This blog posting and its associated article seeks to explore the nature and purpose of academic writing. It does so by setting out the background to a peer reviewed paper that I wrote and which appeared fleetingly in the online journal Museum and Society. Shortly after publication the chair of the journal's editorial board, Professor Richard Sandell, agreed to remove it following complaints from other members of the board. The reasons for this unusual action are outlined. So too are the wider implications that this might have for the field of Museum Studies. These thoughts prompt additional reflection on some of the issues tackled in my initial paper which sought to scrutinise Sweden's national museum of modern and contemporary art, Moderna Museet. It achieved this through the prism of the artists Neil Cummings and Marysia Lewandowska. Their collaborative practice was critiqued in connection with one of their patrons, the former director of Moderna Museet, Lars Nittve.
My abortive Museum and Society article is reproduced here in full and in its original form. This action mimics Cummings and Lewandowska's artwork, Errata (1996). Meaning "an error in writing or printing", the term "erratum" encapsulates my earlier paper. Richard Sandell quickly rectified this "error" by expunging it from the journal over which he currently presides. Its reappearance here constitutes an unofficial and undoubtedly unwelcome erratum to Museum and Society. Its presence is also intended as an erratum both to the practice of Cummings and Lewandowska and to the career of Lars Nittve. As with the original paper, my actions lack any endorsement from the named individuals or institutions. It is an act of parasitism that apes the so-called institutional critique of artists such as Cummings and Lewandowska: one that seeks to expose the positions of certain actors in the museum field – be they museum directors, artists or academics.
Burch, Stuart (2011) "A Museum Director and His Go-Betweens: Lars Nittve's Patronage of Neil Cummings and Marysia Lewandowska", Museum and Society, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 34-48, accessed 17 May 2011 at, http://www.le.ac.uk/ms/m&s/Issue%2025/burch.pdf.
Burch, Stuart (2011) "A Journal Editor and His Go-Betweens: Richard Sandell and the University of Leicester’s Museum and Society", uploaded 05/08 at http://www.stuartburch.com
My abortive Museum and Society article is reproduced here in full and in its original form. This action mimics Cummings and Lewandowska's artwork, Errata (1996). Meaning "an error in writing or printing", the term "erratum" encapsulates my earlier paper. Richard Sandell quickly rectified this "error" by expunging it from the journal over which he currently presides. Its reappearance here constitutes an unofficial and undoubtedly unwelcome erratum to Museum and Society. Its presence is also intended as an erratum both to the practice of Cummings and Lewandowska and to the career of Lars Nittve. As with the original paper, my actions lack any endorsement from the named individuals or institutions. It is an act of parasitism that apes the so-called institutional critique of artists such as Cummings and Lewandowska: one that seeks to expose the positions of certain actors in the museum field – be they museum directors, artists or academics.
Burch, Stuart (2011) "A Museum Director and His Go-Betweens: Lars Nittve's Patronage of Neil Cummings and Marysia Lewandowska", Museum and Society, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 34-48, accessed 17 May 2011 at, http://www.le.ac.uk/ms/m&s/Issue%2025/burch.pdf.
Burch, Stuart (2011) "A Journal Editor and His Go-Betweens: Richard Sandell and the University of Leicester’s Museum and Society", uploaded 05/08 at http://www.stuartburch.com
