#museumactivism

This was posted online last year, but I never got round to posting it here.

Empowering Change: Towards a Definition of the Activist Museum

“The potential for activist museums lies in museums acknowledging and harnessing the role they play in shaping society. If museums can inspire action in their visitors to become more active citizens, more engaged in their communities, more involved in democracy at the local, regional and national level, more informed about how their everyday actions can affect real change and empowered to make change happen, the more relevant museums will be.”

The hour is late and you know the time waits for no-one...

The Damned, Shadow of Love

Well, we’re late. Little rebels that we are. And we don’t care none, neither. Nah.

*cough*

Anyway. We meant to say...we got a bunch of stuff for you this month. Some of it happy, some of it sad. Some of it joyous, some of it angry. Some of it bear-shaped. And some of it gloriously, wonderfully, rainbow.

Revolverlution, make your brains explode/ When understanding, knowledge, wisdom/ Love, elevation and activism...Public Enemy, Revolverlution

We wanted to start with this piece from the Museums Association’s Chris Garrard, talking about tools for museum activism. It’s a start, and it’s ideologically commendable; but we need to see practical, pragmatic examples, solid things that can be done, issues to be tackled, methods for tackling them, and ways to self organise. Museums need to, also, consider their ethical and ontological stances here, and not engage in activism for the purposes of fashion, or to appeal to a particular political policy. If they are to be activists, it needs to go to the very heart of their organisation and be visible in every facet of their existence. Ethics of any kind - and particularly activist ethics - cannot be mere baubles decking Doric columns. They must be made to mean. How can they be made to mean? We’re thinking about that right now. Send us your thoughts on how museums can be activists, and what it means for them as institutions.

One of the things that museums can do, of course, is to be venues for the presentation of evidenced, scientifically gained, knowledge. We’re leery about using the term truth - bizarrely, perhaps, it’s a little too ambiguous for what we want to mean. Nonetheless, this article about the  Ingenium triumvirate in Canada showcases how it is possible for museums to be vendors of information, and ‘keepers of evidence.’

But should museums be activists? That’s the question pursued here by Museum Next. It’s an interesting survey indicating that whilst most people don’t see museums as activists, a large proportion of those under 30 think engagement with social issues would encourage them to visit. There’s also this really interesting piece on Museum Next which raises the thorny issue of museums becoming echo chambers if they choose to engage in activism. What do you think?

We think the answer to the question of whether museums should be activists is a big, defiant, yes. The echo chamber argument, taken to its logical extreme, suggests that one should never say anything, should never stand up for change, because you’ll only be speaking to those who already agree.

Not if you are passionate about being heard and use the power museums have as public institutions to start, shape and inform debate. Museums have consistently punched below their weight when it comes to shaping public discourse. Time to pick fights that matter.

Like any public performance or institution, museums are inherently political, and they always present a stance on issues; even, and especially, if that issue is demonstrably, loudly, absent from their programming. The performative mechanics of activism - ability to produce publicity, to articulate information, to argue and provide space for dissent - are already present in museums. They just need to be prepared to stand up for issues, and against abuse, and to shore this stance up with their heart and soul and blood and guts.

In Garrard’s article, we were particularly interested in the fact that, during his tenure at Dresden State Art Collection, Hartwig Fischer decided ‘not to remain neutral’ in the face of the far right Pegida movement. And yet the British Museum’s deal with oil giant BP remains in position for another five years. It’s interesting to see what people will and will not choose to speak out about that.

Speaking of BP, this short announcement from Art Not Oil is indicative of a truly disturbing willing blindness on the part of some of the UK’s most well known institutions. The report from Culture Unstained on the connection between BP and the National Gallery can be downloaded here, and is equally disturbing. I can’t think of any excuse for the environmental and human rights abuses uncovered in this report, and I cannot justify museums gaining sponsorship from a company so widely reviled. Nonetheless, the British Museum recently announced their latest BP sponsored exhibition, ‘Scythians - warriors of ancient Siberia'. It just won’t stop, will it?

Well, only if we let it. Every single one of us has a duty to refuse, point blank, to glitter shit. To stand up, speak out, and boycott if need be.

Who controls the past, controls the future...George Orwell, 1984

This response to a Guardian article about arts funding, and those it goes to, suggests that we do need to speak out, and that there needs to be support for emerging, grassroots organisations. It’s very easy to claim improvements, when there is still so much more to do. This is our purpose at Punk Museology - to agitate for further change, to never be satisfied whilst there remains disparity and inequality.

That said, museums can still be used to make fun of those in power. A museum of the current POTUS’s tweets? Good job, Daily Show, good job! Does the phrase ‘hoist by your own petard’ seem appropriate here? We think so.

