54 Museums Galleries Australia Magazine – Vol. 27(1) – Summer 2018
Considering how to curate social change in the present tense
We the people: Collecting contemporary political history Craig Middleton
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Craig Middleton.
he following research has been informed by a George Alexander Fellowship that I undertook in early 2018. I was awarded the Fellowship by the International Specialised Skills Institute of Australia in 2017, with a goal to investigate the practice of social and political history institutions, exhibitions, and programs in the United States. The Fellowship period was for a modest three weeks, and thus is considered a starting-point for a much larger project. In this article, I share thoughts on one aspect of the project — contemporary collecting — and propose how it might be employed as a practice to empower audiences and communities, strengthen collections, and diversify the historical record.
A snapshot of Australian democracy In a recent article published in The Conversation, Mark Triffitt, Lecturer in Public Policy and Political Communications at the University of Melbourne, claimed that ‘Nearly every indicator of a healthy Western democracy is failing globally. Public trust and voter engagement have declined over the past decade in established, core democracies around the world, including in the US, Europe and Australia.’ (Triffitt, 2018). In fact The Economist’s Intelligence Unit 2017 Democracy Index listed only 19 full democracies in the world. Australia is among the top 19, ranked at 8th. However, in response to the election of President Trump, the US was downgraded from a full democracy to a ‘flawed democracy’; meanwhile as political participation increased in the wake of Brexit, the UK’s ranking rose (Democracy Index, 2017). In a globalising world, the Australian Government is continually defining what it means to be Australian. Such discussion is not new — it has been conducted since at least the Federation of Australia in 1901. Australian values as currently defined by the Australian Government are: • • • • • • •
respect for the freedom and dignity of the individual equality of men and women freedom of religion commitment to the rule of law parliamentary democracy a spirit of egalitarianism that embraces mutual respect, tolerance, fair play, compassion for those in need and pursuit of the public good equality of opportunity for individuals, regardless of their race, religion or ethnic background (Department of Home Affairs, Australian Government, 2018)
My interest is how, and if, in a political climate that is seeing the decline of western democratic ideals,
these values play out in museum and gallery contexts in Australia. Recasting the question: Do contemporary Australian museums embody these ‘Australian’ values? And in particular, in publicly funded museums, which are arguably, although not expressly, tasked with whole-of-government priorities, such as contributing to the upholding of these values. Stephen Harrington, Senior Lecturer in Journalism, Media and Communication at the Queensland University of Technology, in an article titled ‘Australians couldn’t care less about politics? Really?’, gives us some hope in commenting that ‘Just because people don’t think their vote has much of an effect doesn’t mean that they’re not otherwise engaged with what is going on in the world of politics’ (Harrington, 2016). Fears of disengagement are focused on systems rather than personal commitment to the ideals of democracy. The claim here is that the nature of political participation is changing. I would argue that as a socially engaged arts and cultural sector we have the potential to recognise and adapt to this changing political landscape.
Museums Change Lives Museums are well-placed to contribute to a changing political landscape, and as the UK Museums Association’s widely recognised policy document Museums Change Lives asserts, museums ‘enrich the lives of individuals, contribute to strong and resilient communities, and help create a fair and just society’ (Museums Association, 2013). It is with this in mind, and within the political context presented earlier, that I believe new models of contemporary collecting within museums have the potential to contribute to what Museums Change Lives articulates.
Contemporary collecting at political events A primary function of museums, historically, has been to collect, document, and interpret cultural material for the education and enjoyment of publics. This is still very much the case today. As a curator of political history I am concerned that much of the material culture related to politics, activism, and social change produced for political events (elections, protests, rallies, and demonstrations) is being lost due to often inflexible structures inherited by museum practice as it relates to collecting policies and procedures — particularly impacting on collecting relating to political events. Others, including artist and curator Jo Derbyshire, agree and have led contemporary collecting projects (Darbyshire, 2018). Barbara Cohen-Stratyner (2017) claims that collecting by curatorial staff at protest-events does happen; but it is a controversial practice, often limited by the policies and procedures that underpin traditional modes of museum collecting — that is, how and by whom decisions are made, and the kinds of processes and paperwork employed by museums
