An anthology of writings on exhibition practice from artists, critics, curators and art historians which address the contradictions posed by museum and gallery staged exhibitions, and the challenge of staging art presentations and displays.

Bruce W. Ferguson, Reesa Greenberg, Sandy Nairne

LIST OF PLATES, NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, INTRODUCTION, PART I: THE FUTURE OF HISTORY, 1. THE MUSEUM AND THE 'AHISTORICAL' EXHIBITION: the latest gimmick by the arbiters of taste, or an important cultural phenomenon?, 2. BROKERING IDENTITIES: art curators and the politics of cultural representation, 3. LARGE EXHIBITIONS: a sketch of a typology, 4. FOR EXAMPLE, DOCUMENTA, OR, HOW IS ART HISTORY PRODUCED?, PART II: STAGING SPECTATORS, 5. THE EXHIBITIONARY COMPLEX, 6. THE MUSEUM FLAT, 7. NAMING NAMES: the art of memory and the NAMES Project AIDS Quilt, PART III: GRAMMATIC ACTS, 8. LES IMMATÉRIAUX, 9. EXHIBITION RHETORICS: material speech and utter sense, 10. CREATING SPACES, 11. THE DISCOURSE OF THE MUSEUM, PART IV: CURATORS OR CATERERS, 12. THE GREAT CURATORIAL DIM-OUT, 13. FROM MUSEUM CURATOR TO EXHIBITION AUTEUR: inventing a singular position, 14. CONSTRUCTING THE SPECTACLE OF CULTURE IN MUSEUMS, 15. THE SHOW YOU LOVE TO HATE: a psychology of the mega-exhibition, 16. FREE FALL-FREEZE FRAME: Africa, exhibitions, artists, PART V: SPATIAL PLAY, 17. THE ONE-PICTURE GALLERY, 18. DISSENTING SPACES, 19. FUNCTION OF ARCHITECTURE: notes on work in connection with the places where it is installed taken between 1967 and 1975, some of which are specially summarized here, 20. THE GALLERY AS A GESTURE, 21. POSTMODERNISM'S MUSEUM WITHOUT WALLS, 22. THE EXHIBITED REDISTRIBUTED: a case for reassessing space, PART VI: THE EXHIBITION CONDITION, 23. A VISUAL MACHINE: art installation and its modern archetypes, 24. THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF DISSENT, 25. MODERNISM, NATIONALISM AND BEYOND: a critical history of exhibitions of First Nations art, 26. IN AND OUT OF PLACE, 27. WHAT'S IMPORTANT ABOUT THE HISTORY OF MODERN ART EXHIBITIONS?, SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY, INDEX