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HAU22004 The Display of Art

This module introduces students to the history and practice of collecting and display. It will have a direct significance for anyone intending to undertake any kind of curatorial role.
  • Module Organisers:
    • Team taught
  • Duration:
    • Semester 2
  • Contact Hours:
    • 1 lecture per week, 1 seminar per fortnight
  • Weighting:
    • 5 ECTS
  • Assessment:
    • Course work
  • Course open to:
    [M=mandatory; O= optional]
    • Single Honors (M), Joint Honors (M), Columbia dual degree (M), Ancient and Medieval History and Culture (M), Art History as a minor (M), visiting (O); open module (O)

Through a range of case studies this module ensures an awareness that the museum or gallery is not inevitable or fixed, but a concept under constant revision if not challenge. Overall the arrangement of the module is chronological and progressively local, with a view to understanding museum and gallery history, types and principles.

Learning Outcomes:

Upon the successful completion of this module students should be able to:

  • Identify and analyse the chronology and geography of the emergence of the public museum
  • evaluate the origins, influence and status of the principal national and international institutions
  • Describe and evaluate the ways in which the main modes of display used in museums and galleries have evolved and give examples of recent practices
  • Explain the roles of museums and galleries in creating and mediating the cultural significance of works of art
  • Define and explain the concept of the canon and the reasons why works may be sought by collectors
  • Show a good awareness of the issues surrounding the concept of cultural property