The Problematic of Video Art in the Museum, 1968–1990 By Cyrus M ...

to the museum or gallery. (This would include Graham's attempts at deconstructing/restructuring the viewer's perception in gallery spaces. He used devices such as projections, surveillance, time delay, and mirrors, and other methods that redefined viewer/construct relationships and spatial frameworks of the museum.) In addition to Graham, the works of Nauman and Hatoum will serve as other examples that will extend the breadth of discussion.

Finally, the use of the term “installation” (such as the phrase “video installation art”) in this book refers to any work created by the “…artists who critically engaged with the experience of human perception, who tested its limits and expanded its possibilities”.⁸⁶ This definition is applied to the video artists whose works were installed for display in those institutions of which this study is concerned.

Because the research question is both broad and complex, and focuses on museums and video art, I have chosen to focus on two specific methodologies in my examination. The first attempts to determine why art museums dealt with the display of video art as a form of museum installation in the way that they did. The second is concerned specifically with investigating how and why the problematic of video art influenced the art museum during the latter period of High Modernity. Video installation, as a distinct form of communication and art, presented unique problems related to its display and acquisition. Both of these premises/investigations will form a specific understanding towards the art museum's relationship to video for the period studied in this book.

My method is to first define the kinds of museums that attempted to create a space for video art installations. In order to do this, it seems worthwhile to examine the earlier museum models, which will increase understanding of more contemporary museums and the manner with which the “classical” model was modified.

Chapter Summaries

Chapter 1— Defining the Classical Structure of the Art Museum: From the Louvre to MoMA. In the first chapter, I will examine the significant