The Call for the Ethical Museum: Why Museums Need Departments of Ethics

The Call for the Ethical Museum: Why Museums Need Departments of Ethics Maggie Cooper

FIRST THINGS FIRST: THIS IS A MANIFESTO THIS IS A DECLARATION THIS IS A MANIFESTO THIS IS A DECLARATION THIS IS A MANIFESTO THIS IS A DECLARATION THIS IS A MANIFESTO THIS IS A DECLARATION THIS IS A MANIFESTO THIS IS A DECLARATION THIS IS A MANIFESTO THIS IS A DECLARATION 2

WHAT AM I

READING?

This is a manifesto calling for change within the museum field. During an era that aims for stainability and best practice, museums are not ethical in practice. This must change. In the following pages you will find a proposal with tools for a new approach towards ethics.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

M a n i f e s t o H i s t o r y 6 W h a t A r e E t h i c s ? 1 0 W h y D o E t h i c s M a t t e r ?

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C u r r e n t C o d e s 1 4 W h y T h e y A r e n ’ t E n o u g h

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C u r a t o r i a l F e m i n i s m 2 2 C r i t i c a l i t y o f C a r e 2 7 S o l u t i o n s 3 3 Who Would Make U p t h e D e p a r t m e n t ? 3 6 G l o s s a r y 3 9 B i b l i o g r a p h y 4 1

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THE HISTORY OF THE ARTISTS’ MANIFESTO The artists’ manifesto is a “document of an ideology, crafted to convince and convert.”1 The word ‘manifesto’ contains elements of the Latin terms ‘manus’ (hand) and ‘festus’ which comes from ‘offendere.’2 This means that the manifesto is a personal, or handwritten, statement that aims to inspire, shock, or offend.3 The manifesto as a document is an act of excessiveness, but at the peak of its performance, its form creates its meaning.4 The history of the artists’ manifesto parallels with several art movements beginning as early as 1866, but being developed into a “new literary sport” after the artist F.T. Marinetti’s first Futurist manifesto.5 Like the previous artists in history, we live in a time that requires change. As artist Claes Oldenburg describes of the manifesto, “the possibilities of using anything in one’s surroundings…as a starting point for art…The writing’s urgency comes from its timing, just as seismic changes were happening in the art world, but also from an absence the artist sensed at the time.”6 The manifesto in itself is a case of self-definition, the manifesto consists of reflection upon itself and invites the audience to a new way of thinking.7

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1 Mary Ann Caws, Manifesto: a Century of isms (University of Nebraska Press, 2001), xix.

2 Dan Redding, “Art Manifestos and Their Applications in Contemporary Design.” Smashing Magazine, 21 Feb. 2010, www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/02/art-manifestos-and-their-applications-in-contemporary-design/.

3 Ibid.

4 Caws, xx.

5 Ibid, xx.

6 Claes Oldenburg, “I Am for an Art: Claes Oldenburg on His 1961 ‘Ode to Possibilities.’” Walker Art Center, Walker Art Center, 20 Sept.

2013, walkerart.org/magazine/claes-oldenburg-i-am-for-an-art-1961.

7 Caws, xxix.

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The following pages present research that urges change and reassessment of ethical

issues within the museum field. There is little support or investigation into the ethical aspects of art presented by many of the world’s largest museums despite the fact that ethical questions about art arise publicly on a weekly basis. While codes of ethics exist that aim to regulate professional conduct, they lack internal institutional support for continuous research into these pressing issues. Regarding art seriously requires regarding ethics seriously—as a matter of sustained and critical research. Ethical issues in art compel us to examine and resist injustices, reflect on our own vulnerabilities, and work on stressors over identity. A department of ethics that acts as a support for the curatorial team is a strong and plausible solution. The museum field must reconsider how they handle and approach ethical issues in this time of urgent needed change.

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WHAT ARE ETHICS?

A standardization of ethics and morals does not exist across humankind, which results

in varying norms and beliefs as to how ethics or morals should be applied in society. Ethics can be defined as “the study of the criteria of good and bad conduct. From the world-view, the conduct of all museum workers should be to reach a maximum level of museological perfection within the constraints of their environment. This is not to say that every individual act must be perfectly conceived and executed, but that a guide should be provided of the speculative truths about the practical order of acceptable activities.”8 Ethics, however, are not to be confused with morals. Morals are the arbitrary definition of “good” that differs from person and location while ethics set “good” as the objective.9 Ethics are imperative to museums because they cannot be separated from the various functions of museums.10 Every act is related to ethics and values. For each institution, ethical decision making depends on the situation, the standards employed, the limitations of the organization and the lack of ethical guidelines.11 However, standards of practice are not ethics. Ethics are composed of two systems of established logical obligations.12 First, there lies a basic logic which places the focus on the act and the value as the outcome. This theory, deontological ethics, considers an action ethically correct because of the nature of the action itself and the minimized consequences. The other theory, teleological ethics or motive logic, focuses on the result. If the intention conforms to the principle, is guided by knowledge, and starts from a right principle of practice, then it is viewed as the best-intended result. Despite the two theories creating different results, both can have a major influence on museum practices because they are to be considered at the beginning rather than employed as a review. Most ethical judgments are conducted after a difficult situation emerges when an ethical reason is required to justify or contend with said judgment.

