Mentor: Alena Alexandrova

Independent reviewer: Boris Buden

Enschede, 2010

ABSTRACT

I came up with this term by observing cultural events in different countries. It can be argued that the ‘Museum TV Station’ (MTVS) is the working method of many Museums and Biennales. In this text I examine, through case studies, how art projects can be said to be at the root of the broadcasting evolution which is taking place in museums and biennales. The title ‘Museum TV Station’ seems to me an excellent title to describe the new function of many contemporary art museums.
This thesis is based on two years of critical observation of the fields of art and mass media, and a reflexive account of my own practice. Through it, I create a proposition for the structure of the art institute of the future. I propose that artists may appear as journalists, and art museums as TV stations.
Josef Beuys said in the 20th century: “Everyone can be an artist”, now, in the 21st century we can state that the Internet allows everyone to be a journalist. Online newspapers, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter open up the information gates even further. There are a number of examples where art transforms into journalism and vice versa.
I will show through many examples how artists function as ideal journalists, and how museums are already involved in creating TV-style spaces. Examples I use include the Van Abbe Museum, Tropenmuseum, Rijksmuseum, the 11th Istanbul Biennale and various open-air events. I will discuss ways of alternative broadcasting launched by different artists and collectives and the different ways an artist may enter and influence the space of media politics.