page_title: Don Celender
section_title: Works
hierarchical_section_title: Don Celender / Works
caption_attribution_description: English: Cover page of Don Celender's Observations, Protestations and Lamentations of Museum Guards Throughout the World (1978).
context_page_description: Don Celender was an American conceptual artist and professor. Celender, who began producing art in the late 1960s, used surveys extensively in his work. He would send questionnaires to members of the public, academics, artists, politicians, museum officials, and other cohorts of people, often with outlandish or tongue-in-cheek suggestions or solicitations. The responses were then exhibited at the OK Harris Gallery in Manhattan, New York, where Celender had a show annually. Celender taught at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, for over 40 years.
context_section_description: Max Kozloff wrote that Celender's lightheartedness as well as the straightforwardness of his projects and their messages made him "an exception in the art world". The majority of his art took the form of survey projects like Museum Piece, which Celender produced annually and exhibited at the OK Harris Gallery. The results of about half of Celender's surveys were bound into book form, printed in black and white on 8.5-by-11-inch (22 cm × 28 cm) paper, though these books are difficult for members of the public to access and are not often found in secondary markets. The archive of the Arnolfini contains a sizable collection of Celender's pieces. Some of Celender's 35 exhibited works are listed below, and those that were bound into book form are indicated with a dagger (†). Unless otherwise noted, all works are referenced to Fischer.
  Wind and Water Chime (1968)
  Artball (1971)
  Political Art Movement, Religious Art Movement, Affluent Art Movement, Academic Art Movement, Corporate Art Movement, Cultural Art Movement, Mass Media Art Movement, Organizational Art Movement (1972)†
  The Olympics of Art (1973)†
  Museum Piece (1975)†
  Opinions of Working People Concerning the Arts (1975)†
  Observation and Scholarship Examination for Art Historians, Museum Directors, Artists, Dealers, and Collectors: Part 2 (1977)†
  Observations, Protestations and Lamentations of Museum Guards Throughout the World (1978)†
  Destiny of a Name (1978)†
  National Architects Preference Survey (1979)†
  Parental Attitudes Survey (1980)
  Reincarnation Study (1982)†
  Unmatched Garage Doors (1982)
  Law Enforcement Officers Art Preference Survey (1988)
  Apprenticeship Study (1989)
  Questions About the Arts You May Never Have Thought to Ask (1992)†
  Aesthetic Experiences (1992)
  Mortal Remains with Ricardo Bloch (1995)†
  Nobel Laureates Art Preference Survey (1995)
  Military Officers Art Survey (1998)
  Small and Unusual Museums Survey (1999)
  Labor Activists Art Preference Survey (2003)
  National Prison Wardens Art Preference Survey (2003)
  Censorship Survey (2003)
caption: Cover of the bound collection Observations, Protestations and Lamentations of Museum Guards Throughout the World (1978)
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