Museum of the Anthropocene: Curation, Conservation, and Care in Times of Ecological Upheaval

Description

Museums have always been concerned with the curation of dialogues between objects and people. However, the social discourse in the Anthropocene calls for overcoming the boundaries between arts, science, nature, human, and non-human. The concept of hyperobjects introduced by Timothy Morton addresses this complexity and argues for a focus on both object and its entanglement. This demands a reconsideration of not only the museum and its role in relation to its objects, but also of its engagement with its context.

A curation of the Anthropocene must transcend the inside and outside boundary of the museum to reimagine its capacity to perform new relationships between nature, culture, and history. Drawing on an atmospheric understanding of boundaries and architectural strategies for aesthetic mediation, we discuss how the museum of the Anthropocene can move beyond the walls of its institution into becoming part of the 'everyday'. To sensitize people to their surroundings by aesthetically framing hyperobjects and the territories of their entanglement. Thereby emphasizing not only the challenges of a geological epoch of our making but also the capacity the museum has as a catalyst for societal change in the Anthropocene.

by
Polina Chebotareva, MS.Pscyh, Ph.D.-fellow, Aarhus School of Architecture
Rasmus Hjortshøj, Cand. Arch, Ph.D.-fellow, Aarhus School of Architecture

In a collaborative contribution to the call for papers of the conference Remaking the Museum, fellow Ph.D. Polina Chebotareva, MS.Pscyh and I answered a call for a proposal for Curation, Conservation, and Care in times of ecological upheaval. We made a contribution called 'Museum of the Anthropocene' proposing the museum as a territorial framing rather than a physical structure. We presented for 15 minutes + subsequent debates.

Period	6 Dec 2017 → 7 Dec 2017
Event title	Remaking the Museum: Curation, Conservation, and Care in Times of Ecological Upheaval
Event type	Conference
Organiser
Location	Højbjerg, DenmarkShow on map