A Changing Museum
Representing different perspectives
The Hunterian is committed to becoming a more ethical institution which critically reflects on the past, is relevant in the present and contributes to a more equitable future.
A More Meaningful Place
A changing society, a changing university, a changing university museum.
Museums play an important and highly symbolic role in representing both the past and the present. The way they do this has never been neutral: many voices are absent or underrepresented.
The Hunterian is committed to becoming a more meaningful place for more diverse audiences.
We aim to be an ethical and accessible museum organisation that engages critically with its historic legacy for the benefit of all of its stakeholders and audiences.
Through critical assessment of our collections and displays in meaningful partnerships, opening up to wider perspectives, we are ‘thinking in public’ and sharing power.
Sustainable change can be uncomfortable and takes time. Connecting our collections and expertise with the experiences and perspectives of these diverse audiences, we are experimenting with new ways of working to find greater relevance and integrity.
Curating Discomfort
Most museums are monuments to a system that privileges some people over others and creates a narrative about the identity of nations or cities that institutions seek to project and protect.
Museums hold collections from donors who benefited from the practice of racial slavery, violent endeavours, forced removal and the systematic oppression of Indigenous peoples.
Museums are political places.
‘Curating Discomfort’ puts forward discomforting provocations and interventions to help us to understand that museums have perpetuated ideologies of white supremacy: a political, economic and cultural system in which white western ideas control the power of the texts, the material resources and the actions that continue to underpin notions of cultural superiority.
Power in This Place
Museums are full of objects and belongings. However, without people, museums are empty. Museums are public spaces and should be reflective of the communities they serve.
The ambition of 'Power in This Place' over the next three years is to collaborate with the expertise of our multi-ethnic society and deliver public engagement that will advance our understanding of the shared history and the impact colonialism and migration has on the present day.
Using the principles of co-production and a mix of oral history, art and objects from museum collections, together we will tell the stories that build social, educational, cultural and economic capacity, fostering good relations and advancing equality of opportunity.
The model this project can develop is to ensure the social capital is shared between the institution, its staff and Glasgow communities so that everyone can feel that museums are relevant and that they have achieved equity in shaping the direction of 'Power in This Place'.
Sustainability
The emerging effects of climate change force us all to reflect on the sustainability of our practices. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the development of our digital engagement and helped us think in new ways.
As a museum with collections which speak powerfully to environmental change, global health issues and both social and cultural transformation, The Hunterian is very well-positioned to respond imaginatively, through cross-disciplinary research, teaching and public programming.