Françoise Vergès

In her book "Programme de désordre absolu. Décoloniser le musée" (La Fabrique, March 2023), Françoise Vergès argues that the decolonization of Western museums is an impossible task. According to her, achieving decolonization would require substantial upheavals that challenge the very foundations, functioning, structure, mission, and objectives of museums. In her book "De la violence coloniale dans l'espace public. Visite du triangle de la Porte Dorée à Paris" (Shed Publishing, 2022), she visits the Porte Dorée in Paris, where she encounters a "colonial triangle" composed of three monuments that encapsulate the colonial, cultural, economic, racial, and political history of France. This triangle includes the building of the National Museum of the History of Immigration, formerly known as the Colonial Museum, which was inaugurated during the Colonial Exhibition of 1931. The museum's extensive bas-relief depicts the extractivist economy built on slavery and forced labor in the colonies.

The talk will be followed by a conversation between Françoise Vergès and Ayoko Mensah, curator and consultant.