Dissolving orphan collections in the commons

Abstract

she investigates curatorial theory and ethics of within museum collections development. In her work, Marina puts forward different ways to look at art that leads to new forms of engagement with objects. Through extensive curatorial research and collaborations with collecting institutions, she explores the relationships between permanent collections and temporary exhibitions, including display methods that experiment with environmental features. Marina has an MA in curatorial studies from Bard College, USA and a B. Sc. (Honours) in architecture from UFMG, Brazil. Abstract Starting from the alarming fact that nearly 13 percent of museums worldwide, affected by the pandemic crisis, may never reopen their doors (UNESCO, 2020; ICOM, 2020), I speculate on what happens if the orphan items in collections worldwide are dissolved within societies. This is a speculative study based on extensive desktop research on the modes of usage in museum collections management and collections mobility amidst the state of emergency in museums’ environment. In this paper, I explore what a shift toward usership instead of authorship and ownership means to orphan collections. Through feminist theory, I argue that the concepts of usership (Wright, 2007, 2013), ethics of care (Agostinho, 2019), and networks of care (Dekker, 2018) promote an expanded notion of accessibility for the institutions, objects, and stakeholders. Collections have through the centuries been influenced by social and political changes. How the times we live in are going to shape the next moves? The Covid-19 pandemic, energy crisis, and Black Lives Matter protests create momentum for reflection and re-thinking. The conclusions of the study offer perspectives that promote other (new) forms of developing and disseminating collections. They recall freedom, imagine other ways of collecting and estab-lish some fresh ground for the unknown times we face.