How institutions think : between contemporary art and curatorial discourse / edited by Paul O'Neill, Lucy Steeds, and Mick Wilson.

Includes bibliographical references.

Part I: Thinking via institutions -- Institution, invention, possibility / Patricia Falguières -- On slow institutions / Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez -- Dark venues / Clémentine Deliss -- Death and the stone age: Ugandan art institutions (1941-1967) / Moses Serubiri -- Unlearning institution: do as you present (or preach) / Binna Choi and Annette Kraus -- Autohistorias: reclaiming our institutions / Mélanie Bouteloup -- When the colonizer comes to stay / Pip Day -- Revisiting the 'developmental' and reconsidering the 'alternating' / Patrick D. Flores -- Institution and political community with the dead / Mick Wilson -- Part II: Thinking about institutions -- The magmas: on institutions and instituting / Simon Sheikh -- Structure, subject, art / Dave Beech -- How institutions think? Institutions do not think, they simply act! / Marina Gržinić -- On dispositions and form-making: a conversation / Keller Easterling and Andrea Phillips -- A total education / Stefano Harney and Fred Moten -- Come in and make a place for yourself: instituting along lines of self-determination and interdependency / Emily Pethick -- Can an institution speak for a woman? / Nikita Yingqian Cai -- Practices of negation / Sarah Pierce -- The demodernizing possibility / Charles Esche -- The arched bow of the institution of display / Alhena Katsof -- The post-agonistic institution: what after mimesis and critique of the democratic project? / Bassam El Baroni.

"Contemporary art and curatorial work, and the institutions that house them, have often been centers of power, hierarchy, control, value, and discipline. Even the most progressive among them face the dilemma of existing as institutionalized anti-institutions. This anthology-taking its title from Mary Douglas's 1986 book, How Institutions Think-reconsiders the practices, habits, models, and rhetoric of the institution and the anti-institution in contemporary art and curating. Contributors reflect upon how institutions inform art, curatorial, educational, and research practices as much as they shape the world around us. They consider the institution as an object of inquiry across many disciplines, including political theory, organizational science, and sociology. Bringing together an international and multidisciplinary group of writers, How Institutions Think addresses such questions as whether institution building is still possible, feasible, or desirable; if there are emergent institutional models for progressive art and curatorial research practices; and how we can establish ethical principles and build our institutions accordingly. The first part, "Thinking via Institution," moves from the particular to the general; the second part, "Thinking about Institution," considers broader questions about the nature of institutional frameworks." -- Publisher's description