Symbolic Machines

Beskrivelse

This book explores how evolving views of museums' public roles shape the way exhibitions are designed today. It investigates how exhibitions can question and transform art institutions from within, involving insights from artists, scholars, and curators.

Examining how exhibitions reflect and reshape the museum’s connection to its audience.

Symbolic Machines delves into the ways exhibitions do more than just mirror museums-they actively challenge and redefine their relevance to visitors. For years, artistic critiques have uncovered the gendered, class-based, and colonial power dynamics woven into these institutions.

More recently, there’s been a noticeable move toward museums critically examining themselves. Even prominent museums are now engaging in open conversations with their audiences about their practices and the stories they tell.

By blending historical background with modern perspectives, this volume reveals how museums and exhibitions can play a role in driving social change.

Edited by Pernille Lystlund Matzen, curator and PhD, alongside Jacob Lund, associate professor of Aesthetics and Culture at Aarhus University, the book gathers diverse viewpoints on the evolving roles and critical functions of museums and their exhibitions.

Contributors include notable voices such as Nora Sternfeld, Yvette Mutumba, Cem A., Kim West, Giulia Bellinetti, Lucia Pietroiusti, and James Voorhies.

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