In a museum context, these actions can be placed within situations that result in exhibition 8 9 10 11 12

10

Gary Edson, Museum Ethics in Practice. Routledge, 2017, 86.

Ibid, 25.

Ibid, 143.

Ibid, 4.

Ibid, 41.

outcomes that benefit the museum and community (teleological) or one that benefits a professional duty (deontological). These motives, while quite different and complicated to consistently remember, have a simple implication: approaching difficult issues should be done beforehand as an obligation rather than allowing a possible unfortunate and unethical situation to unfold. Despite the two theories creating different results, both can have a major influence on museum practices because they are to be considered at the beginning rather than employed as a review. Most ethical judgments are conducted after a difficult situation emerges when an ethical reason is required to justify or contend with said judgment. In a museum context, these actions can be placed within situations that result in exhibition outcomes that benefit the museum and community (teleological) or one that benefits a professional duty (deontological).

These motives, while quite different and complicated to consistently remember, have a simple implication: approaching difficult issues should be done beforehand as an obligation rather than allowing a possible unfortunate and unethical situation to unfold.

WHY DO ETHICS MATTER?

Why do ethics matter, specifically in a museum context? Ethics matter in this context because

of the large array of responsibilities museums have in representing the past and the present.

Museums collect and preserve the past, record the present, educate and provide inspiration and an outlook for the future.13 Museums are complex organizations that can shape the public perception in many, sometimes unintended, ways. Museums and the objects on display therein are imbued with distinctive values. Values may relate to an object’s creation or ownership, its current and original uses or cultural appropriation through its aesthetic, symbolic, educational, scholarly, cultural, political or economic utility.14 Museums are involved in defining the identity of entire communities and even denying such.15 Museums are undergoing radical change as they recognize that their histories are deeply enmeshed in colonialism. Change is appearing in the way that they function and in their relationships with represented cultures.16 During this time of radical change, ethics can provide guidance on best practice and care for the heavy responsibilities that museums confront.

13 Ibid, 6.

14 Andromache Gazi, “Exhibition Ethics - An Overview of Major Issues” Journal of Conservation and Museum Studies, 12(1):4.http://doi. org/10.5334/jcms.1021213 15 Stephanie Allen, “Whose identity? The Responsibilities of Museums in the Representation of the Past and Present,” Sociology and Anthropology Honors Theses, (2010): 5 http://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/socanthro_honors/2 16 Moira G. Simpson, Making Representations: Museums in the Post-Colonial Era (Routledge, London & NY), 1.

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CURRENT CODES

Current codes for museums have been most notably set by the International Council

of Museums (ICOM) and the American Association of Museums (AAM). Although these associations set the standard for the development of museums and museum professionals, they do not enforce many of their guidelines. The AAM Board of Directors adopted its Code of Ethics in 1993 and amended it in 2000.17 However, it has not been updated in almost two decades. This creates concern due to the fact that ethical issues change over time. As an example, in present day, society places a higher value as to the origins of our food and our consumer goods and even the artifacts representing our history. The AAM Code of Ethics document refers to “widely accept ethics” but does not provide for any definitions thereof.18 It is written in a narrative style that frames ethical insights much like a parent who would want their children to know about the best possible ethical behavior.19 However, no explanations or specifications are provided to elucidate how museums should implement programs to uphold these “widely accepted ethics.”20 Instead, the ethics are referred to as principles that museums should use a framework to create their own code.21 While AAM does reference public engagement, collections, and governance, there is hardly any substance from the principles for museums to develop their own codes. ICOM sets the precedent for international museums, however, it only provides for a bare minimum of standards. Similar to AAM, the code is strangely outdated and has not been revised since 2004.22 Although ICOM claims that it is structured similar to legal code, it expects that museums will go beyond these “minimum standards.”23 The council provides no explanation or guidance as to the manner of implementing the proscribed standards. The Code of Ethics is outlined as best practices 17 Code of Ethics for Museums.” American Alliance of Museums, 2000. www.aam-us.org/resources/ethic-stan dards-and-best-practices/code-of-ethics.

