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Museums & Galleries
ARTH 5170 3.0
Winter 2006
Fridays: 11:30 - 2:30
Room: CFA 338
Anna Hudson, Assistant Professor, Department of Visual Arts
Telephone: 416-736-2100 ext. 77427
Email: ahudson@yorku.ca
Office hours: CFA 256E
Tuesdays 2 - 5pm, or by appointment
The Museum as a Cultural Bridge: Our Canonical Canadian Dilemma
By “post” I mean stuck in like a tree that has been cut and
stripped of its bark then hammered into the ground and still standing
– not that colonization has ended here in Canada. Wanda Nanibush,
“Indigenous Tragicomedy,” First Nations Curatorial Incubator
2005, Toronto: Vtape, p.3.
The difference between inspiring and cultivating an appreciation of Canadian
art and creating (or maintaining) a culturally exclusive Canadian identity
is delicate. Reigning Western perspectives on art and history preserve
the legacy of hierarchical structures of colonialism. The canon of Canadian
historical art is infected by the persistence of a colonial past which
shackles its relevancy for today. For Canadian museums and galleries,
this is a crisis.
If our conception of a national culture is haunted by the potential irrelevancy
(or even threat) of canonical Canadian art, we have reached a crossroad
in Canadian art history. On one side is a wide avenue of the sanctioned
canon; on the other are the branching paths of our multiple visible cultures:
what is our future direction? The word “community” is the
buzz word for public art galleries repeated by directors, educators, and
curators alike to describe the physical, social, cultural, and ethnic
contexts of their institutions – their zones of contact with society.
In an effort to bridge communities, these institutions search for intersections
with a common, or rather “canonical” art history. But a post-modern,
post-colonial society necessitates, by definition, balance of power, of
voice, of perspective. What chance do we have to recover, regain or strike
anew a balance of Western and non-Western worldviews which divide communities
and which challenge imaginings of collective national identity?
This course asks the provocative questions, central
to understanding whether the museum might function as a cultural bridge:
How does historical art play in the present?
Who cares about the canon of Canadian art?
Our exploration of these questions will embrace issues of museum and
gallery staffing and operation, including collection building, cataloguing
and attribution methods (accession catalogue, exhibition catalogue, catalogue
raisonné), art works preservation (conservation), permanent collection
and temporary exhibition development, public programming organized by
Education departments, and the ethical and legal implications of the art
market.
Goals
to examine the canon of Canadian art in relation to national cultural
identity
to consider cultural perspective and the play of history and historical
art in the present
to posit museological strategies for realizing the museum’s role
as a cultural bridge
Academic Honesty and Integrity:
Students are expected to conform to the standards of academic honesty
and integrity as specified by York University. A clear sense of honesty
and integrity in academia is fundamental to good scholarship. Violations
– including collaborating on written assignments (unless specified),
failing to use quotation marks and/or citations when using or paraphrasing
the printed or electronically transmitted work of others – may result
in failure in the course, suspension from the University, and withholding
or rescinding a York degree.
Please review these two sites outlining York University’s policies:
http://www.yorku.ca/secretariat/legislation/senate/acadhone.htm
and http://www.yorku.ca/academicintegrity/students/index.htm
Every student has a responsibility to abide by these policies and, when
in doubt, to consult with a faculty member for clarification.
Accessibility:
York University is committed to making reasonable accommodations and
adaptations in order to make equitable the educational experience of students
with special needs, including physical, psychiatric or learning disabilities
(see: http://www.yorku.ca/opd/default.htm) or particular religious beliefs.
If you have any concerns or require assistance with regard to your class
participation or completion of the course assignments, please inform me
as soon as possible to discuss options for modification of the course
schedule or requirements.
Associated Costs
Visits to relevant galleries and exhibitions are an essential part of
this course for which there will be additional costs. For the visit to
the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, bus transportation
and gallery admission costs will be collected in advance (amounts will
be kept to a minimum, and announced as soon as possible.)
