Institutional Critique: An Anthology of Artists' Writings (review)

Institutional Critique: An Anthology of Artists' Writings brings together key documents related to institutional critique, a conceptual art movement that has raised questions about the workings of art institutions (museums, galleries) since the 1960s. Alexander Alberro (one of the editors of this volume) calls it a "gesture of negation" (p. 3) that was adopted by art-world figures as they began to critically engage with the order of things within art venues. The anthology presents the movement in four sections (Framing, Institution of Art, Institutionalizing and Exit Strategies). While the volume gives the impression that the critique is ongoing, the Exit Strategies section suggests that the initial concerns have morphed into something else.

The Framing section centers on how artists began to expose the politics of art institutions along with various inconsistencies and contradictions in their operations in the 1960s and 1970s. Hans Haacke's response to the Guggenheim's abrupt cancellation of his scheduled show in 1971, due to its political content, is included here. Overall, these early documents present general challenges to the status quo. Ultimately, there was a shift in strategy that is covered in the second section, the Institution of Art. This second section covers how the art world operates and assumptions people bring to art. For example, the Guerrilla Girls, who first surfaced in New York City in 1985 to protest gender and racial inequality in the art world, are included in the second section as well as the third, Institutionalizing, which asks how artists can develop an alternative sphere. The final section, Exit Strategies, "brings together art projects and writings that stem from international collectives whose radical agendas and cultural politics resonate with earlier forms of institutional critique but reject significant parts of its legacy" (p. 15). In reading the book, I was struck by the fact that the majority of the writings appear in the first two sections (314 pages), while the last two sections seem more of an afterthought. Among the artists/authors included are Hans Haacke, Michael Asher, Robert Smithson, Marcel Broodthaers, Daniel Buren, Dan Graham, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Adrian Piper, Martha Rosler, Louise Lawler, Fred Wilson and Mark Dion.

To my surprise, I was quite taken in by the book but quite exasperated at the same time. This is because it is an insiders' book. The editors seem to assume that readers will know who all the artists are and how their writings "fit" together within the art world at large. Thus, there are no short artist biographies, no summaries to contextualize the writings and no index to help the reader move around expeditiously. The lack of supplementary material to enhance the reader's understanding of the writings presented makes it useful documentation for a classroom, where a teacher can provide framing, but less useful in a general sense. For example, the Critical Art Ensemble (CAE) article, titled "Tactical Media," was penned in 1996, before Steve Kurtz became the target of an FBI investigation. Gregg Bordowitz's 2004 article ("Tactics Inside and Out") is more useful for understanding the trajectory of CAE and their projects. An index would help a reader who is interested in CAE but not planning on reading the entire book easily discover materials about CAE outside of the article credited to CAE.

Moreover, although the authors claim the volume is a self-contained work, this is not really the case. The five Hans Haacke articles demonstrate that he has played a strong part in institutional critique. Yet, his work is not given in the context of his life. For example, one of the reasons he was able to continue to make political statements is that he had an economic base. From 1967 to 2002 Haacke had stable employment as a professor at Cooper Union in New York City. This "larger context" invisibility problem struck me frequently. Martha Rosler, for example, hardly seems like an "outsider." She has taught at several universities and (among...