In almost thirty interviews, Donatien Grau probes some of the world's most prominent thinkers and preeminent arts leaders on the past, present, and future of the encyclopedic museum.
Over the last two decades, the encyclopedic museum has been criticized and praised, constantly discussed, and often in the news. Encyclopedic museums are a phenomenon of Europe and the United States, and their locations and mostly Eurocentric collections have in more recent years drawn attention to what many see as bias. Debates on provenance in general, cultural origins, and restitutions of African heritage have exerted pressure on encyclopedic museums, and indeed on all manner of museums. Is there still a place for an institution dedicated to gathering, preserving, and showcasing all the world’s cultures?
Donatien Grau’s conversations with international arts officials, museum leaders, artists, architects, and journalists go beyond the history of the encyclopedic format and the last decades’ issues that have burdened existing institutions. Are encyclopedic museums still relevant? What can they contribute when the Internet now seems to offer the greater encyclopedia? How important is it for us to have in-person access to objects from all over the world that can directly articulate something to us about humanity? The fresh ideas and nuances of new voices on the core principles important to museums in Dakar, Abu Dhabi, and Mumbai complement some of the world's arts leaders from European and American institutions—resulting in some revealing and unexpected answers. Every interviewee offers differing views, making for exciting, stimulating reading.
Includes interviews with George Abungu, National Museums of Kenya; Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York University; Homi K. Bhabha, Harvard University; Hamady Bocoum, Musée des Civilisationes Noires, Dakar; Irina Bokova, UNESCO; Partha Chatterjee, Columbia University; Thomas Campbell, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco; James Cuno, J. Paul Getty Trust; Philippe de Montebello, New York University; Bachir Souleymane Diagne, Columbia University; Kaywin Feldman, National Gallery of Art; Marc Fumaroli, Collège de France; Massimiliano Gioni, New Museum; Michael Govan, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Camille Henrot, artist; Max Hollein, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Henri Loyrette, Musée du Louvre; Jean Nouvel, architect; Zaki Nusseibeh, United Arab Emirates; Mikhail Piotrovsky, State Hermitage Museum; Grayson Perry, artist; Krzysztof Pomian, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales; Mari Carmen Ramírez, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Fiammetta Rocco, The Economist; Sabyasachi Mukherjee, CSMVS Mumbai; Bénédicte Savoy; Collège de France; Kavita Singh, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Amit Sood, Google Arts & Culture.
By:
Donatien Grau
Imprint: Getty Publications
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 250mm,
Width: 150mm,
Spine: 15mm
Weight: 666g
ISBN: 9781606067192
ISBN 10: 1606067192
Series: Getty Publications - (Yale)
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 25 August 2021
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Preface and Acknowledgments Introduction The Encyclopedic Museum: A Catchphrase, a Concept, a History Donatien Grau Part 1. Origins and Practice of Encyclopedic Museums 1. Marc Fumaroli 2. Partha Chatterjee 3. Krzysztof Pomian 4. Mikhail Piotrovsky 5. Philippe de Montebello 6. Grayson Perry 7. Thomas Campbell 8. Kaywin Feldman 9. Mari Carmen Ramirez Part 2. Encyclopedic Museums across the Globe 10. Irina Bokova 11. Fiammetta Rocco 12. Zaki Nusseibeh 13. Michael Govan 14. Max Hollein 15. Sabyasachi Mukherjee 16. Henri Loyrette 17. George Abungu 18. Hamady Bocoum 19. Amit Sood Part 3. Methodologies and Potentials of the Encyclopedic Museum 20. James Cuno 21. Jean Nouvel 22. Benedicte Savoy 23. Kavita Singh 24. Anthony Appiah 25. Homi Bhabha 26. Camille Henrot 27. Massimiliano Gioni 28. Bachir Souleymane Diagne Afterword The Encyclopedic Museum: Some Thoughts from 2019 Mary E. Miller Biographical Note on the Editor Index
Donatien Grau is a scholar and author. He currently serves as head of contemporary programs at the Musée d'Orsay, Paris, and as chair of the Association Pierre Guyotat.
Reviews for Under Discussion - The Encyclopedic Museum
Grau's compilation of interviews essentially asks us not simply to rebuild, reorganize, or reconfigure the encyclopedic museum, but to conceptually reimagine such museums and their place in a globalized civilization divided into contentious nation-states. --Ezrha Jean Black Los Angeles Review of Books (9/24/2021 12:00:00 AM) An interesting opportunity to listen in on the thinking of prominent figures in the field, Under Discussion: The Encyclopedic Museum offers a birds-eye view of their renegotiation of a legacy of the European Enlightenment to serve twenty-first-century populations across the globe. --Bernard Zirnheld La Gazette Drouot (5/10/2021 12:00:00 AM)
