In Support: A Theoretical and Practical Investigation into Forms of Display

Condorelli, Céline. 2014. In Support: A Theoretical and Practical Investigation into Forms of Display. Doctoral thesis, Goldsmiths, University of London [Thesis]

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Abstract or Description

This thesis develops an original notion of 'support' as a critical lens through which to investigate forms of display and the structures that sustain them; it is based on a multi-year art project consisting of ten exhibitions whose overall title is Support Structure. The notion of support is examined as the physical, economic, social, and political structures that are art’s conditions of possibility, and this investigation is undertaken theoretically and historically, as well as through the art practice.

The history of art continues to separate artworks from their display. This thesis argues that display is not only an essential element of interpretation and exhibition, but is intrinsic to artworks themselves, and is part of their coming into being. It shows that contrary to most understandings, display is not something done to already existing and fully defined objects, but is itself a transformative process, albeit one that often remains invisible. This thesis asks whether any object can be separated from how it is shown, repaired, treated, classified, owned and valued. Its answer is negative: engaging with these very processes reveals the operations that determine the nature of the object, and the conditions under which it is and can be recognised as such, the apparatuses of visibility that I have come to designate as ‘support structures’.

In Support, the thesis title, designates its subject and its methodology as a critical operative concept, which articulates the main proposition as practice: there can be no discourse on support, only discourse in support. The practice outlined in this thesis consists of the invention of structures and infrastructures of support in several different contexts and thus the structure of the thesis is designed to function as a series of supporting texts.

Item Type:

Thesis (Doctoral)

Identification Number (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.25602/GOLD.00011031

Additional Information:

Digital thesis not available due to third party copyright restrictions.

Keywords:

display support structure history of exhibitions dispositif apparatus friendship

Departments, Centres and Research Units:

Visual Cultures

Date:

9 December 2014

Item ID:

11031

Date Deposited:

10 Dec 2014 10:33

Last Modified:

08 Sep 2022 09:05

URI:

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/11031

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