Locating the Function of Theory in New Institutionalism: The Case of MACBA

自20世纪70年代以来，批判性学术揭示了博物馆的作用，即为特权阶层提供机会，在文明和约束大众的同时培养品味(Hooper-Greenhill，2000；Bennett，1995；Mc Call and Grey，2013)。在当代艺术机构中构建这种模式的第一个共同努力出现在20世纪90年代末以“新制度主义”为标签的“博物馆热潮”中的欧洲(Ekeberg，2003)。在所有这些所谓的“新机构”中，规模最大、影响最大的是巴塞罗那当代艺术博物馆(MACBA)，该博物馆由馆长曼努埃尔·博尔哈-维勒(Manuel Borja-Villel)(1999-2007年)领导。MACBA创建了第一个公共项目部门，负责为博物馆提供总体指导，而不是次要的展览。这项研究将集中在“理论”在这一计划中所扮演的角色。博尔哈-维莱尔在这一时期对MACBA的愿景在其雄心方面是无与伦比的。他试图将一个全新的旗舰机构转变为一个机器，产生抵抗的、政治活跃的公众，目的是让红灯区士绅化。这方面的关键是该机构、活动团体和“下属社区”之间的团结，这是通过公共方案培养出来的(Borja-Villel，2010，29)。MACBA的项目与其他较小的“进步机构”的规模完全不同，“MACBA模式”为泰特会议(2007-2010年)和诺丁汉当代公共计划部等项目提供了信息。然而，在实践中，这并不总是产生一种新的公共参与形式，而是往往创造了一个产生和传播关于公共的批判性话语的平台。“理论”这种高度专业化的话语--现在在艺术机构中很普遍--的使用，引发了人们对MACBA对非专业公众参与的开放程度的质疑，质疑这种模式预期目标的实现程度。

Since 1970s critical scholarship has unveiled the museum's role in offering opportunities for the privileged to cultivate taste while civilising and disciplining the masses (Hooper-Greenhill, 2000; Bennett, 1995; Mc Call and Grey, 2013). The first concerted effort to construct alternatives to this model in contemporary art institutions emerged in Europe in the midst of the 'museum boom' of the late 1990s under the label of"New Institutionalism" (Ekeberg, 2003). The largest and most influential of all these so-called "New Institutions" was the Museu d'Art Contemporani Barcelona (MACBA) during the experimental period led by director Manuel Borja-Villel (1999-2007). MACBA created the first Public Programmes department charged with providing an overall direction to the museum, rather than being secondary to exhibitions. This research will focus in the role that "Theory"played within this programme.Borja-Villel's vision for MACBA in this period was unparalleled in its ambition. He sought to transform a brand-new flagship institution built with the intention of gentrifying a red-light district into a machine for producing resistant, politically active publics. Crucial to this was the solidarity between the institution, activist groups and "subordinate communities" which was fostered through the Public Programme (Borja-Villel, 2010, 29). MACBA's project was on an altogether different scale to other smaller 'progressive institutions' and the 'MACBA model' has informed projects such as Tate Encounters (2007-2010) and the Public Programmes department at Nottingham ContemporaryIn practice, however, this did not always generate a new form of public engagement but often created instead a platform for the production and dissemination of critical discourse on publics. The use of the highly specialised discourse of 'Theory' - now prevalent across art institutions - raises questions as to MACBA's openness to the participation of non-specialist publics, calling into question the extent to which the intended aims of this model were realised.