The Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Museum of Modern Art in New York played a significant role in the assimilation of De Stijl into the canon of modern art as an important and influential...Show moreThe Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Museum of Modern Art in New York played a significant role in the assimilation of De Stijl into the canon of modern art as an important and influential modern art movement through the construction of institutionalized narratives. The historical retrospective De Stijl exhibition, shown in the Stedelijk Museum in 1951 and in the Museum of Modern Art in 1952-53 was an important instrument with which both museums produced and distributed narrative histories of De Stijl and contributed to the canonization of De Stijl. The aim of this research is to analyze the retrospective De Stijl exhibition and a selective number of preceding exhibitions organized by both museums in the period from 1932 to 1946 as narrative environments and spaces of representation in answer to the question what narrative histories of De Stijl were produced and with what narrative elements and devices these narratives were produced.Show less
MA thesis is based on a research done in the National Museum of Antiquities (RMO).The aim of this study was to explore how RMO’s contemporary art exhibition policy fits in the context of...Show moreMA thesis is based on a research done in the National Museum of Antiquities (RMO).The aim of this study was to explore how RMO’s contemporary art exhibition policy fits in the context of contemporary museum practices regarding contemporary art. The author traced the beginnings of displaying and juxtaposing contemporary art together with non- art objects. This approach was firstly used during the Primitivism, an art movement in the early 20th century. Therefore a framework of the most famous Primitivism exhibition "Primitivism" in 20th Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern (Museum of Modern Art, New York City, 1984) was chosen to analyze the exhibitions held in RMO. The outcome of the study shows that contemporary artists are engaged with themes that are archaeology- related. However, two of the Primitivism characteristics: aestheticism and juxtaposing contemporary and non- art objects are still present in the current exhibition practices in RMO. Contemporary art displayed in RMO partly fits in the art trend called historiographic turn. However it is mostly a visual inspiration instead of in- depth study of the past which is a main requirement for historiographic turn.Show less
This thesis is the first critical look at the reemergence of Wonder in art museums as they create exhibitions based on the Wunderkammer and Cabinet of Curiosities. The thesis questions whether the...Show moreThis thesis is the first critical look at the reemergence of Wonder in art museums as they create exhibitions based on the Wunderkammer and Cabinet of Curiosities. The thesis questions whether the early modern collection and its ideal form of Wonder are really compatible for audiences today. The first part examines the evolution of eaerly modern Wonder as it appears within ideal and actual Wunderkammern. The second part returns readers to the modern day in which art museums have frequently evoked the theme of the Wunderkammer without reflection. This part examines four case studies in order to understand modern day Wonder and the failures and successed had by varying museums, and in doing so, to prescribe a new model for the future.Show less
