We welcome paper proposals to a panel at the
38th Annual AAH Conference & Bookfair
The Open University, Milton Keynes
29 - 31 March 2012

'From Museum Critique to the Critical Museum: Theory and Practice'

Session Convenors:

Piotr Piotrowski, The Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland piotrpioamu.edu.pl

Katarzyna Murawska-Muthesius, Birkbeck College, University of London K.Murawska-Muthesiusbbk.ac.uk

Since the late 19th century art museums have been targeted as objects of a stringent critique, voiced both by avant-garde artists, as well as by intellectuals and representatives of the New Museology. Unmasked as instruments of power-knowledge, they have been condemned as tools of imperialism and colonialism, as strongholds of patriarchalism, masculinism, xenophobia and homophobia, and accused both of elitism and commercialism. But, could the Museum absorb and benefit from its critique, turning into a Critical Museum? Could it become the site of resistance rather than ritual, using its resources to give voice to the underprivileged, to provide space ‘for the cultures of the world to collide and hybridize’? Could it contribute in a significant way to debates on the issues most fundamental to the contemporary world? A theoretical model is provided by the notion of the Post-Museum, developed by Stuart Hall and Eilean Hooper Greenhill, which aims to empower the viewer, expose conflicts and redress social inequalities; its prototype, in turn, could be sought amongst those museums of contemporary art which are focused more on the contemporary world rather than art itself. But could such a model of the ‘engaged art nstitution’ be applied to the type of the Universal Survey Museum which, for privileging the arts of the past, is perceived as ‘naturally’ focused on the preservation of the cultural wealth under its care, on reproducing rather than subverting the field?
We welcome papers which contribute both to the theoretical concept of the Critical Museum, especially within the frame of the Universal Survey Museum, as well as case studies arguing for its existence in any part of the world.
Please note that all the participants, including speakers and convenors, will pay the conference fees.

Please send your paper proposal (max 250 words) to both of the panel convenors, by 7 November 2011

For more information, see http://www.aah.org.uk/page/3327