Cultural Spaces as Living Monuments
Critical Museology and Decolonizing the Museum
In collaboration with the Halifax based, SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council) funded Research Cluster “Memory Activism; Collaborative Processes of Counter-Memorialization”, faculty from NSCAD University and The University of King’s College will facilitate a two day workshop over Zoom. The workshop will bring together members of the arts community, students, museologists, and the general public. The purpose of this two-day workshop is to facilitate the opportunity to discuss an active process where participants reflect on the possibilities of museums as living monuments, acknowledging difficult histories through radical curation and accessibility. Through a series of presentations and research-creation activities, we will critically explore how public arts spaces can offer a safe space for new forms of collaboration and establish / explore / generate frameworks for decolonizing museology.
NOTE: In light of the newly implemented travel restrictions related to COVID-19, this workshop series will be moved online and hosted via Zoom. Find the full schedule, recorded Zoom video links to each workshop session, and the research creation responses below.
Confederation Centre for the Arts
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
November 28th - 29th 2020
NOTE: In light of the newly implemented travel restrictions related to COVID-19, this workshop series will be moved online and hosted via Zoom. Find the full schedule and Zoom links to each workshop session below.
Frameworks for Pedagogy; Curation, Museology and Activism
Day One: Saturday November 28th 2020
Mapping the Museum
MORNING
WORKSHOP
10:00 AM AST
Participants will explore mapping as a means to critically examine the architectural and contemporary identity of the CCOA. Guided by an examination of cartographic practices that foreground efficacy, geometry, accuracy and singularity, this workshop seeks to create a forum to generate spatial knowledge outside of conventional cartographic practices. Focusing on other forms of mapping that come from artistic practices, this workshop invites participants to engage in a spatial analysis of the CCOA that encompasses the physical and online site of the museum. At the conclusion of the workshop, participants will be invited to participate in a series of research creation activities related to the topic of embodied mapping.
Artist Talk
AFTERNOON
PANEL
2:00 PM AST
This virtual panel will bring together a selection of artists whose creative practices activate the museum and community spaces with critical performance, intervention, and nuanced (or overt) statements on the power structures and paradigms implicit in their status as "cultural spaces" and institutions. Confirmed panelists include Ursula Johnson, Peter Morin, and Deanna Bowen. The panel will open with artist introductions and backgrounds, followed by individual presentations of each artist's work, and a final group discussion and dialogue with all panelists, facilitated by Dr. Carla Taunton of NSCAD University.
Critical Museology
Day Two: Sunday November 29th 2020
The Museum as Counter-Monument
MORNING
WORKSHOP
10:00 AM AST
In this session, participants will engage in critical mapping exercises of the CCOA, drawing on memories of the physical space and through direct interaction with the online space of the CCOA’s website along with various maps and documentation of the museum site.These research-creation activities will follow the webinar presentation “Mapping the Museum”. Participants will be encouraged to use materials of their choosing in the creation of their work, all forms of creative expression are welcome. This session will include a round table space for reflection and collaborative summation of work completed throughout the workshop.
Curation in the Age of Decolonization
AFTERNOON
WORKSHOP
2:00 PM AST
Dr. Carla Taunton will facilitate a workshop with invited guests that will explore concepts of critical museology and radical curation. Speakers may include Dr. Julie Nagam, Dr. Heather Igloliorte, and Aiden Gillis, AGNS’ Indigenous Art Programmer.
