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WALL TALK: DO W VN ND MUSUM WALL LALS?

Y Ann Landi (http://www.artnew.com/author/ann_landi/) POSTD 12/21/15 9:30 AM

2706

368

3309

InstallationviewofAlibis:SigmarPolke19632010atMoMA,whichdidnotusewalltexts.
COURTESYMOMA

here wa a time when the lael and text in mueum how were matter-of-fact explanationthe
artit, title, date, medium, and then a few informative word from the curator. ut a exhiition have
ecome more extravagant, provocative, and controverial, attended a pulic that i increaingl
divere, mueum taff face greater challenge in atifing everod.
Are the curator conidering
iue of political correctne, acknowledging upect ource of funding, fudging
The leading ource of art
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fact aout a collector (or an artit) quetionale politic or private ehavior, or withholding anthing that
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fact aout

a collector (or an artit) quetionale politic or private ehavior, or withholding anthing that
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WallTalk:DoWeEvenNeedMuseumWallLabels?|ARTnews

might e relevant to the pulic deire for information? A intitution reach out to roader audience, the
proper nature of wall text ha een provoking deate, and even hotilit, among mueum faction. All the
while, focu group, audience urve, and academic tudie have een tring to ort it all out.

In the wake of allegation (http://nmag.com/thecut/2015/07/ill-co-accuer-peak-out.html) that ill

Co drugged and exuall aaulted ome 40 women, cant attention ha een paid to the comedian
activitie a an art collector. ut a few harp-eed critic did take note of Camille and ill Co loan of
cloe to a third of the work in the exhiition Converation: African and African American Artwork in
Dialogue (http://converation.africa.i.edu/) at the Smithonian National Mueum of African Art in
Wahington, D.C. In an open letter to the mueum (http://hperallergic.com/225333/an-open-letter-to-thenational-mueum-of-african-art-regarding-ill-co/) pulihed lat Jul on the weite Hperallergic, writer
and editor Jillian Steinhauer made the following requet: Remove the portrait of him and the quote him,
the line of wall text that make ill Co ound like a kind-hearted famil man. Kriton Capp, writing in
the Atlantic (http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/11/wh-i-the-mithonian-tandingehind-ill-co/383034/), uggeted triking the Co name entirel from the how.
In repone, the mueum did not change a word of
text or remove the offending portraal of the
Co. Intead, it poted a meage to viitor on it
weite and in the how tating that the NMAfA in
no wa condone Mr. Co ehavior, explaining,
the how i fundamentall aout the artwork and
the artit who created them.
In general, we dont make change, aid ddie
urke, head of communication for the mueum. It
onl on a ver rare occaion, and that would e
around the pulic not undertanding the wall text.
The Co cae i not the firt intance of wall text
coming under attack for a failure to addre or
acknowledge ojectionale or unethical matter.
Motivated a different kind of moral concern, in
2012 the Metropolitan Mueum of Art otherwie
highl praied exhiition The Stein Collect

(http://1vze7o2h8a22tahl3i0t68.wpengine.netdnacdn.com/wpcontent/upload/2015/12/12_15_Smithonian_meage_v3l.jpg)
ThemessagepostedattheNationalMuseumofAfricanArtinthe
wakeoftheCosbyrapeallegations.(Clicktoenlarge.)
COURTESYNATIONALMUSEUMOFAFRICANART

(http://metmueum.org/exhiition/liting/2012/tein-collect) drew outrage from, among other,

writerJanet Malcolm (http://www.neworker.com/culture/culture-dek/wh-wont-the-met-tell-the-wholetruth-aout-gertrude-tein), civil liertie lawer Alan Derhowitz (http://www.huffingtonpot.com/alanderhowitz/met-gertrude-tein-collaorator__1467174.html), and Manhattan orough Preident Scott
Stringer (http://arteat.log.ntime.com/2012/05/01/met-mueum-will-amend-wall-text-to-reflectgertrude-tein-vich-tie/) for it reluctance to addre Gertrude Stein Nazi mpathie. Under preure,
ome text wa changed, ut a Malcolm opined in a report mil Greenhoue in the New Yorker, it wa
ver inadequate.

