Since the rise of the public museum in the 19th century, cultural institutions have been sites of emancipatory practices. Enlightenment was the agenda from the beginning. Yet the very same museums that claimed an emancipatory agenda constructed a rather homogenous, Western, male-dominated canon that excluded historically maginalized peoples.
Today, this grand narrative is fading. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, cultural institutions, like CIVA, face the challenge of deconstructing their canon and opening up to under-represented discussions on gender, race, sexual preference, and the non-human.
With contributions by Juan Perez Amaya & Felix Beytout / Jacques Hondelatte, Aristide Antonas, Alexander Auris, BC, Bicoli Club, BLURBS - Generative Writing Club, Anne Dessing, Raphaël Julien Saint Amand, Leong Leong and Killefer Flammang Architects, Mothers & Daughters (Alice Versieux, Ben Pigeard-Benazera, Byrthe Lemmens, Claire Gilder, Jessica Gysel, Joëlle Sambi Nzeba, Katja Mater, Marnie Slater, Mia Melvær, Misha Verdonck, Nyira Hens, Robin Brettar), Pedro Pitarch, Selma Robert / Akarova, Vera Sacchetti, Studio Ossidiana (Alessandra Covini, Giovanni Bellotti), Apolline Vranken / Simone Guillissen-Hoa, Whanganui River, Women Cave Collective.
