Practice-led research into ways the museum is explored as a house of wonder in contemporary sculpture

Abstract

The contemporary ecological debate embodies diverse opinions reflecting the complexity of information available. The museum has recorded the history of human-nature relations, and has influenced ways in which meaning has been assigned to nature. Its influence over the interpretation of objects has been critiqued by 20th century artists and postmodern theorists. However, the museum also continues to engage and inspire some artists, and this research uncovers reasons for this. This research investigates the ways in which contemporary sculpture can employ museum aesthetics to draw attention to flexible and uncertain meaning regarding ecological issues. It is undertaken in two parts. The first, the studio work with an exegesis of 8,000 words, investigates two particular sites and applies museum methodology to sculptures inspired by those environments. The work is supported by a dissertation of 18,000 words researching the work of Mark Dion and Fiona Hall. Both of these artists appropriate museum aesthetics in order to demonstrate that meaning is flexible and engage the viewer in the interpretive process. The studio research culminates in two bodies of work related to the two sites chosen, using the aesthetics of cultural artefacts, natural specimens, and skeleton galleries found in museums of natural history and ethnography. The form and materiality of these objects intends to defy didactic interpretation. The dissertation reveals that, as a result of its history, the museum is a house of wonder and mystery. The examination of Dion's and Hall's works demonstrates their use of postmodern strategies to both challenge the museum and exploit its potential as a house of wonder, and ultimately to engage the viewer's curiosity and active interpretation.