Performance in the Museum charts the main stages of the inclusion of performance in the museum from the 1970s to the present day, offering a thought-provoking and highly readable assessment of some fundamental questions in contemporary curatorial practice. While performance emerged in the late 1960s as an anti-institutional form of art, it has recently gained an extraordinary visibility in contemporary art museums. This book focuses on three specific areas affecting museums: the staging of live performance within exhibitions; the conservation of performance; and the acquisition of performance works. What emerges from this study is that the museum, although rarely anticipating the specific issues raised by performance, has assumed a unique position in devising curatorial strategies adapted to this medium.

Through close analysis of a selection of exhibitions and curatorial practices from many different parts of the world, and from specific periods from the past fifty years, this book identifies key moments of the integration of performance into the museum. Despite the recent surge of exhibitions on performance and the part played by museums in this phenomenon, the history of the display, the conservation and the acquisition of live performance has remained largely uncharted. This book therefore makes an essential contribution to both the history of performance and curatorial studies.

About the Author
Pierre Saurisse is a lecturer on the MA Contemporary Art course at Sotheby's Institute of Art, London and is the author of Mechanics of the Unpredictable: Art and Chance around 1960.


Book Information
ISBN 9781848223806
Author Pierre Saurisse
Format Hardback
Page Count 144
Imprint Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd
Publisher Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd