and Rosler, Ramsden face is artists the predicaments emphasizing that an education All stress ond epigraph. exhibition, production, of artistic the conditions attempt to transform to any important and distribution. also light, and different in a new for granted taken had previously see what they viewers “Why explains in Araeen As Araeen. of the artist Rasheed informs the work (1987), which served as the founding statement for the as served which (1987), Text, Third of “considerations that awareness with an of binary opposition,” “models to predominant structure which Binary oppositions, questions of politics.” from art cannot be separated and arrange for they limited, inherently are of the world, life and the ordering everyday a link between thus forges Araeen in terms of Same or Other.” . . . practices “cultural classify of chal- capable of critical investigations the development and proposes art and politics, One of the most consequential of these is lenging about culture. some of the basic beliefs it succeeds to which the degree by of art is measured the humanist notion that the value human self- in conveying ideologi- Art’s product.” “assert[s] itself as a valuable that art value” its exchange through to as (1984) refers of Consciousness” Managers “Museums, in what Haacke cal function, as intrinsically Araeen by posited is therefore consciousness,” “channeling manner of art’s in legitimating the market by played important role The value. bound up with its exchange and of art, frame for those outside of the conventional handicap art is of course an added and ethnicity race, fatal for artists whose gender, usually are circumstances these adverse an artist’s notion that Piper’s reiterates Araeen In short, also place them at a disadvantage. class,” and gender, race, of nationality, considerations by “overdetermined identity is always and scholarship within the institutional context of liberal “maintained and reproduced and anthro- As visual equation. location to Piper’s geographical But he adds place.” the market Minh- T. pologist Trinh maintain its centrality. 12 early 1970s. addressed thisparadox from theperspective ofgenderinequalityordiscriminationinthe Nochlin’s groundbreaking essay “Why Have There BeenNoGreat Women Artists?” (1971) manner butasaformofcritique, theextantcontradictions atthemostextreme level. Linda the reigning doxa, andyet atthesametimeitarticulates, notnecessarily inanaffi moral contradiction inaestheticproduction inthatontheonehanditoftenradically denies the typesofinjusticethatcharacterize existingconditionsinsociety. Sothere isapeculiar The artinstitution, as much astheworks thatare madeforit, willalways bethesiteof and reiterates thevery mechanisms ofsocialcontrol andoppression thatideologyperforms. to excludewomen inthefi called foratransformation oftheinstitutionalstructures thathave historically functioned dial historyofartthatincludeswomen artistspreviously excludedfrom thathistory, she parameters ofoppressive culture withinthevisual fi behavior. Sothevery questionofhow representation could beconstructedtotranscend the of lookingare inextricably boundupwithpatriarchal forms ofcontrol, domination, and tially thesame)thentheorized, namely theconcept ofthegaze, which positsthatallacts institutional critique(andIamlinkingthetwo here becauseIthinkthedynamic isessen- specifi instance, artworks such asBarbara Kruger’s precisely thoseformsofdominationagainst which thenew visualitywas tobeposited?For or alternative publicsphere withimages, ifimages whenrendered rehearse and reiterate ing patriarchal orotherwiseoppressive conventions. How couldartistsdevelop acounter work informedby feminismwas how toproduce representation withoutreproducing exist- permeates it. Oneofthekey questionsthatconfronted artistsinthe1980swhodeveloped and, plainly put, ideology)andthehighly gendered, raced, andclassedideologythatactually presentation oftheartinstitution(asdemocratic andfree ofdiscrimination, partisanship, function inasimilarmanner, puttingpressure onthedisjuncture between theself- ogy atlarge. The institutionofart, as Theodor Adorno writes, isintricately linked tothegoverning ideol- INSTITUTIONALIZING cally refer tosomethingthatartists andarthistoriansinformedby feminismand Many oftheartpractices thathave followed onhistoricalinstitutionalcritique 9 8 Ratherthanattemptingtoresolve thecontradiction by constructingareme- Itisitsally, counterpart, andunderside, andassuch itinevitably rehearses rst place. Your HitstheSide ofMyFace Gaze eld was asmuch atthecenterof (1981)very rmative institutions, critique, and institutional critique alexander alberro 13 eld. But eld. rst