Institutional critique
制度批判
Art that takes the institution itself, such as a museum or gallery, as its subject, examining how it works and where its money comes from.
01About
From the late 1960s some artists turned to the institutions that collected and showed their work. Hans Haacke, a leading figure, often asked where museums' funding and donations came from. In 1970, for the Information exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, he set out two transparent ballot boxes and handed in his question only just before the opening: would the fact that Governor Rockefeller had not denounced President Nixon's Indochina policy be a reason not to vote for him in November? Rockefeller was a major donor to MoMA and a member of its board; by the end of the show there were about twice as many Yes ballots as No. MoMA Poll is counted as an early example of institutional critique.
02In the gallery
At the visitor poll, read the questions and settle on your own answers before looking at the running totals: what did your vote change in the work?
Wall label terms in Japanese
- 制度批判
- Institutional critique
- 制度・機関
- Institution
- コンセプチュアル・アート
- Conceptual art
03Notes
Institutional critique takes the museum as its subject, often asking where the money and donations come from.
Who paid for the exhibition? Where in the galleries did you find the answer?