"Art forms emerge from and develop in relationship to the institutional structures that make them possible. At some point they tend to reach a sort of completion."
"Harald Szeemann sought to create exhibitions that were 'poems in space.' His idea that an exhibition could aspire to the status of an artwork was controversial."
"By the time Szeemann was invited to organize two consecutive installments of the Venice Biennale, the criticism of curators' assuming the role of meta-artists had become commonplace."
"Critic Peter Schjeldahl coined the term 'festivalism' in reaction to the 1999 Biennale, highlighting a shift in how art is perceived and presented."
Medieval troubadour art and magic-lantern shows illustrate how art forms depend on institutional support. As feudal courts and chivalric codes faded, so did troubadours. Similarly, magic-lantern shows lost audiences with the rise of cinema. Art forms may reach completion but do not necessarily vanish. Harald Szeemann's vision of exhibitions as artworks sparked debate about curators' roles. By the late 1990s, criticism of curators as meta-artists emerged, leading to the concept of 'festivalism' and 'festival art' in response to evolving art contexts.
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