博物館在選擇蒐藏與展出作品的決策過程中，不可避免地會面對以下的兩難：該選擇已獲得社會認可、符合公眾品味的作品，還是選擇最為創新但卻可能是公眾無法接納的作品？換言之，博物館（特別是由公家資金所支持的博物館）是否必須成為肩負甚至是擴大「公共性」的空間，才不辱其使命？如果我們把「公共性」一詞在當代民主制度下所被賦予的、近乎社會先驗的正面價值先懸擱起來，而去探究所謂的「公共性」或「公眾」等概念的可能性條件及其社會效果，我們就會發現，在博物館服膺於「公共性」的同時，可能也削弱了藝術創新的可能，因為若以「公共性」為依歸，就會去傾向選擇符合大眾品味、順從既有的知識與分類的作品。公眾就是市場，同時也就是既有的宰制知識的再現者、實作者與擁護者。當我們在歌頌「公共性」的同時，可能也掩蓋了在「公共性」的定義與想像的背後所隱含的各種象徵鬥爭。本文的目的在於剖析「公共性」之中所包含的宰制的文化，並分析博物館在面對「公共性」這個當代制度下的道德訴求時，可能面臨的挑戰與兩難。

The following dilemma inevitably emerges when a museum selects artworks as objects for its collection and expositions: should the establishment endorse widely recognized artworks in conformity with public taste, or should it accept the most innovative yet the least accessible pieces? In other words, should museums, especially those supported by governmental funds, be expected to guard or even expand the domain of “publicness”? If we suspend the a priori positive value judgment conferred by contemporary democracy on the ideas of “the public” and “publicness”, and instead explore the conditions and social effects of these concepts, we reach the conclusion that for museums to comply with the doctrine of “publicness” means limiting the possibility for art innovation. Once the doctrine of “publicness” is adopted, museums tend to select artworks that are most likely to satisfy public taste and conform to existing knowledge and categorizations. The public is THE market and, as such, represents, exercises, and upholds the dominance of doxa. The symbolic struggle taking place behind the definition and conception of “publicness” may therefore be blurred by our quickness to attach positive connotations to it. To this end, the present essay attempts to lay bare the cultural dominance lurking behind the doctrine of “publicness” and to analyze the challenges and dilemmas that museums encounter when facing “publicness” moral claims that are justified by our present political system.