TAKE BACK THE MUSEUM

Parsons School of Design

PGHT 5778

Spring 2025

4:00-5:50pm, Wednesday

Dr. Jonathan Michael Square (squaj264@newschool.edu)

Course Description

"Take Back the Museum" examines exhibitions that highlight the work of artists and designers who have been historically silenced or omitted from dominant narratives. The course will be structured around the analysis of examples of pioneering exhibitions mounted in the past decade or to be mounted in the near future. Case studies will include Anne Lowe: American Couturier, Willi Smith: Street Couture, Posing Modernity: The Black Model from Manet and Matisse to Today, Implicit Tensions: Mapplethorpe Now, among others. Through these case studies, the course will explore how these curatorial projects have countered institutional erasures. Geared towards students invested in the intersection of museum studies and curatorial justice, the course examines how exhibitions are critical to address issues of visibility and invisibility. The course will also directly engage with practitioners via guest speakers and virtual site visits throughout the semester.

Course Objectives/Learning Goals

By the successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

1. Students will learn about the radical potential of the field of curation to affect change.

2. This course has a heavy emphasis on praxis with students being asked to both engage with actual curators and virtual site visits.

3. Students will also be asked to mount their own virtual exhibitions inspired by the course topic or their own curatorial interests. 


Assignments and Grading

Students will be asked to write a review my exhibition Revolisyon Toupatou. The course will also culminate in a proposed exhibition that will have both a written and oral component. Students will be required to curate an virtual exhibition that will include digital images, “wall text,” programming, and a long curatorial statement. They will also be asked to present this exhibition to the class on the last day of the course.

grade breakdown

Class presentation (on the last day of class) 20%

Attendance & participation 20%

Rendering Revolution review 20%

Exhibition proposal 40%

Course Schedule