GENDER EQUALITY: UNGENDERING MEMORY AND MUSEUM PRACTICES
Museum collections have emerged from the need to organise and categorise the world, attempting to bring together incompatible and diverse practices and memories into a coherent
narrative. The binary axis of female/male, which is assumed as natural, helps to perpetuate
patriarchal values and marginalise people whose gender identity does not fit into this binary.
Gender categorisation is fundamental both for the collection of material and its interpretation, which contributes to its perpetuation. This often means that the male perspective is
privileged over the female and that other genders are not discussed or represented, which
maintains gender inequality and the exclusion of gender minorities. What would it mean to
question and explore gender categories in a museum setting? How do museum narratives
shift when we look at objects and trace their history from a broader understanding of gender?
In what ways are the strategies of care practiced in relation to the museum’s communities,
marginalized voices and, last but not least, internal processes of production and creation?
Through case studies of museum collections, art practices and activism, we aim to explore
possible methodologies and approaches to tracing alternative narratives of gender, female
empowerment and the hegemony of the essentialized gender binary. Special emphasis will
be given to methods of collaboration and co-creation with various publics in order to examine how to care for gender narratives and how to build infrastructures of care in an equitable and inclusive manner. The International Workshop on Gender and Museum Practices is
designed with the purpose of bringing together the international community of academics,
museum curators, researchers, activists, art practitioners, and interested parties to discuss
current research while providing the opportunity to share thoughts, exchange ideas, extend
the network and explore current and future research directions.
The workshop is co-funded by the COST Action “Trace as a Research Agenda for Climate
Change, Technology Studies, and Social Justice” (TRACTS) within the WG2 Traces and Social
Justice, and Slovenian Research Agency within the postdoctoral project Z6-3225 “Emancipatory Politics of Women’s Social Movements and the Postsecular Turn in Feminism”.
Please note that all sessions will be conducted exclusively in English, and there will be no
provision for translations or interpretation services.