Course Assignments and Evaluation:
1. Question and rationale #1 10% due Friday January 13th
Matthew Teitelbaum
Transformation AGO: New Art New Building New Ideas New Future
2. Question and rationale #2 10% due Friday January 20th
Gerald McMaster
Major planning process of proposing various installations for the new
Canadian Wing
3. Lecture summary and critique 15% due Friday February 10th
Jeff Thomas and Reesa Greenberg
The Museum as Cultural Bridge: Two views
4. In-class debate 20% Friday March 17th
How does historical art play in the present / Who cares about the canon
of Canadian art?
5.a) Essay workshop discussion of essay ideas Friday March 24th
b) Class presentation 5% to be scheduled Friday March 31st
c) Essay 30%, due Monday April 10th
Late papers will be subject to a penalty of 5% per day
6. Class participation 10%
based on readings preparation and
contribution to class discussion
Course drop date: March 10th
Required Readings
Assigned readings must be completed in preparation for each class as
you will be asked to orally summarize essays and arguments for your colleagues.
All readings will be drawn from the course kit: available at the Keele
Copy Centre (416-665-9675) 4699 Keele Street. Call in advance to ensure
a kit is available for pick up.
Seminar Schedule
nb. This schedule is subject to revision. Whenever readings are prepared
for an off-site class, readings will be discussed in the following class
scheduled on campus, CFA 338.
January 6
Introduction: Canada, the canon, and cultural intervention
Lisa G. Corrin, Mining the Museum: An Installation by Fred Wilson
James Luna, Artifact Piece
Anna Hudson and Jeff Thomas, No Escapin' This: Confronting Images of Aboriginal
Leadership
Richard William Hill, Anna Hudson, and Doug Worts, Meeting Ground
Richard William Hill, Speaking about Landscape - Speaking to the Land
Anna Hudson and Sarah Laakuluk Williamson, Inuit Art in Motion
To be distributed in class:
Anna Hudson, “The Art of Inventing Canada,” The Beaver, vol.
85, no. 3(June/July 2005), pp. 11-12.
January 13
Due: Question and Rationale #1
Matthew Teitelbaum, Director and CEO, Art Gallery of Ontario and President,
Association of Art Museum Directors, will speak on Transformation AGO:
New Art New Building New Ideas New Future
Please meet at the AGO at 11:15 am
317 Dundas Street West, Toronto
We will have a 45-minute private meeting with Matthew Teitelbaum, followed
by a walk through of the galleries
Transformation AGO: New Art New Building New Ideas New Future
www.ago.net/transformation/home.cfm
David Carrier, “Museum Narratives,” Writing About Visual
Art, New York: Allworth Press, 2003), pp.119-146.
Bruce Ferguson, “Exhibition Rhetorics: Material Speech and Utter
Sense,” Thinking About Exhibitions, eds. Reesa Greenberg, Bruce
Ferguson, Sandy Nairne, (London: Routledge, 1996), pp.175-190.
Donna McAlear, “Volume = Value: Museum Expansions and the Promise
of More,” in Obsession, Compulsion, Collection: On Objects, Display
Culture, and Interpretation, ed. Anthony Kiendl (Banff: Banff Centre Press,
2004), pp.287-316.
Nick Merriman, “Museum Visiting as a Cultural Phenomenon,”
The New Museology, ed. Peter Vergo (London: Reaktion Books Ltd., 1989),
pp.149-171.
Carol Tator, Frances Henry, and Winston Mattis, “Concluding Reflections,”
Challenging Racism in the Arts: Case Studies of Controversy and Conflict,
(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998), pp.247-270.
Catherine van Baren, “Bruce Ferguson: New Director of Exhibitions,”
Art Matters vol. 14, no.1 (Winter 2006), p.14
Catherine van Baren, “Gerald McMaster: New Curator of Canadian
Art,” Art Matters vol. 14, no.1 (Winter 2006), p.14
January 20
Due: Question and Rationale #2
Gerald McMaster, the AGO’s recently appointed Curator of Canadian
Art, will share his initial thoughts on the major planning process of
proposing various installations for the new Canadian Wing
Please meet at the AGO at 11:15 am
317 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Richard William Hill, “Meeting Ground: The Reinstallation of the
Art Gallery of Ontario’s McLaughlin Gallery,” in Making a
Noise! Aboriginal Perspectives on Art, Art History, Critical Writing and
Community, ed. Lee-Ann Martin, (Banff, AB: The Banff Centre, 2003), pp.50-70.
