Protesting the Museum

A paper delivered at the CIMAM annual conference inquiring into the conditions for the current trend for contemporary artists to protest against the museum. What are the historical conditions for the emergence of the new critical attention being paid to art’s funding? What kind of funding is objectionable, and what kind of funding is being called for by a new generation of protesters? Does the new phase of protest in art signify a radical critique of art or a conservative preservation of its established privileges? Are the boycotts of art’s institutions, which continue to spread and to which Liberate Tate belongs historically, forms of strike or riot, and how does it relate to the occupy movement? Should we expect an increase in the frequency and intensity of protest against art’s institutions?