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Coping with Professional Requirements and Organizational Constraints in the Staging of Art Museum Permanent Collections

Sat, August 16, 4:30 to 5:30pm, TBA

Abstract

Social scientists have long observed a tension between legitimacy-granting institutional mechanisms that foster homogeneity and identity-seeking processes that yield heterogeneity. Yet little attention has been paid to how professionals handle this tension in the workplace and the extent to which the process varies from one organization to another. We study this phenomenon in the context of the professional requirements and organizational constraints of art museums. We analyze the curating of the permanent collections of three prestigious international art museums as strategies to strengthen both professional legitimacy and organizational identity. Qualitative and quantitative data are combined to reveal how curators navigate uncertainty in the staging of permanent collections.

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