Are Museums Abdicating Their Mission? Debating Morally Compromised Artists

The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) published an article titled Are Museums Abdicating Their Mission? Debating Morally Compromised Artists (7 February 2019), about the recent cancellation of a retrospective exhibition by Alejandro Jodorowsky in El Museo del Barrio, New York.

CIMAM, the global platform representing the interests of curators and directors of contemporary art museums and professionals working in the field, is aware of the complexity that museums face today when exhibiting controversial works. CIMAM offers guidance and support and encourages museums to maintain their mission and curatorial independence.

The NCAC’s document Museum Best Practices for Managing Controversy, officially endorsed by CIMAM last year, is an excellent guide for all museum and gallery staff committed to supporting artists in presenting work that deals with difficult issues in the context of the new reality of social media which can inflame public opinion and lead to threats of violence against staff.

How to manage polemical contents and how to deal with the challenges that museum professionals face when controversy arises is one of the topics that will be addressed in the workshop session during the CIMAM 2019 Annual Conference that will be held in Sydney, Australia on 15–17 November, hosted by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.