Mining the Museum in an Age of Migration

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingBook chapterResearchpeer-review

Standard

Mining the Museum in an Age of Migration. / Petersen, Anne Ring.

The Postcolonial Museum: The Arts of Memory and the Pressures of History. ed. / Ian Chambers; Alessandra De Angelis; Celeste Ianniciello; Mariangela Orabona; Michaela Quadraro. 1. ed. Farnham : Ashgate, 2014. p. 125-136 9.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingBook chapterResearchpeer-review

Harvard

Petersen, AR 2014, Mining the Museum in an Age of Migration. in I Chambers, A De Angelis, C Ianniciello, M Orabona & M Quadraro (eds), The Postcolonial Museum: The Arts of Memory and the Pressures of History. 1 edn, 9, Ashgate, Farnham, pp. 125-136.

APA

Petersen, A. R. (2014). Mining the Museum in an Age of Migration. In I. Chambers, A. De Angelis, C. Ianniciello, M. Orabona, & M. Quadraro (Eds.), The Postcolonial Museum: The Arts of Memory and the Pressures of History (1 ed., pp. 125-136). [9] Ashgate.

Vancouver

Petersen AR. Mining the Museum in an Age of Migration. In Chambers I, De Angelis A, Ianniciello C, Orabona M, Quadraro M, editors, The Postcolonial Museum: The Arts of Memory and the Pressures of History. 1 ed. Farnham: Ashgate. 2014. p. 125-136. 9

Author

Petersen, Anne Ring. / Mining the Museum in an Age of Migration. The Postcolonial Museum: The Arts of Memory and the Pressures of History. editor / Ian Chambers ; Alessandra De Angelis ; Celeste Ianniciello ; Mariangela Orabona ; Michaela Quadraro. 1. ed. Farnham : Ashgate, 2014. pp. 125-136

Bibtex

@inbook{afb7b7984d604e5eb867e7dbc668ca4e,
title = "Mining the Museum in an Age of Migration",
abstract = "Exhibitions of the last two decades give evidence that one of the most efficient means of deconstructing Western museums as cultural spaces is to invite a critical artist to make an intervention, thereby temporarily transforming the relatively static display of a permanent collection into a living archive and an innovative exhibition context. In recent years an agonistic discourse on {\textquoteleft}decolonial thinking{\textquoteright} and {\textquoteleft}decolonial aesthetics{\textquoteright} has emerged from the broader field of postcolonial studies and theory. In {\textquoteleft}Museums in the Colonial Horizon of Modernity{\textquoteright} (2011), protagonist of decoloniality Walter Mignolo has made a case for a clear-cut distinction between {\textquoteleft}postcoloniality{\textquoteright} and {\textquoteleft}decoloniality{\textquoteright}, and claimed for decoloniality American artist Fred Wilson{\textquoteright}s ground-breaking installation {\textquoteleft}Mining the Museum{\textquoteright}. According to Mignolo, Wilson{\textquoteright}s intervention in the collection of the Maryland Historical Society in 1992 was a decolonial, and hence political, reminder of the {\textquoteleft}underlying syntax{\textquoteright} of coloniality and the hegemonic relations of power that shape museums; culturally, socially and economically. This paper uses Mignolo{\textquoteright}s assertive interpretation to launch a reconsideration of two issues central to the idea of {\textquoteleft}the postcolonial museum{\textquoteright}: First, whether it is indeed possible to differentiate sharply between postcolonial and decolonial thinking, or whether decoloniality should rather be seen as a faction of postcoloniality which favours an interventionist mode of {\textquoteleft}doing{\textquoteright} or performing art and culture with the aim of {\textquoteleft}mining{\textquoteright} and thereby undermining colonial perceptions of the world. If so, it is of particular relevance to museums: decolonial institutional interventions as a means to turn museums into sites of contamination capable of including formerly repressed histories and migrating memories. Second, to which degree Mignolo{\textquoteright}s equation of an artist{\textquoteright}s intervention with the politics of decoloniality really captures the transformative potential of artists{\textquoteright} interventions in museums in an age of migration, when the much desired diversity of audiences should also be mirrored in the chosen exhibits and modes of display, i.e. in the histories told and the way they are told. The article proposes that one should not only look for the transformative potential of artistic interventions in museums in the politics of exhibiting, but also in the aesthetics of exhibiting, not least the artists{\textquoteright} play with the visitors{\textquoteright} affective and sensorial responses. To substantiate this proposition, the article turns to Yinka Shonibare{\textquoteright}s exhibition Garden of Love at the Quai Branly Museum in Paris (2007) to show how Shonibare used aesthetic means to create {\textquoteleft}an art of the political{\textquoteright} (Bal) and to {\textquoteleft}provincialise{\textquoteright} or {\textquoteleft}indigenise{\textquoteright} Europe. ",
keywords = "Faculty of Humanities, museer, postkolonialisme, museer og samfund, kulturel erindring, migration og erindring, historiefortr{\ae}ngning, installationskunst, institutionskritik, postkoloniality, decoloniality, museums, museums and society, cultural memory, memory and migration, artist interventions, institutional critique, installation art, repressed histories, museums and postcoloniality",
author = "Petersen, {Anne Ring}",
note = "An ebook version (open source) of the book is to be published one year after the printed edition, i.e. in 2015.",
year = "2014",
language = "English",
isbn = "978-1-4724-1567-7",
pages = "125--136",
editor = "Ian Chambers and {De Angelis}, Alessandra and Celeste Ianniciello and Mariangela Orabona and Michaela Quadraro",
booktitle = "The Postcolonial Museum",
publisher = "Ashgate",
edition = "1",

}

RIS

TY - CHAP

T1 - Mining the Museum in an Age of Migration

AU - Petersen, Anne Ring

N1 - An ebook version (open source) of the book is to be published one year after the printed edition, i.e. in 2015.

