• How does one represent Africa in an art museum?
• What does an exhibition of African art tell us about Africa?
• What does it tell us about ourselves and what we know about Africa?
• How does exhibiting objects from Africa in an art museum shape our perceptions of the continent?
• Is exhibiting African art any different than exhibiting art from other parts of the world?

The title of the course—Black Art, White Cube—refers to the common practice of displaying African art in the visually sterile environment of the modern art museum. It begs the question, what are the implications of exhibiting objects associated with Africa in such a setting? Black Art, White Cube offers students an exceptional opportunity to critique past and current exhibitions of African art, study how visitors to art museums understand Africa, and design a future exhibition of African art for the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA).

Black Art, White Cube considers the theory and practice of exhibiting African art, thinking critically about how one represents a continent in a museum of art. Woven into this experience is an introduction to the history of exhibiting African art over the last 100 years; considering the social, political and aesthetic dynamics that have shaped how this art has been presented in galleries and museums in North America and elsewhere in the world. Course activities include reading and talking about African art and curatorial practice, critiquing the African gallery in UMMA, and conducting visitor studies to learn what people know and don't know about Africa. The Curator for Africa at UMMA is beginning to think about a new installation in the museum's African gallery. Students will work with her to develop new strategies for exhibiting the museum's African art collection.

HISTART Concentration Distributions: B. Sub-Saharan Africa, 4. Modern and Contemporary.

Museum Studies Minor Elective Category: Institutions