Outline

Overview

This unit of study explores the art museum from its origins in Renaissance and Baroque princely and aristocratic collections, through to the creation of new public spaces and institutions for exhibiting art in the 18th and 19th centuries, including national Academies and international exhibitions. Shifting conceptions of the role of the art museum will be addressed: from public instruction to nation building and mass entertainment. The final section explores current debates, including those posed by an expanding range of new media and changing audience perceptions.

Unit details and rules

Unit code	ARHT6935
Academic unit	Art History
Credit points	6
Prohibitions ?	None
Prerequisites ?	None
Corequisites ?	None
Assumed knowledge ?	None
Available to study abroad and exchange students	Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Roger Benjamin, roger.benjamin@sydney.edu.au
Lecturer(s)	Jos Hackforth-Jones, jos.hackforth-jones@sydney.edu.au
Lecturer(s)	Roger Benjamin, roger.benjamin@sydney.edu.au

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length
Assignment	Exhibition review Exhibition review	40%	- Due date: 08 Apr 2024 at 23:59	2500 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Essay n/a	50%	- Due date: 04 Jun 2024 at 23:59	3500 words
Outcomes assessed:
Attendance	Spoken paper, attendance and participation A. Scheduled spoken paper, seminar attendance and participation (10%)	10%	Multiple weeks Closing date: 22 May 2024	Spoken paper of five minutes, 3 slides
Outcomes assessed:

Assessment summary

Detailed information for each assessment can be found on Canvas.

Assessment criteria

The University awards common result grades, set out in the Coursework Policy 2014 (Schedule 1).

As a general guide, a High distinction indicates work of an exceptional standard, a Distinction a very high standard, a credit a good standard, and a pass an acceptable standard.

Result name	Mark range	Description
High distinction	85 - 100
Distinction	75 - 84
Credit	65 - 74
Pass	50 - 64
Fail	0 - 49	When you don’t meet the learning outcomes of the unit to a satisfactory standard.

For more information see sydney.edu.au/students/guide-to-grades

For more information see guide to grades.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

Academic integrity

The Current Student website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

You may only use artificial intelligence and writing assistance tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator, and if you do use them, you must also acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section.

Studiosity is permitted for postgraduate units unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission.

Learning support

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

Support for students

The Support for Students Policy 2023 reflects the University’s commitment to supporting students in their academic journey and making the University safe for students. It is important that you read and understand this policy so that you are familiar with the range of support services available to you and understand how to engage with them.

The University uses email as its primary source of communication with students who need support under the Support for Students Policy 2023. Make sure you check your University email regularly and respond to any communications received from the University.

Learning resources and detailed information about weekly assessment and learning activities can be accessed via Canvas. It is essential that you visit your unit of study Canvas site to ensure you are up to date with all of your tasks.

If you are having difficulties completing your studies, or are feeling unsure about your progress, we are here to help. You can access the support services offered by the University at any time:

Support and Services (including health and wellbeing services, financial support and learning support)
Course planning and administration
Meet with an Academic Adviser

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity
Week 01	Introduction to the course, themes and objectives	Seminar (2 hr)
Week 02	The Musee de Louvre and canons of Taste.	Seminar (2 hr)
Week 03	Visit to the Chau Chak Wing and different museological models	Seminar (2 hr)
Week 04	Collections for the people: The British Museum and National Gallery, London	Seminar (2 hr)
Week 05	Australia: Exhibiting 19th Century Australian art in national and state collections	Seminar (2 hr)
Week 06	Field trip: Aboriginal Art; Art Gallery of NSW	Seminar (2 hr)
Week 07	Revolution, war and 'degenerate art': confiscation, pillage and restitution.	Seminar (2 hr)
Week 08	The emergence of the “White Cube”: the Bauhaus and MoMA	Seminar (2 hr)
Week 09	The Centre Pompidou and the “Beaubourg Effect	Seminar (2 hr)
Week 10	“Global” art museums: Bilbao and Abu Dhabi, Guggenheim and Louvre brands.	Seminar (2 hr)
Week 11	'Jewel boxes': postmodern art museums in Paris, Doha, Singapore.	Seminar (2 hr)
Week 12	Chau Chak Wing and Sydney Modern as museums of the future: the Debate.	Seminar (2 hr)
Week 13	Conclusion, Art Museum and the creation of community: Regional perspectives.	Seminar (2 hr)

Attendance and class requirements

Attendance: According to Faculty Board Resolutions, students in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences are expected to attend 90% of their classes. If you attend less than 50% of classes, regardless of the reasons, you may be referred to the Examiner’s Board. The Examiner’s Board will decide whether you should pass or fail the unit of study if your attendance falls below this threshold.
Lecture recording: Most lectures (in recording-equipped venues) will be recorded and may be made available to students on the LMS. However, you should not rely on lecture recording to substitute your classroom learning experience.
Preparation: Students should commit to spend approximately three hours’ preparation time (reading, studying, homework, essays, etc.) for every hour of scheduled instruction.

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

Week 1 February 21st

Schubert, Karsten, The Curator’s Egg: The evolution of the museum concept from the French Revolution to the present day (London: One-Off Press and Christie’s Books, 2002), 9-29.

Bennett, Tony, "The Formation of the Museum" in The Birth of the Museum: History, Theory, Politics (London and New York: Routledge, 1995), 35-58.

