SCHL 280SCreating Collective Memory

Catalog

This course covers the history and origins of the Museum from cabinets of curiosity, freak-shows, and world's fairs. It is impossible to study the history of Museums without exploring their role in colonialism and cultures of power and dominance. Museums today continue to bear the effects of this history, notwithstanding several decades of critique concerning their histories of appropriation and exclusion. This course will examine whose stories are being represented, the power of story-telling, how the curatorial voice can reassert or disrupt these legacies of colonialism, and other challenges of interpretation and inclusion. The course, then, will be concerned with examining the role of museums in shaping our understanding of ourselves in relation to others, and their potential for presenting a multiplicity of perspectives. Exhibition curation is a form of artistic expression and a multi-faceted process. Students will be exploring exhibition curation as a form of creative practice to craft an aesthetic experience. This practice is both creative and critical. Students will explore the techniques of the form through class projects including the creation of an audio tour designed to accompany an existing exhibition and the final project: the conceptualization, production, and presentation of a digital exhibition.