18 Ibid.

19 Ibid.

20 Ibid.

21 Ibid.

22 “ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums” International Council of Museums, 2004. http://icom.museum/en/activi

ties/standards-guidelines/code-of-ethics/#intro 23 Ibid.

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including that museums should operate in a professional and legal manner, promote the natural and cultural inheritance of humanity, focus on furthering knowledge, and provide public services and benefits.24 Each section is explained by a list of bullet points with few sentences, compelling museum employees to interpret the Code for themselves.25 Ethical codes should evolve in response to changing conditions, values, and ideas. A professional code of ethics must, therefore, be periodically updated and considered an expandable and adaptable document. Minimum standards are frequently referenced but they are woefully inadequate.

They do not cover guidelines to achieve this “best behavior” but expect museums to do so regardless. While it is understandable that one council cannot predict and interpret all ethical obligations and situations museums may experience, this reveals that there is an ethical crisis within the field. Societal values and needs change, including their ethics. What was acceptable or seen as “correct” in the past is no longer permissible and today’s ethical standards will not apply within future societies.26 Codes must provide principles and reference as well as details for enforcement. The guidelines currently set by ICOM and AAM do not have any enforcement powers because they are intended as suggestions of comportment to discourage any wrongdoing. Furthermore, these codes fail because museums are such complex organizations shaped by various interests. Their objectives and methods are set by investments of funding bodies, trustees, staff, critics, and the consumers who make up their public.27 If councils are not able to provide guidance and proper enforcement measures for museums to follow, current and past ethical issues will never be addressed.

24 25 26 27

Ibid.

Ibid.

Gazi, 12.

Brian Durrans, “Behind the Scenes: Museums and Selective Criticism” Anthropology Today vol 58, no 4 (1992): 11.

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WHY THEY AREN’T ENOUGH

Failure to enforce guidelines allows “big ethics” headlines such as the exhibition “Art

and China after 1989: Theater of the World” shown at the Guggenheim in 2017. Several of the works from the exhibition were withdrawn from public viewing in addition to the public denouncing it all together.28 Part of the exhibit performance, Dogs That Cannot Touch Other, displayed pit bulls trained to fight, tethered to treadmills that faced each other.29 The video plainly shows the distressed animals being forced to run, struggling to reach one another until they are exhausted. Another installation titled Theatre of the World included a table with a translucent dome over prey and predator insects and reptiles.30 Some of the insect and reptile pairings were orchestrated for survival or death while others died of exhaustion.31 The Walker Art Center serves as another case study for lack of ethical and community consideration. An installation in May of 2017 was scheduled to be displayed in the renovated sculpture garden.32 The installation “Scaffold” by Sam Durant was a giant structure made of steel and wood that depicted gallows representative of the hangings sanctioned by the US government between 1859 and 2006.33 Specifically, a piece of the gallows was part of the hanging of thirty-eight Native Men in Mankato, Minnesota during the end of the US-Dakota war, the largest mass execution in the history of the United States.34

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Sarah Cascone, “The Guggenheim’s Massive China Show is Already Attracting Criticism From Animal Rights Groups” 25 Sept 2017, https://news.artnet.com/art-world/so-whats-really-going-on-with-that-disturbing-dogvideo-at-the-guggenheim-1100417 Ibid.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Sheila Regan, “After Protests from Native American Community, Walker Art Center Will Remove Public Sculp ture” Hyperallergic, May 29 2017, https://hyperallergic.com/382141/after-protests-from-native-american-com munity-walker-art-center-will-remove-public-sculpture/ Ibid.

Ibid.

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Criticism rose, rightfully so, because not only were the gallows presented in the aesthetic of a children’s jungle gym, but the Walker Art Center sits on land that once belonged to the Dakota people and the artwork was done by a non-native artist.35 The sculpture was removed only after protests and revelations that the community was not engaged or included.36 These aforementioned exhibitions exemplify the failure of institutional codes as well as the failure of enforcement of said codes. While both AAM and ICOM propose every museum to develop their own code of ethics based upon their suggested standards, many institutions do not comply.

Perhaps these controversial exhibits were permitted as a direct consequence of the absence of a uniform institutional code. The only publicly published Code of Ethics developed by the Guggenheim is in their Bilbao, Spain location. In this, the Foundation explains that the museum “makes every effort to act in an ethical, socially responsible manner…and acts in a sensitive manner to ethical violations and concerns as they relate to artwork and subjects.”37 A reference is incorporated as to respecting the well-being of living animals and humans used in exhibits.38 No information exists as to the application of the Code to other Guggenheim locations. The lack of definition and detail make this Code of Ethics problematical on its face. What is an ethical situation that positions a culture or being in a state of harm? How can an institution make an effort to act in an ethical manner when they do not define what is ethical? Does this include examining an exhibit that may need to be censored? In the New York exhibits, were the live animals simply considered art for an aesthetic purpose or was their welfare taken into account? While museums would rather refrain from discussion on ethical matters, suppressing the conversation behind a cloak of artistic expression, they have moral responsibility as a member of human society to the public and to the subjects to function ethically. While AAM and ICOM strongly suggest individual museums develop their own code of ethics, it is obvious that this is ineffectual.

