Mark Rectanus: Corporate influence on art museums and culture (ep287)
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Mark Rectanus Ph.D. joins us in this episode to discuss:
the impact of globalization on art museums;
how corporate influence has influenced art and culture;
what decolonizing art institutions may look like; and more
Musical feature: Trust The Sun by Johanna Warren (IG: @johahahanna, Spotify: Johanna Warren)
“There used to be the assumption that museums were by and large neutral. Now, museum workers are saying that we must move beyond neutrality to advocate for social responsibility.”
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Here’s Dr. Rectanus on decolonizing museums and art institutions:
“Decolonizing museums is something artists are very interested in… it plays out on different levels.
It can mean decolonizing collections—some museums look to achieve greater representation of work by artists of color. Because of our past, collections have largely consisted of work by European, white, male artists.
Another aspect is to attempt to partner with communities of color and Indigenous communities. Particularly in Europe, this has included the repatriation or restitution of collections to the countries they were looted from over centuries…
Another aspect is museum staffing—more diverse, inclusive curatorial staff who will bring in more textured programming with different artists represented.
My own view is that these substantive changes will not occur until there are changes in many institutions in governance and in funding. If you don't change the governance, who has the power to make decisions about how the museums will be run on a day-to-day basis? Who's on the board? What influence do board members have, and where do they get their funding from?
If a museum is dependent on wealthy board members [and one wants to get rid of their influence], how do you replace them [while being reliant on their funding]?”
About Mark Rectanus:
Mark Rectanus Ph.D. is a University Professor of German Studies (Emeritus) at Iowa State University. He has published numerous books and articles, including essays in New German Critique, Performance Research, and Museum and Society.
His most recent book is Museums Inside Out: Artist Collaborations and New Exhibition Ecologies, which explores what it means to be a museum in the twenty-first century and how museums are blurring the traditional boundaries between their galleries and public spaces.
