ARTH 318

Exhibition Technique addresses the evolving network of social and historical relations that generate multiple and increasingly hybrid meanings in the production and reception of art. When Brian O'Doherty coined the critical term white cube in the 1970s, artists were already paying attention to the circumstances in which their work was presented. The situation of an artistic gesture is the subject of this inquiry. Who does an artwork call on to secure its meanings – what are its aesthetic allegiances and precedents? How do institutional structures, political currents and popular trends inform the significance of aesthetic work? What is the role of patrons? Who are the curators? What use is the canon?