THE EXHIBITIONARY COMPLEX Exhibition, Apparatus, and Media from Kulturhuset to the Centre Pompidou, 1963–1977
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THE EXHIBITIONARY COMPLEX Exhibition, Apparatus, and Media from Kulturhuset to the Centre Pompidou, 1963–1977 Kim West The Exhibitionary Complex The Exhibitionary Complex Exhibition, Apparatus, and Media from Kulturhuset to the Centre Pompidou, 1963–1977 Kim West Subject: Aesthetics Research Area: Critical and Cultural Theory School: Culture and Education Södertörns högskola (Södertörn University) The Library SE-141 89 Huddinge www.sh.se/publications © The author Cover Image and Layout: Christopher West Graphic Form: Per Lindblom & Jonathan Robson Printed by Elanders, Stockholm 2017 Södertörn Doctoral Dissertations 130 ISSN 1652-7399 Södertörn Studies in Art History and Aesthetics 4 ISBN 978-91-87843-76-1 ISBN 978-91-87843-77-8 (digital) Table of Contents Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................................... 7 General Introduction: A Tale of Four Circles ........................................................................... 9 i) The Exhibitionary Complex ............................................................................................ 14 ii) Exhibitions as Media ........................................................................................................ 19 iii) Autonomy and Compatibility ....................................................................................... 25 iv) From Kulturhuset to the Centre Pompidou ................................................................ 29 PART I A Project of Autonomy: Kulturhuset, 1963–1970 .................................................................. 33 Introduction: From the Museum in Movement to the Catalyst for Social Change ....................................................................................... 35 1. Moderna Museet in the City Center .............................................................................. 49 2. The Square and the Screen: Toward a Definition, 1963–1968 .................................. 59 2.1 The Early Proposals ................................................................................................. 59 2.2 Celsing’s Screen ........................................................................................................ 68 2.3 The House of All Activities ..................................................................................... 82 3. The Kulturhuset Vision, 1968–1970 .............................................................................. 91 3.1 Tatlin in Stockholm ................................................................................................. 91 3.2 The Program ............................................................................................................. 98 3.3 Chronology of a Collapse ......................................................................................114 PART II Databank and Interface: the Conflict of Compatibility .......................................................121 Introduction: From Culture House to Information Center .........................................123 4. The Ideology of the Museum Computer Network ....................................................129 4.1 Standardize, Connect, Control.............................................................................129 4.2 A New Renaissance ............................................................................................... 132 4.3 The Museum Environment .................................................................................. 140 5. The Incompatible Image: Pictures of Sweden 1969 ................................................... 147 5.1 Provocation ............................................................................................................ 147 5.2 Project ..................................................................................................................... 151 5.3 June 16, 1969 .......................................................................................................... 158 6. The Perseverance of the Exhibition ............................................................................ 161 PART III The Information Center: Moderna Museet During the Laboratory Years, 1969–1973 .............................................. 169 Introduction: Utopias and Contradictions .................................................................... 171 7. The Circular Function Model ...................................................................................... 183 7.1 Genesis of the Diagram ......................................................................................... 183 7.2 Remodeling the Apparatus................................................................................... 186 7.3 Toward the Museum of the Future ..................................................................... 193 8. Information in Practice ................................................................................................. 203 8.1 Art of the People .................................................................................................... 203 8.2 The Community of Images .................................................................................. 208 8.3 World Game / World Bank .................................................................................. 229 9. Widening Circles ........................................................................................................... 243 Coda: “A Live Center of Information”: The Paris Connection ................................... 259 Conclusion: Of What Was Beaubourg the End? .................................................................. 267 Notes .................................................................................................................................... 281 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................ 337 Acknowledgments This dissertation has been written within the framework of the research project “Space, Power, Ideology”, supported by The Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies, at the Department of Aesthetics, School of Culture and Education, Södertörn University. I would like to thank my supervisors Sven-Olov Wallenstein and Helena Mattson for their continued confidence in me, and for their invaluable advice. I would also like to thank my fellow doctoral students at Södertörn University for discussions, insights, and friendship: Rebecka Thor, Erik Bryngelsson, Anna Enström, Gabriel Itkes-Sznap, Irina Seits, Johan Sehlberg, Maria Lönn, Anna-Karin Selberg, Petra Werner, and Julia Velkova. I am especially indebted to Gustav Strandberg for reading the manuscript at a late stage and offering important remarks. At the School of Culture and Education, I wish to thank Cecilia Sjöholm and Staffan Ericsson for their incisive comments at various stages of my writing, as well as Åsa Arketeg, Charlotte Bydler, Aris Fioretos, Emma Isaksson, Håkan Nilsson, Ewa Rogström, Hans Ruin, Jakob Staberg, and Annika Öhrner. For granting me access to his personal archives, and for answering my many questions, I would like to thank Pär Stolpe, without whose generosity this study could not have been realized. I am also grateful to Johan Celsing and Johan Örn for inviting me to, and guiding me through, Peter Celsing’s archives, and to Tommy Tommie, for allowing me to study the Bildaktivis- terna archive. Per Ahrbom and Sivert Lindblom also kindly shared their recollections and references. Susana Mendoza Brackenhoff offered essential help in navigating the Moderna Museet archives. For inviting me to present and discuss various elements of this research in different contexts, I am grateful to Marta Kuzma, Federico Nicolao, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Renée Padt, Fredrik Svensk, and Yaiza Hernández Velázquez. I would also like to express my gratitude to Peter Osborne for granting me the opportunity to spend one year as a Visiting PhD Researcher at the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy, Kingston University, 7 THE EXHIBITIONARY COMPLEX London. An earlier, shorter version of chapter 5 of this dissertation was published in the journal Afterall, and I wish to thank Helena Vilalta for her discerning remarks and corrections. Many other friends and colleagues have advised, supported, questioned, and enlightened me during this work. Jonas (J) Magnusson and David Payne both read the manuscript at critical moments, offering indispensible comments. Mats Eriksson Dunér and Adeena May both shared their extensive knowledge, research, and resources. Others who have contributed to this project, in ways direct and indirect, include Daniel Birnbaum, Brian Manning Delaney, Jonas Ekeberg, Alex Fletcher, Cecilia Grönberg, Ane Hjort Guttu, Tintin Hodén, Karl Larsson, Fredrik Liew, Staffan Lundgren, Karl Lydén, Oscar Mangione, Daniel Nemenyi, Christian Nyampeta, Christoffer Paues, Frans Josef Petersson, Filipa Ramos, Hans Rosenström, Lina Selander, Benjamin Thorel, Ellen Wettmarck, and Axel Wieder. Finally, and above all, I want to thank my family. Thank you Chris (and Anna and Oscar), for assisting me yet again. Thank you Karin and Ulla, for endless generosity and guidance. Thank you Anna, for everything. I dedi- cate this work to Iris. Stockholm, February 1, 2017 8 General Introduction: A Tale of Four Circles In the spring of 1971, Pontus Hultén, director of Moderna Museet in Stockholm, was interviewed by the critic Yann Pavie in the French art review