Sometime the prolematic

ehavior i not that of the collector ut rather of the artit or the artwork itelf,
The leading ource of art
coverage ince 1902.
with critic aiming at the mueum for not taking a poition on what we are looking at. It one thing to draw a
(http://www.artnew.com/)
dicreet creen acro Couret Origin of the World in an exhiition the wa the Met did in it triute
(http://www.metmueum.org/exhiition/liting/2008/gutave-couret) to the artit even ear ago, ut

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(http://www.metmueum.org/exhiition/liting/2008/gutave-couret) to the artit even ear ago, ut

another to glo over more flagrant controverial iue. The 2014 Jeff Koon retropective
(http://whitne.org/xhiition/JeffKoon) at the Whitne Mueum drew ire on man front, including that
of the text accompaning the exhiition. The lael in the Koon how were a kind of diinformation
campaign on the part of the mueum, aid ric Gion, a critic for the New Criterion and editor of the
Leiure and Art page of the Wall Street Journal. There telling ou what oure uppoed to e eeing. It a
kind of mind control, almot. He cited in particular the Made in Heaven erie, featuring Koon and hi
then-inamorata engaging in act that leave little to the imagination. Thee thing are pornograph, aid
Gion, ut we are aured from the wall lael that the are not pornograph; the are rather a vulnerale
form of elf-portraiture.

ontrover over wall text toda might e

aid to have dawned with the age of
heightened enitivitie to other culture,
race, and exual proclivitie a few decade ago.
Perhap the greatet diinformation campaign in
late 20th-centur art hitor occurred in the 1984
Primitivim in 20th Centur Art

PicassoSculptureatMoMAfeaturesbrochureswithdiagrams
denotingcaptioninformation.
KATHERINEMCMAHON

(http://www.moma.org/momaorg/hared/pdf/doc/pre_archive/6081/releae/MOMA_1984_0017_17.pdf ?
2010) exhiition at the Mueum of Modern Art. The lael provoked a firetorm of controver and led
man mueum to re-think how to preent o-called primitive art in Wetern context.

ut if there i diinformation
or politicall incorrect information to conider, there i alo mileading or jut
The leading ource of art
coverage ince 1902.
plain wrong information. When the Whitne opened in it new home in downtown Manhattan thi pring,
(http://www.artnew.com/)
Lo Angele Time critic Chritopher Knight noted (http://www.latime.com/entertainment/art/culture/la-etcm-ha-walltext-mark-whitne-deut-20150428-column.html) that the mueum had poted wall text in
it fifth-floor gallerie that referred in a fale and defamator wa to a review he had written of the landmark
1993 Whitne iennialthe firt to howcae non-white-male artit. The curator claimed that Knight, the