three parts. For For parts. three rst agrant discrimination and prejudices that contradict that contradict discrimination and prejudices agrant nes the central impulse of historical institutional critique, and is evi- impulse of historical institutional critique, nes the central vowed equitableness and lack of bias toward anything but disinterested but disinterested anything of bias toward equitableness and lack vowed iers, billboards, newspaper advertisements, and videotapes. But while and videotapes. advertisements, newspaper billboards, iers, The urgent quest in the 1980s to position artistic production within the public public within the production to position artistic quest in the 1980s urgent The critically which as Louise Lawler, of artists such method in the work operative The operation as the question of how the governing forms of visuality, seeing, and speech could and speech seeing, forms of visuality, the governing question of how as the operation within. from be dismantled to—or resorting without sphere into—the relapsing led to structures monumental use of of accessible forms articulated within easily of art that was deal of a great the production pub- and design), smart graphic (e.g., and representation as language) (such communication distributed as fl licly of in the process laudable, obviously were these strategies for developing their motivations conditions distribution forms and to the existing disseminated to easily adjusting their work art that began to produce these artists inadvertently and seeing competence, of reading publicity. of pure into the realm the border crossed is to dismantle the con- and contextualization of art, reception, examines the production, of meaning and that artistic that the artist is an autonomous progenitor myths ventional design practice and photographic Lawler’s intrinsic qualities. located in art’s is solely value and economic activi- social, that a complex ensemble of promotional, shows determinedly Her pic- of art with value. works and endows ties sustains the position of the artist today and viewing selling, displaying, of making, of practices an array and objects address tures fi discursive and ask those who encounter them to consider their place in art’s art, belief of these interventions underlying The do so with a sense of possibility. they quality, Lawler’s work makes these claims with a sense that if the institutional boundaries that the institutional boundaries that these claims with a sense that if makes work Lawler’s of and the dependence disrupted, adequately of art are the roles determine and separate then the evident, their context is made plainly governing of art on the conventions works For might be regained. of the institution the initial promise public function of art that was contingent and cultur- already that art is always is meticulous in showing while her work remain and promises roles historical it also suggests that the aesthetic’s constituted, ally dialectic, This attributed to art today. of negotiating with the meanings and capable residual defi as I noted earlier, fi in this volume’s artists featured by produced of the work dent in much decades for several Guerrilla Girls have of the while the tactical media projects instance, the fl foregrounded persistently now a the art apparatus’s 14 more oftheworld intoit. The underlying relations of power remain thesame. This leads everyday life, artistshave notescaped theinstitutionofart, shewrites, buthave brought appropriation ofinstitutionalcritique:intheireffortstoredefi is now broader thanever. ButFraser concludesthatthisvery successhasalsoledtothe transformations intheinstitutionofart. The frame thatallows somethingtobecalledart ful inshakinganderoding thefoundationsofmuseum about signifi andbringing (2005) acknowledges theimportantways inwhich institutionalcritiquehasbeensuccess- its abilitybothtowithstandandincorporate even themosttrenchant ofcritiques. that institution’s staying power andrelevance forthisnew generation ofartists, as well as between thetwo. Butthecontinued focusonthemuseum by Wilson andhispeerssuggests race discrepancies thatare stillp headless andeach clothedinaNew York Citymuseum uniform, foreground theclassand as Wilson’s institutions ofpower such asthemuseum withquestionsofracial politics. Works such ized orreradicalized questionsofclassandgenderintocriticalhistoricalanalyses linking work ofFred Wilson, which developed earlierinstitutionalcritiquepractices thatradical- various democratic strugglesagainst different formsofsubordination. A caseinpointisthe of artisticsubjectivity. This oftenentailscreating connectionsbetween artpractice