Карстен Шуберт (род. 1961), арт-дилер, издатель и писатель, прослеживает эволюцию западного музея, его концепции и рецепции со времен появления первых публичных художественных собраний в конце XVIII века и до недавнего открытия Галереи Тейт Модерн в Лондоне. Среди поднимаемых в книге тем — взаимодействие музея с общекультурной, политической, экономической областями жизни общества, а также статус и функции куратора, менявшиеся на протяжении рассматриваемого периода
The history of the museum and the major issues Schubert discusses in this book are certainly relevant and well-researched. However, there were a few issues with its narrative:
1. The origins of collecting as elitist, often in the form of cultural appropriation and exoticism, practice in general are not included. 2. Only European/Western examples are used, despite the fact that there are many great and historically important museums elsewhere. 3. The final conclusion that museums should be "elitist for everyone" is a bit short-sighted, as a majority of the world's population has no interest in art or history when they struggle to pay rent, buy food, find work etc. In this case, anti-elitist subjects should be the museum's aim as well to do educational service to those who would not normally find themselves within the museum walls.
I read this in just three days for a graduate seminar, so these thoughts aren't well thought out yet, but I'll be looking forward to the critiques and other thoughts of my classmates.
La primera mitad, donde plantea una revisión histórica de la evolución del museo desde mediados del siglo XVIII hasta los años ochenta del XX, es magnífica. Muy bien montada, muy didáctica, rica en ideas fuerza. La segunda mitad, donde se sitúa en el presente en el que fue escrito el libro (1999) para intentar describir nuevas tendencias, es más irregular.
Nada más comenzar, Karsten Schubert reconoce su pasión por los museos, que deriva en una lectura del todo elogiosa, cayendo muchas veces en la desmesura. Aún con eso, este tipo de visiones sirven como contrapeso a la extendida idea del museo como mausoleo y el trabajo de investigación que la sostiene muestra que los museos son una institución mucho más compleja, inquieta y cambiante de lo que se acostumbra a pensar.
I read this book for my introduction to museum study class. I loved how the author started with the histories of museum establishments around the world. He did a great job for the history part. However, the book becomes a bit confusing toward the end when he predicts the future developments of the museums. I would give a 5 star if the book sticks with histories throughout because it is easy to understand for people who never learned about how museums work.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.