The Soils Project forum: Decoloniality and the Museum (recording)

Decoloniality and the Museum

Recording from Sunday 20th August 2023.

Listen a stimulating discussion recorded live in the Museum about multiple aspects of The Soils Project with Charles Esche, Director, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, the Netherlands; and Dr Victoria Lynn, Director, TarraWarra Museum of Art; in conversation with Dr Michelle Antoinette, Monash University.

The title of The Soils Project comes from Munir Fasheh, who proposes four ‘soils’ as core to life on earth. They are earth soil, cultural soil, communal soil and affection-spiritual soil. These are the soils that humans must nurture in order for us and all life on the planet to be cared for and nurtured by the soils in return. In what ways can the metaphor and matter of soil enable museum and cultural workers (Indigenous and non-Indigenous) to rethink the very structures that have been developed by western modernity and coloniality?

About the speakers

Charles Esche is Director of the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, the Netherlands; Professor of contemporary art and curating at Central Saint Martins (CSM), University of the Arts London; and Co-director of Afterall Journal and Books. He teaches on the Exhibition Studies MRes course at CSM and at Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht.

Dr Victoria Lynn is Director of TarraWarra Museum of Art and the author of three books and over 80 articles and catalogues. Previous roles have included Curator, Contemporary Art, AGNSW; Visual Arts Curator, Adelaide Festival; and Director, Creative Development, ACMI. She lives and works on Wurundjeri Country.

Dr Michelle Antoinette is a Senior Lecturer and Researcher in Art History and Theory, and Course Director for the Bachelor of Art History and Curating program at the Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture at Monash University. She lives and works on Boon Wurrung Country. Her teaching in art and curatorial studies is situated within practices of decolonising art’s histories, while her research focuses on modern and contemporary Asian art histories, especially contemporary art histories of Southeast Asia and their intersections with globalisation. Her Asia interests extend beyond Asia’s geographical borders to encompass the art of Asian diasporas and their contributions to national and transnational art histories, including Asian-Australian artists. She is the author of Reworlding Art History: Encounters with Contemporary Southeast Asian Art after 1990 (Brill | Rodopi, 2015) and, with Caroline Turner, co-editor of Contemporary Asian Art and Exhibitions: Connectivities and World-making (ANU Press, 2014).

 

 

The Soils Project exhibition participants are:

Fellows and Artists

Uncle Dave Wandin (Wurundjeri) and Brooke Wandin (Wurundjeri), Wandoon Estate Aboriginal Corporation; Peta Clancy (Bangerang); Megan Cope (Quandamooka) and Keg de Souza; D Harding (Bidjara, Ghungalu and Garingbal); Badan Kajian Pertanahan (Bunga Siagian & Ismal Muntaha); Beyond Walls (Armando Ello, Jeremy Flohr, Glenda Pattipeilohy, Suzanne Rastovac); Wapke Feenstra; Lian Gogali and the Insitut Mosintuwu; Moelyono; Pluriversity weavers: Seynawiku Izquierdo Torres, Dwasimney Del Carmen Izquierdo Torres, Dwanimako Arroyo Izquierdo, María Eufemia Arroyo Izquierdo (Kwarte Umuke community, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia), Ana Bravo Pérez, Aldo Ramos, Aliki van der Kruijs, LI Yuchen; Riar Rizaldi; Yurni Sadariah (member of PEREMPUAN AMAN of Rangan Adat communities); Diewke van den Heuvel; Rolando Vázquez

Advisors

Wandoon Estate Aboriginal Corporation, Zena Cumpston (Barkandji), Antariksa, Dr Danny Butt, Dr Helen Hughes, Rolando Vázquez

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body; the Sidney Myer Fund; the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Embassy of Kingdom of the Netherlands, Australia; the Mondriaan Fund, the public cultural funding organisation focusing on visual arts and cultural heritage; Dutch Culture; and Fasilitasi Bidang Kebudayaan (FBK) Interaksi Budaya, Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of Indonesia.

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body; the Sidney Myer Fund; the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Embassy of Kingdom of the Netherlands, Australia; the Mondriaan Fund, the Public Cultural Funding Organisation focusing on visual arts and cultural heritage; Dutch culture; and Fasilitasi Bidang Kebudayaan (FBK) Interaksi Budaya, Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of Indonesia.

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