andthe attempt tolinktheidentitypoliticsofnew socialmovements ofthe periodtonew forms suffi in commontheirexploration oftheways inwhich artistic(andother)practices become world activities ofthelate1960sand1970s. They represent aplurality ofpositionsthathold Mark Dion, tooyoung toengage MariaEichhorn, fully intheart andNilsNorman—were PhilippMüller,institutionalization. These artists—Christian Fareed Armaly, RenéeGreen, ing inthelate1980sandearly 1990swhoquestionedallaspectsoftheprocess ofartistic manage andconfi institution itself, butrather thattheproblems are locatedintheconventions thatcurrently words, thework doesnotmaintainthatthere isanything fundamentally wrong withthe exposedforalltosee. understandingandpresentation Inother andthecurrent reality—are discrepancycorrected iftheinstitution’s between its idealself- internalcontradictions—the is thattheinjusticespresently characterize theinstitutionofartcanbealtered and ciently regular andcontinuous tobeconsidered asinstitutions. Many oftheseartists Andrea Fraser’s “From theCritique ofInstitutionstoanInstitutionCritique” The third sectionofthisbookopenswiththework ofageneration ofartistsemerg- Guarded View gure it. (1991), which features four revalent in theinstitutionofart, anddraw connections brown- skinned malemannequins, all ne artandreintegrate itinto cant institutions, critique, and institutional critique alexander alberro 15 ned neither ned and the cial art world ark, RepoHistory, the Yes Men, Men, Yes the RepoHistory, ark, TM elds that are far removed from the the from far removed elds that are cant parts of its legacy. In particular, many of many In particular, its legacy. cant parts of eld of art, that they themselves constitute the constitute themselves they that of art, eld based WochenKlausur writes in “From the Object to the “From writes in WochenKlausur based nes of the museum and art market. Art is in these cases Art is in and art market. nes of the museum Vienna- Vienna- The scope and tactics of these collective movements are broad, ranging from ide- from ranging broad, are movements scope and tactics of these collective The nding ways to get out of the frame altogether, evading the offi the evading altogether, to get out of the frame nding ways and writings that stem from projects of this collection brings together art nal section these artists have little patience for the types of critique featured in the third section that in the third little patience for the types of critique featured these artists have to, an alternative but cannot imagine the institution of art and problematize can analyze dismantling or disarticulating the Not content with merely its framework. or an outside of, the immanent critique part of that is to say, within, of art institution sites from operation as ® such artist groups the institutional critique equation, The fi The with earlier politics resonate and cultural agendas whose radical international collectives signifi forms of institutional critique but reject EXIT STRATEGIES her to conclude that even artists whose work is informed by institutional critique should critique should institutional by is informed work artists whose that even her to conclude the fi in “trapped” are that they acknowledge institution and should take responsibility for its disposition and mode of operation: “It’s not “It’s mode of operation: for its disposition and responsibility and should take institution we of what kind of institution a question It’s . . . the institution. of being against a question and what reward, we of practice what forms institutionalize, we what kind of values are, and embodied, is internalized, Because the institution of art to. aspire we kinds of rewards that institutional critique demands we the questions these are individuals, performed by of ourselves.” all, above ask, by its relationship to traditional exhibition spaces such as museums and galleries, nor by nor by galleries, and as museums exhibition spaces such to traditional its relationship by institutional critique Rather, concern to the art world. issues of primary it addresses the way entails fi Concrete Intervention” (2005), “Art should no longer be venerated in specially designated designated in specially “Art should no longer be venerated (2005), Intervention” Concrete out and work with political circumstances, grapple with reality, Art should deal . . . spaces. human coexistence.” for improving proposals to at public demonstrations pamphleteering from ology critique to biological engineering, defi institutional critique is primarily these artists, For disobedience. electronic subRosa, Raqs Media Collective, and the Electronic Disturbance Theater develop tactical develop Theater Disturbance and the Electronic Raqs Media Collective, subRosa, of fi in an array effectively to intervene media strategies As the institution of art. attendant professions and institutions that legitimate it, and developing practices capable capable practices and developing and institutions that legitimate it, attendant professions outside of the confi of operating 16 ers whoseproducts meetthedemandsofmarket andcultural institutions.” The Bureau With their stuntedphilosophy offorms, thesecriticsreduce artiststothestatusofsuppli- system issuppressed today by artcriticsassumingtherole (andrecruiters). oflegislators strong resistance thatsuch tacticscontinue toface: “This exodusofartistsoutsidetheart tions ofthepresent.” The Bureau d’ÉtudescommendFahlström’s exitstrategy, butnotethe games fi the institutionofartandgaineditsown autonomy. Fahlström “created paintings, maps, and explores themannerinwhich thework oftheSwedish artistincreasingly stepped outof stitution ofart. Their text, “Resymbolizing Machines: Art afterÖyvindFahlström” (2004), velop anagile formofcritique(“guerrillatactics”)thatisperpetually onthemove. the Situationistthinkingarticulatedby René Viénet inmy fourthepigraph, thatartistsde- form, doesnotaffectgeneral policy constructionanddeployment,” they propose, echoing “corporate stateclearly understandsthatcontainedlocalizedactivity, even inaggregate “to collapse spectacleintoitsown meaninglessrhetoric.” Fully aware ofthefactthat imperativesideological thatthespectaclemasks,” “to of subversion are criticalanddiagnostic, seeking, asthey putit, “to reveal theexploitive terminatingandwould not “[solidify] intoastructure ofauthority.” The aimsofCAE’s tactics “grounded inasenseof ‘community,’” andthat, duetotheir “ad hocnature,” were self- were tacticsthatwere “immediate,” could “address aparticularreal- had tochange accordingly, continually evolving toremain disruptive. What were required on mediaanddistributionnetworks, toresituate itself. Thus ofresistance thelogic tactics heaval of1968madeevident thepower ofthespectacle, withitsstrong corporate hold in “Tactical Media” (1996), therapid return toorder following thepoliticalandcultural up- tique artistssuch asBroodthaers andHaacke. As theCritical Art Ensemble(CAE) explains games ofMarcel Duchamp, which hadanimportantimpactonhistoricalinstitutionalcri- standing ofthecrucialrole thatmediaplay incontemporary societies than totheaesthetic lectives’ counterspectaclestrategies are much more indebtedtotheSituationistunder- developed by theSituationistInternationalin1950s, 1960s, andearly 1970s. These col- authoritarian culture.” end. The statedaimisnothingshortofconfronting andcontesting “the risingintensityof ismore ofameansthanan connected toamuch larger project—it politicalandideological lled withprecise information, analyzing thesocial, economic, andpoliticalsitua- The Paris- In thisandotherways, theprojects ofthesenew collectives resonate withthose based Bureau d’Étudesalsowork justoutsideofthepurview ofthein- 10 reveal allthatspectacleerases,” and space situation,” were 11 institutions, critique, and institutional critique alexander alberro 17 the visual and détourne c neutrality and expertise. They thus thus They and expertise. c neutrality interpretation as Intervention.” They They as Intervention.” interpretation The use of the Internet as a tool and site for interventionist critique opens a critique opens a a tool and site for interventionist use of the Internet as The nd Fahlström’s interest in distribution and broadcasting machines particularly particularly machines and broadcasting in distribution interest nd Fahlström’s 12 Like many of the artist collectives that have coalesced in the past two decades, the decades, coalesced in the past two that have of the artist collectives many Like What these tactical media strategies make clear is that by the 1990s there were were the 1990s there clear is that by make What these tactical media strategies ltrating engineering culture.” Relying on the performance strategy of simulation honed of simulation on the performance strategy Relying engineering culture.” ltrating whole new range of possibilities with a virtually unlimited public. Art is no longer restricted Art is no longer restricted unlimited public. with a virtually of possibilities range whole new it now life in printed catalogues; rather, to material sites of exhibition or to a secondary wired” “more that is becoming in a world than ever broadly and more rapidly circulates minute. every Inter- the (IAA) also harnesses the possibilities opened up by Autonomy