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Museyrooms Museyrooms Mikesch MikeschW. W.Muecke Muecke
Culicidae Architectural Press an imprint of Culicidae Press, LLC 918 5th Street Ames, IA, 50010-5906 USA www.cularchpress.com
First published in 2010 Museyrooms. Copyright © 2010 by Mikesch W. Muecke. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanized means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address Culicidae Press, 918 5th Street, Ames, IA 50010-5906 or write to editor@cularchpress.com
ISBN: 978-0-557-64785-9
All works are copyrighted © 2010 by the author, except where noted. Graphic design, layout, and typesetting by 918studio.com Cover image, flipped horizontally © 2009 by polytekton.
Table of Contents About the Book
6
Chicago Art Institute
8
Musée des Arts et Metiérs in Paris
20
Musée du Louvre in Paris
30
MARTA in Herford
36
Westfälisches Freilichtmuseum in Detmold
38
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
54
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
106
National Building Museum in Washington DC
108
French Icarian Colony Living History Museum in Corning, IA
114
St. Louis Art Museum
118
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO
174
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, MO
194
To J.B., J.J., and A. L. P.
Collecting seems to be instinctive for many human beings. It may be based upon the search for physical security (today collections often are considered good investments), social distinction (Thorstein Veblen would call it "conspicuous consumption"), the pursuit of knowledge and connoisseurship (genuine love for objects and desire to find out everything about them), and a wish to achieve a kind of immortality, as witness the great number of named collections in museums.1 1
Edward Alexander. Museum in Motion, p. 9
About the Book
In Babel’s Tower Francis Taylor called museums evidence of the “magpiety of mankind.” Over the last years I visited several of these spaces of manic collecting and, where non-flash photography was permitted, I began to take images of the interiors. Soon I noticed that a large number of my photographs were blurred. Before discarding these obviously flawed images I observed—by taking a second look—a certain lightness in these pictures that stood in marked contrast to the rigidity of the physical museum spaces and their contents. The sense of power and control that museal architecture always represents seemed to have been countered by images that captured not only the art but also the museums’ inhabitants in motion. At times I felt compelled to include some non-blurry pictures of the artwork as well but for the most time I was amazed and detained by that subtle intersection of architecture, space, and inhabitants in motion. This book contains photographs I took in the following museums: the Art Institute in Chicago, IL, the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris, the Louvre, the MARTa in Herford, Germany, the Freilichtmuseum in Detmold, Germany, the National Gallery in Washington, DC, the Building Museum in Washington, DC, the French Icarian Colony Living History Museum in Corning, IA, the St. Louis Art Museum in St. Louis, MO, and finally both the Nelson-Atkins and the Kemper Museum in Kansas City, MO.
About the Title
This book and its title is a not-so-oblique nod to my erstwhile teacher and mentor Dr. Jennifer Bloomer who published an article, in February 1988, about the John Soane Museum in London, entitled “In the Museyroom”, in Assemblage No. 5 (The MIT Press). In that essay she refers to James Joyce who, as far as I know, coined the word ‘museyroom’ and mentions it at least three times in Finnegans Wake in a reference to what might as well be the Wellington Museum (page 8, lines 9 and 10): “This way to the museyroom. Mind your hats goan in! Now yiz are in the Willingdone Museyroom.” And, on page 11, line 22: “This way the museyroom. Mind your boots goan out.” As Bloomer writes in her essay, Joyce’s words are ‘switching mechanisms’—especially for those of us who know more than one language—and in a different but related sense the images on the following pages work as visual switches between what we expect to see in a museum, and what people actually do in these collective and collecting spaces. In those first pages of Finnegans Wake Joyce makes ample use of starting his sentences with the declarative “This is....” Bloomer borrows his writing technique for her essay, amplifying the two words to “THIS IS...”, and breaks the text into paragraphs that mimic the language of museum guides. THIS IS the least I could do in naming the book... MM, Ames, November 2010
6
7
Chicago Institute of Arts
Chicago Art Institute
8
9
Chicago Institute of Arts
10
11
Chicago Institute of Arts
12
13
Chicago Institute of Arts
14
15
Chicago Institute of Arts
16
17
Chicago Institute of Arts
18
19
Musée des Arts et Metiérs in Paris
Musée des Arts et Metiérs in Paris
20
21
MusĂŠe des Arts et MetiĂŠrs in Paris
22
23
MusĂŠe des Arts et MetiĂŠrs in Paris
24
25
Musée des Arts et Metiérs in Paris
Aéroplane de Clément Ader, Avion 3, 1893-1897
26
27
Foucault’s Pendulum and two museum guards.
28
29
Musée du Louvre in Paris
Musé du Louvre in Paris
30
31
MusĂŠe du Louvre in Paris
32
33
MusĂŠe du Louvre in Paris
34
35
MARTA in Herford
MARTA in Herford
36
37
Westf채lisches Freilichtmuseum in Detmold
Westf채lisches Freilichtmuseum in Detmold
38
39
Westf채lisches Freilichtmuseum in Detmold
40
41
Westf채lisches Freilichtmuseum in Detmold
42
43
Westf채lisches Freilichtmuseum in Detmold
44
45
Westf채lisches Freilichtmuseum in Detmold
46
47
Westf채lisches Freilichtmuseum in Detmold
48
49
Westf채lisches Freilichtmuseum in Detmold
50
51
Westf채lisches Freilichtmuseum in Detmold
52
53
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
54
55
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
56
57
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
58
59
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
60
61
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
62
63
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
64
65
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
66
67
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
68
69
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
70
71
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
72
73
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
74
75
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
76
77
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
78
79
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
80
81
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
82
83
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
84
85
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
86
87
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
88
89
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
90
91
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
92
93
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
94
95
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
96
97
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
98
99
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
100
George Stubbs White Poodle in a Punt, c. 1780
101
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
102
103
National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
104
105
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
106
107
National Building Museum in Washington DC
National Building Museum in Washington DC
108
109
National Building Museum in Washington DC
110
111
National Building Museum in Washington DC
112
113
French Icarian Colony Living History Museum in Corning IA
French Icarian Colony Living History Museum in Corning, IA
114
115
French Icarian Colony Living History Museum in Corning IA
116
117
Saint Louis Art Museum
St. Louis Art Museum
118
119
Saint Louis Art Museum
Anselm Kiefer Burning Rods, 1984-1987
120
121
Saint Louis Art Museum
Joseph Beuys Felt Suit, 1970
122
123
Saint Louis Art Museum
124
125
Saint Louis Art Museum
126
127
Saint Louis Art Museum
128
129
Saint Louis Art Museum
130
131
Saint Louis Art Museum
132
133
Saint Louis Art Museum
134
135
Saint Louis Art Museum
136
137
Saint Louis Art Museum
138
139
Saint Louis Art Museum
140
141
Saint Louis Art Museum
142
143
Saint Louis Art Museum
144
145
Saint Louis Art Museum
146
147
Saint Louis Art Museum
148
149
Saint Louis Art Museum
150
151
Saint Louis Art Museum
152
153
Saint Louis Art Museum
154
155
Saint Louis Art Museum
156
157
Saint Louis Art Museum
158
159
Saint Louis Art Museum
160
161
Saint Louis Art Museum
162
163
Saint Louis Art Museum
164
165
Saint Louis Art Museum
166
167
Saint Louis Art Museum
168
169
Saint Louis Art Museum
170
171
Saint Louis Art Museum
172
173
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO
174
175
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO
176
177
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO
178
179
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO
180
181
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO
182
183
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO
184
185
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO
186
187
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO
188
189
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO
190
191
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO
192
193
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, MO
194
195
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, MO
196
197
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, MO
198
199