August 20, 2006
Andrea Fraser on institutional critique
Recently, as part of my research for a freelance project, I have spent considerable time with Andrea Fraser's "From a Critique of Institutions to an Institution of Critique," printed in the September 2005 Artforum. Here is a quote from near the end of that article:
Every time we speak of the “institution” as other than “us,” we disavow our role in the creation and perpetuation of its conditions. We avoid responsibility for, or action against, the everyday complicities, compromises, and censorship—above all, self-censorship—which are driven by our own interests in the field and the benefits we derive from it. It’s not a question of inside or outside, or the number and scale of various organized sites for the production, presentation, and distribution of art. It’s not a question of being against the institution: We are the institution. It’s a question of what kind of institution we are, what kind of values we institutionalize, what forms of practice we reward, and what kinds of rewards we aspire to.”
Fraser's selected writings, edited by Alexander Alberro, were published as Museum Highlights by MIT Press in 2005.