Museyrooms

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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

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11

Chicago Institute of Arts

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13

Chicago Institute of Arts

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15

Chicago Institute of Arts

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17

Chicago Institute of Arts

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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

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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

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43

Westf채lisches Freilichtmuseum in Detmold

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45

Westf채lisches Freilichtmuseum in Detmold

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47

Westf채lisches Freilichtmuseum in Detmold

48

49

Westf채lisches Freilichtmuseum in Detmold

50

51

Westf채lisches Freilichtmuseum in Detmold

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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

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59

National Gallery of Art in Washington DC

60

61

National Gallery of Art in Washington DC

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63

National Gallery of Art in Washington DC

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65

National Gallery of Art in Washington DC

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67

National Gallery of Art in Washington DC

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69

National Gallery of Art in Washington DC

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71

National Gallery of Art in Washington DC

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National Gallery of Art in Washington DC

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75

National Gallery of Art in Washington DC

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National Gallery of Art in Washington DC

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National Gallery of Art in Washington DC

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81

National Gallery of Art in Washington DC

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National Gallery of Art in Washington DC

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85

National Gallery of Art in Washington DC

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87

National Gallery of Art in Washington DC

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89

National Gallery of Art in Washington DC

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91

National Gallery of Art in Washington DC

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93

National Gallery of Art in Washington DC

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95

National Gallery of Art in Washington DC

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97

National Gallery of Art in Washington DC

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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

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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

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123

Saint Louis Art Museum

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125

Saint Louis Art Museum

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127

Saint Louis Art Museum

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129

Saint Louis Art Museum

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131

Saint Louis Art Museum

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133

Saint Louis Art Museum

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135

Saint Louis Art Museum

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137

Saint Louis Art Museum

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Saint Louis Art Museum

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Saint Louis Art Museum

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Saint Louis Art Museum

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Saint Louis Art Museum

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Saint Louis Art Museum

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149

Saint Louis Art Museum

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Saint Louis Art Museum

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153

Saint Louis Art Museum

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Saint Louis Art Museum

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Saint Louis Art Museum

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159

Saint Louis Art Museum

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161

Saint Louis Art Museum

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163

Saint Louis Art Museum

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165

Saint Louis Art Museum

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167

Saint Louis Art Museum

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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

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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