The Museum without a Public
19 May 2020 | 2pm 5pm
This event will be facilitated via Zoom.
The Museum without a Public is a symposium organised by Royal College of Art students about the future of the public museum in an age in which art audiences are having to be redefined. Royal College of Art students from the MA Contemporary Art Practice and V&A/RCA MA History of Design as well as invited guests will present a range of responses to the following speculative scenario:
What does the art institution of a post-catastrophic world look like?
In the film Children of Men (2006), the Tate Modern is turned into the Headquarters of a totalitarian regime. In the film A Visitor to a Museum (1989), the ruins of the museum are only accessible on very few days in a year in a flooded post catastrophic land. The building contains artefacts from a culture that is no longer relevant, but some still brave the harsh weather and struggle to reach its ruins. In Cixin Liu’s sci-fi novel Death’s End (2010), the last human museum is a mausoleum/monument carved into the side of a rocky cave to last an eternity.
What shape would the museum take in the year 2070, in a future where humans must continue self-isolate and public space is severely restricted? Would it still house physical objects? Will it still be a physical location? How would it be organized thematically? Will it still be divided into distinct areas of knowledge (art, natural history, archeology etc.), periods and styles? In what sense could the museum retain its semi-publicness, currently providing free meeting spaces, educational initiatives and external programmes? Will there still be a museum shop and café?Â
Zoom invite:
Topic: Museum without a Public
Time: May 19, 2020 02:00 PM London
Join Zoom Meeting
https://rca-ac.zoom.us/j/92572904290?pwd=ZHQwNmxwL1phRHd0VGNRWTJkQVJqUT09
Meeting ID: 925 7290 4290
Password: 681122