Week 2 February 28th

Duncan, Carol, "From the Princely Gallery to the Public Art Museum: the Louvre Museum and the National Gallery London", in her Civilizing Rituals; Inside Public Art Museums (London: Routledge 1995), 21-47.

Week 3 March 6th

Muse Issue 25, 2020 May 2020 (available online) pp2-13; pp16-20.

Please also view at least one additional item from the Chau Chak Wing Museum website prior to visiting the museum in order to think about different museological models. This can be either text or podcast.

Week 4 March 13th

MacGregor, Neil, "A Pentecost in Trafalgar Square", in Cuno, James (ed.). Whose Muse? Art Museums and the Public Trust (Princeton: Princeton UP, 2004), 27-49.

Taylor, Brandon, “Publics for Trafalgar Square: the National Gallery”, in his Art for the Nation: Exhibitions and the London Public, 1747-2001 (NJ: Rutgers UP, 1999), 29-46.

Week 5, March 20th

Thomas, Daniel, “Art Museums in Australia: A personal account”. In, Des Griffin and Leon Paroissien (eds.), Understanding Museums (Canberra: Nat Mus Australia, 2011). www.nma.gov.au/research/understanding-museums/DThomas_2011.html

Clifford, James, "Museums as Contact Zones", in Routes: Travel and Translation in the Late Twentieth Century (London: Routledge, 1997) 188-194, 204-219.

Week 6 March 27th

Andrew, Brook Garru and Lettau, Paris, “Decolonizing archives: Killing art to write its history.” In Curating Lively ObjectsExhibitions Beyond Disciplines, eds L Muller and C.S. Langill (London: Routledge, 2022).

Murphy, Bernice, “Transforming Culture: Indigenous Art and Australian Art Museums.” In Australian Museums and Museology, D. Griffith and L Paroissien ed., 2011 https://www.nma.gov.au/research/understanding-museums/BMurphy_2011.html

Week 7 April 10th

Karrels, Nancy, “Renewing Nazi-era provenance research efforts: Case studies and recommendations”, in Janet Marstine and Oscar Ho King Kay, ed., Curating Art (London: Routledge, 2021), 73-85

Katenhusen, Ines, “A Crate in the Basement: On the Works of Kazimir Malevich Loaned to the Hanover Museum”, Museums and Restitution: New Practices, New Approaches (London: Routledge, 2014), 151-161

Week 8 April 17th

Grunenberg, Christoph. “The Modern Art Museum”, in Emma Barker, Contemporary Cultures of Display (London: Yale University Press + Open University, 1999), 26-48

O’Doherty, Brian. “Notes on the Gallery Space”, Inside the white cube: the ideology of the gallery space (Santa Monica, CA: Lapis Press, 1986), 13-34

Week 9 April 24th

Baudrillard, Jean, "The Beaubourg Effect: Implosion and Deterrence" [1977] in, trans. S. Glaser (Ann Arbor: UMichigan P, 1994), also R. Redhead, ed., The Baudrillard Reader (New York: Columbia UP, pp. 57-70.

Heinich, Nathalie, “The Pompidou Centre and its Public: the limits of a utopian site”, trans. Chris Turner, in Lumley, Robert, The Museum Time Machine: Putting Cultures on Display (London: Routledge, 2004), 197-210.

Week 10 May 1st

Schubert, Karsten, "An Experiment: The Global Museum", in The Curator’s Egg (London: One-Off Press and Christie’s Books, 2002), 113-125.

Exell, Karen, “Universal Art Museums in the Arabian Peninsula”, Modernity and the Museum in the Arabian Peninsula (London: Routledge, 2016), 81-105 (see also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac7ZAOsoBAU)

Week 11 May 8th

Levitt, Peggy, “Arabia and the east: how Singapore and Doha display the nation and the world”, in her Artifacts and allegiances : how museums put the nation and the world on display, Oakland: U California Press, 95-111 (on Singapore) 112-132 (on Doha) [online book]

Week 12 May 15th

No set reading

Week 13 May 22nd

Witcomb, Andrea, “’A Place for All of Us?’ Museums and Communities", in Sheila Watson, ed. Museums and Their Communities (London: Routledge, 2007), 133-156.

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

Outcomes
Graduate qualities

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

LO1. To provide students with a solid understanding of the development of the art museum from the 18th century to the present.
LO2. To enable an appreciation of the diverse cultural contexts in which art museums have arisen, both in Australia and internationally.
LO3. To develop students’ verbal and written skills in interpreting and presenting debates about art museums.
LO4. To provide a relevant knowledge base for students who wish to pursue careers in the museum and galleries industries.

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1	Depth of disciplinary expertise Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.
GQ2	Critical thinking and problem solving Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.
GQ3	Oral and written communication Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.
GQ4	Information and digital literacy Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.
GQ5	Inventiveness Generating novel ideas and solutions.
GQ6	Cultural competence Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.
GQ7	Interdisciplinary effectiveness Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.
GQ8	Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.
GQ9	Influence Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes	Graduate qualities
Learning outcomes

Responding to student feedback

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

The lecture program has been changed since this unit was last offered'.

Disclaimer

The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.

Current students

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Support for students

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect

Current students

ARHT6935: The Art Museum: Past, Present and Future

Semester 1, 2024 [Normal day] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Support for students

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect