Artists’ ‘embedded reinterpretation’ in museums and sites of heritage

ABSTRACT

Artists’ embedded reinterpretation results in responsive artwork, made and sited in proximity to existing artefacts, the latter acting as a source. Typically applied through the practice of contemporary art interventions in museums and other sites of cultural heritage, the methodology provides a practice-based means of broad thematic, conceptual or contextual critique, which goes beyond approaches which emphasise purely formal resonances. How embedded reinterpretation produces dramatic juxtaposition as a form of historicisation is important as its associated methods enable both a retrospective and a prospective focus. This holds implications and anticipations for a body of cultural history while contesting periodisation, enabling imaginative disruption of otherwise orderly environments.

KEYWORDS:

• Museum
• cultural history
• reinterpretation
• contemporary
• artist

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Craig Richardson is an artist and a writer. Author of Scottish Art since 1960 (2011, Ashgate), his recent articles are in The Drouth, Tate Papers, Visual Culture, Visual Culture in Britain and The Journal of Visual Art Practice.

ORCID

Craig Richardson http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2748-9769

Notes

1 Alec Finlay, email to author, 17th December 2016.