| Recognizing the historical uniqueness and complexity of Marcel Broodthaers's Musee d'Art Moderne, Departement des Aigles (1968-1972), this thesis examines Broodthaers's fictional museum and argues that it forms the crucial nexus of institutional critique. Institutional critique is a deconstructive praxis aimed at revealing the hidden political and economic mechanisms of the art institution from within the institution. The Musee d'Art Moderne was a satirical, critical, and fictional museum created and directed by Broodthaers. Under the title of the Musee d'Art Moderne, several compartmental sections, or exhibitions, opened in various places in Europe at different times. Many of the museum sections were set in actual museums and galleries, while some were situated in Broodthaers's apartment. The Musee d'Art Moderne used museological strategies to parody museums, causing the museum's sections to deceptively appear authentic. By mimicking genuine museum exhibitions, Broodthaers created a deconstructive "institutional critique" that revealed and criticized art institutions' methods of display, economics, politics, and hidden foundations.; Specifically, this thesis illustrates that the Musee d'Art Moderne extends earlier avant-garde precedents of institutional critique and anticipates the institutional critiques by Broodthaers's contemporaries. The origin of institutional critique is often simultaneously credited to Broodthaers, Hans Haacke, Daniel Buren, and Michael Asher, but by analyzing the critical implications of the Musee d'Art Moderne and the historical and political events of the late 1960s, this thesis assesses the distinctiveness of Broodthaers's Musee d'Art Moderne and illustrates that it forms the nexus, or link, between the avant-garde precedents and later practitioners of institutional critique. |
