Rethinking the modern : imagining the future of the Museum of Modern Art, New York

Abstract

The thesis seeks to explore the implications of the emergence of the digital media as a new art form on the museum space. The museum as an institution has faced some ideological and philosophical contradictions in recent times. Economically, heightened competition for dwindling funds has begun to shape programming decisions. Philosophically, the museum's perceived authoritarian role clashes with the critiques of cultural hegemony that are so much a part of the contemporary art world. Contemporary art forms that intentionally subvert the equation of art and object are often less compatible with traditional conceptions of museum space. And socially, museum expansion is often used as a tool for the gentrification of museum neighborhoods, a stratagem that cheers civic boosters and troubles social critics. All these point to a social, philosophical, political critique of the museum as an institution. The thesis does not attempt to resolve all the issues rooted in the current museum culture/structure. Rather, it seeks to study the various museums built historically and propose a new way of understanding the role of the museum in relation to the issues brought up by artists, social critics, historians alike. The exploration involves both spatial and material articulation. What could a museum be?