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Regardless of the good intentions or effective nature of an institution (whether they are an art festival/exhibition/biennial, school, corporation, nation-state, non-profit, et cetera), they should always be scrutinized and looked at with a critical eye. One should try to analyze reasons for every choice and decision made in an attempt to understand the strategy of that institution. Of course institutions are made up of individuals who may have very altruistic ideas but even the intentions of such persons can be corrupted by mechanisms which exert their pressure upon the institution, breaking down those intentions. Every institution is of course subject to a myriad of external forces however one which can cause it to swing back towards positive means is institutional critique. As I see it, the relationship between institution and individual participant or consumer is a game whereby the institution's public representation, funding, workers, context and fundamental ideology are its pieces which it can move as deems most appropriate and where the consumer/participant only has its critique and level of participation to counter the institution's moves.
Institutions inherently need consumers/participants but they also seek to use or exploit them as fuel for their machine. Skepticism of institutions therefor attempts to balance this relationship. Finding, highlighting, and exploiting flaws between what the institution says and its actions as well as their reasons for doing so is a responsibility of the participant/consumer in order to keep that institution working FOR its audience rather than for the forces which press upon the institution from the opposite direction.
