Lightning Talk

Saturday, April 06, 2019: 9:30am - 11:00am - Grand Ballroom: Lightning Talks

Seema Rao, Brilliant Idea Studio, USA, Margaret Middleton, Margaret Middleton Exhibit Design and Museum Consulting, USA

Published paper: Illuminating Colonization Through Augmented Reality

In 2018, French President Emmanuel Macron asserted French museums and private collections needed to reconsider their ownership of African objects. Macron’s comments come as museums are increasingly being questioned about issues of colonialism and their collections. Colonialism underscores many aspects of museums, from the very foundations of these institutions. Decolonization is an exceptionally challenging problem facing museums today; many of the diversity and access problems stem from the field’s colonialist past. In this paper, we posit methods that technology can help decolonize museums and collections. Museum technologists can become active agents of decolonization in collections and transforming the future of the field.