Research on Contemporary Arts Museums

The spaces in modernist museums were not conducive to the type of 'transparent', 'inclusive' or 'visitor-centred' experiences that contemporary museums and galleries demand. Today the need for collaborative and transparent exhibition spaces to be created and maintained revolve around a range of technological devices for encouraging visitor interaction and subtle shifts in the way in which artefacts are sequenced or framed. Modernist architecture appears to be largely based on its overabundance of natural light which may not be adequate for preservation of video and high technology art forms; also limited flexibility due to space and services such as inadequate seating play a significant role in contemporary art museums.
Also in my reading i have come across the traditional ides that the role of museum architecture is producing iconic spaces as opposed to useful and flexible exhibition spaces. Architects who have worked as part of a team and have produced communal multipurpose spaces which are more versatile and usable in contemporary museum architecture, while the modernist architects produce grand, dramatic public spaces which draw visitors through their iconic presence. Some writings have rejected the often spectacular one-off iconic buildings in favour of more sensitive approaches to creating architecture which expresses the social and communal intention of the museum. The fact that contemporary iconic buildings also have flexible space requirements is noted, but through my research there is an implied criticism of the larger institutions as populist and commercially driven all evoke particular emotional responses which attune visitors to the nature of the exhibitions they are about to attend.