TitleTate Workshop: Passed Along, Passed DownDate28th June 2023Description
Tate Workshop: Passed Along, Passed Down with Thomas F. DeFrantz and Juanita Kelly-Mundine
28th June 2023
Thomas F. DeFrantz and Juanita Kelly-Mundine began the final panel of the day by reflecting on how certain bodies have been prevented from existing in the museum. While the previous sessions focused largely on the possibilities of the museum, DeFrantz started by observing the lack of Black symposium attendees and the discussion that followed addressed two important questions: what does it mean for the global majority to not take part in conversations such as these? What can museums do to become more welcoming to the global majority? The panel’s initial question ‘How do we share the work?’ transformed into a debate around institutional space and its barriers to sharing and conversation. From there, questions of time once again emerged. For example, DeFrantz drew attention to the temporal state of ‘now’ as always precarious for the global majority. The future of choreographic work was also discussed in the context of Black aesthetics: such work foregrounds relational possibilities and imagines what is needed in the ‘now’ as well as where and to whom work will be presented. Kelly-Mundine and DeFrantz discussed the numerous ways that choreographic works challenge core institutional values and disrupt the performativity the artist-museum relationship. Throughout the conversation, Kelly-Mundine suggested potential pathways to change within the museum. She focused on her own experience as a West Bundjalung woman and custodian within an institution. Shifting attention from objects to relationships, ritual and warmth was put forward as a clear imperative for the museum. Overall, both panellists agreed a lot of institutional work is yet to be done in relation to generosity and vulnerability; to making a space that can be daunting for so many feel safe and welcoming for all.
With support from the Australian Research Council through research and commissioning partner Precarious Movements: Choreography and the Museum, a research project hosted by University of New South Wales, with Art Gallery of New South Wales, Monash University Museum of Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts and Tate.
Digital Collections | Library (29th Jan 2025). Tate Workshop: Passed Along, Passed Down. In Website Digital Collections | Library. Retrieved 10th Feb 2025 23:36, from https://digitalcollections.library.unsw.edu.au/nodes/view/171776