Abstract
This art-based research study problematises the museological construct of temporal stasis. Stasis is part of the intrinsic ideological, empirical, and political constitution of museums established during colonialism and is used to present the spoils of conquest. Stasis is particularly damaging in museums that represent oppressive histories, such as those of slavery, genocide, and apartheid. In museology, stasis means the freezing of time, making it difficult to imagine the aftermath, legacy, and consequences in the present and is counterproductive to the project of much-needed transformation.
As repositories that preserve history, the very nature of museums renders them inherently static. However, the colonial curatorial practices governing collecting, preservation, organization, and exhibition-making lead to curatorial stasis. In this study, I examine the manifestation of curatorial stasis by drawing on critical psychology and pedagogical studies to recognise, combat, and disrupt it. Combined, museological and curatorial stasis render the museum inaccessible and damaging to the local communities it claims to serve. I instinctively know that art can teach and change us over time. Through this study, I dive deeper into this idea to harness and replicate this inherent quality of the arts. Liberatory Psychology and critical pedagogy (CP) offer an alternative reading of curatorial stasis that allows us to combat previously undiscovered causalities and move toward addressing the problem of stasis.
Drawing on critical pedagogical approaches, this study explores my hypothesis that arts-based consciousness-raising can challenge and break through stasis in museums. Furthermore, I am concerned with how these spaces can be activated and disrupted to address sociological stasis. I am particularly interested in how ‘Rainbowism,’ containment, and meta-narratives were used as curatorial approaches in my two case studies, the Apartheid Museum and the Castle of Good Hope. To disrupt the stasis in the museums, I have developed counter-exhibitions Post Present Future (PPF) and The Posterity Project (hereafter referred to as ‘Posterity’) in the two museum sites.
My contribution lies in the formulation of a set of principles in the form of theory and praxis of Transformative Art Practice (TAP). I use my multimodal counter-exhibitions rooted in the conceptions of conscientização, intersectionality and agential realism. My aim is to facilitate a deepened, embedded, and affective critical consciousness that can disrupt the stasis of place, personhood, and people.