KVI Open lecture – Charis Gullickson “Decolonisation of Nordic museums”

Charis Gullikson, Photo credit: Stina Gulbrandsen / UiT The Arctic University of Norway
Location:
EKA, A-501

Start Date:
11.02.2025

Start Time:
18:00

End Date:
11.02.2025

Dr. Charis Gullickson is a senior curator at the Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum (Norway).

In her PhD project, Charis Gullickson examined public art museums in Norway as social actors. In her abstract she states: “The aim of this dissertation is to question status quo art museum practices and the predisposition to regard state-funded art museums in Norway as ‘neutral’ institutions.” Museum neutrality prevents institutions from “seeing” their potential transformative social power. Out of her research project grew the activist group Museer er ikke nøytrale / Museat eai leat neutrálat. For Charis, it is about learning to see (understanding systems of power and hierarchical structures). If museum practitioners cannot see the structural and systemic problems that exist, they cannot begin to fix them. Hence art museum professionals tend to maintain status quo and function within prevailing uncontroversial frameworks.

This lecture discusses Norwegian art museums as settler institutions in a historical perspective. I will consider how coloniality shapes the present within the context of art museums and curatorial practices. Analyzing the historical trajectory of the art museum from this standpoint might help demonstrate why art museums and curators operate the way they do today.

Links to case studies:

https://www.idunn.no/doi/full/10.18261/kk.105.1.4

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369801X.2022.2161063

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cura.12580

Lecture is held in cooperation with KUMU Art Museum and is connected to the exhibition “They Began to Talk” at the Gallery of Contemporary Art at Kumu Art Museum which invites us to reflect on environmental changes resulting from human activity through the lens of colonial history and its lasting impact. The exhibition brings together the practices of artists working in this region with those from Indigenous communities in the Nordic countries, exploring the possibility of recovering and cultivating a sense of connection.

Lecture is funded by:

@nordnorskkunstmuseum

@ikkenoytrale

Lecture’s recording at EKA TV.

Jenni Laihti
MuseumsAreNotNeutral-Norwegian
Museer er ikke nøytrale (Museums Are Not Neutral), Problem Solved, 2013. Photo credit: Suohpanterror
Share with friends:
Add to Google Calendar

Posted by Annika Tiko
Updated

Institute of Art History and Visual Culture Open Lectures