Making the Invisible Visible in the Contemporary Art Museum

拟议的博士研究项目“让当代艺术博物馆的隐形变得可见”将质疑这样一个命题，即通过让博物馆目前不可见的过程变得可见，可以实现更大的透明度，进而实现更大的包容性。重点关注泰特美术馆收藏护理和保护团队的工作，特别是“重塑收藏品：当艺术品生活在博物馆”项目，该研究将开发新的理论视角，通过该视角评估开放这些先前隐藏的过程的潜在利益和危害。我将把我的研究定位在理论方法上，将博物馆学领域的最新建议与泰特自己收藏的艺术家所采用的批判理论结合起来。我将把博物馆看作是一个活跃的网络，通过这个网络，交流发生在多个平面上。反过来，这将为我的方法论提供信息，该方法论将采用行动者网络理论来衡量使这些过程和联系对博物馆观众可见的社会影响。由于个别艺术品为“重塑收藏品”项目提供了案例研究，我也将考虑艺术家采用的制度批评模式。为了与泰特美术馆“拥抱公众”和“支持艺术和艺术家”的既定目标保持一致，这个博士研究项目将对艺术品的生命、它们的保护以及使这些过程可见对观众、艺术家和博物馆的影响之间的联系进行重要的检查和衡量。因此，提供的研究问题是：1)。如何让博物馆的私人和幕后过程变得可见，从而扩大和多样化博物馆的观众？2）. 解决不可见和可见的问题如何与当前围绕包容和排斥的讨论联系起来？3）. 将当代艺术博物馆的作品展示给普通观众，对包括画廊和艺术家在内的利益相关者有什么潜在影响？4)。重划这些边界有什么利害关系？为了解决这些问题，我将把研究分为三个不同的阶段。首先，我将讨论看到了什么，然后调查谁看到了，最后我将考虑如何使流程变得可见。这项研究的主要信息来源将是泰特美术馆的“重塑收藏品：当艺术品生活在博物馆”项目的工作。作为这个研究团队的一员，我将参与这个项目的工作，该项目将选择泰特美术馆收藏的六件艺术品作为案例研究，观察艺术品的生命是如何随着空间和时间而展开的。将被揭示的“隐藏过程”的性质及其可见性的程度将与该团队一起确定。数据收集过程将由行动者网络理论提供信息，该理论涉及映射构成社会秩序的“行动者”和“事物”之间的关联-这本身被定义为“重新关联和重新组装的运动”。我将数据收集设想为一个与选定的受访者合作的过程，以便重新绘制观众、艺术品和博物馆之间的关系。随着泰特美术馆建立未来博物馆的愿景，评估该机构在多大程度上实现了“重新定义21世纪的博物馆，整合学习、展示和社会功能”的目标，并寻找新的、开拓性的方法来有效地实现这一目标，这一点至关重要。拟议的博士奖学金将支持保护团队开创性工作的目标，同时提供一个评估其影响的关键框架。该研究旨在为泰特可能构思的保护、访问和展示的新方式奠定基础，并最终确定和重组定义当代艺术博物馆的知识网络。

The proposed doctoral research project 'Making the Invisible Visible in the Contemporary Art Museum' will problematize the proposition that greater transparency, and by turn greater inclusivity, can be achieved through making visible the currently invisible processes of the museum. Focusing on the work of the Collection Care and Conservation teams at Tate, and in particular the project 'Reshaping the Collectible: When Artworks Live in the Museum', the research will develop new theoretical perspectives through which to evaluate the potential benefits and hazards of opening up these previously hidden processes. I will situate my research in a theoretical approach that combines recent proposals in the field of museology with the critical theories employed by artists within Tate's own collection. I will consider the museum as an active network, whereby exchange occurs across a number of planes. This in turn will inform my methodological approach, which will employ actor-network-theory to measure the social implications of making visible these processes and connections to museum audiences. As individual artworks provide the case studies for the project 'Reshaping the Collectible', I will also take into account modes of institutional critique employed by artists. In keeping with the stated aims of Tate to 'embrace the public' whilst 'championing art and artists', this doctoral research project will provide a vital examination and measurement of the links between the lives of artworks, their conservation and the impact that making these processes visible has on the audience, artists, and museum. As such, the research questions provided are: 1). How might making visible the private and behind the scenes processes of the museum broaden and diversify the museum's audience? 2). How does addressing the invisible and visible relate to current discourse around inclusion and exclusion? 3). What is the potential impact on stakeholders, including galleries and artists, of making visible the work of a contemporary art museum to a general audience? 4). What is at stake in redrawing these boundaries?In order to approach these questions I will divide the research into three distinct stages. First, I will address what is seen, then investigate who sees and finally I will consider how processes become visible. The primary source of information for the study will be the work of the project 'Reshaping the Collectible: When Artworks Live in the Museum', based at Tate. As part of this research team, I will contribute to the work of the project which will select six artworks in the Tate's collection as case studies to observe how the life of an artwork unfolds over space and time. The nature of the 'hidden processes' that will be revealed and the extent of their visibility will be determined in conjunction with this team. The process of data collection will be informed by actor-network-theory, which is concerned with mapping the associations between the 'actors' and 'things' which comprise a social order - which is itself defined as a 'movement of re-association and re-assembling'. I envisage data collection as a collaborative process with selected respondees in order to re-map the relationships between audience, artwork and museum. As Tate moves to establish its vision for a museum of the future, it is vital to assess how far the institution has achieved their aims to 'redefine the museum for the twenty-first century, integrating learning, display and social functions', and look for new and pioneering ways to effectively move towards this goal. The proposed doctoral studentship will support the aims of the Conservation team's pioneering work, whilst providing a critical framework through which to assess its impact. The study aims to lay the groundwork for new ways that Tate might conceive of conservation, access and display, and ultimately identify and reassemble the networks of knowledge that define the contemporary art museum.