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The AfricaMuseum of Belgium: Toward a Radical Decolonial Approach to the Museum
IN CONVERSATION WITH EL MEHDI AIT OUKHZAME This article attends to the question of decolonizing the museum by taking the AfricaMuseum[1] of Belgium as a case study to look into issues where the museum and art become a means of reparable justice in the post-colonial era. The article provides a critical appraisal of the ‘decolonial’ approach adopted by the administration of the AfricaMuseum, with a focus upon its five-year project…
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What Comes Next: Reflections on Social Reproduction and the Art World
IN CONVERSATION WITH GIORGIA CACCIATORE Last April, a group called NYC Art Workers started an online petition urging museums to retain their staff amid the current crisis. “[A] collection of objects alone”, they stated, “does not make a museum. Museums are made, maintained, and brought to life by workers”.[1] However precisely the workers that assure museums to perform their function, i.e. display artworks and receive audiences, are being the most…![UNADJUSTEDNOWRAW by BLACKMAU (2019) from the collection of New York Live Arts. Exhibited in Curating the End of the World online exhibition by New York Live Arts; Courtesy of the artist.]()
Curating the End of the World: Afrofuturism and Black Speculative Art in Times of COVID-19
IN CONVERSATION WITH FLORIEN KIJLSTRA Scrolling through the online exhibition Curating the End of the World – hosted by New York Live Arts and The Black Speculative Arts Movement[i], soundscapes and visual imageries blend into a submerging audio-visual digital sphere, slowly yet steadily drawing the viewer into a digital third space. [ii] Then, the music stops and a new image fills up my computer screen. UNADJUSTEDNOWRAW, a figure with a…
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Unseen Unsightliness: The history of street organs and disabled veterans
IN CONVERSATION WITH ELINE POLLAERT What preceded this research (March 2019) The sign itself was inconspicuous, merely one of the many text blocks printed among the map of Europe at the organ courtyard of Museum Speelklok.[1] I had just visited a temporary exhibition, showcasing musical robots, and now wandered about the permanent exhibition. It read: WAR VETERANS IN THE STREET Empress Maria-Theresa of Austria (1717-1780) granted permits to play…
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MOED Talks: Jamila Mascat
In this video series, MOED invites guests to talk about their views on equality and difference through artworks they find inspiring, empowering, and that have stayed with them over time. What is the power of artistic practice and imagination in the struggle towards a more inclusive society? How does imagination, affect, emotion, and reason, in their mutual connections, contribute to a better understanding of equality, difference, and inclusion? Our fourth…
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MOED Talks: Kathrin Thiele
In this video series, MOED invites guests to talk about their views on equality and difference through artworks they find inspiring, empowering, and that have stayed with them over time. What is the power of artistic practice and imagination in the struggle towards a more inclusive society? How does imagination, affect, emotion, and reason, in their mutual connections, contribute to a better understanding of equality, difference, and inclusion? Our third…
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MOE D
IN CONVERSATION WITH BELINDA VAN DER STOEP & CARLY EVERAERT The image Black Madonna represents black beauty and iconic women of color. Black Madonna also creates space for both safety and connection. ”The costume gives me confidence that I am not alone, and that I do not have to engage with the debate about my existence all by myself”, says Belinda van der Stoep. MOED interviewed the actress and costume…
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MOED Talks: Domitilla Olivieri
In this video series, MOED invites guests to talk about their views on equality and difference through artworks they find inspiring, empowering, and that have stayed with them over time. What is the power of artistic practice and imagination in the struggle towards a more inclusive society? How does imagination, affect, emotion, and reason, in their mutual connections, contribute to a better understanding of equality, difference, and inclusion? Our second…
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The Bold and the System: Disrupting Dominant Narratives with Wit, Humor and Embodied Knowledge
IN CONVERSATION WITH THE BOLD AND THE SYSTEM Good chance you have stumbled across The Bold and the System in the past year. Their intervention in the Rijksmuseum (see cover photo), exposing the framing of the narratives in the museum, was shared by The Black Archives and went viral. Combining their political activism and embodied knowledge with wit, humor and knowledge sharing, the collective reverses, disrupts and intervenes in dominant…
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Thicker than Blood: How Participatory Art can Expose and Subvert Biopower
IN CONVERSATION WITH WITH ELENA ASCIONE I had the pleasure to discuss with artist and curator Izdihar Afyouni her concept piece Thicker Than Blood, as well as her place within University, her drive to talk about race and, in general, the regulations she herself experiences on her own body on a daily basis. This piece is a critical, personal reflection upon her work and our interaction in relation to questions…
