Public Art: Thinking Museums Differently

This eloquent book proposes a new paradigm for the museum, based on a deeply informed understanding of public art and museum practice. By comparing the museum to contemporary public art, Hilde Hein shows how the dynamic experimentalism of the latter can replace the static notion of museums as containers for timeless art. That is an invaluable lesson. — Hafpór Yngvason, Director, Reykjavik Art Museum

Hein”s exploration of the museum world emphasizes experience and qualifies art as a process, not a thing, hence her concept of the museum as a performance in which objects and people participate. Six chapters discuss The Experiential Museum, Private, Nonprivate, and the Public, History and Meaning of Public Art, Innovation in Public Art, Old Museums and a New Paradigm, and Why a New Paradigm. Although her exposition is soundly based in philosophical arguments, Hein illuminates the discourse with examples like Christo”s Gates project and the Baltimore Museum of Visionary Art. The reader finds discussions of contemporary developments like virtual visitors, the uses of electronic technology to extend the accessibility of collections beyondfixed walls. Motivated citizens can freely rearrange their downloaded treasure to create ”collections” of their own design. Nor does Hein (emer., College of the Holy Cross) neglect the significance of the museum site in its effect on the response to collections. Her writing is frequently poetic, as when she explains that objects can inspire the museal gaze which ignites the sense of presence. By emphasizing the impermanence of objects, she helps the reader focus on qualities of museums rarely consider

Hein”s exploration of the museum world emphasizes experience and qualifies art as “a process, not a thing,” hence her concept of “the museum as a performance in which objects and people participate.” Six chapters discuss “The Experiential Museum,” “Private, Nonprivate, and the Public,” “History and Meaning of Public Art,” “Innovation in Public Art,” “Old Museums and a New Paradigm,” and “Why a New Paradigm.” Although her exposition is soundly based in philosophical arguments, Hein illuminates the discourse with examples like Christo”s Gates project and the Baltimore Museum of Visionary Art. The reader finds discussions of contemporary developments like “virtual visitors,” the uses of electronic technology to extend the accessibility of collections beyond fixed walls. Motivated citizens can “freely rearrange their downloaded treasure to create ”collections” of their own design.” Nor does Hein (emer., College of the Holy Cross) neglect the significance of the museum site in its effect on the response to collections. Her writing is frequently poetic, as when she explains that objects can “inspire the museal gaze which ignites the sense of presence.” By emphasizing the impermanence of objects, she helps the reader focus on qualities of museums rarely considered elsewhere.