Full 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.
Contents
List of Colour Plates; List of Figures; List of Tables; List of Contributors; Preface; Acknowledgments; 1 Posterity Has Arrived: The Necessary Emergence of Museum Activism Robert R. Janes and Richard Sandell; Part 1 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 2 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 3 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
