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Collecting the contemporary*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2016

Gill Saunders
Gill Saunders*
Affiliation:
Word & Image Department, Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL, UK
*
g.saunders@vam.ac.uk
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Abstract

How do we define ‘the contemporary’, can we collect it, and if so, how should we do it? A look at some of the issues from the perspective of the Word & Image Department at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London argues for the primacy of the object over the digital surrogate, and investigates the challenges -and opportunities - involved in collecting or representing ‘boundary crossing’ art and design practice. The arguments are illustrated by a selection of recent acquisitions, ranging from book arts, multiples and ‘maps’, to prints, drawings and wallpapers.

Type
Research Article
Information
Art Libraries Journal , Volume 28 , Issue 4 , 2003 , pp. 5 - 11
Copyright
Copyright © The Art Libraries Society 2003

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Footnotes

*

This article is an edited version of the paper given at the ARLIS/UK & Ireland AGM at the Victoria & Albert Museum on 17 February 2003.

References

1. The Word & Image Department was established in 2002 by the merger of the Department of Prints, Drawings and Paintings with the National Art Library.Google Scholar
2. Unique selling point.Google Scholar
3. Momart began commissioning cards from artists in 1984; artists have included Eduardo Paolozzi, Helen Chadwick, Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin. The V&A has a complete set of cards to date.Google Scholar
4. Work by artists from the Middle East and Asia is collected by the Asian Department.Google Scholar
5. See Corrin, Lisa G., ed. Mining the museum: an installation by Fred Wilson (Baltimore/New York, c.1994) and Boyce, Sonia, Peep (InIVA and Art Gallery and Museums, Brighton, 1995).Google Scholar
6. The Hirst prints were purchased through the Julie and Robert Breckman Print Fund, which has supported the majority of our print acquisitions since 2000.Google Scholar
7. We bought a complete Counter Editions portfolio, containing prints by 12 artists, in 2001.Google Scholar