thedcrepresentative:

This summer, the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, MD, is asking the public to curate an exhibition of a title and theme to be determined by the public. This is the epitome promoting the production of culture through the public sphere. 

Despite the contemporary museum theory of maximized accessibility through public engagement and minimized elitism in art historical scholarship, there has been little real change in the museum field, besides increasingly technological interactives in externally curated exhibitions. Interactives do not make visitors feel more involved in the content of the museum. They may even bee seen as condescending, attempting to over-simplify ideas so that the they are supposedly more palatable for the audience. The Walters Art Museum is finally taking public engagement to the next step. They are throwing out-moded connoisseurship out the window.

Their Public Property exhibition this summer will display various works, from their collection, under the theme of fantastic creatures, based on the interest demonstrated by the public on the Walters Art Museum’s web-based poll. You can still take part in the selection process for some specific pieces, before the planning time runs out. 

Museums of the people, for the people, by the people. Finally, a real mode for the democratization of culture is emerging. Thank you Internet!

-JAH