This is the Flow
The Museum as a Space for Ideas
- Fresh, provocative essays on art and the role of the museum
- Thought-provoking visions on high and low culture, social responsibility, and the (im-)possible ambitions of art
- Award Dutch Best Book Designs 2008
Authors: Guus Beumer, Cornel Bierens, Valentijn Byvanck, Edwin Carels, Chris Darke, Bregtje van der Haak, Bas Heijne, Anna Tilroe, Rutger Wolfson
Editor: Rutger Wolfson
Design: Mevis & Van Deursen, David Bennewith
2008, Valiz with De Vleeshal | paperback | 260 pp. | 26,2 x 18,4 cm (h x w) | English | ISBN 978-90-78088-24-0
In a series of thought-provoking essays on a wide variety of subjects, the contributors to this stimulating volume discuss the current artistic and institutional climate. From the difference between nightclubs and museums, to the (im-)possible ambitions of art and the fading distinction between high and low culture. From the response to the increasing artificiality of reality in contemporary painting, to the carefully constructed ambience orderliness and luxury in airports. From fashion’s power to seduce, to the question of whether art can develop symbols that express the values that bind us today. The underlying premise binding these various topics is the idea that art museums must re-establish their legitimacy and engage in a more explicit relationship with society.
In This is the Flow, the museum is redefined: no longer primarily as a place for art and artists, but as a space for ideas.