As visitors to museums, we often think of ourselves as passive recipients of their knowledge and expertise: we look, but don’t touch; we wonder, but don’t challenge; we may leave the exhibition changed, but we don’t change the museum. But what if we could?
This collaborative day school with Modern Art Oxford explores the changing nature and future of museums, and will take shape around the Boundary Encounters exhibition.
The exhibition is anchored in a combination of participatory art commissions and installations by contemporary artists Harold Offeh, Julie Freeman and Valerie Asiimwe Amani. The exhibition provides opportunities to reflect on the institution’s past by delving into its archive and invites visitors to contribute to its future. Rather than fixed or stable, boundaries will be explored as places of possibility, permeability and play, where different communities and ideas meet and mingle and (re)make the museum. The day will unfold as a series of exhibition-based group discussions, short lectures, interactive activities and behind-the-scenes meetings with artists and/or museum staff.
No prior knowledge or experience with/in museums or contemporary art is required, although this event will also appeal to museum professionals interested in models of community-engaged practice, especially in relation to contemporary artists’ installations.
Please note: this event will close to enrolments at 23:59 BST on 4 October 2023.