Photographs documenting the space between artworks. Alexandru Modoi is suggesting that representations of the artworks outside the galleries could efface the ordinary elements surrounding them – frames, labels, spaces, wall marks, wall colours and texture. The argument is that these elements are part of discourses and are significant for audiences. Therefore, would unveiling aspects of the display ideology disclose practices or not? Are these less visible elements part of Foucault’s order of things in the gallery? This order is concealed in the archaeological discourses, which could contain aspects of society and layered by time may represent cultural transformations.

For Modoi, this investigation must begin with photography. The camera captures the information labels, the attendant’s chair, the peeling wallpaper, the flaking paint, the rough surfaces, the precise distances, the shadows, the juxtapositions, all the details and features of the space between artworks which the postcards, the prints and the catalogues in the gallery bookshop eliminate. (Macdonald, 2015)

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Gold fish
Alexandru Modoi, Carassius Auratus, Manchester 2015 Donald Preziosi: ‘Why do we need museums?’ Grasping the World; The Idea of the Museum. 2004

Credits

Macdonald, A. (2015) ‘Foreword’ in The Space between Artworks. Modoi, A. Artist’s book ed. of 10, Manchester  Link to the book cover

Manchester Art Gallery (2014 – 2015) Victorian Galleries. Curator Shirley, R (2014)

Howard, M (2002) Cuts-out from UpClose 2002 (Manchester Art Gallery’s Guide) used for photomontages in order to highlight the research point.

Any copywrite omission is unintentional

 

Copyright © All rights reserved and protected by copyright laws, Alexandru Modoi, 2014