Episode 10: Investing in What Change Looks Like

08/29/22 • 47 min

During my final year at NYU, I took a course on Ethical Frameworks in Museums taught by Visiting Assisting Professor of Museum Studies, Lauraberth Lima. I invited Lima to speak with me to help define terminology such as decolonization and equity and how these words are co-opted by museums as well as to provide insight on how to communicate complex theories to the general public who might not be aware of the decolonial movement. I was also interested in how one teaches ethical frameworks and how such a course prepares emerging museum professionals in the field.

Image Credit: Lauraberth Lima

🌐 https://www.aerogramme.org ➡️ @aerogrammearts 📧 [email protected]

Image Credit: Lauraberth Lima

🌐 https://www.aerogramme.org ➡️ @aerogrammearts 📧 [email protected]

Previous Episode

Episode 9: On Our Own Terms

Today, I am sitting down with Puerto Rican artist, Miguel Luciano who spoke with me about their residency at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and their project "Cemí-Libre: Block Party Celebration and Pop-up Exhibition" (2021). The project featured work created during the Civic Practice Partnership Artist-in-Residency in where Miguel explored the history between The Met's collection and its connection to the East Harlem community in New York City. In our discussion, Miguel reflects on the social responsibilities of leveraging the institutions resources to give back to underrepresented communities as well as to challenge the colonial framework by replicating one of the museum's artifacts--the Zemí Cohoba Stand (A.D. 974-1020)--and symbolically returning it back to the Taíno community in El Barrio.

Image Credit: Miguel Luciano. Cemí in bronze, East Harlem, 2021.

🌐 https://www.aerogramme.org ➡️ @aerogrammearts 📧 [email protected]

Next Episode

Episode 11: Encountering the Imperial Museum

I spoke with Sarita Echavez See about her 2017 book “The Filipino Primitive” which traces stolen Filipino objects in the United States that have served as the foundation of power and knowledge in museums. One level her book is about two very specific museums, but in reality, the points she makes can be applied to any similar museum that considers itself to have an ethnological collection. I was particularly interested in the concept of the imperial museum how a museum reflects subconscious prejudice.

Image Credit: Display cases E3-E8, Philippine exhibit at the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History, Ann Arbor. Photography by Mark Gjukich.

🌐 https://www.aerogramme.org ➡️ @aerogrammearts 📧 [email protected]