And arts and museums are tackling social issues of way more significance and importance than the ravings of that orange bag of bollock pox. For instance, the charity Crisis have partnered with arts institutions around the UK to explore and discuss the ever increasing issue of homelessness. For one of us, the prevalence of homelessness in their home city has risen immeasurably in the last two years, and homeless people seem to be massing for justice; there have been many protests and tents sporting ‘Justice for the Homeless’ slogans have appeared across the town. Projects such as Art In Crisis, then, are important sources of validation and support and the exciting “Museum of Homelessness” is unabashed in the advocacy and activism they engage in. Their website comes highly recommended.

Artworks for Change is another great organisation advocating for museums to stand up. They work with artists to produce travelling exhibitions tackling a variety of issues, and tour with them to institutions worldwide. Fascinatingly, in light of the above echo chamber argument, they’ve found that their projects diversify audiences by up to 20%. That’s no echo chamber.

Then there’s the Climate Museum. Inspired by the Paris Agreement of 2015, this venture launched in 2016 with the mission of creating ‘a public space where we can gather to learn about climate change, face our fears, share solutions, and commit to change.’ That seems like a fairly decent mission to us.

For young activists-in-training, the People’s History Museum in Manchester runs pARTicipate, a session exploring historical and contemporary protest. It’s vital to teach kids to be critical citizens.

And then, oh and then, there are the Jodi Awards, which are enough to cause flutters of something warm and fuzzy in even the darkest of hearts. This year, one of us was lucky enough to be able to attend; and they cried. Real tears. This was a truly inspiring set of awards; rewarding real hard work, genuinely dedicated to inclusion, and improvements in life for people living with disabilities. Everyone should know about and support the Jodi Mattes Trust.

the children of the sun/ And the moon/ And the earth...Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Speaking of the warm and fuzzies, it was So. Damn. Good. to see museums coming out and supporting this year’s Pride, celebrating 50 years of decriminalisation. Here’s a bunch of lovely tweets for you to make you feel like things aren’t necessarily as bad as they sometimes seem. And, yes, there’s still much more to do and be done, in terms of tolerance and acceptance in the public, in museums, and in the LGBTQIA+ communities. And as long as there is still intolerance and violence and suicide and sadness and pain we have to work, and work hard, to make sure those things are eradicated. But if it’s a start you’re after, there’s one right here, where museums and political, activist engagement can acknowledge the coming of a new dawn, when who you love does not matter; merely, that you do.

First, there’s this lovely shout out to the people and museums appearing in support of Pride from Queering Museums (check out their podcast immediately!), and another one here. Then, the V&A flies the Pride Flag, along with their LGBTQ tour coordinator, @DanNouveau. The Science Museum got in on the act too. And, then, of course, there’s NMM Greenwich, showcasing the long history of diverse gender and sexual identities/performance in the Navy. @Theaidoo also celebrates her time at Pride in this lovely tweet citing the Museum of London and Charterhouse. Even the British Museum and National Gallery took part. And then, there’s this lovely t-shirt.

Photo by @art_love_learn on twitter, #MuseumPrideLDN

Beyond the Twittersphere, you’ll find more... if you know where to look.

https://www.artfund.org/what-to-see/exhibitions/2017/07/28/coming-out-exhibition

http://www.afterellen.com/people/490399-history-women-pride

Someplace, sometime, there’s always a sliver of rainbow.

Here’s a couple of stories about objects for you. This story about Chief Poundmaker’s belongings should show that objects are about so much more than just themselves, and have a power...to draw admiration, to condemn, and to demand justice.

Then, there are of course the sadder stories of objects - those which are lost due to corruption, illicit trade and war. Here is ICOM’s Red List of West African Cultural Objects at Risk.

But since I can't stay/ I'll just keep playing back/ These fragments of time/ Everywhere I go/ These moments will shine...Daft Punk, Fragments of Time

We’re going on a Bear Hunt!There are bears all around Birmingham, raising money for the Children’s Hospital. There’s a Spock one. We have more warm and fuzzies.  

We found the LA Punk Museum too! Don’t know how active they are, but it seems a great idea - a punk museum running events.

Recently, the Bishopsgate Institute (@BishopsgateInst) hosted an event called ‘We Are Angry: 200 Years of Protest in Britain.’ Did you go? Let us know what it was like. The Hammer Museum recently hosted a forum called ‘Who is Leading the Resistance?’ and a recording of the event is available here.

Tate has just opened ‘Soul Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power’, which is on until the 22nd November. It begins with 1963, at the peak of the Civil Rights movement, showing the contributions of Black artists to American Art. And on the 29th September, the Curiosity Carnival is opening its doors in Oxford.

And, finally, a piece from the Guardian about the new influx of music events into galleries and museums. Yes to museums and galleries getting loud!!

Phew. That was our whistle-stop tour of the last month. Anything we missed? Anything you’d like us to include in our next roundup? Write to us! We want to showcase awesome stuff - and it’s you out there doing it.

Track of the Month:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZkXuP0Dl_c

Then suddenly

Like a fly in a cup of tea

I'm stirred and no longer free

To fly away

I think back to the other life