Appel à communication : « Art in place: Collections in real spaces » (VIII D. João VI Museum Seminar, Rio de Janeiro)

How is art displayed within collections of different types:  scientific, artistic, didactic, museological, private and public? Once we give access to it through this strategy of display, how is it understood? What kind of experience and/or knowledge does it promote? And how does that influence affect the writing of Art Histories?

The physical spaces filled by these collections gather different experiences that need to be taken into account in the writing processes of Art Histories. Rather than evaluating works of art through the isolated images of each piece, their photographic representations and the data available in inventories, we propose that trying to access them in physical locations opens up new perspectives. Objects gain concreteness, materiality, positions, means of interaction with other pieces next to them as well as with people who relate to them under these circumstances, which enables us to take into consideration embodied acting observers. In certain locations, empty spaces acquire densities, as intervals between objects working as amalgamations of sense, contributing to give cohesion to the collections.

We call for proposals that, within this mental framework, reflect about the spatiality of art collections, considering works of art as they occupy real physical spaces, instigating discussions about art and its location and the means of reception and understanding according to their means of display.

ART IN PLACE: COLLECTIONS IN REAL SPACES