Lynda Jessup, “Hard Inclusion,” On Aboriginal Representation
in the Gallery, ed. Lynda Jessup with Shannon Bagg (Hull, Que.: Canadian
Museum of Civilization, 2002), pp.xiii-xxx.
Jim Logan, “It’s not just noise,” in Making a Noise!
Aboriginal Perspectives on Art, Art History, Critical Writing and Community,
ed. Lee-Ann Martin, (Banff, AB: The Banff Centre, 2003), pp.72-82.
Lee-Ann Martin, “Making a Noise in This (Art) World!,” in
Making a Noise! Aboriginal Perspectives on Art, Art History, Critical
Writing and Community, ed. Lee-Ann Martin, (Banff, AB: The Banff Centre,
2003), pp.16-23.
Gerald McMaster “Our (Inter) Related History,” On Aboriginal
Representation in the Gallery, ed. Lynda Jessup with Shannon Bagg (Hull,
Que.: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 2002), pp.3-8.
Gerald McMaster, “Desperately Seeking Identity in the Space of
the Other,” and “Nomads Are Always Elsewhere: The Art of Edward
Poitras,” Edward Poitras, Canada XLVI Biennale di Venezia, (Hull:
Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1995), pp.20-38, 78-98.
Gerald McMaster and Lee-Ann Martin, “Introduction,” in Indigena:
Contemporary Native Perspectives in Canadian Art, eds. McMaster and Martin,
(Hull: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1992), pp.11-23.
Jeff Thomas and Anna Hudson, “Edmund Morris: Speaking of First
Nations,” in On Aboriginal Representation in the Gallery, ed. Lynda
Jessup with Shannon Bagg (Hull, Que.: Canadian Museum of Civilization,
2002), pp.127-148.
Jolene Rickard, “After Essay – Indigenous is the Local,”
in On Aboriginal Representation in the Gallery, ed. Lynda Jessup with
Shannon Bagg (Hull, Que.: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 2002), pp.115-124.
January 27
Distribution of debate teams and rules
Meet at 11:30am, Art Gallery of York University
Allyson Adley, Education Coordinator, AGYU, will give us a tour of the
Fiona Tan exhibition.
“The new AGYU galleries open with a major new project by Indonesian-born,
Amsterdam-based artist Fiona Tan. Fiona Tan’s work generally has
been recognized for its investigation of the West’s look at the
colonial other or portrait examination of itself. This exhibition will
be an oblique take on her work as it posits a poetic behind the work whose
subject is time, a meditation that issues from the archive with its resources
of film and still photography. The exhibition will be accompanied by a
book collaboration between the artist and curator Philip Monk.”
After the tour, we will return to CFA 338 for our seminar for a discussion
of all readings to date, including:
Sylviane Agacinski, “The Western Hour,” in Time Zones: Recent
Film and Video, eds. Jessica Morgan and Greg Muir, (London: Tate, 2004),
pp.56-61.
Greg Muir, Chrono-Chromie,” in Time Zones: Recent Film and Video,
eds. Jessica Morgan and Greg Muir, (London: Tate, 2004), pp.36-50.
February 3
The Museum as Cultural Bridge: Two Views
Jeff Thomas and Reesa Greenberg
– guest lecture time and location on York campus tbc
Reesa Greenberg, “From Wall to Web: Displaying Art Stolen from
Jews by Hitler,” in Obsession, Compulsion, Collection: On Objects,
Display Culture, and Interpretation, ed. Anthony Kiendl (Banff: Banff
Centre Press, 2004), pp.92-109.
Jeff Thomas, “Intersection,” Jeff Thomas, A Study of Indian-ness
(Toronto: Gallery 44, 2004), pp.21-51.
