For Michael Asher, the Museum Was the Medium

Hyperallergic reviewed Michael Asher, a small survey at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, arguing that the late conceptual artist (died 2012) treated the museum itself as his medium. The article describes Asher as a key figure in “Institutional Critique,” using archives and ephemera to expose how museums shape cultural value through architecture, signage, and collection management. A central example is Asher’s 1999 project Painting and Sculpture from the Museum of Modern Art: Catalog of Deaccessions 1929 through 1998, a red book listing 403 works MoMA had sold, including Cézannes, to fund new acquisitions. The reviewer praises the project’s illumination of institutional systems but criticizes the MOCA show for offering limited in-gallery context, with few labels and heavy reliance on a booklet for explanations.

Read the full article at Hyperallergic