Collection Rebellion
Visual by John Zhang, 2021
I believe that nature disconnection is largely responsible for our collective inertia in response to climate change; it still feels abstract to many and the colonial concept that nature is something separate to us to be tamed, consumed, divided and conquered dominates our collective values. So, when I was approached to develop a COP26 workshop for one of the oldest natural history museums in the UK, I wanted to explore both the tangible and conceptual changes needed to shake up the field of museology, if it is ever to become a sector that can activate and empower the public to engage directly with the crisis.
How do museums of natural history support colonial, capitalist mindsets of viewing the world as something to be collected, catalogued, categorised, owned, kept under lock and key? How do the majority of the stories they tell prevent us from accessing richer, fuller, more vibrant understandings of the world’s natural history and therefore find greater empathy towards and connection with species now most at risk from climate change? What stories are missing, and which of those are forever lost to time? What stories we can bring into the museum space today?
Those are some of the questions that guided the development of the Collection Rebellion workshop, which took place inside the Grant Museum of Zoology during COP26 for UCL students and staff. The concept was sparked by architect and academic John Zhang’s British Museum of Decolonised Nature, created for the ‘Reimagining Museums for Climate Action’ competition. This project asked designers, architects, academics, artists, poets, philosophers, writers, museum professionals, Indigenous groups, community groups and the public at large to radically (re)imagine and (re)design the museum as an institution, to help bring about more equitable and sustainable futures in the climate change era. There were some truly inspiring entries; you can view the online exhibition here.
John and I developed the Collection Rebellion workshop together to shine a light on the power structures existing between visitors and the once-living beings on display. Architectural models of the museum allowed us to deconstruct and reconstruct the way in which we physically move around the space and embodied drawing exercises guided the group to explore alternative ways of relating to the specimens on display. We considered known unknowns, whose voices and perspectives are missing from the museum’s interpretation and how their reinsertion could change the way we engage as visitors. And we explored the physical, intellectual and emotional barriers that prevent us from feeling strongly connected to the specimens, considering through experiments with mark-making how curating with an ecocentric and decolonial gaze could support visitors to understand themselves as part of nature.
That afternoon we rewilded the museum, reimagined its architecture and rewrote its interpretation. It was such a fascinating opportunity to return to my background of working in museums with my artist hat on and I found the session energising and full of hope, particularly thanks to the participants’ creativity and conversations, rich with innovative ideas and intention. Thank you to Grant Museum staff for the generosity of their time and knowledge.
All workshop photographs are credited to David Tett.
