Citing a range of examples, this surveys the ways in which artists have been influenced by museum systems and made their works into simulations of the museum, as well as how they have questioned the role of museums, observed their practices, intervened in them and helped to redefine them.

From the early instances of the urge to collect objects, the "cabinet of curiosities", to assemblages of found objects and imitations of museum displays, artists have often turned their attention, both creatively and critically, to the ideas and systems traditionally embodied in the museum: display, archiving, classification, storage, curatorship. They have then appropriated, mimicked and reinterpreted these in their own work. Citing a range of examples, James Putnam shows not only the ways in which artists have been influenced by museum systems and made their works into simulations of the museum, but also how they have questioned the role of museums, observed their practices, intervened in them and helped to redefine them.

I. The Museum Effect: The Artist as Archivist II. Art or Artifact? The Artist as Collector III. Public Enquiry: The Artist as Investigator IV. Framing the frame: The Artist as Observer V. Curator/Creator: The Artist as Visiting Curator VI. On the Inside: The Artist as Interventionist VII. Without Walls: The Artist as Reinventor Bibliography * Acknowledgements * Index