Experience or interpretation

the long version

How do we see art? How is it displayed? One hundred years ago, art was displayed in a way intended to educate. Galleries reflected the curator's view of history at the expense of differing viewpoints. Today, not only do museums and galleries celebrate these differences of expression, they also welcome the collaboration of living artists, both in displaying art and providing a 'home' for artists' work, promoting an active dialogue between the present and the past. In an age where culture is more voraciously consumed by a wider public than ever before, galleries and museums are no longer just repositories. They are sites of experience where the mind is often engaged as much as the eye. This is the first coherent historical account of the changing attitudes to the way art is presented in the modern museum of art. Nicholas Serota examines the relationship between the artist, the public and the curator. He takes us into the artist's studio, itself a paradigm of display, and then on a knowledgeable and wide-ranging international tour of museums, galleries and installations. With authority and insight, he provides an expert view of the ways we can expect art to be displayed in the twenty-first century.