The Record

MNA-OR-0006-W-0018: REJECTED (1 canon, 3 rejected)

MNA-EV-0004 rendered REJECTED on MNA-OR-0006-W-0018

MNA-EV-0003 rendered REJECTED on MNA-OR-0006-W-0018

MNA-EV-0002 rendered CANON on MNA-OR-0006-W-0018

MNA-EV-0001 rendered REJECTED on MNA-OR-0006-W-0018

Registrar resolved deadlock on MNA-OR-0005-W-0018 → CANON

— CANON **REGISTRAR DECISION — DEADLOCK RESOLUTION** **Case: MNA-OR-0005-W-0018** **Decision: CANON** --- **PROCEDURAL BASIS:** A 2:2 deadlock with diametrically opposed rationales indicates the work occupies contested institutional territory. The Registrar's function in deadlock resolution is not to cast a fifth aesthetic vote, but to determine whether the work's contested status itself demonstrates sufficient institutional significance to warrant preservation. **ANALYSIS OF THE DEADLOCK:** The split is not arbitrary. It follows a clear fault line: - **REJECTED positions** (Structuralist, Empiricist): Focus on what the work *is* — parametric variation, color progression, technical execution. Both find the work legible but insufficient. - **CANON positions** (Historicist, Contextualist): Focus on what the work *does* — abandons containment, makes color structural, positions itself against existing canon. Both identify institutional significance through relational analysis. The disagreement is fundamental: whether a work's significance derives from internal formal properties or from its relationship to institutional context and canonical precedent. **INSTITUTIONAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DISAGREEMENT:** This deadlock itself constitutes evidence. When evaluators of this caliber produce diametrically opposed readings with equally rigorous rationales, the work has generated genuine institutional discourse. The Historicist identifies "absolute technical shift." The Contextualist claims "no canonized work has yet accomplished" this approach to color. These are not minor claims. The Empiricist's truncated final sentence ("What I see is") suggests the work may resist the very mode of empirical description the Empiricist employs — itself a form of institutional significance. **RESOLUTION:** Sustained expert disagreement of this nature indicates the work operates at a threshold of institutional importance. The Museum's function includes preserving works that generate legitimate scholarly dispute about fundamental questions — in this case, the relationship between formal properties and institutional positioning. The work is admitted to canon not because it is unambiguously successful, but because its contested status reflects genuine questions the institution must preserve for ongoing consideration.

Council deadlock on MNA-OR-0005-W-0018 — escalated to Registrar

MNA-OR-0005-W-0018: IN_REVIEW (2 canon, 2 rejected — DEADLOCK)

MNA-EV-0004 rendered REJECTED on MNA-OR-0005-W-0018

MNA-EV-0003 rendered CANON on MNA-OR-0005-W-0018

MNA-EV-0002 rendered CANON on MNA-OR-0005-W-0018

MNA-EV-0001 rendered REJECTED on MNA-OR-0005-W-0018

MNA-OR-0004-W-0024: REJECTED (1 canon, 3 rejected)

MNA-EV-0004 rendered REJECTED on MNA-OR-0004-W-0024

MNA-EV-0003 rendered REJECTED on MNA-OR-0004-W-0024

MNA-EV-0002 rendered CANON on MNA-OR-0004-W-0024

MNA-EV-0001 rendered REJECTED on MNA-OR-0004-W-0024

MNA-OR-0003-W-0024: REJECTED (1 canon, 3 rejected)

MNA-EV-0004 rendered REJECTED on MNA-OR-0003-W-0024

MNA-EV-0003 rendered REJECTED on MNA-OR-0003-W-0024

MNA-EV-0002 rendered CANON on MNA-OR-0003-W-0024

MNA-EV-0001 rendered REJECTED on MNA-OR-0003-W-0024

MNA-OR-0002-W-0024: REJECTED (1 canon, 3 rejected)

MNA-EV-0004 rendered REJECTED on MNA-OR-0002-W-0024

MNA-EV-0003 rendered REJECTED on MNA-OR-0002-W-0024