Museums love to ask how they might draw in marginalized groups, but their answers rarely rewrite the rules—they recirculate the same frameworks, protecting comfort zones without shifting power. It’s time to question who benefits and who gets left outside the door.
The Limits of Inclusive Campaigns
When cultural institutions like the Rijksmuseum pose questions such as, “If you could hide in a painting, which painting would you choose?”, they push established mindsets—not solution-driven thinking. This is far from a true paradigm shift; it’s a rehash of Eurocentric models that run through most museums, galleries, and cultural spaces managed by white men and a handful of women. The intention might be engagement, but the execution is exclusion in disguise.
Visibility Isn’t Real Participation
Leaders seldom ask: who gets seen, whose stories take center stage, and who remains at the margins? Inviting marginalized groups—Black creatives, people of color, and those excluded by the dominant lens—to “hide” in art doesn’t challenge the status quo. It asks them to perform at a distance, adapt their narrative, and shrink themselves to fit normative expectations in art and history. This isn’t bridge-building. It’s keeping the margins alive through code-switching and self-erasure.
Power, Economics, and Museum Structures
Solution-oriented thinking interrogates who holds power. Marginalized artists, directors, and creatives who master code-switching and multilingual fluency navigate systems with a resilience and flexibility museum management struggles to even recognize. These individuals create strategies for visibility and worth against the odds, often denied both recognition and resources. Meanwhile, museums tout diversity policies that rarely challenge existing economic structures or disrupt who gets paid and whose stories are valuable.
Paradigm Shift or Performance?
If museums want real change, they need to stop asking audiences to adapt, perform, or slide into predefined roles. True transformation means openly reflecting on organizational privilege, breaking internal hierarchies, and making space for leaders whose experience lies outside the dominant narrative. Without a shift in how European-centric leadership centers marginalized voices in creation, curation, and economic impact, inclusion strategies are just surface polish—an easy way to filter feedback through familiar comfort, not through genuine dialogue.
- For a deeper look at power and new leadership structures in the arts, see MCJ Studio’s next-gen leadership insights.
- Read how even American museums struggle with representation in Studio Museum in Harlem’s case study.
Building genuine participation demands more than campaigns—it asks for structural change. Want sharper strategy for your practice or institution? Get in touch at MCJ Studio.
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