Abstract
This paper analyzes and compares recent renovations and expansions of two US art museum architectures in terms of their impact on institutional community engagement. One is the Albright Knox Gundlach Art Museum, one of the oldest Art Museums in the US, located in the Rust Belt city of Buffalo, NY; the other one The Oakland Museum of California, a museum of the civil rights era, in the former shipping powerhouse on the San Francisco Bay. The study demonstrates the central role of recent architectural planning for accomplishing museum goals of deeper, more meaningful interactions with established and new audiences. As museums and entire urban cultural economies are re-emerging from the paralysis of the pandemic, museums reconsider their capacities to address social inequalities through participatory measures. However, critical museum theory meets such hope with skepticism by asking to what extent participatory strategies are suited for this task, particularly in a neoliberal setting. This is where museum architecture assumes a new relevance beyond its post-Bilbao appeal and disproven claim for almost automatic positive effects on urban communities. This project is formed at the intersection architectural history, critical museum research, and urban justice scholarship. It is based on in-depth interviews with museum staff and a literature review. We conclude that community engagement cannot be an afterthought to construction. Efforts to connect through architecture need to be coordinated with a museum’s engagement strategies from the earliest planning stages onward and lead to a sustained feedback loop after building completion.
Presenters
Miriam PaeslackAssociate Professor, Arts Management/Media Study, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, New York, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
MUSEUM ARCHITECTURE, COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, URBAN JUSTICE, POLITICS OF BELONGING
