SU/2021
Columbia GSAPP, Advanced Studio VI
Professor: WAI Think Tank
A graphic narrative that describes a revolution. An estimation of the colonial footprint of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York City is calculated by the recollection of stolen objects that are hoarded by this cultural institution, tracing back their origins and histories. Based on an ecofeminist perspctive, this endeavour starts by analysing the labels of objects. The act of branding, classifying and categorizing them is a new layer of appropriation, one that is violent and hidden at plain sight. As we dismantle structures of power and visibilize the many scales of extraction performed, we understand the relationship between nature, gender identity and its exhibition as demonstrations of culture.
Multiscalar: Extractive processes range in all sizes, shapes and forms. From grains to costumes, to gallery rooms, to the museum’s layout. Only from the name, origin and donor that is described in each label, we can derive multiple actors and networks involved in the colonial footprint of the MET.
Extractive: The act of removing something from its source, separating it from its roots and rightful context.
Taxonomies: To ground and give weight to this claims, a taxonomy is done. Selected objects showcase these extractions from different perspectives. On one hand, there is the varied colonization processes in the Americas that became productive after gender binaries were installed in colonized lands, and on the other, the imposition of gender norms within the privileged white European artist circles.
White supremacy and the patriarchy hides behind paintings and romantic landscapes. By creating new images with excerpts of art we are reclaiming their freedom as individual objects that do not need to adhere to the whitewashed western version of history. The movement is designed to blend into the fabric of the museum and its aesthetic, so that it can begin from within. Sculptures that seem part of the exhibition are placed within the American Wing.
A Loudreading begins.
Multiscalar: Extractive processes range in all sizes, shapes and forms. From grains to costumes, to gallery rooms, to the museum’s layout. Only from the name, origin and donor that is described in each label, we can derive multiple actors and networks involved in the colonial footprint of the MET.
Extractive: The act of removing something from its source, separating it from its roots and rightful context.
Taxonomies: To ground and give weight to this claims, a taxonomy is done. Selected objects showcase these extractions from different perspectives. On one hand, there is the varied colonization processes in the Americas that became productive after gender binaries were installed in colonized lands, and on the other, the imposition of gender norms within the privileged white European artist circles.
White supremacy and the patriarchy hides behind paintings and romantic landscapes. By creating new images with excerpts of art we are reclaiming their freedom as individual objects that do not need to adhere to the whitewashed western version of history. The movement is designed to blend into the fabric of the museum and its aesthetic, so that it can begin from within. Sculptures that seem part of the exhibition are placed within the American Wing.
A Loudreading begins.
