Alice Procter, historian of material culture based at UCL and founder of Uncomfortable Art Tours, will lead a workshop on the opening day of our inaugural symposium in September: The New Museum Paradigm: Shifting Representations of Empire at Museums and Art Galleries in the UK.
The symposium marks the inauguration of a new postgraduate network which aims to explore new research concerning representations of empire, colonialism, and slavery at art galleries, museums, and heritage sites globally.
Alice Procter started her Uncomfortable Art Tours in 2017 as part of the Antiuniversity Now festival. Uncomfortable Art Tours ‘focus on how major institutions came into being against a backdrop of imperialism. On each tour, we unravel the role colonialism played in shaping and funding a major national collection, looking at the broader material history of celebrated works: where the money comes from, the ways they’ve been displayed, and the ideological aesthetics at work. The history of British art is also the history of empire and genocide, written by collectors who traded in landscapes and lives.’
Alice also promotes ‘display it like you stole it’ a critical call for museums to rethink the politics of display in their museums, focusing on critical questions around labelling, ownership, dissent, and authorial voice, who is included and who is excluded.
The team at the PHRG are thrilled to welcome Alice to the Symposium, with her wealth of experience in both of hands-on intervention and academic research into new modes of dissenting narrative in museum spaces.
The deadline for abstracts has been extended to the 30th of June 2019. Please E-mail abstracts to postcolonialheriateg2019@gmail.com Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words. Please include a short bio of no more than 150 words, along with your university affiliation. For more information please visit the call for papers on our website: https://phrg2019.home.blog/2019/05/09/cfp-the-new-museum-paradigm-shifting-representations-of-empire-at-museums-and-art-galleries-in-the-uk/
Alice Procter in the press:
Alice Procter (The Exhibitionist) on Tipu’s Tiger – Object Lessons Space, 01.02.2019
Unwrapping the Egyptian Mummy – Words To That Effect, 28.01.2019
Penguin Sex and Stolen Artifacts: Museum Tours Through a New Lens – New York TImes, Alex Marshall 17.01.2019
‘Not everything was looted’ – The Guardian, Haroon Siddique 12.10.2018
Alternative museum tours explore colonial loot, biased narratives – Al Jazeera, Aditya Iyer 16.09.2018
This London student is forcing the West to accept the uncomfortable truth behind Britain’s colonial art acquisitions – Elle India, Neville Bhandara 13.07.2018
Une jeune Britannique veut montrer la part d’ombre des grands portraits de nos musées – L’ADN, Margaux Dussert 2.5.2018
Slaver! Invader! The tour guide who tells the ugly truth about museum portraits – The Guardian, Bridget Minamore 24.4.2018
Museums are hiding their imperial pasts – which is why my tours are needed – The Guardian, Alice Procter 23.4.2018
Postcolonial Heritage Research Group 