Post #2: A Thesis is Conceived

Hello everyone,

I will be doing a research-based thesis on a socio-political topic, as it relates to museums. I decided to focus on this area because it is important for us to deconstruct the power structures that pervade our cultural institutions.

As of right now, I am pursuing the topic of how the practices of Euro-American museums influence those of non-Western museums. Specifically, I want to explore if or how imperialism and colonialism transmitted ideas about artistic ideals, curation, exhibition design, and administration. I was inspired to do this topic by reading about the Louvre Abu Dhabi, which seems to be greatly influenced by French art museums. So far, I have found a few sources that focus on African museums, specifically Nigerian ones. I will try to narrow my scope to a case study of one museum, and if I cannot do that, to one country.

The first topic I considered was, "How are museums sometimes used to legitimize government"? If the first topic doesn't work out, I will switch back to this one. I would explore the tactics governments use to endorse themselves through museums, including themes about propaganda, curation by elites, and financial influence.

Thesis Topics

During my internship at the Burchfield Penney Arts Center, I had briefly spent time processing files from the Artpark Archival Collection. Obtained by the Burchfield in 2013, the collection contains 180 boxes of textual records and over 80,000 images documenting the history of Artpark and its administration. Located in Lewiston, New York, Artpark has provided residencies to diverse local and international artists throughout its history. Many of the artists represented by Artpark are present in major public and private collections. Artpark has been a major agent in supporting emerging artists while making public art accessible to the masses.   

I had wanted do a project related to local history, and I believe there is a lot of untapped potential in the Artpark Archival Collection. The collection is currently only partly processed, making historical research using the documents challenging. However, using the information we already know and the resources available (such as old catalogues), there is likely opportunity for a project that can better make sense of the cultural, administrative and social history surrounding the park and its emerging artists. Potential topics of interest include where these participating artists came from and how artists may have been connected (and how this may have influenced who would in turn be selected for residencies in subsequent years). Although I do not have a specific research question or project proposal yet, I do envision the project itself would be accessible, potentially as a micro digital humanities project. I had contacted the project archivist for this collection and hopefully it will become clearer over the next few weeks how I can best foster greater understanding of this massive collection.