The dilemma of the art museum: reconciling modernity and the new town square (original) (raw)

This paper is part of a wider and ongoing study into the nature of the contemporary museum, notably the art museum. In particular it addresses the nature of the museum as a site of communication within the public sphere -that 'domain of common concern' 1 , the agora or commons, describing the place or space in which issues and ideas become the object of critical attention by the citizens of a society. This public sphere, theorized by Jurgen Habermas as a potential site for an idealised 'communicative action', is also the subject of much contention. While I won't go into the detail or the debates around Habermas's theories here, I will acknowledge