Online Posters
Claiming the Sun: Constructing Mexican National Identity and the Appropriation of the Mexica Imagery, 1790 – 1910
Online Poster Emma Turner Trujillo
The Aztec Calendar Stone, more accurately known as the Sun Stone, is one of Mexico’s most famous and recognizable symbols. The massive basalt sculpture was carved during the reign of the Aztec emperor Moteuczoma Xocoyotzin (c. 1466 – 1520), and buried during the Spanish Conquest. It was not seen again until its accidental excavation on December 17th, 1790 during a leveling project of the main plaza in Mexico City. Under the rule of Mexican President Porfirio Díaz (1876 - 1910), the Sun Stone’s image was employed as part of national effort to integrate pre-Hispanic iconography to represent the newly independent Mexico. Simultaneously, the Díaz administration repressed the cultural practices, languages, and rights of indigenous populations in Mexico, including the present-day Aztec. My study examines the history of the display of the Sun Stone - both in Mexico and abroad – from its rediscovery in 1790 to the end of Porfirio Díaz’ presidency in 1910. I first explore the shifts in public opinion of the Sun Stone in Mexico, and how its image was strategically employed to embody Mexican national identity. Secondly, I investigate the use of the Sun Stone’s image abroad in World’s Fairs, such as the costly replicas that were sent to the Madrid World’s Fair of 1892, and the construction of the Aztec Palace for the Paris World’s Fair of 1889, whose façade and interior heavily reference the Sun Stone. Lastly, I question government-sanctioned usage of Aztec imagery in the construction of national identity.
Museums and Dialogism: Narrating the Greek American Experience
Online Poster Angeliki Tsiotinou
Museums have been described as sites of knowledge construction and consumption. Representing the past in different ways they serve as a vehicle of meaning. Being socially and historically located they utter a discourse which generates knowledge. Drawing on Bakhtin’s theory of dialogism according to which discourse is fundamentally dialogic and historically contingent, this study identifies and juxtaposes official and vernacular narratives embedded in museum exhibitions of the Greek American experience. By bringing these narratives in dialogic contact the presentation offers a discussion of their relationship and how it contributes to the making of Greek American public history and memory. This is a broader question that lies at the center of current scholarship in Cultural and Literary Studies, namely how official and vernacular, collective and individual, academic and popular narratives interface in public discourse and what meaning does this interface convey to the public. By doing so the research questions an assumption made behind many of the discussions around how representational systems work, especially with regard to the relationship between dominant discourses and power; discourse in the Foucauldian sense governs the way that a topic can be talked about, but also, it restricts other ways of talking or conducting ourselves in relation to a topic. This paper explains, instead, that museum narratives do not exclude but rather intersect with each other in different ways, arguing that the production of public history and memory in Greek American museums is not hegemonic and monophonic but polyphonic, allowing for dynamic renegotiations of ethnic identity.
Museum and Cultural Politics: A Case Study to Discuss the African Cultural Object and Museum Display
Online Poster Shikoh Shiraiwa
The University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) houses a significant collection of African art. In 2018, the UCO Archives and Special Collections (UCO Archives) took the initiative to write a new description for the UCO African Art Collection, guided by an African art expert from another university. The new description addresses the paradoxical nature of “displaying” African cultural regalia, acknowledging that the majority of the African cultural objects were not created to be displayed in museum and gallery settings. The description also recognizes the uneven relationship between African cultural objects and Western narratives in museum settings. We argue that it is essential for university museums, as knowledge-making institutions, to take the lead in discussions regarding museums and cultural politics. This includes acknowledging past and ongoing cultural colonization, issues surrounding looted and stolen objects, and other challenges to the traditional role of the museum. The museum is a cultural product of the west. Western perspectives defined the sociocultural and socioeconomic hierarchies concerning ethnicity, race, religion, and aesthetics that were adopted into museum practices. These Western-centric practices have long been considered universally applicable. First, we will discuss the contents of the new African Art Collection description. Second, we will demonstrate the vitality of acknowledging the issues regarding the display of African art objects and the ongoing power struggle between African art objects and Western narratives. Lastly, we will discuss how the new description affects and influences the students engaged in museum and curatorial studies.
Augmented Reality and Immersive Education in the Museum Space: Discover Orlando Museum of Art - Augmentation App to Promote Continued Visits and Visitor Interaction
Online Poster Ha'ani Hogan
Self-owned AR enabled devices are used as a tool to promote heutagogical learning both inside and outside the museum space. The hypothesis for the experiment is that the self-guided augmented reality app, Discover Orlando Museum of Art (OMA), will result in different learning gains regarding artworks displayed at Orlando Museum of Art when compared to a passive self-guided tour with no forms of new media. Additionally, the self-guided augmented reality app will result in repeat visits to the Orlando Museum of Art. This research is intended to further study the potential of augmented reality in educating audiences and enhancing public experience through personal mobile devices. Discover OMA addresses themes of accessibility, public participation, and social interaction through augmented reality. Each of the six user profiles are broken down to describe user experience, constraints, and goals for ensuring future visits. Through close collaboration with the Orlando Museum of Art, primary and secondary stakeholders are defined, as are their needs, goals, and constraints. The methodology for testing the app includes tests, surveys, and interviews for two groups of users, those who go through the museum experience using the app and those who do not use the app. This app provides a hybrid cultural facility learning opportunity by creating experiences for the public to interact with art within the museum space and also the outdoor public space. The goal of the app is to bring the local Orlando art scene to all by having impact now, tomorrow, and internationally.
