Institutional Frame

The institutional theory of art—formalized by George Dickie in the 1970s—holds that an artifact is art when someone acting on behalf of the art world confers that status upon it. The theory is circular by design: art is what the art world says is art. But the circularity is the point—it reveals that the categories organizing cultural production are not discovered in nature but constructed by institutions that possess the authority to draw boundaries. Krauss's engagement with this framework identified the gallery wall, the museum pedestal, the catalog essay, and the critical review as constitutive elements of the artwork rather than accessories to it. Without the frame, Duchamp's urinal is plumbing; with it, the urinal is the most consequential artwork of the twentieth century. The object did not change. The frame did. Applied to AI production, the institutional frame concept reveals that the current crisis is not primarily about whether AI output is "really" creative but about which institutions will build the frames