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

N2 - Exhibitions of the last two decades give evidence that one of the most efficient means of deconstructing Western museums as cultural spaces is to invite a critical artist to make an intervention, thereby temporarily transforming the relatively static display of a permanent collection into a living archive and an innovative exhibition context. In recent years an agonistic discourse on ‘decolonial thinking’ and ‘decolonial aesthetics’ has emerged from the broader field of postcolonial studies and theory. In ‘Museums in the Colonial Horizon of Modernity’ (2011), protagonist of decoloniality Walter Mignolo has made a case for a clear-cut distinction between ‘postcoloniality’ and ‘decoloniality’, and claimed for decoloniality American artist Fred Wilson’s ground-breaking installation ‘Mining the Museum’. According to Mignolo, Wilson’s intervention in the collection of the Maryland Historical Society in 1992 was a decolonial, and hence political, reminder of the ‘underlying syntax’ of coloniality and the hegemonic relations of power that shape museums; culturally, socially and economically. This paper uses Mignolo’s assertive interpretation to launch a reconsideration of two issues central to the idea of ‘the postcolonial museum’: First, whether it is indeed possible to differentiate sharply between postcolonial and decolonial thinking, or whether decoloniality should rather be seen as a faction of postcoloniality which favours an interventionist mode of ‘doing’ or performing art and culture with the aim of ‘mining’ and thereby undermining colonial perceptions of the world. If so, it is of particular relevance to museums: decolonial institutional interventions as a means to turn museums into sites of contamination capable of including formerly repressed histories and migrating memories. Second, to which degree Mignolo’s equation of an artist’s intervention with the politics of decoloniality really captures the transformative potential of artists’ interventions in museums in an age of migration, when the much desired diversity of audiences should also be mirrored in the chosen exhibits and modes of display, i.e. in the histories told and the way they are told. The article proposes that one should not only look for the transformative potential of artistic interventions in museums in the politics of exhibiting, but also in the aesthetics of exhibiting, not least the artists’ play with the visitors’ affective and sensorial responses. To substantiate this proposition, the article turns to Yinka Shonibare’s exhibition Garden of Love at the Quai Branly Museum in Paris (2007) to show how Shonibare used aesthetic means to create ‘an art of the political’ (Bal) and to ‘provincialise’ or ‘indigenise’ Europe.

AB - Exhibitions of the last two decades give evidence that one of the most efficient means of deconstructing Western museums as cultural spaces is to invite a critical artist to make an intervention, thereby temporarily transforming the relatively static display of a permanent collection into a living archive and an innovative exhibition context. In recent years an agonistic discourse on ‘decolonial thinking’ and ‘decolonial aesthetics’ has emerged from the broader field of postcolonial studies and theory. In ‘Museums in the Colonial Horizon of Modernity’ (2011), protagonist of decoloniality Walter Mignolo has made a case for a clear-cut distinction between ‘postcoloniality’ and ‘decoloniality’, and claimed for decoloniality American artist Fred Wilson’s ground-breaking installation ‘Mining the Museum’. According to Mignolo, Wilson’s intervention in the collection of the Maryland Historical Society in 1992 was a decolonial, and hence political, reminder of the ‘underlying syntax’ of coloniality and the hegemonic relations of power that shape museums; culturally, socially and economically. This paper uses Mignolo’s assertive interpretation to launch a reconsideration of two issues central to the idea of ‘the postcolonial museum’: First, whether it is indeed possible to differentiate sharply between postcolonial and decolonial thinking, or whether decoloniality should rather be seen as a faction of postcoloniality which favours an interventionist mode of ‘doing’ or performing art and culture with the aim of ‘mining’ and thereby undermining colonial perceptions of the world. If so, it is of particular relevance to museums: decolonial institutional interventions as a means to turn museums into sites of contamination capable of including formerly repressed histories and migrating memories. Second, to which degree Mignolo’s equation of an artist’s intervention with the politics of decoloniality really captures the transformative potential of artists’ interventions in museums in an age of migration, when the much desired diversity of audiences should also be mirrored in the chosen exhibits and modes of display, i.e. in the histories told and the way they are told. The article proposes that one should not only look for the transformative potential of artistic interventions in museums in the politics of exhibiting, but also in the aesthetics of exhibiting, not least the artists’ play with the visitors’ affective and sensorial responses. To substantiate this proposition, the article turns to Yinka Shonibare’s exhibition Garden of Love at the Quai Branly Museum in Paris (2007) to show how Shonibare used aesthetic means to create ‘an art of the political’ (Bal) and to ‘provincialise’ or ‘indigenise’ Europe.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - museer

KW - postkolonialisme

KW - museer og samfund

KW - kulturel erindring

KW - migration og erindring

KW - historiefortrængning

KW - installationskunst

KW - institutionskritik

KW - postkoloniality

KW - decoloniality

KW - museums

KW - museums and society

KW - cultural memory

KW - memory and migration

KW - artist interventions

KW - institutional critique

KW - installation art

KW - repressed histories

KW - museums and postcoloniality

M3 - Book chapter

SN - 978-1-4724-1567-7

SP - 125

EP - 136

BT - The Postcolonial Museum

A2 - Chambers, Ian

A2 - De Angelis, Alessandra

A2 - Ianniciello, Celeste

A2 - Orabona, Mariangela

A2 - Quadraro, Michaela

PB - Ashgate

CY - Farnham

ER -

ID: 101977037