35 36 37 38

18

Ibid.

Ibid.

“Code of Ethics and Best Practices.” Guggenheim Bilbao, 2011, 4.

Ibid.

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CURATORIAL FEMINISM

Feminism as a social art practice is rooted in history and has created a curatorial

framework and form of activism. When applied within a museum context, curatorial feminism can be described as a curatorial ethic that utilizes the values of intersectional feminism in order to promote equal representation of works by marginalized artists across medium and time. Curatorial feminism also aims to reevaluate the curatorial standards of museums past. Maura Reilly examines curatorial activism as a practice that ensures that those who are typically excluded from narratives of art and historically silenced are featured. Reilly explains that, “it is a practice that commits itself to counter-hegemonic initiatives.”39 This practice is important because it reflects a new approach for not only curating but museums in entirety as well. Curatorial activists dedicate their work almost exclusively to visual culture in, of, and from the margins: that is to artists who are non-white, non-Euro-US, as well as women, queer, and feminist-identified.40 These activists commit themselves to initiatives that level hierarchies, counter erasure, inspire debate and promote the margins over the center, and the minority over the majority.41 However, it should be noted as Reilly suggests, underneath this umbrella there is not one singular unitary “feminism” as it must encompass all intersections imagined around the globe.42 Feminism acts as a cultural practice and reclaims forms for political practice. To mark feminism as informative of cultural practice is to refuse the masculist notion of universality that guarantees the privileging of maleinvented forms and themes as aesthetic.43 By recognizing feminism as a curatorial practice is to acknowledge the dominant and oppressed model of colonialism and replace such with theories that postulate agency on the histories of those who have resisted colonial repression.44

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Maura Reilly, “Toward a Curatorial Activism,” Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (Brisbane, Arts Queensland, 2011), http://www.maurareilly.com/pdf/essays/CIAFessay.pdf, 14.

Ibid, 22.

Ibid, 22.

Ibid, 76.

Norma Broude and Mary D Garrard, Reclaiming Female Agency: Feminist Art History After Postmodern ism. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005, 9.

Ibid, 3.

“Intersectionality is a lens through which you can see where power comes and collides, where it interlocks and intersects. It’s not simply that there’s a race problem here, a gender problem here, and a class or LBGTQ problem there. Many times that framework erases what happens to people who are subject to all of these things.”

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Kimberlé Crenshaw first coined the term intersectional feminism and defines it as

“intersectionality is a lens through which you can see where power comes and collides, where it interlocks and intersects. It’s not simply that there’s a race problem here, a gender problem here, and a class or LBGTQ problem there. Many times that framework erases what happens to people who are subject to all of these things.”45 Museums are institutions that not only are involved in representing communities, but also in defining the identities of communities, and in some cases denying them an identity. This is due to the fact that when it comes to representation, museums tend to rely upon aesthetics and disclose little emphasis on the cultural significance for the past or present. The exhibitions produced by these cultural institutions have become a means to distort and mask the oppression of cultures that museums claim to represent.46 This may be due to the fact that museums do not—or cannot— reveal to their audience the various choices, negotiations, and decisions, through which cultures are represented (or misrepresented for that matter) in their exhibitions.47 The ethics of exhibitions and representation highlight several grey areas within the normative curatorial framework. Museums around the world tend to follow one traditional canon and storyline which often renders communities invisible. Museums have been built upon structures of domination based on sex, race, and class that have remained unchanged and are confined under Eurocentric colonialist tendencies.48 These structures function to exclude marginal groups or dismiss them through binary paradigms, yet museums claim to work in close collaboration with the communities from which their collections originate and serve.49 As cultural gatekeepers that are active agents in the construction of knowledge, museums must seek new models in order to serve the public and the ethical commitment they claim to embrace.

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46 47 48 49

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Kimberlé Crenshaw. Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A black feminist critique of antidiscrimina tion doctrine, feminist theory, and antiracist politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum (8): 139–67.

Ibid, 11.

Ibid, 12. bell hooks, Art on My Mind: Visual Politics (New York: New Press, 1998), 8-14.

American Alliance of Museums.