Applied Institute for Interventions Ambivalence: “Engaging In change. and produce net to effect social awareness political “addressing writes of their hope that by the group (2005), in Engineering Culture” decon- “tactical aesthetics” Their engineering culture.” “challenge may their projects issues” that have agencies and nongovernmental military research struct the connections between rally- IAA’s The the logicrelationships. of these apart to break in order become naturalized “Re- ing cry is also Situationist: d’Études fi media of independent understand the importance they collectives, many Like appealing. counter public sphere of a for the creation the like and houses, movie publishers, systems, can that the machines to create enough merely that it is not realize they Yet of information. and appropriate, can synthesize, for capitalism systems of information, alternative produce that “data maps” of creation consider the they Thus information. all new destroy selectively and the prison industry, media concentration, with of capitalism connect the structures the capitalist challenge to way as the most effective example, for military technologies, new maintained and continuously that are the form of websites take “maps” These behemoth. Internet the possibility of maneuvering with access to the anyone providing thus updated, tactically. rhetorical devices of sanctioned research organizations in elaborate performances aimed at performances in elaborate organizations of sanctioned research rhetorical devices “infi the IAA pose as engineers Men, Yes and the Laibach, Fraser, Müller, as artists as diverse by under the guise of scientifi their work and present that guard detachment the gates of carrying our critique through horses, Trojan “as operate of their labor.” products for the taking responsibility engineers against As critical approach. with its own each of institutional critique, distinct trajectories two effectiveness and the strength (2004), Inside and Out” “Tactics in observes Bordowitz Gregg “to stop believing who refuse and others, as Fraser of the institutional critique of artists such 18 3. 2. 1. I wouldliketothankNoraM.Alterforhereditorialadvice. NOTES interesting artbeingproduced today fusestheseirreconcilable positions. moribund cultural apparatus andengaging withsocialconfl to work inthelegacy ofinstitutionalcritiqueare lefttochoose between contemplatingthe other Enlightenmentinstitutionsofpublicsubjectformation, inruins, artistswhocontinue uphold asrecently asacoupleofdecadesago. With theidealsofinstitution ofart, andof notionthatmuseums claimedto to beautonomousfrom theforces ofeconomicpower—a tions, andmore broadly speakingtheinstitutionsofpublicsphere, donoteven pretend ferent from whatitwas intheearliermomentsofinstitutionalcritique. Today, artinstitu- economy theoperative ofinstitutionspublicsubjectformationissignifi logic What bothofthesetrajectories share istheconviction thatinthecontext ofaneoliberal anddevelopnologies projects “critical ofthemodesproduction now shaping ourlives.” places faroutsidetheartworld.” They mobilizetheprogressive dimensionsofnew tech- and politicalinstrumentalizationofsociallife, andtheirframe ofreference “often includes in altogetherdifferent ways. Their work attemptstochallenge theneartotalityofcorporate litically dead. Bycontrast, Bordowitz writes, tacticalmediacollectives such asCAE proceed into theinstitutionofartandnowhere more sothanwhere theinstitutionseemstobe po- that fi their gestures are captured by thefi that thesystemcanbedifferent, better, truly committedtocreativity,” rely heavily onhow or worksofartfeaturedinthisanthology. d’Art ContemporaindeGrenoble,1998),244. Stratégies departicipation:GRAV, Groupederecherched’artvisuel,1960–1968 making oursymboliccontributiontothecollectiveawarenessaboutcultural revolution.” Reprintedandtranslatedin situation, andwearewellawareofthis.We havethusdecidedtowithdrawourworksfromDocumentaforgood, its purpose,themarketingofculturalproduct.Asartists,itishardforustosidestep thiscompromiseinthecurrent tion of‘culturalinstitutions’residesintheprocessthatrendersartsacred,and consequentially initsmystifi cation and the exhibitionopenedandreleasedfollowingstatement:“AtDocumentawe noteoncemorethatthemainfunc- Robert Smithson eld, anditisthere thatthey are mostcorrosive anddangerous. Politics hasmigrated Unlessotherwisenoted,allquotationsandreferencesmadeinthisintroductioncome fromorrefertotexts LeParcandMariwithdrewtheworkstheysubmittedtoDocumenta4on June 25,1968,thedaybefore Bruce Kurtz,“‘ConversationwithRobertSmithson’onApril22nd1972,” in NancyHolt,ed., (NewYork: NewYork UniversityPress,1979),200. eld