Part of ‘Doing the Work’, an online CPD workshop series for curators co-produced by the Contemporary Art Society and the Decolonising Arts Institute (University of the Arts London). Read more.
Open to CAS Museum Members and professionals.
This workshop focuses on interpretation practices in art museums and galleries, and how anti-racist and decolonial approaches can be embedded in them. Questions for discussion might include: How can we produce interpretation materials that meet the desires of both established and historically excluded audiences? How can suppressed narratives and the voices and experiences of historically marginalised people be privileged when we produce object labels, talks and other interpretive material? How can we be transparent about histories of colonial violence and racial oppression when interpreting artworks, whilst also encouraging art-appreciation and enjoyment?
To open up the discussion, the workshop will begin with presentations from Miles Greenwood (Curator of Legacies of Slavery and Empire at the Glasgow Museums) and Khairani Barokka (artist and writer), moderated by Hammad Nasar (scholar and curator). Participants will then breakout into small groups for focused conversation on the issues and challenges at hand, as well as strategies to test out back in the workplace. Click here for participant biographies.
The workshop is designed to be participative and generative. We therefore ask you to come prepared to discuss a particular issue or challenge you are grappling with, or to share your experience of using a particular approach, in relation to the topic of embedding anti-racism and decolonization in interpretation practices.
Open to CAS Museum Members and professionals. If you would like to participate in this workshop, please send us a brief outline of how you intend to contribute to the conversation to Ilaria@contemporaryartsociety.org by Monday 19 April.
Further Reading:
Online talks
The presentations at the Understanding British Portraits conference From Decolonial to Anti Colonial: What’s Next for Museum Interpretation?, held on 6 November 2020.
Artist Dr Khairani Barokka’s performance at the ICA in which she provides her own interpretation (situated at the intersection of decolonialisation and disability justice) of ‘Annah la Javanaise’ in Paul Gauguin’s ‘Aita Tamari Vahine Judith Te Parari’, 1893-1894
Books:
Procter, Alice. The Whole Picture, The colonial story of the art in our museums & why we need to talk about it. London: Cassell, 2020.
