In this series of conversations recorded for the People: A Global Dialogue in Museums and Their Publics symposium organized by The Met, hear from an international array of scholars, artists, writers, performers, and activists as they share their ideas about how museums engage with people locally and globally.
Rather than preset descriptions, we asked a set of open questions to frame each program session. In Past and Present, we consider how might frameworks and approaches rooted in colonialism and white supremacy become catalysts for transformation of art and art history scholarship. As we reexamine and redefine the past, what "other" histories emerge that might transform museums and how they understand themselves? And finally, how can museums engage both the historical and the contemporary and bring objects into conversation with each other?
“What’s past is prologue.”–W. Shakespeare, The Tempest
“What’s past is prologue.”–Zadie Smith, White Teeth
Welcome
Marianna Siciliano, Managing Educator, Public Programs and Creative Practice, The Met
Introduction
Andrea Bayer, Deputy Director for Collections and Administration, The Met
Speakers
Aaron Glass, Associate Professor, Bard Graduate Center
George Nuku, artist
Anupam Sah, Head of Art Conservation, Research, Training, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj
Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS)
Moderated by Jonathan Michael Square, fashion historian
Recorded on May 19, 2021
© 2021 The Metropolitan Museum of Art
