George Dickie
In the build up to Market Value at A+D Gallery in Chicago next month, Upper Crust Auction House have published a little feature on the Museum of Contemporary Rubbish which aligns my practice here with Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the Univeristy of Illinois, Chicago’s theories of institutional aesthetic values in art:
George Dickie, an analytical philosopher, challenges traditional theories of aesthetic value, perception and experience. He is most well known for his controversial “institutional theory of art.” Simply put, this theory proposes that an object can only be called “art” within the institution known as the “artworld”. In other words, an object is not “art” in and of itself and can only achieve such valuation within a very specific context.
The work of Alice Bradshaw, which will appear in Market Value, can be seen as conversing with Dickie’s theory very directly. Bradshaw is the Director of the Museum of Contemporary Rubbish, a compelling collection of cultural discards. Along with several collaborators, Bradshaw extracts rubbish from the street, documents it and then places it within the Museum’s archive. This archive is then exhibited within galleries and museums across Europe and the United States.
Bradshaw’s aesthetic practice can be seen as an active engagement with Dickie’s institutional theory as the value of neglected cultural objects is transformed from what we call “trash” into what we call “art.”
http://uppercrustauctions.tumblr.com/post/41065830397/george-dickie-an-analytical-philosopher
