ARTH 391 Art & its Changing Contexts: Museums & Social Justice

• Thursdays, 11:45 am-2:30 pm
• Instructor: Varda Nisar

Cultural media theorist Ariella Aïsha Azoulay understands resistance as an inherent part of any oppression. To assume that institutions have remained unchallenged is to undermine the potentiality of humans and their desire to affect the world for the better.

In this course, we will study and analyze both the varied forms of oppression and gatekeeping deployed by museums and the social movements that are challenging this authority.  Employing a case study methodology, we will closely study the strategies adopted by movements such as Strike MOMA, Indigenous and climate activism, Guerilla Girls. An important part of the course will be to critically look at the museums in Montreal and identify possible gaps and the work that remains to be done. The course will provide the opportunity for students to understand the various critiques against museums and how stakeholders, community groups, artists and activists have tried to bring about a change.