Feminism in art recognizes, in a constantly shifting and evolving world, the experience

of marginalized groups and questions the meta-narratives that are still in place.50 Throughout time, feminist art historians and curators have recognized the large scope and complexities of the power relations that feminism interrogates and challenges.51 Thus, it is important to recognize activism and protest within the history of feminism. Feminist activism grew out of the Abolitionist movement which conferred upon middle-class women a call to organize implicit protests against oppressive ideals.52 In this sense, the abolitionist campaign was a home where women could be valued for their work. Their political involvement in the battle against slavery may have evidenced such passion because they were experiencing an alternative to their domestic lives.53 They discovered that sexism could be questioned and fought in the arena of political struggle.54 The anti-slavery movement offered the opportunity for women to prove their worth through the act of protest according to standards that were not tied to their roles.55 In a museum context, Maura Reilly approaches activism and protest as a “fundamental redefining of art practice� which includes examining modern art that is in need of reform.56 Modern art is a narrative that in its structure is exclusionary and perpetuates a selective tradition that normalizes a particular and gendered set of practices.57 Reilly explains that this sort of activism and protest, while typically exhibited in a rally outside of museums, must be accomplished by holding those inside institutions accountable. She views activism as an intervention of ethical curation which is a leveling of hierarchies that calls for awareness.58 This awareness encourages a conscious and unconscious examination of curatorial inclusion that holds everyone accountable and recognizes that if the percentages of inclusion are low, then more work must be done.59 Reilly advises that museum boards must be diversified and include the participation of artists in order to encourage and effect change.60 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Broude and Gerrard, 22.

Ibid, 1.

Angela Davis, Women, Race & Class. New York: Random House, 1981, 37.

Ibid, 37.

Ibid, 37.

Ibid, 39.

Reilly, 11.

Ibid, 14.

Ibid, 11.

Ibid, 11.

Ibid, 11.

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CRITICALITY OF CARE

A feminist curatorial ethic recognizes the criticality of care as a necessary focus.

Criticality of care suggests that the focus of care is imperative to museum work and revolves around almost every internal and external task such as education, curation, management, conservation and community engagement. The Latin root of curate means “to care,” and advocating and acting for change within the art world is part of that care.61 Yet, as Dr. Bridget Cooks investigates in Exhibiting Blackness: African Americans and the American Art Museum, two dominant methodologies frequently are used to exhibit art by artists that are forced to be categorized into the “other” classification of race identity. An ethnographic approach and a recovery narrative is crafted that is focused on correcting the past.62 She presents the case study of Harlem on My Mind: Cultural Capital of Black America, 1900-1968 which was exhibited in 1969 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.63 It sought to explore the cultural history of the predominantly Black community of Harlem, New York. Noted as one of the most controversial exhibitions in United States history, the Met rejected Harlem residents’ participation in the exhibition plan as well as rejecting artwork from the surrounding artist community.64 Thus, Black culture emerged in the museum not as a creative producer, but as an ethnographic study.65 Although the surrounding communities rose up through activism and protest which changed the discourse of Black art in mainstream American museum politics, there is a critical outcome to note.66 Oppressed communities are continually disrespected and misrepresented by art museums in the United States.67 While museums attempt to represent marginalized or “ethnographic” communities, they repeatedly disregard the voice of these communities and artists. By doing so, the museum presents a superficial understanding of the objectified groups’ oppression. This is due to the fact that in the absence of information marking the artist’s racial identity, it is assumed the creator of the content is White. Since 61 62

63 64 65 66 67

“Curate.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2019.

Bridget R. Cooks, Exhibiting Blackness: African Americans and the American Art Museum. University of Massachusetts Press, 2011, 71.

Ibid, 71.

Ibid, 53.

Ibid, 53.

Ibid, 54.

Ibid, 54.

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Whiteness is constructed as norm within museums, only the races of people of color are indicated on object labels and texts.68 This cast doubt as to whether mainstream museums understand the value of contributions created by people of color enough to incorporate them into their practices without controversy and protest. While variance exists from institution to institution depending on the factors contributing to specific exhibitions, all museums need to be challenged to eliminate the exclusive racial paradigm that sets oppressed communities apart as anything but equal.69 A necessary tool of curatorial feminism is identity politics.

Instead of viewing an object, the horizon is broadened so the culture which helped constitute the object is rendered visible.70 Using identity politics is necessary if museums truly consider themselves to be engaged with the community and socially conscious. Not only does it proscribe extra care while working with artists and artworks, but it demands those working with the artists to understand their history. Due to the fact that art historical practices tend to safeguard the distinctness of artists of color and racial representation, the significance of artworks tends to be limited by those curating.71 Instead, cultural workers should strive to use identity politics and the matrix of representation as a framework for critique and reference for development in art. As professor and author, Nizan Shaked states, “…the uses of identity as a political perspective drives a methodological investigation into art making. The result is a front of artistic production–a critical approach to identity politics based in analysis of visual and textual language within the social and cultural field.”72 This doesn’t simply mean that diversifying the museum field is enough, but that other fields (social, political, artistic) must be integrated with what has remained out of reach for artists.

