Victoria Preston

Part time since April 2006

From specific interpretations to expanded discourses: an investigation of Institutional Critique in art and curatorial practice.

My research investigates Institutional Critique (IC) – a term which is used to characterise artistic and curatorial engagement with the framing conditions of art. I argue against existing interpretations, which have led to the institutionalisation and early canonisation of IC.

I explore new readings of IC in terms of expanded discourses, namely as a diverse set of theories, practices and methods which criticise the institution(s) of art. To do this I construct three models of criticality - complicit, activist and subversive - applying them to museums, biennialisation and experimental institutionality.

My thesis concludes that IC is neither obsolete nor should it be confined to describing an historicised genre. Moreover it is productive to view IC as expanded discourses and reasonable to assert these discourses will continue to be relevant in the ongoing desire for and pursuit of utopian art institutions.

Supervisor: Dr. Fiona Candlin, Department of History of Art and Screen Media.
Advisor: Dr Ben Cranfield.