Section A20: From Wunderkammer to MoMA: The Art of Collecting
From the cabinets of curiosities known as Wunderkammern to Renaissance studioli to contemporary museums, the human compulsion to collect has shaped traditions of knowledge and possession for centuries. An inherent aspect of the activity of collecting objects and memories is the relationship formed between the objects, the collector and his/her chosen or accidental audience. This course will explore the history of collecting, focusing on case studies that illustrate various moments at which practices of collection and exhibition have coalesced into coherent or chaotic visual displays of our world and the wonders within it. Students in this course will be required to develop their own collection throughout the course of the semester.