Abstract
In this paper, I explore the advantages and disadvantages of virtual museums—especially those dealing with art featuring or made by underrepresented groups—in terms of accessibility, advocacy, and rhetorical effect. During the pandemic, traditional indoor museums had to close their doors and find novel ways to survive financially, to show their art in alternate ways, and to remain relevant in a time of international panic. At the University of California, Santa Barbara, the Art, Design & Architecture Museum was scheduled to open an in-person exhibit titled “Hostile Terrain 94” for the full year of 2020 that captured, through multiple modes, the many deaths at the US/Mexico border due to harsh conditions and other factors. As a result of Covid, the exhibit was moved online that March. The in-person exhibit relied on tactile factors and multiple senses to affect the patrons. The online exhibit lost many of those factors, using purely visual (and selectively auditory) elements of the virtual museum. Through the disciplinary lens of rhetoric and writing studies, I examine virtual museums including “Hostile Terrain 94” that are, or could be, sites of advocacy for underrepresented groups, issues, and artists, but that are shaped largely by their respective “locations.” After conducting a thorough visual and textual analysis of these sites, I conclude by describing the advantage of virtual museums in terms of access and inclusivity, but the loss of rhetorical effectiveness on prospective audiences.
Presenters
Deborah HarrisAssociate Director and Continuing Lecturer, Writing Program, University of California Santa Barbara, California, United States Alison Williams
Lecturer, Writing Program, University of California, Santa Barbara, United States Sarah Hirsch
Continuing Lecturer, Writing Program, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2023 Special Focus—Museum Transformations: Pathways to Community Engagement
KEYWORDS
Advocacy, Rhetoric, Curation, Alternative Museums, Access, Community Engagement
