71. Assessing Curatorial Work for Social Justice With Elena Gonzales Museum Archipelago

Museums are seen as trustworthy, but what if that trust is misplaced? Chicago-based independent curator Elena Gonzales provides a solid jumping off point for thinking critically about museums in her new book, Exhibitions for Social Justice.


The book is a whirlwind tour of different museums, examining how they approach social justice. It’s also a guide map for anyone interested in a way forward.


In this episode, Gonzales takes us on a tour of some of the main themes of the book, examining the strategies of museum institutions from the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia to the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago.


Topics and Links


00:00 Intro
00:15 Trust in Museum Institutions
01:00 Elena Gonzales


Website
Twitter

01:45 Exhibitions for Social Justice
03:05 What is an Exhibition for Social Justice?
04:20 National Museum of Mexican Art
07:12 “Questioning the Visitor”
07:50 Anne Frank House Museum
08:25 Eastern State Penitentiary
11:23 Buy Exhibitions for Social Justice


On Routledge (Use Promo Code ADS19 for 30% Off)
On IndieBound
On Amazon

12:30 Introducing Archipelago at the Movies!


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Transcript
Below is a transcript of Museum Archipelago episode 71. Museum Archipelago is produced for the ear, and only the audio of the episode is canonical. For more information on the people and ideas in the episode, refer to the links above.




View Transcript



The American Alliance of Museums often says that museums are the most trustworthy institutions in modern American life.


And the statistics are remarkable: some surveys indicate that museums are the second most trusted news source after friends and family.


As rates of trust in other institutions plummet: the news media, etc, museums still enjoy a privileged position in collective consciousness. It’s something I’ve noticed over the past few years: even non-museum spaces try to adopt museum-like presentations to apply the veneer of trustworthiness.


But it’s an uneasy set of statistics. Is it possible that the reason museums are so trustworthy is because they've been excellent at toeing the status quo, the party line? And whose public consciousness are museums enjoying a privileged position inside of anyway?


That’s why I was thrilled to come across Exhibitions for Social Justice by Elena Gonzales during a recent museum binge.


The book presents the current state of museum practice as it relates to the work of social justice, but also a guide map for anyone interested in a way forward.



Elena Gonzales: I think if a lot of people fully understood how museum work is done, they might actually not trust us so much because they would understand the subjectivity. But I think the more that we are transparent about museums, content, who creates it, how, what the goals of an exhibition are, et cetera, the more people can trust us authentically and rightfully.



I’m joined today by Elena Gonzales, author of Exhibitions for Social Justice.



Elena Gonzales: Hello, my name is Elena Gonzales and I’