The Hood Museum of Art, like many art museums around the world, is wrestling with how best to achieve diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion in the galleries. In previous letters, I've addressed the ways these goals can inform our relationships with the various communities visiting the galleries and the museum staff whose work makes our displays and programs possible. Now, I want to recognize that the changes in what we exhibit also reflect an evolving value system and to note that we need to strive for balance, even in a corrective moment.
Museum work is not a zero-sum enterprise, or at least it does not need to be. We at the Hood Museum are trying to avoid the dilemma of what to have on permanent display—which carries the weight of making a seemingly definitive statement about art and history—by avoiding permanence altogether. Anyone following the Hood closely will recognize the frequency with which we change our galleries. This work keeps our staff busy researching new stories and configurations that include a wider selection of the collection. It also disrupts several traditional conceptions of what deserves to be displayed and how.
Museum work is not a zero-sum enterprise, or at least it does not need to be. We at the Hood Museum are trying to avoid the dilemma of what to have on permanent display—which carries the weight of making a seemingly definitive statement about art and history—by avoiding permanence altogether. Anyone following the Hood closely will recognize the frequency with which we change our galleries. This work keeps our staff busy researching new stories and configurations that include a wider selection of the collection. It also disrupts several traditional conceptions of what deserves to be displayed and how.
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