Photography is a participatory medium in many contexts, especially where it is actively used to promote inclusion, empowerment and dialogue. It enables individuals and communities to tell their stories, share their perspectives, and become part of a wider social and cultural discourse. The third Museum Dialogues Workshop discussed a variety of inclusive museum practices in recognition of multi-perspectivity and polyphony in relation to issues of representation for diverse communities in post-colonial and post-migrant societies.
Understanding photography as a democratic medium that is both low-threshold and complex, exhibition spaces, audiences, and hierarchies of communication and creation were up for debate in this multifaceted online event. As the last of three workshops in the Museum Dialogues series, it was also an opportunity to consider what a future format for the Museum Dialogues Network might look like.
In the opening presentation, Dr Sandra Križić Roban spoke about her work at the Office for Photography (Ured za fotografiju or UzF) in Zagreb, a non-profit NGO, founded in 2013 to promote innovative artistic practices in the fields of photography and new media. The work of the Office for Photography is organized into three main activities: The Spot Gallery serves as the exhibition space of the Office for Photography and organises solo and group exhibitions, readings, lectures, and panel discussions on photography. With a focus on contemporary Croatian photography and socially engaged art, the gallery’s projects seek dialogue with a wider audience. The website Contemporary Croatian Photography serves as a digital archive of authors and works of avant-garde, conceptual, and modern art photography and publishes interviews and reviews. In addition to photography books and monographs, The Office for Photography publishes the bilingual (Croatian/English) semi-annual magazine Fototxt.
In response to the lack of institutions specialising in photography in Croatia, the Office for Photography is an important hub for the exhibition, dissemination, and celebration of contemporary Croatian photography. However, Križić Roban also spoke about the challenges of a space that is not institutionalised. In fact, with a minimum of planned resources but incredible knowledge and enthusiasm, the Office carries out a vast number of tasks—from collecting and exhibiting to archiving, preserving, and educating, which leads to the most important prerequisites for the implementation of participatory structures, that is, permanent and project-independent resources and a stable staff structure.
In the second presentation, Matteo Balduzzi curator at the Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea (Mufoco) in Milano-Cinisello Balsamo, Italy, emphasised the idea of an open museum as a space for cultural elaboration and a “non-exclusive audience”. With a collection of over 2,000,000 photographic images and more than 1,000 Italian and international authors, the museum also works continuously with the local population and regional communities. The 2018 project and exhibition, Super City, presented by Balduzzi, conceptualised the idea of ‘citizen photography’ to encourage the local population to participate in the work of the museum and to create a multifaceted image by the people of the city. The projects proved that photography is not only an aesthetic tool but also a means of communication to bring communities together and strengthen democratic processes. The result of such work can be a circular value creation, where the collection radiates out into society, and society is reflected in the collection. The Mufoco collection now includes much younger, and more diverse artists than before. This process, however, poses challenges for museum cataloguing systems. Attempts to open up an institution thus seem to collide with the hierarchical structures of collections, archives, and databases; a conflict that has not yet been resolved but which many institutions that promote participatory and decolonial practices are currently facing.
In the afternoon session, Matthew Gansallo, independent curator and founder of the History, Culture and Heritage Institute Nigeria (HCHIN), spoke about his approach to redefining traditional Eurocentric models of curating and engaging audiences in West African countries that do not adhere to the concept of European museums and galleries. The implications of this shift are prompting a global discussion on the role of museums and art galleries in challenging traditional notions of exhibition-making. Drawing on his own curatorial experience in the UK and Nigeria, Gansallo highlighted the question of how to reconnect museum collections with local communities.
Bringing the collection to the audience rather than trying to bring the audience to the museum is his answer. A museum without a building but as an alternative space for reflection in the public realm can start a conversation through photography as an educational process. Addressing the problem of commercialised art fairs in Nigeria and the disconnection of the people from museums, Gansallo started an exhibition project in Ejigbo, Lagos, Nigeria, bringing a collection of photographs to the public in crowded public spaces of everyday life, such as the Ejigbo Iodimu Market, the local mosque and government offices. By reorienting photography to a different perspective, Gansallo’s work in public space addresses a different audience and activates the potential for new translations and articulations that are distributed to an alternative (decolonial) network of knowledge.
