MY MUSEOLOGY

We always perceive the infinitude of a moment, but we cannot capture it, which made this exhibition seem appetising. Naturally, to say this contradicts some important thinking on perception -- the name Merleau-Ponty looms forth -- and so what I mean exceeds the literal. Being present for a moment, part of its simultaneity, is partially to absorb it and to experience its energy or presentness: this is to be present to the moment in its infinitude, not to apprehend the impossible totality of it. Infinite is infinite. This exhibition claims to explore this complex between the presentness of a performed moment and its representation. And so, when we look at the David Hockney , the jarring of stillness and action creates the overall energy of the piece. The instant after the dive is artistically (gesturally, figuratively) captured upon the canvas. This painting of an action after the performance of it aligns perfectly with the ethos of the exhibition, and, of course,  A Bigger Splash ...

My judgment of the Miró exhibition's curation was hasty.  Blogs are so much about producing something coherent and concise quickly that although I didn't publish the entry until the late afternoon after seeing The Ladder of Escape , that still hadn't been enough time for my ideas to form.  It was while I was preparing the entry for a response to 'The White Cube and Beyond' article in this season's edition of Tate Etc. that I appreciated the curators' positioning of Morning Object , Still Life with Old Shoe and the 50 lithographs of the Barcelona Series. "What we should not forget is that the main focus of today's curators is on the combination of objects in different media.  The field of interest has become so much bigger and more complex, and curators already have enough work on their hands simply showing us things we would not otherwise see" (Thomas Demand in Tate Etc. (21) , p. 85). So, for all my initial scepticism about the layout o...

[Originally written on 13 February 2011] http://blog.tate.org.uk/?p=3145 I knew nothing of Orozco’s oeuvre. I did not know his name. Perhaps that’s why I was so touched and impressed by it, but that is just a theory. As for certainty, I was impressed, touched and inspired by the exhibition, from the vivid simplicity and immediacy of My Hand is My Heart (clay artifact + wall-mounted double photograph), through the chilling and nihilistic rows of discarded lint in Lintels, to the charm and humour of tins of catfood atop melons. Orozco’s work in the Tate’s current exhibition demonstrates diversity and attends to our mortality, but I would rather discuss its capacity to invite participation. For instance, the relative vastness of Lintels and Chicotes includes one as a spectator in the sculptures, making it impossible not to take part in the work.

In my eagerness to start this blog I realise that the first posts (of images taken at Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle) might seem just to hang aimlessly in the blogosphere.  Admittedly, this is part of my project: to allow the images and posts to form whatever story anyone choosing to view them makes.  However, as I'd like not to exclude anyone from the museums, galleries, archives, museology, and curatorship debate, I hope that this entry makes sense of what I've done so far, and of how at this early stage I see the blog developing. There is a folder of images that I'm working with at the moment to include in a post about curatorial space.  This will also refer to earlier posts to start a discussion about the various methods used to display the Bowes' collections from which I'll be able to speculate about how space affects visitor reception and interaction with the museum.  Of course this isn't a new debate, but it is one of the most important that the curator f...