In his sculptures, drawings, and photographs, Allan McCollum applies the strategies of typologies and mass production to handmade objects, creating vast installations of small-scale works. In his 2006 Shapes Project, he designed a system to produce and keep track of unique graphic emblems for every person on earth. Shapes of Maine (2005-2008), an extension of the Shapes Project, is a pictorial history of the state via its craftspeople, comprising over 2,220 unique items in four categories, including wood ornaments and copper cookie cutters.

In a continuation of the institutional critique espoused by Conceptual artists such as Marcel Broodthaers, Daniel Buren, Hans Haacke, and Michael Asher, photographer Louise Lawler questions the very purpose and nature of art. Often presenting “behind-the-scenes” views of the art world, Lawler has photographed the Art Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach art fairs, the Museum of Modern Art, Christie's auction house, and various galleries. Some of her best-known works include photographs of uniformed art handlers carefully transporting a Gerhard Richter painting, Maurizio Cattelan's giant Picasso head in plastic wrapping, and a Damien Hirst spin-painting shown through a closet door.