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Art of the Americas Revisited: What Does it Mean to Decolonise a Museum?

Olga Zabalueva, 1984- (Author), Shikoh Shiraiwa (Author), Tema Q (Other)

URI https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-192455, URN urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-192455, DOI 10.26485/ai/2022/24/11, Identifier https://liu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1744408/FULLTEXT01 · url

Linköpings universitet Institutionen för kultur och samhälle (Publisher)

publication

Lodz, 2022

Is part of

Art Inquiry: Recherches sur les arts · ISSN 1641-9278

24, 173-195

Component part, Online resource

Available online:

http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-192455

Värdpublikation

Subject

Humanities and the Arts, Arts, Art History, Humaniora och konst, Konst, Konstvetenskap, Humanities and the Arts, Other Humanities, Cultural Studies, Humaniora och konst, Annan humaniora, Kulturstudier, heritage, coloniality, decolonising museums, decolonising universities, decolonising knowledge, reflexive curatorship

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Summary

The Art of the Americas exhibition (March – July 2018) at the Max Chambers Library, University of Central Oklahoma (UCO), USA, questioned the practices of assigning cultural objects to different academic disciplines and separate museums. The exhibition brought together diverse cultural objects from North, Central and South America. Using the exhibition as a threshold and a lens, this paper opens a broader conversation on decolonising museums that challenge the knowledge-building system in academic institutions. First, Shikoh Shiraiwa, curator, revisits Art of the Americas to re-examine his motives and positionality. Secondly, Olga Zabalueva dwells on the theoretical implications and importance of constantly re-assessing decolonial efforts. Third, we both explore how ingrained racial hierarchies have crystalised in certain academic disciplines. As a result, we further elaborate on the criticality of challenging institutionalised scholarship, concluding with theoretical pursuit of cultural and socially sustainable museum practice for the future.