Museum, Art Museum, Zoo

Looking back on the history of the ‘exhibition’ as developed by humankind, we ask questions about the museum’s fundamental processes, such as creation, exhibition, storage, and collection. Retrospectively thinking about properties of art that have been taken for granted, we observe the gap between the way of practicing art and the moral sense required in an era of disaster. In recent years, the word ‘Anthropocene’ has become a global buzzword that seems as if it should be included in museum collections. The art and cultural fields need to reflect whether they are simply existing as places of discourse surrounding theories of aesthetic and philosophy or if they are areas that practice and challenge.

<Museum and Habits of ‘Civilization’ / Sohyun Park>
How are traces of ‘civilization’ deeply engraved in museums, which, being recognized through basic functions such as collections, exhibitions, and viewing, have created perceptions and visual customs for objects, animals, and humans, and what are their actuality? Let’s think about it together.

<Zootopia: The Cultural Politics of Zoos That Could Have Never Been a Utopia, Not Even Once / Sohn Heejeong>
Zoos and aquariums, which are now open to the general public, originated from the collection culture that stemmed from European imperial invasions. Confining more animals in a large space and displaying them more lavishly is also a way to show off the power of empires and those in power. How different is it now? By examining the reproductions of zoos in movies such as Life of Pi, Free Willy, Garden, Zoological, and Secret Zoo, participants will explore the history of misunderstandings and violence, and discuss what kind of world we should dream of.

<Things Stolen and Thrown Away for Creating Exhibitions / Sunwoo Nam>
How much of a carbon footprint is left on the earth from making and deinstalling an exhibition? Where did the precious exhibits in the museum showcase come from and what are they made of? In this lecture, we witness the types and amounts of waste created by opening and closing an exhibition. Participants will discuss the characteristics of an actual exhibition in order to confront the excuses of wasting materials because of ‘the property of exhibition’ itself. Finally, we consider whether we owe it to the public environment to protect public values or not, and then what art galleries and museums should be concerned about in terms of the process of acquisitions and curating in the future.