Paterson, D. , Mills, A. , Diawara, M. and Geis, T. (2023) The Trembling Museum. [Exhibitions]
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Abstract
In this exhibition, I collaborated with filmmaker and scholar Manthia Diawara, art historian and curator Terri Geis, and Hunterian Curator of World Cultures Andy Mills, to create a major exhibition that showcases and reinterprets The Hunterian's collection of African art. Taking works out of the ‘ethnography’ section of the museum store and displaying them alongside contemporary artworks in the Hunterian Art Gallery, The Trembling Museum asks questions about how African art has been classified in Western institutions and how it can be understood differently. Drawing on the ideas of Martinican poet and thinker Édouard Glissant (1928–2011) and particularly his concept of ‘trembling with the world’, the show connects diverse historical and contemporary material from The Hunterian collection and beyond. Glissant set out an influential view of European and African cultures seen through the lens of the colonial history of the Caribbean. He called for a ‘relational’ understanding of the world’s complexity, in contrast to a search for fixed identities or the prevailing idea of monocultural origins. He also advocated for ’trembling thought’ that is in touch with the natural world and with the opacity of other cultures or individuals. The exhibition asks, if African art can embody a ‘trembling with the world’, can the museum tremble too? Can it create relationships between objects, artworks and histories, rather than impose categories?
| Item Type: | Exhibitions |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | African art, contemporary art, trembling. |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Paterson, Dr Dominic and Mills, Dr Andrew |
| Authors: | Paterson, D., Mills, A., Diawara, M., and Geis, T. |
| Subjects: | N Fine Arts > N Visual arts (General) For photography, see TR N Fine Arts > NB Sculpture |
| College/School: | College of Arts & Humanities > School of Culture and Creative Arts > History of Art University Services > Library and Collection Services > Museum and Art Gallery |
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