Museums, Histories, Critiques

This course offers a historical and theoretical examination of the art museum from its eighteenth century inception to contemporary expectations and institutional critiques. We will explore the philosophical and social implications of collection and classification, architecture and display practice; institutional mission and audience experience; interpretive strategies and educational goals; curatorial practice and the artist as curator. This critical framework will offer a means to examine the museum's role in structuring knowledge and facilitating experience and its place within intellectual discourse and public life.