Museum Activism

Description

Only a decade ago, the notion that museums, galleries and heritage organisations might engage in activist practice, with explicit intent to act upon inequalities, injustices and environmental crises, was met with scepticism and often derision. Seeking to purposefully bring about social change was viewed by many within and beyond the museum community as inappropriately political and antithetical to fundamental professional values. Today, although the idea remains controversial, the way we think about the roles and responsibilities of museums as knowledge based, social institutions is changing. Museum Activism examines the increasing significance of this activist trend in thinking and practice. At this crucial time in the evolution of museum thinking and practice, this ground-breaking volume brings together more than fifty contributors working across six continents to explore, analyse and critically reflect upon the museum’s relationship to activism. Including contributions from practitioners, artists, activists and researchers, this wide-ranging examination of new and divergent expressions of the inherent power of museums as forces for good, and as activists in civil society, aims to encourage further experimentation and enrich the debate in this nascent and uncertain field of museum practice. Museum Activism elucidates the largely untapped potential for museums as key intellectual and civic resources to address inequalities, injustice and environmental challenges. This makes the book essential reading for scholars and students of museum and heritage studies, gallery studies, arts and heritage management, and politics. It will be a source of inspiration to museum practitioners and museum leaders around the globe. Dedication Contents List of colour plates List of figures List of tables List of contributors Preface Acknowledgements 1 Posterity has arrived: The necessary emergence of museum activism • Robert R. Janes and Richard Sandell Part I: Nurturing activism 2 Detoxing and decolonising museums • Sara Wajid and Rachael Minott 3 Growing an activist museum professional • Elizabeth Wood and Sarah A. Cole 4 Dividing issues and mission-driven activism: Museum responses to migration policies and the refugee crisis • Maria Vlachou 5 Access as activism: Bringing the museum to the people • Catherine Kudlick and Edward M. Luby 6 Fossil fuel sponsorship and the contested museum: Agency, accountability and arts activism • Paula Serafini and Chris Garrard 7 The activist role of museum staff • Victoria Hollows 8 From the ground up: Grassroots social justice activism in American museums • Laura-Edythe S. Coleman and Porchia Moore 9 Spectacular defiance • Julie McNamara 10 ‘I’m gonna do something’: Moving beyond talk in the museum • Bernadette Lynch 11 Feminism and the politics of friendship in the activist museum • Viv Golding Part II: Activism in practice 12 Memory exercises: Activism, symbolic reparation, and non-repetition in Colombia’s National Museum of Memory • Cristina Lleras, Michael Andrés Forero Parra, Lina María Díaz and Jennifer Carter 13 Auto agents: Inclusive curatorship and its political potential • Jade French 14 Museums as public forums for 21st century societies: A perspective from the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe • Njabulo Chipangura and Happinos Marufu 15 Museums in the climate emergency • Steve Lyons and Kai Bosworth 16 Activism, objects and dialogues: Re-engaging African collections at the Royal Ontario Museum • Silvia Forni, Julie Crooks and Dominique Fontaine 17 Museological activism and cultural citizenship: Collecting the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement • Selina Ho and Vivian Ting 18 Museums in the age of intolerance • Sharon Heal 19 Activist practice through networks: A case study in museum connections • Mercy McCann 20 Whose memories for which future?: Favela museums and the struggle for social justice in Brazil • Marcelo Lages Murta 21 From vision to action: The journey towards activism at St Fagans National Museum of History • Sioned Hughes and Elen Phillips 22 Inside out/outside in: Museums and communities activating change • Moya McFadzean, Liza Dale-Hallett, Tatiana Mauri and Kimberley Moulton 23 Quiet is the new loud?: On activism, museums and changing the world • Åshild Andrea Brekke 24 Heritage and queer activism • Sean Curran Part III: Assessing activism 25 The activist spectrum in United States museums • Dina A. Bailey 26 Up against it: Contending with power asymmetries in museum work • Kevin Coffee 27 Taking a position: Challenging the anti-authorial turn in art curating • Lynn Wray 28 Memory activism and the Holocaust memorial institutions of the 21st century • Diana I. Popescu 29 Advocacy and activism: A framework for sustainability science in museums • Sandra L. Rodegher and Stacey Vicario Freeman 30 Narratives of transformation: Stories of impact from activist museums • Jennifer Bergevin 31 Memorial museums at the intersection of politics, exhibition and trauma: A study of the Red Terror Martyrs Memorial Museum • Bridget Conley 32 ‘I attack this work of art deliberately’: Suffragette activism in the museum • Nicola Gauld 33 Museums, activism and social media (or, how Twitter challenges and changes museum practice) • Jennie Carvill Schellenbacher 34 Unprecedented times?: Shifting press perceptions on museums and activism • Jenny Kidd Index