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As a part of a Museums special, the New York Times published an article titled Making Museums Moral Again. \u00a0The article calls attention to the funding and ethics that lie beneath the institutions, usually \u00a0unbeknowst to their visitiors. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “<\/span>But the reality that museums are, or can be, ethically and politically compromised had been exposed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The article highlights so many of the difficulties with curating and with engaging audiences, and doesn\u2019t offer any set of answers, concluding that there is no single set. \u00a0One method of curating made be totally inappropriate for one exhibition, but\u00a0radical and boundary pushing for another. \u00a0Some wall text may be neutral in a way that leaves the viewer to form their own interpretation, and some wall text may be neutral in a way that leaves the viewer brain dead – and the same wall text might do both of those things for two different people. <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0Holland Cotter pulls our attention to\u00a0the importance of considering race, gender and sexuality in the context of our collections – both their historical contexts and their contemporary contexts. \u00a0Linking those two is one area that offers a lot of potential for new conversations that involve a wider audience in the writing process. \u00a0If the labels are read by a wide museum audience, why should they not be written by that same wide museum audience?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I certainly don\u2019t feel that I have any more conclusions to make than Cotter does, but the article raises important questions that I think we must continue to not only consider but discuss within our museums and institutions. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n To read the NY Times Article: \u00a0http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/03\/17\/arts\/design\/making-museums-moral-again.html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As a part of a Museums special, the New York Times published an article titled Making Museums Moral Again. \u00a0The article calls attention to the funding and ethics that lie beneath the institutions, usually \u00a0unbeknowst to their visitiors. \u00a0 “But the reality that museums are, or can be, ethically and politically compromised had been exposed.\u201d … <\/p>\n