Katie Hargrave / Towards a Modernist Museum Critique: The Projects of Mark Dion
In my undergraduate honors thesis for Art History at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, I examine the history of museums studies and museum critique. Artist Mark Dion's work grows out of the Whitney Independent Study program in the late 1980's. While his career was beginning at the same time as Andrea Fraiser and Fred Wilson were gaining speed, his admiration of the museum is apparent in his work. In four case studies, I look to his use of the form and language of the museum. I tie his work to the theory of Walter Benjamin in "Unpacking my Library" and "Theses on the Philosophy of History".
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