Katarzyna Maniak

An Artist, an Interpreter, an Authority? - searching for a definition

Non-European Culture Heritage in a European Museum – Strategies of (Re)presentation

One can distinguish various ways of speaking about the Other in the history of ethnography museums. The initial exotizing and objectifying attitude is being replaced by new strategies, which were developed in response to among others postcolonial studies and the new museology movement criticizing the nineteenth-century model of the institution. The new forms of exhibition presentations can be describe in term of reflective turn, which is fulfilled by emphasizing the colonial roots of mutual relations. There are also strategies touching upon the idea of a museum as a contact zone (James Clifford) or the idea of agon (popularized by Chantal Mouffe), in exhibitions following that train of thought unambiguous representation is replaced by creative meeting of different entities having equal rights. The last mentioned strategy uses tools of art in presenting non-European ­heritage.
I am interested in ways of presenting non-European collections in European museums, as well as convictions and visions behind them which are projected on the heritage of a community often deprived of voice.

 

Art not oil. Art activism by Liberate Tate

In her article the author analyses the activity of Liberate Tate collective, which was founded in 2010 with the aim to end sponsorship of Tate Gallery by BP oil company. This example of alliance between art and activism may be considered in two ways: in the context of the relationship between the institution and the artists who attempt to transform the museums, and also through the art of protest against the oil corporation responsible for environment exploitation. The activity of Liberate Tate is compared with others forms of protest, such as Occupy Wall Street or the fight against Dakota Access Pipeline. The framework of interpretation is indicated by the complex reliance between art, activism and neoliberal capitalism. The ideas of delirium and resistance proposed by Gregory Sholette appear to be particularly useful in explaining the given relations, as well as the notion of practicing deindividualization by activists, who build various alliances and communities of those engaged in creating the envisioned museum. 

The article focuses on art activism directed to museums and their sponsorship relationship with the oil industry. It considers the form and content of protests undertaken by art collectives such as Liberate Tate, BP, or not BP?, and Fossil Free Culture NL. The author recognizes the goals of activists in undermining the reality of capitalocene. She frames this form of protest with the term “unauthorized curating”, which she derives from the analysis of participation paradigm and the definition of curatorial practice proposed by Marta Kosińska. Finally, she analyzes the strategy undertaken in art of protest.