February 10
Due: Lecture summary and critique
Cultural Dancing Grounds
Class visit to McMichael Canadian Art Collection (Kleinberg)* for a critical
investigation of the current exhibition programme:
Myron Zabol’s People of the Dancing Sky: The Iroquois Way
Jeff Thomas’s Portraits from the Dancing Grounds
We will be meeting with Jeff Thomas, the current artist-in-residence
at the McMichael, for a walk through of his exhibition
*Details of travel to Kleinburg and costs to follow
Aboriginal Curatorial Collective
Round Table Final Report. Submitted by Ryan Rice, Round Table Coordinator
on behalf of the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective, 9 June 2005, pp.1-11.
Aboriginal Curatorial Collective: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities:
A Proposal for a Framework for Action by the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective,
pp.1-6.
Candice Hopkins, “How to get Indians into an Art Gallery,”
in Making a Noise! Aboriginal Perspectives on Art, Art History, Critical
Writing and Community,” ed. Lee-Ann Martin, (Banff, AB: The Banff
Centre, 2003), pp.192-205.
Marion E. Jackson and Ruth B. Phillips, “Art in Politics/Politics
in Art,” New Territories 350/500 Years After: An exhibition of Contemporary
Aboriginal Art of Canada,” (Montreal: Atelier Vision Planétaire,
1992), pp.38-40.
Shirley Madill et al. Robert Houle: Sovereignty over Subjectivity, (Winnipeg:
Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1999), pp.1-25
www.ccca.ca/c/writing/h/houle/hou004t.html
Cathy Mattes, “Denting the Walls and Finding My Backbone: My Experience
at the Winnipeg Art Gallery,” in Making a Noise! Aboriginal Perspectives
on Art, Art History, Critical Writing and Community, ed. Lee-Ann Martin,
(Banff, AB: The Banff Centre, 2003), pp.83-91.
Georges E. Sioui Wendayete, “1992: The Discovery of Americity,”
in Indigena: Contemporary Native Perspectives in Canadian Art, eds. McMaster
and Martin, (Hull: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1992), pp.59-69.
Alfred Young Man, An Historical Overview and Perception of Native Art,
Culture, and the Role of the Native Curator: Non-fiction Story,”
New Territories 350/500 Years After: An exhibition of Contemporary Aboriginal
Art of Canada,” (Montreal: Atelier Vision Planétaire, 1992),
pp.33-37.
February 17 no class READING WEEK
February 24
Time and History: postmodernism and postcolonialism
Gloria Anzaldúa, “Towards a New Consciousness,” Borderlands/La
Frontera: The New Mestiza, (San Francisco: aunt lute books, 1987), pp.77-98.
Miriam Clavir, “First Nations Perspectives on Preservation and
Museums,” Preserving What is Valued: Museums, Conservation, and
First Nations (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2002),
pp. 69-97.
Jean Fisher, “Chronicle of a Myth Retold…,” The American
West, (Warwickshire: Compton Verney, 2005), pp.32-43.
Richard William Hill, “Getting Unpinned: Collecting Aboriginal
Art and the Potential for Hybrid Public Discourse in Art Museums,”
in Obsession, Compulsion, Collection: On Objects, Display Culture, and
Interpretation, ed. Anthony Kiendl (Banff: Banff Centre Press, 2004),
pp.193-206.
Linda Hutcheon, “Re-presenting the past,” The Politics of
Postmodernism, (London: Routledge, 1989), pp.52-92.
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, “History,” A Critique of Postcolonial
Reason: Toward a History of the Vanishing Present, (Cambridge, Mass.:
Harvard University Press, 1999), pp.198-311.
Carol Tator, Frances Henry, and Winston Mattis, “Theoretical Perspectives,”
Challenging Racism in the Arts: Case Studies of Controversy and Conflict,
(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998), pp.18-35.
Charlotte Townsend-Gault, “Kinds of Knowing,” Land, Spirit,
Power: First Nations at the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa: NGC, 1992),
pp.75-101.
March 3
Artwork as social interstice / Museum as cultural bridge
Grant Arnold, “Shared Terrain/Contested Spaces: New work by fifteen
B.C. artists,” Topographies: aspects of recent B.C. art, (Vancouver:
Vancouver Art Gallery, 1996), pp.1-45.