68 Ibid, 156.

69 Ibid, 159-160.

70 Darby English, “Beyond Black Representational Space,” in How to See a Work of Art in Total Darkness (Cam

bridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2010), 12.

71 Ibid,5.

72 Nizan Shaked, “Critical Identity Politics,” X-TRA, Fall 2008, https://www.x-traonline.org/article/critical-identity politics/.

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While the theory of care ethics has existed for some time in reference to feminism, it

has lacked an intersectional lens. Care ethics typically stresses heterosexual normativity and enforced gender roles.73 An ethics of care prioritizes, with its clear-cut normative framework, the human condition, giving new meaning and significance to human differences that emerge from gender, class, ethnicity, sexuality, ability, and geographic location.74 When applying an intersectional perspective, however, it requires an analytical frame that takes into account the micro, meso and macro levels of analysis paying specific attention to time and space.75 In a museum space, this allows the history and context from which the objects came from to be considered along with social locations and power structures. Intersectionality is concerned with understanding these multifaceted, complex and interlocking natures of locations and structures and how these shape human lives.76 This prioritizes new ways for understanding experiences of discrimination, suffering, and oppression.77 By doing so, it requires museums to consider how their intersecting social locations and “tacit, personal, professional or organizational knowledges…determine what inequities and privileges actually exist in relation to a[n]…issue.”78 This allows a means for empathetically and imaginatively engaging the intersectional differences of otherness to find commonality while still honoring, recognizing, and celebrating those differences in the notion of embodied care.79 An intersectional ethic of care recognizes the factors that have shaped the object, its history and context. It emphasizes the criticality of care needed to fully recognize all that an artwork encompasses and does not simply relegate its classification into one category.

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74 75 76 77 78 79

Olena Hankivsky, “Rethinking Care Ethics: On the Promise and Potential of an Intersectional Analysis” The Ameri can Political Science Review 108, no. 2 (2014): 254. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.cc.uic.edu/stable/43654371 Ibid, 256.

Ibid, 255.

Ibid, 255.

Ibid, 256.

Ibid, 260.

Maurice Hamington, “Care Ethics and Engaging Intersectional Difference through the Body.” Critical Philosophy of Race 3, no. 1 (2015): 79-100. doi:10.5325/critphilrace.3.1.0079.

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ART MATTERS ETHICS MATTER ART MATTERS ETHICS MATTER ART MATTERS ETHICS MATTER ART MATTERS ETHICS MATTER

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Curatorial feminism is an intervention which insists on reform and becomes the

responsibility of all involved in the museum institution. Due to the structures and exclusionary practices that museums have been predicated upon and the ever-changing social climate of the world, museums must recognize the need for a system that is truly the best practice for its objects and communities involved. As suggested, a feminist curatorial perspective accepts a global viewpoint that includes various avenues of intersectionality which recognizes and understands the co-implicated histories, cultures, and identities as a rethinking of art.

This includes a criticality of care that redefines the methods of care museums use and encompasses every aspect of museum work (education, conservation, community engagement and curating) with an intersectional care ethic lens that considers cultural, geographical and social structures that impact the artifact and artist. It is an empathetic consideration that celebrates the differences which create these intersectional avenues and recognizes the need for an ethical criticality of care.

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SOLUTIONS

While it must be acknowledged there is no definitive solution to every ethical issue

museums may encounter, ethics are a focusing guide to elevate above the norm and are an obligation from a right principle of practice.80 They are essential to sustaining the longterm health of museum organizations and recognizing the responsibility for growth. Ethics serve as a way of defining institutional critique as they are a form of systematic inquiry. They examine the institutional structure, practice, and policy while also affect the systems of power underpinning museums.81 Thus, this simultaneously creates an opportunity for reconciliation between museums and their publics. For each institution, ethical decision making depends on the situation, standards, the limitations of the organization and the lack of ethical guidelines.82 This is not to say a lack of guidelines allows dismissal of ethical consideration. Due to the lack of enforcement and guiding principles of codes of ethics, a new approach must be considered.

While it may not be plausible for smaller institutions that may benefit from a committee instead, a department of ethics serves as a solution that provides internal institutional support for sustained research into critical and underlying matters of ethics. The study of bioethics serves as an instructional example in that its research creates a groundwork for addressing future challenges to the field. Medical professionals, of course, have codes of conduct that govern their behavior, but bioethics focuses on the deep ethical questions heightened by the practice of medicine.83 This shapes not only their conduct but also the nature of medical practice while creating supporting research, which is inherently lacking in the many ethical dimensions of art.84 Individual codes of ethics do not address complicated issues, however an ethics department can research, support and guide an institution and its members.

