The institutionalization of contemporary art, seen on a global scale, has only just begun. Despite an increase in global art production, and in the number of biennials, contemporary art has yet to find its footing in the museums outside the West-a phenomenon likely to affect the future of the museum. While migration is the issue in artists' circles, public museums as local institutions are confronted with the challenge of globalization. While migration is the issue in artist's circles, public museums as local institutions are confronted with the challenge of globalization.The reciprocal impact of contemporary non-Western art and local museums all over the world is the main focal point of this book. It assembles a group of art critics, anthropologists, and museum curators who address the identity of the museum and its change from a variety of viewpoints that reflect their different backgrounds. The critical essays were written for two international conferences, while other texts were chosen for their significance as exemplary analyses for the present situation.

Where, how, by whom and for what were the first museums of contemporary art created? These are the key questions addressed by J. Pedro Lorente in this new book. In it he explores the concept and history of museums of contemporary art, and the shifting ways in which they have been imagined and presented. Following an introduction that sets out the historiography and considering questions of terminology, the first part of the book then examines the paradigm of the Musée des Artistes Vivants in Paris and its equivalents in the rest of Europe during the nineteenth century. The second part takes the story forward from 1930 to the present, presenting New York's Museum of Modern Art as a new universal role model that found emulators or 'contramodels' in the rest of the Western world during the twentieth century. An epilogue, reviews recent museum developments in the last decades. Through its adoption of a long-term, worldwide perspective, the book not only provides a narrative of the development of museums of contemporary art, but also sets this into its international perspective. By assessing the extent to which the great museum-capitals - Paris, London and New York in particular - created their own models of museum provision, as well as acknowledging the influence of such models elsewhere, the book uncovers fascinating perspectives on the practice of museum provision, and reveals how present cultural planning initiatives have often been shaped by historical uses.

A compelling examination of the art museum from a renowned director, this sweeping book explores how architecture, vision, and funding have transformed art museums around the world over the past eighty years. How have art museums changed in the past century? Where are they headed in the future? Charles Saumarez Smith is uniquely qualified to answer these questions, having been at the helm of three major institutions over the course of his distinguished career. For The Art Museum in Modern Times, Saumarez Smith has undertaken an odyssey, visiting art museums across the globe and examining how the experience of art is shaped by the buildings that house it. His story starts with the Museum of Modern Art in New York, one of the first museums to focus squarely on the art of the present rather than the past. When it opened in 1939, MoMA’s boldly modernist building represented a stark riposte to the neoclassicism of most earlier art museums. From there, Saumarez Smith investigates dozens of other museums, including the Tate Modern in London, the Getty Center in Los Angeles, the West Bund Museum in Shanghai, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. He explores our shifting reasons for visiting museums, changes to the way exhibits are organized and displayed, and the spectacular new architectural landmarks that have become destinations in their own right. Global in scope yet full of personal insight, this fully illustrated celebration of the modern art museum will appeal to art lovers, museum professionals, and museum goers alike.

The companion to a one-of-a-kind exhibition at the University of Chicago's Smart Museum of Art, Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art explores the role of the meal in contemporary art. Feast offers the first survey of the artist-orchestrated meal: since the 1930s, the act of sharing food and drink has been used to advance aesthetic goals and foster critical engagement with the culture of the moment. Both exhibition catalogue and reader, this richly illus- trated book offers an interdisciplinary exploration of the art of the meal and its relationship to questions about hospitality, politics, and culture. From the Italian Futurists' banquets in the 1930s, to 1960s and '70s conceptual and performative work, to the global prevalence of socially engaged practices today, Feast considers a diverse group of artists who have transformed the meal into a compelling artistic medium. After an introductory essay by curator Stephanie Smith, the book includes new interviews with over twenty contributing artists and reprinted excerpts of classic texts. It also features a selection of contextual essays contributed by an international group of critics, writers, curators, and scholars.

"From Jackson Pollock's dynamic 1948 drip painting to Kehinde Wiley's colorful 2006 hip-hop portrait, 114 works--paintings, sculpture, video art, prints, drawings, photographs, and collage--offer art enthusiasts their old favorites, hidden treasures, and exciting new acquisitions."--Cover.

Contemporary Art and Multicultural Education is the first book of its kind to address the role of art within today's multicultural education. Co-published with The New Museum of Contemporary Art , this beautifully illustrated book is a practical resources for art educators and students. Co-published with the New Museum of Contemporary Art.