Thinking through the Museum

Thinking through the Museum: Difficult Knowledge in Publicbrings together researchers, curators, artists, and community members seeking new terms of engagement for learning from histories of violence and conflict.

While the advent of “new museology” has seen a shift from imagining museum visitors as uninformed, passive consumers of didactic exhibits to agents involved in content and meaning making, a gap remains between participatory ideals and theirpractice in contemporary museums— especially when it comes to difficult knowledge. The overall goal of our project is to position ourselves within this gap, creating concrete networks and resources to collectively respond to the challenges inherent in confronting traumatic histories and legacies of violence.