In wessen Interesse?

Zu einer Ethik künstlerischer Sammlungspräsentationen

Abstract

Under what circumstances and with what aims are artists invited to work with museum collections? And to what degree do such „joint ventures“ equally represent the interests of both parties? The article discusses these questions by drawing on Fred Wilson’s now canonical museum intervention Mining the Museum at the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore in 1992/93 and Always, Always, Others. Unklassische Streifzüge durch die Moderne, a collection presentation at mumok in Vienna in 2015/16, which was co-curated by the artist Ulrike Müller and the museum’s in-house curator Manuela Ammer. The analyses are embedded in reflections on the legacy of institutional critique and debates that more recently have unfolded around the concepts of hospitality, care and sustainability in relation to curatorial practices. In conclusion, ethics is understood as the term that unites all three principles.