Contemporary Russian artist’s book as the object of museum storage: To the problem statement

Abstract

The article is dedicated to complex existence of the Russian artist’s book as a form of contemporary art in the collections of Russian state museums. The problem is considered for the first time in the context of the basic documents’ requirements on registration and storage of the Museum fund of the Russian Federation. The author, who is exhibitions curator, focuses on the experience of the Saint-Petersburg Literary Museum “XX century”. Questions studied include attribution and expertise of artist’s book, its identification, compiling a museum item description for multi-element works and their storage. The aim of the article is achieved by formulating proposals for solving the problems at the national level. The suggestions are: to enter the term of readymade in the documents, to provide a method for its two-level description as a single-piece object (1) and of materials, technology and so on of its creation (2), whether readymades are objects of museum storage or the components of other museum values, to reconsider the purpose of art objects in non-art museums, to explain and supplement the understanding of the preservation of objects and collections, to introduce a definition of their destruction and criteria for its evaluation.

Keywords:

artist’s book, Saint-Petersburg Literary Museum “XX century”, contemporary art, museum storage, readymade, “Instruction for the Registration and Storage of Museum Values Located in the State Museums of the USSR”, museum item description, “Kharms’ Library”, “Poetry in Grains”, Federal Law “On the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation and Museums in the Russian Federation”