Lissant Bolton, The Object in View: Aborigines, Melanesians, and Museums,”
in Museums and Source Communities: A Routledge Reader, eds. Peers and
Brown (London: Routledge, 2003), pp. 42-54.
Nicolas Bourriaud, “Relational Form,” Relational Aesthetics,
(Paris: les presses réel, 2004), pp.11-24.
Homi Bhabha and Victor Burgin, “Visualizing Theory,” in Visualizing
Theory: Selected Essays from V.A.R. 1990-1994, ed. Lucien Taylor, (New
York: Routledge, 1994), pp.454-467.
James Clifford, “Museums as Contact Zones,” Routes: Travel
and Translation in the Late Twentieth Century, (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press, 1997), pp.188-219.
Okwui Enwezor, “The Production of Social Space as Artwork: Protocols
of Community in the Works of Le Groupe Amos and Huit Facettes,”
in A Fiction of Authenticity: Contemporary Africa Abroad, (St. Louis,
Missouri: Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, 2003), pp.52-68.
Donald Preziosi, “Museology and Museography,”Art Bulletin,
vol. LXXVII, no.1 (March 1995), pp.13-15.
(Time permitting) Debate preparation in groups during the second half
of class
March 10
Debate preparation in groups during class
March 17
In-class debate:
How does historical art play in the present / Who cares about the canon
of Canadian art?
March 24
Debate post-mortem: Conclusions and Recommendations
Essay workshop
March 31
Class presentations
- schedule tbc
Assignment descriptions and rationale:
Question and rationale #1 – in preparation for our visit with Matthew
Teitelbaum at the AGO, submit one question you want to ask relating to
one of the following considerations:
WHO Who does the AGO appeal to and why?
WHAT What is “Transformation AGO”? Is it clear?
WHERE Where is the Gallery located? What is significant about this location?
WHEN Is the expansion timely? What contemporary experience does it parallel?
WHY Why transform the AGO? What will this transformation deliver?
Your question should demonstrate an awareness of Teitelbaum’s role
as Director or the AGO and President of the Association of Art Museum
Directors. Your question should be succinctly stated and accompanied by
a 250 word rationale in which you explain the significance of your question
in relation to the course focus.
Question and rationale #2 – in preparation for our visit with Gerald
McMaster at the AGO, submit one question you want to ask relating to the
major planning process of proposing various installations for the new
Canadian Wing cited in his profile in Art Matters vol. 14, no.1 (Winter
2006), p.15 (included in the course kit).
Your question should be framed in a single sentence, and be accompanied
by a 250 word rationale demonstrating your appreciation of McMaster’s
difference of cultural perspective.
Lecture summary and critique – this follow-up to Jeff Thomas and
Reesa Greenberg’s lecture, The Museum as Cultural Bridge: Two Views,
should be written in an engaging, journalistic tone as a review of the
content, context and value (in your opinion) of their presentation. In
500 words (maximum), summarize the main points of Thomas and Greenberg’s
presentation (so that someone who was not in attendance might be apprised
of the salient points), compare their positions, and consider the value
of their joint lecture. For the latter, cite at least one outside source
(whether it be another reading from the reader, a journal article, a theoretical
text, or….) to bolster your view. Be sure to footnote this source
correctly. York University Library provides this useful link: http://citationmachine.net/
In-class debate – based on class readings, discussion, and independent
research, each student will be assigned to a team to debate two questions
central to understanding whether the museum might function as a cultural
bridge:
How does historical art play in the present?
Who cares about the canon of Canadian art?
We will follow formal debating rules and teams will be judged for their
cohesiveness and organization. Individual students will be assessed for
their preparedness, polish and persuasiveness. Further information to
follow.
Essay workshop – an in-class discussion of essay ideas. Come prepared
to briefly present the core idea of your essay for class feedback on Friday
March 24th
Class presentation – a 15-minute (maximum) presentation followed
by class discussion. Class presentations should develop your contribution
to the in-class debate to make explicit a museological strategy you see
as key to realizing the museum’s role as a cultural bridge. Further
information to follow.
