Mounting Frustration: The Art Museum in the Age of Black Power

Mounting Frustration: The Art Museum in the Age of Black Power    
by Susan E. Cahan

Mounting Frustration

1.  In the Introduction, Cahan asserts that "Museums exist within a self-perpetuating system of mutually reinforcing judgments that create informal consensus about the relative importance of a given artist or group of artists." Do you agree with this statement?  If so, do you believe this has changed over time?  Why or why not?

2.  Lowery Stokes Sims said that "The reaction against Harlem on My Mind is comparable to Woodstock, the March on Washington, all these large manifestations that really gave people an inkling of their entitlement and their ability to make change within institutions." Provide some examples of current social/cultural movements on a similar scale.

3.  Explain decentralization in the context of cultural organizations and civil rights. Can you think of an example of decentralization from another book we've read? 

4.  Why was the Harlem on My Mind exhibition seen as a failure?

5.  Answer the following questions related to the Contemporary Black Artists in America exhibition.  "Was it acceptable for a white curator to organize the show, or would a black curator or cocurator have brought a more informed perspective?  Was the exhibition 'socially driven' or conceived for 'aesthetic' reasons?  What types of compromises were and were not acceptable to the artists approached for inclusion?  What were the trade-offs for agreeing or refusing to participate in a racially defined exhibition?"

6.  Cahan states that "Definitions of group identity are empowering when self-generated, but limiting when imposed by others."  What does she mean by this statement.  Do you agree?

7.  "Is there such a thing as race-neutral decision making?  And, if so, how are we to know when a decision reflects conscious discrimination, when it reflects unconscious discrimination, and when it is a truly nondiscriminatory case of race-neutral thinking?"

8.  According to Cahan, "The power to select, frame a point of view, and contextualize an object to produce meaning was just as important in influencing how that work would be read as the inherent qualities of the work itself."  What does this mean in relation to the role of the curator?

9.  "How can museums evolve responsibly in the stories they tell themselves about who they are and why they exist?  Are museums willing to defect, and in the words of art historian Leo Steinberg, 'depart into strange territories leaving the old stand-by criteria' behind?  How does the project of creating institutional identities square with the writing of art's histories in all their complexity and range?" 

10.  The AWC (Art Workers' Coalition) declared that "The differentness of other Americans is recorded and preserved in the art of their group; their children and our children see it, and this fosters identification and a sense of worthwhileness.  Our children and we ourselves are entitled to this same identification, respect, and sense of worthwhileness enjoyed by others.  The public vehicle for helping to sustain and encourage all of this is the museum." Do you believe that museums have risen to this challenge?  Explain some ways that museums and cultural organizations are or are not responding to this need.