Art and Artifact: The Museum as Medium Putnam, James

By:

James Putnam

Material type: Text

TextPublication details: United Kingdom Thames & Hudson Ltd 07/09/2009Edition: 2nd Revised editionDescription: 216 PaperbackISBN:

9780500288351

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

709.04/PUT

Contents:

Museology & heritage studies

Awards:

http://www.jamesputnam.org.uk/biography.html

Summary: From cabinets of curiosities to assemblages of found objects and imitations of museum displays, artists have often turned their attention to the ideas and systems traditionally embodied in the museum display, archiving, classification, storage, curatorship which they have then appropriated, mimicked and reinterpreted in their own work. Citing a huge range of examples, James Putnam shows not only the ways in which artists have been influenced by museum systems and made their works into simulations of the museum, but also how they have questioned the role of museums, observed their practices, intervened in them and helped to redefine them.

Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Call number	Vol info	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
General Books	Colombo	709.04/PUT	Revised Edition	Available Order online		CA00014005

Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

"Fascinating examination of the museum's unconventional role in contemporary art....Highly recommended."-- Library Journal

This book examines one of the most important and intriguing themes in art today: the often obsessive relationship between artist and museum.

From Marcel Duchamp's "Portable Museum" ( Boîte en valise ) of the early 1940s to Damien Hirst's distinctive use of vitrine displays in the 1990s, the artists of the past seventy years have often turned their attention--both creatively and critically--to a reappraisal of the ideas and systems of classification traditionally associated with curatorship and display.

The works included here, accompanied by quotations from the writings of individual artists, offer a wide-ranging coverage of projects by established and emerging figures alike, including Christian Boltanski, Sophie Calle, Tracey Emin, Hans Haacke, Donald Judd, Olafur Eliasson, and Takashi Murakami. The book has been updated to include recent projects that make use of grand architectural spaces within the museum, as well as those that explore off-site locations and the internet.

Museology & heritage studies

From cabinets of curiosities to assemblages of found objects and imitations of museum displays, artists have often turned their attention to the ideas and systems traditionally embodied in the museum display, archiving, classification, storage, curatorship which they have then appropriated, mimicked and reinterpreted in their own work. Citing a huge range of examples, James Putnam shows not only the ways in which artists have been influenced by museum systems and made their works into simulations of the museum, but also how they have questioned the role of museums, observed their practices, intervened in them and helped to redefine them.

General (US: Trade)

http://www.jamesputnam.org.uk/biography.html

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Updated from 2001, this new edition of Art and Artifact continues its discussion of the museum as a subject for artists and not just as a location for art. Going beyond the definition of a museum as a physical place, Putnam (independent curator) looks at how artists have used museum taxonomy, classification, and display practices as sources of inspiration and how artists have played with or against these ideas to create and present their own collections, creative works, and installations. Although the book features some analysis, it is more a presentation of artists' works through various cultural and political lenses. Putnam also considers the questions some artists raise on the meanings assigned to objects and how the significance of objects may change when they are part of a personal collection or an institutional acquisition. With 290 illustrations and detailed captions, this book offers a detailed but not exhaustive look at the relationship between artist and museum, and between creator, collector, and curator. It would provide a relevant contemporary perspective for fine arts and museum studies collections. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates and above. E. R. Symonds University of Louisville

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