Exploring the Role of Conceptual Art for the New Museology – Conceptual Art as Method in Revisiting Objects, Their Display, and Heritage Institutions

ABSTRACT

In the context of the recent involvement of contemporary art in the field of museology, my article aims to point out the revolutionary role that conceptual art played in the understanding of heritage. This article argues that conceptual art crucially advanced the critical redefinition of the nature, value, display, role, and agency of the heritage object. Due to the specific understanding of the “object” and the institutional critique discourse it established, conceptual art significantly furthered the development of new methodologies in museological practice since the beginning of the twentieth century. Although new museology gradually involved contemporary art, a theory of its specific modus operandi in this context and – as will be argued – the particular contribution of conceptual art have not been systematically pursued so far. This article will demonstrate how the involvement of conceptual, performative, and multi-disciplinary artistic practices as well as display strategies have contributed to the elaboration of innovatory, critical, de-colonial, and inclusive methods of heritage transmission.

KEYWORDS:

• New museology
• heritage object
• display
• conceptual art
• history of conceptualism‌
• performativity
• ‌Global South–Global North
• decolonizing studies

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Collège d'études mondiales, FMSH, Paris, Fondation IméRA – Institut d'études avancées – Aix Marseille Université and most of all CeiED, Universidade Lusofona, Lisbon, for their support and knowledge transfer. This article is the outcome of CARIM, an FCT funded Project [FCT 2022.04615.PTDC, DOI 10.54499/2022.04615.PTDC].

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Literally translated as Box-in-Suitcase.

2 The term “performativity” comes from John Austin in his 1955 lecture “How to do Things with Words” (Austin 1962) where he defines a “performative utterance” as one that brings an action into being, solely through its expression.

3 Literally translated as Box-in-Suitcase.

4 Quilombos are communities created by escaped and emancipated enslaved people.