Permanent Hangings – Temporary Exhibitions: On the History of Collection Cisplay and Exhibitions at the Gothenburg Museum of Art
How has art been displayed in museums throughout the ages, and how do different hanging practices reflect conceptions about art, society and humanity? The first issue of Skiascope analyses displays and exhibitions with the history of the Gothenburg Museum of Art as a starting point but with international comparisons and theoretical perspectives from the museological research of recent decades.
Today, the art in art museums and galleries is hung sparsely on white walls in windowless rooms. Yet not long ago there were competing concepts. The study shows a number of hanging practices, based on ideas that were highly developed as early as the late 19th century, even if they differ from the white cube that is the ideal in our time. The varying orientations of exhibition practice, and how they reflect the view on art and aesthetic values of the time period, are also analyzed.
Two longer essays, by Kristoffer Arvidsson and Jeff Werner respectively, discuss concepts such as comparative hangings, period rooms, educational hangings and the white as well as the black cube. The book also includes unique illustrations in the form of documentary photographs from the museum’s archive, showing exhibitions and collection display.
Skiascope 1 is published with the support of the Sten A Olsson Foundation for Research and Culture.
Read more and order the publication Skiascope 1 here
