ARTH 390 - Art and The Museum: Experiencing the Art Museum

• F - 15:00-17:30
• EV-1.615
• INSTRUCTOR: DR. MAYA OPPENHEIMER

‘What happens when you go to an art museum’ and ‘what does it mean to go to a museum’ are very different questions. To unpack these points, this course investigates the experience of the art museum, from how the cultural institution acts on us as visitors, art historians and artists to how we, in turn, act back upon it and participate in or resist an agenda laden with power dynamics, cultural capital and complex histories of collecting, owning and making. Starting with a critical analysis of major Canadian collections, we will discuss contemporary art museology and the politics of the art museum in Canada using national and local examples to gain an understanding of current debates related to museum visitorship and their communities. Sessions will move on to explore various strategies and tactics of experience-based engagement that both museums and artists use to attract, provoke and in some cases influence publics via the museum visit. What do art museums teach us?; How are we affected by artworks?; How do we participate in artworks physically and emotionally? These are key questions we will explore using examples from the works of Carmen Lomas Garza, Christian Boltanski, Fred Wilson, Ernesto Neto, Rod Dickinson, Marina Abramović, General Idea, Rebecca Belmore, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Moment Factory and Rachel Rossin, to name a few! We will cover movements, theories and emerging trends related to the experience of the art museum, from phenomenology, performative intent, and participatory, process-based artworks to standpoint theory to ask who is left out of the museum experience. We will also consider the art museum in the expanded sense to discuss how emerging technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality are impacting museum experiences both in exhibitions and in virtual engagement with digital collections or cinematic tours.