Object trouble: constructing and performing artwork identity in the museum

Castriota, B. (2021) Object trouble: constructing and performing artwork identity in the museum. ArtMatters: International Journal for Technical Art History(SI 1), pp. 12-22.

Abstract

The collections of many private and public art institutions today contain a significant number of contemporary artworks that involve or combine live performance, technology, and an ephemeral or replenishable materiality. Existing acquisition, loan, and collection care policies – conceived around ‘traditional’ artworks that exist as contained, relatively static physical objects or assemblages – have been challenged by this ever-increasing category of ‘other’ artworks that do not conform to established frameworks and protocols. In response, new frameworks and approaches devised in the last 20 years have focused on artwork identity as the object of conservation, as part of efforts to render such works collectable within a museum context, and to preserve them for future generations. In this article the notion of artwork identity is examined through a lens of queer theory and poststructuralist criticism to consider how an artwork’s seemingly fixed and singular essence is constructed, reified, and at times fractured within the museum space. This paper examines how the ongoing display and enactment of artworks – reframed as performatives – may either perpetuate the illusion of a fixed and stable artwork identity or subvert and queer that singularity through deviation. Artwork identity is reconceptualised as a perspectival impression of significance that may vary between individuals, contexts, and over time. Artworks previously characterised as ‘unruly’ actors in the museum sphere (Domínguez Rubio 2014) are positioned as entities that queer not only notions of artwork identity and essence, but also entrenched museum conventions, policies, practices, and larger institutional norms. With this in mind, this article proposes that the focus of conservation might be reoriented away from a univocal essentialism at the level of identity towards a processual and constructivist understanding of a work’s multiple, socially produced and negotiated grounds and centres.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Special Issue #1: Expanding Notions of 'Making' for Contemporary Artworks.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Castriota, Dr Brian
• Authors: Castriota, B.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities > Information Studies
• Journal Name: ArtMatters: International Journal for Technical Art History
• Publisher: Archetype Publications
• ISSN: 1571-3806
• ISSN (Online): 2753-409X
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 ArtMatters International Journal for Technical Art History
• First Published: First published in ArtMatters: International Journal for Technical Art History Special Issue 1: 12-22
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
172035		NACCA ITN	Dominic Paterson	European Commission (EC)	642892	Arts - History of Art