80 Edson, 41.

81 Janet Marstine, Â Critical Practice: Artists, museums, ethics, London and New York: Routledge, 2017, 4-6.

82 Ibid, 4.

83 Erich Hatala Matthes, “Why museums need their own ethics departments� Apollo Magazine, last modified Sept 26, 2017, https:// www.apollo-magazine.com/why-museums-need-their-own-ethics-departments/ 84 Ibid.

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Ethics departments do not currently exist except in committee form. From a research

standpoint, a department of ethics could provide a strong advantage because it would be familiar with the local community and could engage in close monitoring of studies, data and evaluation which would benefit and support various divisions. An example of such an organization is the UK Museum Association Ethics Committee purposed to create a culture in UK museums that welcomes ethical practice and creates an awareness and discussion of ethics as a norm by connecting all museums and participating in decision making.85 The committee provides confidential advice on specific ethical issues confronted by its member museums. There are two advisory boards, one for each the public and private sector.86 When required, in difficult circumstances, substantial investigations are conducted and committee members with appropriate expertise are appointed to assist members.87 Similarly, a department of ethics would be able to investigate issues that arise by having members that are experts from diverse backgrounds and qualifications. Further, the World Health Organization (WHO) also serves as an instructive example. Multiple committees are arranged within research institutions that are familiar with local conditions and monitor studies and research.88 The function of their ethics committees includes identifying and weighing risks, potential benefits of research, evaluating the process, and examining issues that may affect the acceptability of research including discrimination.89 This paradigm can be translated into a museum context because of the similar need for ethical research and identification of possible risks of collecting, exhibit representation, and conduct of those within the institution. The WHO stresses the importance of utilizing a diverse committee that is comprised of individuals with various backgrounds and qualifications to ensure that judgments are not dominated by one perspective.90 They strive for their committees to reflect social, gender and professional diversity in their composition as some risks and benefits may be easier to identify by those 85 86

87

“Ethics Committee� Museum Association, accessed April 19, 2019, museumassociation.org Ibid.

Ibid.

88 World Health Organization, Research ethics committees: Basic concepts for capacity-building World Health Organization Press, 2009, 12.

89 Ibid.

90 Ibid.

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who are non-scientific members.91 This is an important factor for museum departments as well because ethics are not a specific set of rules, they should be considered a framework for the assessment of problems to determine the correct course of action. Not all problems can be approached from the same viewpoint. In order for a solution to be ethically admissible, it needs to be made in an open and inclusive process that contemplates various viewpoints from stakeholders.92 Ethic departments should consist of individuals from diverse professional and social backgrounds and, where applicable, include input from the community.

91 92

Ibid.

Ibid, 22.

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WHO WOULD MAKE UP THE DEPARTMENT?

Specialists would best constitute the department of ethics and would be determined by

the needs and focus of the specific museum. The basic framework suggested would include an ethics expert that provides an ethical perspective, legal counsel that has experience working with museums, a chair or coordinator to organize and oversee department operations, and community stakeholders aware of local needs of the community. An ethics expert would be selected by their knowledge and experience in relevant fields such as ethical standards, compliance and ethics programs, codes of conduct and public policy. Their job description may entail responding to inquiries, providing ethics advice to employees and community members, conducting ethics reviews of cases and proposals, and presenting complex or sensitive issues to the attention of the museum board. The legal counsel would be expected to have experience representing museums and would offer advice on ethical issues that deal with legal responsibilities, ensuring that the department is aware of relevant authorities and limitations based on law and precedent. An ethics chair would organize and facilitate as well as oversee the committee and ensure proper protocol is followed, manage committee meetings and process. Finally, the community stakeholders would represent the interests of the community and the role the museum plays in the community. This would also assist with exhibits that include artwork or artifacts of underrepresented communities and allow their voices to be incorporated. Other stakeholders may include, among others: artists, minority perspectives, education experts, environmental representatives and ad-hoc members as determined by the specific issue under review. It is evident that each museum has a unique collection and serves a unique community which means that department members should be determined in a way to fulfill those needs. Depending on the ethical needs, the department may serve all the varied areas of an institution. Obviously, the curatorial team may encounter front-end dilemmas more frequently due to the fact of the public nature of ethics surrounding many significant 36

exhibitions. A department of ethics would also benefit other sectors of an institution such as education, collections, and marketing. Education divisions design visitor experiences to emphasize effective learning and consider the way in which visitors take charge of their own learning experiences.93 Museums are rich environments filled with expressive objects and experiences.94 The ways in which educational materials are designed for the public must be equitable for all and continually develop through research in an ethical and responsible manner.

Additionally, collections identify and preserve essential parts of cultural heritage and afford fundamental power to those who control them. The values created and shared by collection workers should enable them to meet obligations and provide vital services on behalf of all individuals in society. Marketing reaches the public and presents information that may invite or exclude certain communities. All aspects of marketing should be considered in a way that builds strong customer relationships and creates value for all stakeholders. These departments are at the forefront of the production of information to the public. Working in conjunction with a department of ethics would cover all bases in construction and ensure the most equitable approach.

Codes of ethics are not enough to address the multitude of issues that arise in

museums. Further, there is no way to enforce and ensure national and international institutions are adhering to the guideline framework or creating their own codes of ethics. Foundationally museums are built upon exclusionary practices that are not ethical and do not always take into account the paramount form of care. A department of ethics that utilizes a feminist curatorial practice and focuses on the criticality of care would provide advice, new approaches, and counsel on ethical complexities as well as leadership for the best curatorial and educational methods. There is not a simple or unambiguous solution to every ethical problem, but a department composed of specialists best ensures a more equitable and ethical future.

93 “Learning in Museums� Harvard Graduate School of Education, September 4, 2005, https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/05/09/ learning-museums-0 94 Ibid.

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WHAT DO THESE MEAN? AAM Ethics: “Ethics principles that help people make choices about what they ought to do. Ethical practices are based on rights, obligations, or other values. Acting ethically means adopting behaviors that, if universally accepted, would lead to the best possible outcomes for the largest possible number of people. A commonly agreed upon set of ethical principles and practices encourage people to act beneficially and for the common good.”

Big Ethics: Ethical issues that make headlines and are emotional benchmarks for museums, such as stolen artifacts, conservation, executive abuse of resources or privilege, treasure-hunting, and more.

Curator: Expert in charge of one type of the collection, oversees the care, display, and information about the object in their areas.

Curatorial Activism: The practice of organizing art exhibitions with the principal aim of ensuring that certain constituencies are no longer excluded from the master narratives of art. A practice that commits itself to counter-hegemonic initiatives that give voice to those who have been historically silenced or omitted altogether.

Curatorial Feminism: A curatorial ethic that utilizes the values of intersectional feminism in order to promote equal representation of works by marginalized artists across medium and time; aiming to reevaluate the curatorial standards of museums past and future.

Criticality of Care: The focus of care is imperative to museum work and revolves around almost every internal and external task (education, curation, management, conservation, etc) Ethics: The study of the criteria of good and bad conduct. From the world-view, the conduct of all museum workers should be to reach a maximum level of museological perfection within the constraints of their environment. This is not to say that every individual act must be perfectly conceived and executed, but that a guide should be provided of the speculative truths about the practical order of acceptable activities.

Ethical Art: Art that does not favor the aesthetic or spectacle value; does not harm another being or culture for the sake of artistic freedom and expression.

Ethical Museum: Consistently striving for cultural, community, and institutional accountability through observing and recognizing the trivializing structures of which museums were built upon by using ethics as a focusing guide.

ICOM Ethics: “The ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums sets minimum professional standards and encourages the recognition of values shared by the international museum community.”

Manifesto: A personal or handwritten document that aims to inspire, shock, or offend. The statement is an act of excessiveness, but at its peak of performance, its form creates its meaning and invites the audience to a new way of thinking.

Museum: An organized and permanent nonprofit institution, essentially educational or aesthetic in purpose, with professional staff, which owns and utilizes tangible objects, cares for them, and exhibits them

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to the public on some regular schedule.

For further clarification, the key words used in the definition are further defined

as follows:

a. permanent institution: the museum is an organization that will in theory have perpetual life, and a life of its own apart from other organizations. The existence of the museum is assured regardless of who its employees may be at any given moment regardless of temporary economic recessions.

b. public: the museum is not only open to the public, but exists for the public good.

c. educational: the museum exists for the purpose of providing education,

inspiration, and aesthetic enrichment for all the people; development of the

individual; and cooperation with other public educational agencies. It does not

exist primarily for entertainment, commercial profit, the personal satisfaction of

its employees or sponsors, the self-self-seeking interests of a club, to serve the

private interests of a few, to promote tourism, or any other noneducational end.

For the educational use of collections, research is essential and requires such

facilities as a reference library and a study room.

d. collections: important objects useful in an educational and/or aesthetic

program; significant objects, not “collectors’ items� for educational use. That is,

not only the imparting of information but cultural enrichment and a broad

exposure to the accomplishments of civilization and its individuals.

e. systematic care: through documentation, good and permanent records

(registration and cataloguing), eternal preservation and security, organized filing

of objects (storage) that is logical and accessible.

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