Exhibitions

At the height of Black Lives Matter protests across the country, museums were quick to collect posters and tear gas canisters from these demonstrations, knowing these will be important artifacts from this period in our country’s history (read the article by ArtNet here). After these protests took place, multiple art museums soon announced upcoming exhibitions that would highlight modern and contemporary Black artists as a way to increase awareness and add to the dialogue surrounding BLM. Museums A and C were two of these museums that held this kind of exhibition.

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I was able to catch these exhibitions at Museums A and C before they closed and I am so glad I did. To start off with the positives, I was pleasantly surprised that it was not quiet in the galleries where these exhibitions were being held. Visitors were discussing the artworks, how they connected to the social climate, and what it meant for these museums to be having these shows. I am a firm believer that art is meant to spark conversation and inspire discussion because artworks are not definite– they can be interpreted in multiple ways and are meant to be debated. When I first began visiting art museums, I was always a bit confused as to why people acted as if they were in a library. Hearing people talk about what they were seeing was proof that visitors wanted to see these kinds of exhibitions and that these kinds of exhibitions are important to have. By taking what was happening in the United States and presenting the social climate in a more digestible way, these institutions created a safe space for vital conversations about race and policing in this country to occur.

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To complement these exhibitions, Museums A and C also held numerous events and online programs. From conversations with the curators to virtual tours and online articles and videos, Museums A and C provided supplemental information for anyone interested in learning more about the artists in the exhibition, the importance of amplifying BIPOC voices, and the role art has played in the history of race and racism in the United States. By offering these programs, these museums appeared to understand the impact of these exhibitions and I thought maybe these programs and shows would help these museums to look inward and seriously consider what they have done– or failed to do– in terms of supporting BIPOC artists and visitors in their spaces.

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Unfortunately, it did not. Once the exhibitions closed, new shows took over and the brief moment of exclusively showcasing Black artists was over. It would not have been a problem if Museums A and C continued to produce online content and host programs regarding diversity in art and art museums, but when the shows closed, the conversations in these spaces ended as well. Additionally, this quick switch has made me consider how these art museums have reacted to the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes in the United States. Out of the four museums, only Museum A posted on their Instagram condemning anti-Asian hate– but that was it. I have yet to see any of my selected art museums highlight Asian artists or announce exhibitions showcasing Asian artists as a way to combat the sudden surge of anti-Asian hate. 

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What does this say about the genuineness of Museum A and C's exhibitions highlighting Black artists in response to BLM? Does it change it at all? How does the lack of attention towards Asian artists and anti-Asian hate impact the way we view these institutions in terms of diversity and inclusion? What do you think the right response would have been? While they are difficult to answer, these are the types of questions we need to be asking ourselves and our art museums if we want to make museums and art itself more inclusive.

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(There was no mention of Museum B and D in this section because they did not hold the same kind of exhibitions that Museums A and C did. Check out the Representation page to see what these museums did or did not do instead.)