The final presentation held by Dr Emily Pugh, Dr Tracy Stuber, and Dr Alexander Supartono was dedicated to the relationship between physical photographic prints and the digital spaces they inhabit after digitisation. The three researchers presented their collaborative project Photography Unbound, which they work on together with a fourth colleague, Dr David Ogawa. Initiated by the Getty Research Institute (GRI), the project explores the potential of twenty-first-century computer vision in accord with nineteenth-century photographic collections. The project investigates the possibilities of digital tools such as person detection to process 30,000 digitised images from various photographic collections. With the challenge of computationally analysing the photographic form and content of early photography, the aim is to identify applications of computer vision that can aid collection cataloguing. From three different perspectives, the speakers highlighted the vast potential of digital tools like computer vision for documenting, cataloguing, and analysing the material and political aspects of photographs and photo archives.
Stuber set the scene by explaining the functions of computer vision, while Pugh raised questions about how new technologies offer new ways of analysing and understanding historical and contemporary image collections, and the treasure troves of visual and textual information they contain. In Supartono’s case study, computer vision was used to detect human figures in a photographic collection of archeological sites in Indonesia from the nineteenth century. The number of identified people in the images was collected in an additional database of metadata for the digitised archives, enabling comparisons between different collections. Given the large number of nineteenth-century colonial photographs, the database can provide new insights into historical and colonial representations in the subject of photography. Supartono also reflected on the limitations of machine learning in terms of biases within the dataset.
The morning’s presentations were discussed and analysed in breakout sessions on based on the question: in what ways can photography serve as an accessible medium to address issues relevant to diverse communities and provide inclusive cross-cultural narratives, and how can commissioning open up institutions?
Considering Ariella AÏsha Azoulay’s theory of the “civil contract of photography”, the medium is in itself a participatory medium—a medium with many participants: producers, photographers, distributors, viewers, etc. Nevertheless, opening up hermetic spaces, which museums often are, requires concepts that go beyond traditional art education and involvement that goes beyond traditional curatorial work.
The question was raised: how can people from outside the museum world enter the space at all? What are the boundaries that separate the different spheres, and how can museum practitioners create an atmosphere of hospitality in terms of politics of care? Giving up the power of interpretation seems to be the first step. If we want to create museums that reflect society, we need diverse staff, audiences, and programmes. This means accepting dissent, for example when communities and staff have different agendas. But there are also questions of justice. When artists are prevented from travelling because of visa formalities, or curators are refused commissions because of their political views, the museum as a Western, hierarchical institution is challenged by questions of seriously meant decolonisation.
Developing new collection strategies can provide opportunities to fill gaps in museum collections and to connect with hard-to-reach communities through commissioning. Building long-term relationships with artists and communities can be a key strategy. After all, the core of curatorial work is literally to care. All participants agreed that these issues need to be built into the curatorial process from the outset.
There seems to be a lot of work to be done! Starting with the exchange of experiences, as happened in the Museums Dialogues Network, seems a very good first step. The three workshops were about building a transnational knowledge community, embracing technological progress, moving beyond traditional concepts of space and ownership, and taking into account the value of digital social photography, as Dr Alexandra Moschovi put it. Bringing together scholars, archivists, curators, museum workers, and artists from around the world, the Museum Dialogues format aims to continue the discussion.
In further breakout sessions, participants in the third and final workshop discussed perspectives of how the Museum Dialogues workings may evolve. The power of a sustainable network of museum practitioners is obvious, and especially in the pursuit of a decolonising discourse, it is necessary to initiate a global dialogue. Participants were excited about the idea of continuing these dialogues and discussed the idea of a ‘network of networks’ as a platform to create a transnational community, record innovative ways of working with photography as a democratic tool, and encourage the public to transform the museum. However, while establishing the framework for a network of exchange is crucial, it is equally important to consider what individual participants are willing to contribute to its success.
All this and more will be discussed at the Museum Dialogues hybrid conference in November. More information about that can be found HERE.
Lucia Halder and Lasse Branding
August 2024.