Is self-censorship part and parcel of the curator’s role as a gatekeeper of information? Alistair Brown raises some uncomfortable questions.
Does censorship exist in museums today? The word "censorship" conjures up images of Soviet repression, dictators and despots. But experience tells us that we must remain vigilant to instances of censorship in the UK – even in the museum sector.
History and art remain battlegrounds in debates on identity, politics and the limits of public acceptability. By their very nature, museums and galleries find themselves in the middle of these debates – and that’s a good thing. Something would surely be wrong if museums and galleries weren’t breaking new and sometimes controversial ground in their research and programming.
But pushing limits and upsetting accepted norms can provoke backlash. Sometimes this comes from outside the museum. The Barbican’s 2014 decision to put on the performance Exhibit B, which dealt with the cultural legacy of slavery, was met with fierce protests from those who saw it as promoting racist views, and was subsequently shut down by the police.
However, it’s far more common for museums to experience a form of self-censorship... Keep reading on Museums Association
Does censorship exist in museums today? The word "censorship" conjures up images of Soviet repression, dictators and despots. But experience tells us that we must remain vigilant to instances of censorship in the UK – even in the museum sector.
History and art remain battlegrounds in debates on identity, politics and the limits of public acceptability. By their very nature, museums and galleries find themselves in the middle of these debates – and that’s a good thing. Something would surely be wrong if museums and galleries weren’t breaking new and sometimes controversial ground in their research and programming.
But pushing limits and upsetting accepted norms can provoke backlash. Sometimes this comes from outside the museum. The Barbican’s 2014 decision to put on the performance Exhibit B, which dealt with the cultural legacy of slavery, was met with fierce protests from those who saw it as promoting racist views, and was subsequently shut down by the police.
However, it’s far more common for museums to experience a form of self-censorship... Keep reading on Museums Association