FWD: MUSEUMS: “Death to Museums” (2019), Edited by Therese Quinn & Lauren De Jesus

Museology / Museum Studies
Written By Michael Workman

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Museums Are Dead.

They fell victim to torch-bearing mobs, looters, and the vociferous contempt of political and religious groups. But perhaps also through insular pedagogies, inequitable practices, and a lack of representation or transparency, museums contributed to their own demise.

In our current social climate, it has become critical that we, as students, teachers, employees and participants of the museum, reflect on our roles within the white marble walls of the establishments we hold dear. The articles in the following pages represent the curiosity, research, perspective and tenacity required to lay the old museum to rest in order to allow the new museum to thrive.

Together we imagine a future for these institutions untethered from the colonial ties that bind them today. We address the difficult histories of the museum whose past has been marred with racism, sexism, classism, and questionable ethics. In this issue, museum practitioners tackle topics such as repatriation and inequitable labor practices through analysis of media and artifacts. Together we imagine the museum not as a lost cause, but as an opportunity to grow, to learn and to change.

Enjoy reading.

Long Live Museums.

(Letter from the Editorial Board, Fwd: Museums 2019)

Michael Workman

Michael Workman is a choreographer, language, visual and movement artist, dance and performance artist, writer, reporter, and sociocultural critic. In addition to his work at the Chicago Tribune, Guardian US, Newcity magazine, WBEZ Chicago Public Radio and elsewhere, Workman is also Director of Bridge, an artistic collective and 501 (c) (3) publishing and programming organization (bridge-chicago.org). His choreographic writing has been included in Propositional Attitudes, an "anthology of recent performance scores, directions and instructions" published by Golden Spike Press, and his Perfect Worlds: Artistic Forms & Social Imaginaries Vol. 1, the first in a 3-volume series, was released by StepSister Press in October 2018 with a day-long program of performances at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Most recently, two of his scores were accepted for publication in a special edition of the Notre Dame Review focusing on the work of participants in the &NOW Festival of Innovative Writing.

https://michaelworkmanstudio.com
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FWD: MUSEUMS: “Home” (2020), Edited by Therese Quinn & Quinton Sledge
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FWD: MUSEUMS: “Alien” (2018), Edited by Therese Quinn & Lauren De Jesus (Sherwin Ovid Cover)