Design and contemporary art: the challenge of museums

Abstract

Contemporary art finds itself in an area of blurred boundaries, amidst intertwining forms and means of expression, which revolve around a field that can be referred to as “audiovisual design praxis”. The design culture is an ever more present practice which articulates, through differentiarion strategies, identities and visibilities in today’s society. Faced with the revaluation of leisure, the expansion of entertainment, and massive consumption, the contemporary art museum undergoes a transformation: contain and content become the museum image under the paradigm of museum-entertainment, ver present in big cities. In the limits of the museum, design and contemporary art deploy practices which pose challenges for active spectators and urn these spaces into consumption experiences. What does “designing” for contemporary museums mean today? From the analysis of two recent case studies in the City of Buenos Aires, possible answers to this question are explored. In contemporary art, media and exhibitive design determine consume devices in the contemporary art field. Museums have become a place where the limits of consumption and art contemplation are displaced to become a space of spectacular nature with great events around exhibitions and the seduction of an audience which, in the 21st century, demands multiple entertainment variables around the museum as an experience.