The Modern Museum: Between Preservation and Action

From the Director
James Steward
Nancy A. Nasher–David J. Haemisegger, Class of 1976, Director

Over the past semester, I have been delighted to engage each week with a wonderful group of students enrolled in my fall course, “The Modern Museum: Between Preservation and Action.” The course explored the tensions between the modern museum’s origins in the European Enlightenment, as these continue to inform the core missions of today’s museums, and the potential for museums to act as innovators that might foster critical dialogue and shape future discourse.

Each week, we grappled with a set of readings related to a topic, such as issues surrounding provenance; the rise of the blockbuster exhibition; or the politics and poetics of display. The students ultimately examined a suite of influential exhibitions held over recent years (including the Art Museum’s Nature’s Nation: American Art and Environment) as case studies in the problematics of exhibition narratives.

A couple of my students kindly agreed to introduce you to readings related to a few of our case studies, and invite you into the discussion. Click on the student photos below to explore the readings they have chosen and read their insights. We hope you enjoy joining in!