Deviant Practice 2018-19
<p>Deviance can be understood as veering away from the entrenched path. For the modern art museum these paths emerged from the west’s understanding of itself and by inference its relationship to others. An exploration of deviant practice necessarily involves undoing long-held institutional, racial, geo- and bio- political formations. We therefore understand the prefix ‘de’ (‘off’) in deviance in relation to notions of demodernising, decolonising, deprivelleging or deneoliberalising – key strategies we hope to explore.</p> <p>The focus is on two research tools:</p> <p>– Archives: The Van Abbe understands the archive as encompassing the collection of art works, the library’s collection and the museum’s paper archives. Archives are what defines a museum. It is, for better or worse, the heritage we hold. If deviant practice holds within it the need to challenge, consider and undo entrenched paths, the archive would appear to offer the means with which to do that.</p> <p>– Constituencies: Today more than ever, the museum cannot define its subjects. It needs to understand them and form positions with them. Understanding how to work with and through different constituencies therefore seems vital when thinking about how to institute deviant practice. Yet it also has implications for how the museum works with its archives and building.</p>
Editors: Nick Aikens
Assistant Editor: Evelien Scheltinga
Contributors: Jessica de Abreu, Nick Aikens, Sam Ashby, Anthea Black, John Byrne, Ana S González Rueda, Michael Karabinos, Mikiki, Bruno Moreschi, Gabriel Pereira, Evelien Scheltinga, Eimear Walshe, Michelle de Wit
Copy Editor: Paula Cook
ISBN: 9789490757205