Practices of curation and collection have characterised societies across the globe throughout human history.
These practices include forms of archaeological, aesthetic and antiquarian exploration, the accumulation of material wealth such as precious metals or objects, the pursuit of unique and/or exotic items, as well as the collection of cultural knowledge in the form of scientific, artistic or technological expertise, specimens and resources. Although the collection and curation of material items are often regarded as separate from the accumulation of wealth, in reality these practices uphold inequalities of wealth and power. They have often been based on coercion and colonialism. Collected objects and things illuminate the ways that peoples and societies value particular forms of production and materiality, revealing the local and long-distance human relationships that underlie curated collections.
This symposium brings together scholars, curators and creative practitioners from across the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, and from museums and galleries, to explore practices of curation and collecting as a rich and complex window into past and present systems of value.
Panels comprising presentations and discussion are interspersed by keynote lectures from invited speakers Dr Robbie Richardson (Princeton University) and Dr Saskia Willaert (Musée des Instruments de Musique, Brussels).