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1993 Whitne iennialthe firt to howcae non-white-male artit. The curator claimed that Knight, the
onl critic cited name, attacked the how artit a lacking qualit, when in fact hi review, in hi word,
attacked the how curatorial thei a lacking qualit. The wall text eemed deigned primaril to make the
Whitne appear groundreaking and unuuall precient (other critic, unnamed in the wall text, ut
including Roerta Smith (http://www.ntime.com/1993/03/05/art/at-the-whitne-a-iennial-with-aocial-concience.html?pagewanted=all) and Arthur Danto, alo had eriou reervation aout the iennial).
Knight demanded correction and, after much ack and forth with director Adam Weinerg and the pre
office, got a rather modet emendation. M review complained that the o-called political or multicultural
93 iennial actuall jut continued the uual traight-white-male privilege, he told ARTnew. Neither the
original Whitne wall text nor the revied verion give the lightet hint of that, intead favoring elfaggrandizing mirepreentation.
So what kind of wall text make critic happ? A a curator at the Met for 29 ear, Gar Tinterow, now
director of the Mueum of Fine Art, Houton, followed a few rule. Firt I want to know, what i thi thing?
I it a replica or a fragment of a larger compoition? I it an oil painting or a watercolor? A devotional oject
or an oject of utilit? And doe thi oject relate to other work that ame artit? And I like to, in ome
wa, point to a ditinctive feature that will guide the viewer to omething that happening in the work. And
then, if the artit ha aid omething, I like to offer a quote that in ome wa again will open up an exploration
of meaning or importance.
Another option i dipening with wall text altogether, a MoMA did for it ongoing and highl praied
Picao Sculpture (http://www.moma.org/calendar/exhiition/1505) exhiition, replacing the lael with a
rochure providing aic information on each piece. The move raied more than a few hackle among critic
and pulic. Lee Roenaum repone on her log CultureGrrl wa fairl tpical: To get rudimentar
information aout title, material and date, ou had to look cloel at the oject and then figure out which
crude line drawing in the ooklet offered to viitor wa intended to repreent it. (Picao the draftman m e
rolling over in hi grave at thoe crawled depiction of hi work.) At the pre preview for the how,
Roenaum reported, curator Ann Temkin told the audience that the no-lael approach wa deigned to
make the work eaier and more acceile for our viitor: You wouldnt contantl e walking ack and forth
ecaue the culpture arent againt the wall. Temkin added that it a trout, and if we find it annoing for
people, thoe lael can go up in a da. In the end MoMA came up with a compromie olution: reviing the
rochure and adding numer to all the pedetal to correpond with the rochure. According to the mueum
communication department, people liked it for thi how. ven Metropolitan Mueum of Art director
Thoma Campell poted on Intagram, Normall, I think contextual information i important, the narrative
that we, curator, add. ut in thi cae, it wa delightful to ee the culpture peaking for themelve without
word getting in the wa.
Curator often have enile reaon for opting out of text and lael entirel. For MoMA 2014 Sigmar Polke
retropective (http://www.moma.org/calendar/exhiition/1374?locale=en), aociate director Kath Halreich
choe a rochure and diagram for each galler. The main reaon, he explained, wa that the how wa ver

denel hung in ome

part, and I wa afraid the lael would make the galler look like it had uccumed to
The leading ource of art
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chicken pox.
(http://www.artnew.com/)
When the new San Francico Mueum of Modern Art open in the pring of 2016, enior curator Gar
Garrel aid, deciion to ue text will e on a cae--cae ai, with gallerie or how devoted to artit like
Agne Martin or Roert Rman echewing lael entirel. And in re-hanging Old Mater at the Worceter
Art Mueum in Worceter, Maachuett, director Matthia Wachek alo decided to get rid of that damn
piece of paper and place the work in group, intead of ide ide, and often tilted awa from the wall for

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piece of paper and place the work in group, intead of ide ide, and often tilted awa from the wall for
etter viewing. The painting would thu eem to e in dialogue with one another, and viitor would e
encouraged to linger, looking for common ground. Inpired certain collector he had viited, Wachek
wanted to re-create that experience in the mueum: There wa no adminitrative hand, he aid. Thee
work were jut looming on the wall and in the room, without lael. (Viitor to Worceter will till e
ale to find information on card within the gallerie, on iPad, and on different ort of app for their
phone.)
With the ailit to end picture and text at the dipoal of man viitor, wall textor the aence thereof
can come under ever more democratic crutin, with pectacularl miguided example making their wa to
friend and Faceook in a nanoecond. And perhap wall text will one da e a curiou artifact of the pat.
ven now ou can open an app on our martphone, watch a video of an artit explaining her work, or acce a
talking head on a touch creen. Ten ear from now thi dicuion aout wall text ma e almot quaint,
aid Roenaum.
Ann Landi i a contriuting editor of ARTnew.
A verion of thi tor originall appeared in the Decemer 2015 iue of ARTnew on page 42 under the title Wall Talk.
Copright 2016, Art Media ARTNWS, llc. 110 Greene Street, 2nd Fl., New York, N.Y. 10012. All right reerved.
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Jointhediscussion
RyanMcCourt9monthsago

Arepostmodernistartsadministratorsin2015actuallycatchingupwith20thcenturymodernism?Stay
tunedtotheongoingdramaintheartsworld...yawn.
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PhilipPhiloKassner9monthsago

WhenviewinganexhibitIabsolutelydowanttoknowthenameoftheartistwithouthavingtogoand
huntitoutsomewhere.NotonlydoIfinditannoyingnottohaveatagnexttotheart,Ibelieveitis
discourteoustotheartist.
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mlmlml>PhilipPhiloKassner9monthsago

Yes!AndI'dliketoknowwhenitwasmade,tofititintotheartist'snarrative.

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