Essay – based on your class presentation. This essay should be
2500 words in length (maximum).
Additional Resources
Aboriginal Curatorial Collective
http://www.AboriginalCuratorialCollective.org/
The Aboriginal Curatorial Collective / Collectif des Conservateurs Authochtone
(ACC/CCA) supports, promotes and advocates on behalf of the work of Aboriginal
art and cultural curators and associated Aboriginal cultural workers in
Canada and internationally.
American Association of Museums
www.aam-us.org/
The mission of this not-for-profit Association is to represent the museum
community, address its needs, and enhance its ability to serve the public.
Art Gallery of Ontario
www.ago.net/transformation/home.cfm
Association of Art Museum Directors
www.aamd.org/
The purpose of the Association of Art Museum Directors is to support its
members in increasing the contribution of art museums to society. The
AAMD accomplishes this mission by establishing and maintaining the highest
standards of professional practice; serving as forum for the exchange
of information and ideas; acting as an advocate for its member art museums;
and being a leader in shaping public discourse about the arts community
and the role of art in society.
Canadian Conference of the Arts
http://www.ccarts.ca/en/
The CCA is the national forum for the arts and cultural community in Canada.
Artists are at the heart of the CCA. We understand and respect their fundamental
role in building and maintaining a creative, dynamic, and civil society.
Since 1945, we have been working to ensure that artists can contribute
freely and fully to Canadian society. For more than half a century, we
have been a repository for Canadian cultural history and collective memory.
The CCA is leader, advocating on behalf of artists in Canada to defend
their rights, articulate their needs, and celebrate their accomplishments.
The CCA is an authority, providing research, analysis and consultation
on public policy in arts and culture, in Canada and around the world.
The CCA is a catalyst, fostering informed debate and collective action
within the arts and cultural community and the creative industries in
Canada. The year 2005 will mark the CCA's 60th anniversary — six
decades of working to ensure that artists are valued for the essential
role they play, and the fundamental contribution they make to a creative,
dynamic, and civil society.
Canadian Museums Association
www.museums.ca/
The Canadian Museums Association is the national organization for the
advancement of the Canadian museum community. We unite, represent and
serve museums and museum workers across Canada. We work passionately for
the recognition, growth and stability of our sector. The Canadian Museum
Association was established by a small group of people in Quebec City
in 1947. Today, it has nearly 2,000 members. Our members are non-profit
museums, art galleries, science centres, aquaria, archives, sports halls
of fame, artist-run centres, zoos and historic sites across Canada. They
range from large metropolitan galleries to small community museums. All
are dedicated to preserving and presenting our cultural heritage to the
public. Our members are also the people who work in and care about our
museum. They include professionals, volunteers, students, trustees and
interested friends. Our membership also includes foreign museum professionals
as well as a growing list of corporations that support museums and the
CMA.
International Council of Museums
www.chin.gc.ca/Resources/Icom/
The International Council of Museums (ICOM) is an international organisation
of museums and museum professionals which is committed to the conservation,
continuation and communication to society of the world's natural and cultural
heritage, present and future, tangible and intangible. Created in 1946,
ICOM is a non-governmental organisation maintaining formal relations with
UNESCO and having a consultative status with the United Nations' Economic
and Social Council. As a non-profit organisation, ICOM is financed primarily
by membership fees and supported by various governmental and other bodies.
It carries out part of UNESCO's programme for museums. Based in Paris
(France), the ICOM Headquarters houses both the ICOM Secretariat and the
UNESCO-ICOM Museum Information Centre.
National Museum of the American Indian
www.nmai.si.edu
The National Museum of the American Indian shall recognize and affirm
to Native communities and the non-Native public the historical and contemporary
culture and cultural achievements of the Natives of the Western Hemisphere
by advancing-in consultation, collaboration, and cooperation with Natives-knowledge
and understanding of Native cultures, including art, history, and language,
and by recognizing the museum's special responsibility, through innovative
public programming, research and collections, to protect, support, and
enhance the development, maintenance, and perpetuation of Native culture
and community.
York
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