ofart. Indeed, such critiquesare only legible (Grenoble: Magasin—Centre National (Grenoble:Magasin—Centre icts farbeyond it. The most The Writingsof cantlydif- within institutions, critique, and institutional critique alexander alberro 19 .net: “Tactical .net: “Tactical For without the art we. 55 (Winter 1990): 105– (Columbus, OH: Wexner (Columbus, OH: Wexner .critical- When the Moon Waxes Red: Red: When the Moon Waxes Women, Art, and Power and Art, and Power and Women, Theodor W. Adorno: Notes Adorno: Notes Theodor W. www www ha, October ed. Scott Bryson et al. (Berkeley: ed. Scott Bryson et al. (Berkeley: (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1993); (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, accept the margins; so do They Avantgarde and Culture Industry: Essays on European and Culture Avantgarde utangente.free.fr. Neo- On the Museum’s Ruins On the Museum’s (Berkeley: Bureau of Public Secrets, 1981), 213, 214. (1992), trans. Susan Emanuel (Stanford: Stanford University Press, Stanford University Press, Susan Emanuel (Stanford: (1992), trans. Twice Untitled and Other Pictures (Looking Back) Twice (New York: Routledge, 1991), 16–17. (New York: terminating. It encourages the use of any media that will engage a particular terminating. It encourages the use of any media that (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000). The writings of Craig Owens, Douglas Crimp, 2000). The writings of Craig Owens, Douglas Crimp, (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, The Rules of Art The Rules of Beyond Recognition: Representation, Power, and Culture, Power, Beyond Recognition: Representation, Situationist International Anthology (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1995), 20: “You make symbolic machines that function like snares make symbolic machines Press, 1995), 20: “You (Stanford: Stanford University 2 vols., ed. Rolf Tiedemann, trans. Shierry Weber Nicholsen (New York: Columbia University Press, Columbia University Press, (New York: Nicholsen trans. Shierry Weber 2 vols., ed. Rolf Tiedemann, (New York: Harper & Row, 1988), 145–178. Harper & Row, (New York: Pierre Bourdieu, Pierre the D. Buchloh in establishing of the writings of Benjamin H. the importance Here I should acknowledge in Ken Knabb, René Viénet, “The Situationists and the New Forms of Action against Politics and Art” (1967), // online maps at http: See the Bureau d’Études’s Artists?” (1971), in Have There Been No Great Women Linda Nochlin, “Why // http: nition comes from the Critical Art Ensemble (CAE) website, This defi (1945), in Adorno, “Theses upon Art and Religion Today” Theodor W. and Hans Haacke, work in Pierre Bourdieu Haacke’s Bourdieu uses snares as a metaphor to describe Pierre skins, white masks; colored “In the colonial periphery (as in elsewhere), we are often them as well. Colored University of California Press, 1992), 122–139;University of California Press, Crimp’s and Deutsche’s “Lawler's Rude Museum,” in and Deutsche’s and American Art from 1955 to 1975 and American Art from 1955 Life after ‘The Death Is There to Frame, or, “From Work also be noted, especially Owens’s and Rosalyn Deutsche should in Owens, of the Author,’” 143, and the essays featured in Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, in Benjamin H. 143, and the essays featured MA: MIT Press, 2006), 123–133.Center for the Arts; Cambridge, framework of what has come to be called institutional critique. See in particular Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, “Conceptual in particular Benjamin H. institutional critique. See what has come to be called framework of Art: 1962–1969: to the Critique of Institutions,” From the Aesthetic of Administration ed. and trans., margin, there is no center, no heart. . margin, there is no center, . margins] as our exclusive territory, . Thus, while we turn around and reclaim [the and center should be preserved, and as clearly demarcated as they happily approve, for the divisions between margin Minh- T. power relations.” Trinh possible, if the two positions are to remain intact in their to Literature, 1992), 2:293. Other Essays media is situational, ephemeral, and self- and semiotic shocks that will contribute to the negation sociopolitical context in order to create molecular interventions of the rising intensity of authoritarian culture.” Free Exchange his work has played. assessment of the catalytic role and make the public act.” Haacke agrees with Bourdieu’s for some time. masks, white skins. Reversal strategies have reigned Representation, Gender and Cultural Politics 4. 5. 11. 12. 9. 10. 8. 6. 7. 1996), 231.