As the affable ambassador of serious institutional critique, Fred Wilson has been warmly invited into fortresses of culture since the early ’90s to take on the task of exposing the racially and ideologically biased foundations of museum archiving and display. He performs a public service that, more often than not, functions perfectly as provocative contemporary art. This summer, he will represent the United States at the Venice Biennale, and one has to think that his even-keeled, politically progressive stance will come in handy.

Wilson’s practice of digging through and reconfiguring all manner