Contemporary Links
The Museum as a Relational Object : Considering the Museum as Civic Agent
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Cara Courage
This paper considers the role and function of the museum as a relational and dialogical object, drawing on Tate Exchange as its case study. It offers the museum as a civic space of plural and diverse knowledges, an agent for its publics to navigate their way through their lived experience. Framed through Bourriaud’s (1998) relational aesthetics and Kester’s (2004) dialogical aesthetic, the paper positions the museum as a relational (and dialogical) object, that functions as the relational art object: here the museum is cluster of artistic practices and learning pedagogies on a common trajectory that, via convivial modes of social exchange with the public are concerned with human interactions, social context and collective meaning making. Tate Exchange has created a platform within Tate for arts-led co-produced and participative knowledge creation with the public and transformed the institution’s relation to the public, to the civic, and to itself. Its socially engaged arts practice operates as a ‘social interstice’, a space that is located within an overarching system but that suggests other possibilities for exchanges within and without the museum, are concerned with provoking and sustaining individual and collective encounters. The paper closes with a set of key learnings of Tate Exchange practice that can be applied across the museum sector, as well as a roster of key provocations to changing museum’s critical capacity and civic potential.
Challenges and Perspectives on Rock Art and Palaeoanthropological Representations: Insights from the Origins Centre Museum
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Suramya Bansal, Tammy Hodgskiss
The Origins Centre Museum at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa is an interpretation centre cum museum, showcasing the wealth of southern African rock art, archaeology and palaeoanthropology. It allows for re-emphasizing the role of the ‘Global South’ and its contributions in matters of hominin ancestry and origins of people and art, reflecting the motto of ‘All from One’. Simultaneously, the museum provides a glimpse into the earliest rock paintings and engravings through various original and replicated versions, along with the display of ethnographic collections. As well as showcasing numerous archaeological artefacts and replicas of hominin fossil skulls, the exhibits at the centre allows understanding the southern African past through various informed approaches and the inclusion of contemporary art installations. In the dynamic research field of rock art, archaeology, and palaeoanthropology, it becomes imperative to remain relevant by rewriting histories as new research finds are announced. This presentation highlights the challenges that are faced in depicting meaning in (rock) art and lifeways of the first peoples and the archaeological and palaeoanthropological diversity in southern Africa. We share our perspectives on inclusive representations, knowledge sharing and making meaningful contributions in public archaeology and palaeoanthropology.
On the Nature of Resiliency: Museums and Exhibitions
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Deborah Randolph
Three of the Ten Principals for Building Resilience, proposed by the Urban Land Institute in 2018, are understanding vulnerability, redefining how and where to build, and designing with natural systems. This study outlines the innovative ways in which museum design is taking into account these principals. One of the primary goals of a museum is to preserve and protect its collection against a wide range of risks such as natural disaster, climate change, site vulnerability, and security. The American Alliance of Museums advises in their core standards that museums take appropriate measures to protect against potential risk and loss. Museums are uniquely positioned to communicate these risks and make strategies for developing resilience through physical design, as well as exhibition decisions and featured artists. Case studies of museum design from across the globe will be examined for their preparation and response to environmental risks such as sea level rise, earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, and drought. Contemporary artists are also playing a role in communicating and preparing the public for resilience to environmental risk. Recognizing human vulnerability in the wake of climate change, exhibitions of artists, whose work addresses these issues, are occurring world wide. We examine a range of exhibitions featuring artists whose work focuses on preparedness for disaster and communication of future risk. Awareness and planning for environmental and human vulnerability is critical as these risks increase globally. This paper starts a conversation and suggests further research to address these issues.
Territorial Acknowledgment in the Decolonized Museum
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Sarah Danruo Wang
The 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, along with federal, provincial, and municipal efforts in the more than a decade-long reconciliation process with Canada's First Nations peoples, encouraged territorial acknowledgment for public institutions to recognize the contested history of postcolonial land. The adoption of local variations of territorial acknowledgment has spread across Canada and certain parts of the United States. For arts, cultural, and heritage organizations, the construction and delivery of this acknowledgment carries profound ethical, educational, and political ideas. This paper situates the discussion on territorial acknowledgment within the Canadian government’s framework of Reconciliation, in the greater spheres of historical ideas of postcolonialism and museum studies ideas of the decolonized institution. Territorial acknowledgment and its effects on arts, cultural, and heritage institutions are rarely discussed in prevailing literature, despite the greater amounts of institutions adopting its practice in verbal and digital formats. After situating this practice within the theoretical framework, this paper will analyze the implementation in various arts, cultural, and heritage institutions mainly in Canada and the United States, comparing implementation outcomes as a possible factor of government policy through interviews and institutional policies. The implications for territorial acknowledgment continues to be incredibly important in changing political environments of postcolonial countries with political policies continuing to exacerbate the fraught relationship between Indigenous peoples and unceded land, and institutions responsible for acting as mediators.
