In response to the activism, scrutiny, and expressed concerns of diverse community voices, contemporary art institutions are increasingly examining their infrastructures and practices in order to support broader decolonial efforts and to shift their behavior and values. Indigenous artists and community members are steadily challenging institutions within their territories and beyond to better represent Indigenous artistic practices and to engage with communities in more sustained and meaningful ways.
This session accounts for the progress made thus far, and the ways in which this may be built on. How can different art institutions and arts professionals demonstrate accountability and responsibility in context-specific ways, and to local Indigenous nations in the work they do? What responsibility do they have to Indigenous artists and to communities more broadly conceived? In other words, how might arts institutions move beyond performative gestures such as land acknowledgments toward materially supporting the needs and desires of Indigenous communities and artists? How do decolonization efforts in contemporary art connect to broader interconnected struggles for justice and equity?
Participating Speakers: Emily Johnson and Jackson Polys.
