Identity, status, and power: The architecture of contemporary art exhibition in Los Angeles.

Abstract

This study investigates the architecture of four Los Angeles art institutions as representative of an underlying drive to publicly show modern and contemporary art. Tracing the history of contemporary and modern art exhibition through several contemporary art institutions in Los Angeles enables an understanding of a certain role of museum/gallery architecture and its relationship to very particular audiences. Investigating contemporary and modern art exhibition in Los Angeles isolates particular art communities that use these institutions and their architecture in deliberate ways, depending on the participants. The architecture of the exhibition spaces is intentionally designed to communicate certain ideals and philosophies about art, culture, and the community. The architecture can demonstrate the institutions' perceived roles and responsibilities within the city (or beyond) at many scales, from intimate gallery design to larger urban context. The need to have museums devoted to the display of modern and contemporary art was instigated by several particular groups. These groups are defined as patrons, politicians, artists, visitors, critics, and museum professionals as well as the overall institutions. Aspects of Pierre Bourdieu's theories provide the basis for understanding the reasoning and cultural significance of the people behind the desire to show this type of art. His concepts of symbolic power and cultural capital are especially significant to this study, establishing a foundation for looking at how and why museums (and people) choose to show and collect contemporary art. Focusing on modern and contemporary art exhibition provides a common link between several museums as well as alternative exhibition spaces. This thread maintains a focus of purpose for the investigation as well as offers a definite time span, from 1954 to 1987. The institutions are connected through this desire to show contemporary art and are characters in this dissertation. The architectures of the spaces may be understood as ideological, social, and public reflections of institutions and the people within them. The four art institutions in this study are the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Pasadena Art Museums, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art.