CollabFund | Decolonising Practices: Online-Platform & Participatory Pavilion

Decolonising Practices: Online-Platform & Participatory Pavilion

Alumni

• Jocelyne Stahl – Project management, coordination of calls & proposals, platform facilitator
• Loyiso Maqwabe Xulu – Coordination of external advisors, platform facilitator
• Kristīne Milere – Communication & public relations, platform facilitator
• Takudzwa Pasipanodya – Coordination of web design process, platform facilitator
• Alastair Willis – Platform facilitator (on parental leave)

Partner Museums and involved external institutions

• Stiftung Humboldt Forum (Berlin)
• Luthuli Museum (Groutville)
• The Latvian National Museum of Art (Riga)
• National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe (Harare)
• Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales (Cardiff)

Project Description

Museums need to decolonise themselves; they require critical reflection on institutional history rooted in colonialism and they should develop approaches that counteract the violence that took place. But what might decolonising actually look like? Decolonising can mean working against exoticisation, othering and racism. Decolonial approaches include directly thematising colonialism and racism in exhibitions, collaborating with communities, experimenting with new formats and much more. How museums as memory institutions embark on the path of decolonising varies greatly; approaches at African and European museums can be very different. Many institutions could learn from each other if they were to enter an exchange. The platform “Decolonising Practices” seeks to foster a dialogue between museums worldwide by collecting and presenting examples of how they are pursuing their paths towards decolonising. Thinking about the word “decolonising” in its form as a verb, the platform focuses on practices rather than purely discursive approaches. It is a digital platform that identifies best practices of decolonial methods and approaches within museums, collects examples and facilitates them online as a growing archive. The result is a network of examples from the fields of curating and exhibiting, education and community work, restitution and repatriation, collection and conservation and others. The platform makes them available to museum professionals and an interested public worldwide. As a result, institutions and practitioners can learn from each other, reach out to, and inspire one another. An integral part of the project is a physical “Participatory Pavilion”, that can be brought to conferences or other occasions. In the Pavilion all visitors are invited to contribute examples from their own work or examples they have observed. This network of decolonising practices can be integrated in the online platform afterwards.

Project Development

TheMuseumsLab presented a space for interaction on diverse practices on decolonising museums. When we first came together as a group for The Museums Lab in 2023, we asked ourselves what decolonising museums means to us. We quickly realised that each of us has a different understanding of the term. For Takudzwa, it means opening spaces for communities and creating platforms for coproduction of knowledge. For Loyiso, it is about developing alternatives to “traditional” museum practices that promote inclusion and access. For Jocelyne, it means questioning and critically reflecting on how things have been done so far, shaped by institutions’ colonial histories. For Alastair, it means reinterpreting objects to gain a fuller understanding of their meanings and contexts, while for Kristīne, it focuses on relearning and reinterpreting knowledge.

Although our definitions varied, we shared a common belief that decolonising is an ongoing process expressed through tangible practices. These include rethinking how we use language, curate exhibitions, and conduct research. Our different backgrounds with experiences in European and African cultural institutions play a critical role in our thinking.

For us, decolonising becomes evident in practice. The “Decolonising Practices” platform therefore moves from theory to practice by collecting real life examples. We want to explore new formats in combining analogue and digital work. We strengthen The Museums Lab's network by inviting all partners, alumnis and fellows to participate in the online platform by integrating their examples. It is designed as a long-term project and can create lasting impact by continuously asking people to contribute and therefore broadening the network. Functioning online, the platform will be visible in Germany as well as internationally and the “Participatory Pavilion” will enable physical participation as well.

With the project “Decolonising Practices”, we aim to collect and share examples from museums to learn from one another and to build a network of museum professionals working towards decolonising cultural institutions.

The initiative TheMuseumsLab CollabFund is funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation).