CANONIZATION OF THE AVANT-GARDE: ON THE PUBLICATION AVANT-GARDE MUSEUM

Abstract

The monumental publication Avant-garde Museum (ed. Agnieszka Pindera, Jarosław Suchan, Muzeum Sztuki w Łodzi, Łódź 2020) juxtaposes and analyses four museum projects: Museums of Artistic Culture in Soviet Russia, the activity of the Société Anonyme in the USA, Poland’s ‘a.r.’ Group, and the Kabinett der Abstrakten, the selection criterion being that each was conceived by Avantgarde artists; additionally, in the projects’ assumptions the artists were to run the implementation of the projects. The publication has been divided into three sections: research papers, source texts, and the catalogue of documents and works. The study of the Avant-garde museum projects spans over four areas: the concept, collection, organization, and display. However, these issues are not isolated in the research, but more purposefully integrated. The main goal of the study is to show how the Avant-garde institutionalized itself. This very thesis is reflected upon in the present paper. Just like the consequences of this publication: e.g., entering the Avant-garde into the canon of art history and sanctifying its output as an unquestionable value.

Keywords

• Avant-garde
• museum
• modern art
• museology
• art of exhibition