Meningsskapande i dialog : en museologisk studie i kuratoriellt meningsskapande i samtidskonstutställningar

This thesis derives from a museological perspective on contemporary art exhibitions. The core in today’s art institutions is the exhibitions. In contemporary art exhibitions there often is a question about creating a meaningful context to translate to the public. The content of contemporary art is in relation to social, political and philosophical subjects in human relationships. Together with the artist the curator is the intermediary between the art and the public. One of the main responsibilities that the museum has is to convey the art to its visitors. The aim is to create a balance between producing art history and introducing it in a way that suits a broad target audience. This is one of the curator’s responsibilities in today’s art institutions. This thesis is a study of curatorial process in contemporary art exhibitions. The focus point is in the assumption that there is inter-human relationships that generates meaning-making and that contemporary art has the ability to alter this. Throughout the study questions regarding what contributes to meaning-making in contemporary art exhibitions are brought up and discussed. The curator’s perspective is most significant in this case. Interviews have been conducted with six curators and one contemporary artist in purpose of examining the contemporary art exhibition as a social network. The study is striving away from the modernist view of interpretation of art to indicate that contemporary art needs to be communicated in ways that mediates the contents and purposes of contemporary art. Results in this study, shows that inter-human relationships are not just central in contemporary art, but also in the meaning-making of contemporary art exhibitions. Master’s thesi