Art talk BeLonging: Michael Barrett

As part of Art Initiative´s collaboration with Medelhavsmuseet in the ongoing exhibition BeLonging: Michael Rakowitz and the Mesopotamian Collection, we have invited Michael Barrett – curator of the African collections at Världskulturmuseerna – to give an art talk on "The Museums of World Culture and Contemporary Art" on November 20, lunchtime in The Cabinet Room.

Start time: 2024-11-20 at 12:15

End time: 2024-11-20 at 13:00

Location: The Cabinet Room

Michael Barrett outside the Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm. Photo: Lola Akinmade Åkerström.

(A wrap will be there.)

The collections from the African continent at the National Museums of World Culture were mainly brought to Sweden in the colonial period, in the 19^th and first half of the 20^th centuries. The legacy of colonial extraction is not unproblematic and brings with it a multitude of questions around ownership, power, and representation. How does the museum handle this legacy and how do contemporary artists contribute to a deeper understanding of our common past?

Drawing on examples from the Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm, the talk demonstrates how artists critically activate and engage with colonial collections and how artistic methods may forge new relationships between the museum and global stakeholders.

Michael Barrett is an anthropologist, researcher, and curator of the African collections at the National Museums of World Culture (NMWC) in Sweden. His current research focus is on the colonial history of the collections as well as on the representation of Africa and people of African descent in museums in past, present, and future Sweden. Recent curatorial work includes Ongoing Africa (2017–2024), a project which critically examines the vast collections from the African continent at the NMWC through collaborations, research, exhibitions, and public programs.

Artist Diana Agunbiade Kolawole working in the storage of the Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm. Photo: Michael Barrett

Art Initiative