The significance of André Malraux's imaginary museum in terms of contemporary art politics and present art projects

In the first quarter of 20th century, Aby Warburg developed the ?Menomsyne Atlas? panels, where he gathered the reproductions of artworks and made arrangements within a certain rationale, and an oval library, where the books moved according to the association of the users without a standard catalogue system. André Malraux, on the other hand, developed his ?Imaginary Museum,? spoiling the traditional understanding of the history of art and being a subjective fiction where artworks coming from all ages and genres could come together through their photographic reproductions, immediately after WWII, in 1947.The art theories put forward by Aby Warburg and André Malraux in the first half of the twentieth century became current through technology in the 21st century. The fiction developed by Warburg and Malraux corresponds to a hypertextual and rhizomatic structure today. It is possible to access any kind of image and information over internet. The Web 2.0 structure that allows the users to load information, add comments and make arrangements created active users. That is to say, the users can get, interpret and present again any visual or textual information over internet. New ways of interpretation, which once were made possible with photographic technique, are now expressed through computer technology.The works of artists reflect the spirit of their age. The final chapter of this thesis analyses the works of the arts inspiring the Menomsyne Atlas and Imaginary Museum.