We would like to invite you to attend our two-day workshop, which is being held in Oxford on April 4 and 5, 2023. This workshop on the topic of “Decentering Collections: Power Critique in Collaborations and Digital Tools for Power Sharing” are a joint collaboration between Dr. Lennon Mhishi (Pitt Rivers), Dr. Pegah Byroum-Wand, and Dr. Lukas Fuchsgruber (both from the project “Museums and Society - Mapping the Social”, Berlin). You will find more information on the workshops below.
Workshop “Decentering Collections: Power Critique in Collaborations and Digital Tools for Power Sharing”
Dates: April 4 and 5, 2023, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Location: Lecture Room, Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/lecture-room
You can participate in one or both sessions, which will consist of input from the speakers, group work, and joint discussions with all interested participants. Capacity is limited, so please register by Friday, March 31, via email:
byroum-wand@tu-berlin.de
lennon.mhishi@prm.ox.ac.uk
fuchsgruber@tu-berlin.de
Schedule
Session 1: April 4, 2023, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.:
Asymmetrical Engagement? Power-Critical Reflections on “Community” Engagement, Co-production and Collaboration
In this session, we will be talking about power-critical approaches to collaborations between universities, museums, and civil society. The critique of power can be understood as a conscious reflection on power asymmetries between participants, on exclusion, discrimination, inequality, and different levels of access to societal resources. Therefore, input during this workshop will address questions of collaboration, coproduction, and engagement with “communities” (while also critically reflecting on this term ) and/or activists working together in the context of the speakers’ institutions (museums, universities). It will be about sharing experiences people have had collaborating at the intersections of racism, classism, and gender, and about how they relate to power-critical approaches when it comes to working together with groups that have been excluded from the museum so far.
Speakers:
Marenka Thompson-Odlum (Pitt Rivers Museum) on the topic of (anti-)racist labeling (Labelling Matters project), the practical experiences of collaboration, exchange, and working with activists/groups to investigate the problematic use of language in the museum spaces
Miranda Lowe (Natural History Museum, London / Founding Member of Museum Detox) on issues concerning better representation and participation for people of color and working class communities in museum and gallery spaces
Cina Aissa (Community Engagement Officer, London / Museum Detox) on the intersection of arts and activism, inclusion
Pegah Byroum-Wand (Museums and Society – Mapping the Social) on the experiences, potentials, and challenges of power-critical collaboration with an advisory board consisting of activists in Berlin, Germany, and the structural challenges posed by university and museum institutions
Session 2: April 5, 2023, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.:
The Social Aspects of Digital Collections: Systems, Algorithms and Power
In this session, we want to have a conversation about digital collections in museums and other institutions of knowledge. One aim of the session is to take a look beyond and against institutional authorities, for example, in community archiving. One focus will be on the social and political limitations of digital projects and how to carry out inquiries and interventions. This means challenging the prevalent tech-solutionism while also critically investigating the potential use of digital systems for social inquiry and power sharing.
Speakers:
Ibiye Camp, artist
Nancy Salem, Oxford Internet Institute
Erin Canning, University of Oxford and V&A Museum London
Lukas Fuchsgruber, Museums and Society – Mapping the Social (Berlin)