White Cube / Black Box: The Universal Museum and the Digital Age, Session 3

Join artists, researchers, and art professionals for a symposium that uses the exhibition Rayyane Tabet / Alien Property as a starting point to challenge the concept of the universal museum—a place to see the whole world under one roof—and its relationship to material and digital cultural heritage.

Join artists, researchers, and art professionals for a symposium that uses the exhibition Rayyane Tabet / Alien Property as a starting point to challenge the concept of the universal museum—a place to see the whole world under one roof—and its relationship to material and digital cultural heritage.

Session 3: Networked Culture and the Decentralized Museum
Digital technologies and practices have both blended dimensions of the White Cube (the modern gallery and museum space) and Black Box (the digital and physical spaces outside of it) and enabled them to operate independently of each other. At the same time, digital reproduction, intellectual property law, repatriation, and open access initiatives raise concerns around replicating the universal museum in digital spaces and places far removed from it. This panel explores the potential of the decentralized museum, networked heritage, and narrative equities made possible by open access, while also reflecting on the new risks posed by the Black Box.

Speakers
Heba Y. Amin, Professor of Art, State Academy for Fine Arts, Stuttgart
Sarah E. Bond, Associate Professor of History, University of Iowa
Sonia Katyal, Codirector, Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, and Distinguished Haas Chair
Moderated by Andrea Wallace, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Exeter

© 2021 The Metropolitan Museum of Art


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