Book Release: Art and its Institutions

Nina Möntmann (ed.)
Art and its Institutions

Black Dog Publishing (London) 2006

Art and its Institutions is a comprehensive reader on current institutional conditions and the role of institutions within artistic processes, offering a powerful insight into the diversity of art institutions and their practice today.

The book examines the interests of the various institutions involved in the production and mediation of art, and explores the impact these institutions have on the contemporary art world. It covers topics including the decline of the welfare state; the advanced corporatisation of institutions; the art space and notions of democracy; curating with institutional visions; the role of art academies and education; new collectives and self-organisation; the need for transgressive institutions; a re-evaluation of institutional critique of the 1970s and 90s; and the introduction of new models of critique in artistic and institutional practice. Two exhibition projects, Spaces of Conflict and Opacity, are also discussed in terms of their relationship to the controversies and desires provoked by institutions.

With contributions from: Nina Möntmann, Nanna Kildal, Roger M Buergel, Anselm Franke, Maria Lind, Mike Bode and Staffan Schmidt, Andrea Fraser, Sven-Olov Wallenstein, Beatrice von Bismarck, Jan Verwoert, Simon Sheikh, Marita Muukkonen and Chris Evans, Anthony Davies, Stephan Dillemuth and Jakob Jakobsen, Tone Hansen, Trude Iversen, and 16 Beaver Group.