Searching for Contact Zones between the Periphery and Center in mumok’s Collection and Exhibitions, 1998–2018: A Relational Case Between the Photographic Work of Nora Aslan (AR) and Rochelle Costi (BR) and the Museological Framework

Abstract

In the two decades between 1998 and 2018, a decade on either side of the 2008 global economic collapse (Brown 2015, Temin 2010), Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien - mumok acquired the work of two female artists from Latin America who use photography as their expressive medium (mumok 2018, 2019). Artworks in the collections and exhibition programs of museums are responsible for shaping the art historical canon. This is directly reflected in the configuration of a national identity (cf. Bourdieu 1998, Buchholz 2016, Jurt 1998, Steyerl 2011). Cultural studies scholars such as Pierre Bourdieu 2005 and Katrin Hassler 2017 have addressed the systemic underrepresentation of women in the art field. This results in an impoverished, male dominated art historical canon. If art collections and exhibitions play a significant role in nation-building projects, should we not question whether there is a gender imbalance in the construction of national identity through art and culture?

My dissertation examines the representation of female and non-binary (*) visual artists of the Global South at mumok through the acquisition of photographic works of Argentinian artist Nora Aslan (born in Buenos Aires, 1937) and Brazilian artist Rochelle Costi (born in Caxias do Sul, Brazil, 1961- passing in São Paulo, on 26 November 2022). The present study consists in the analysis of the contact zone or encounter of peripheral instances with the center, i.e., the acquisition of artworks from Abya Yala (Latin American) artists by mumok. Mary Louise Pratt defines contact zones as “social spaces where disparate cultures meet, clash and grapple with each other often in highly asymmetrical relations” (Pratt, 1992:4); a two-way struggle, reciprocal, and mutually constituting (cf. ibid). I adopt the center- periphery approach as it helps to rethink power relations in a globalized art world. This approach is the starting point in the search for dynamics of mediation in the art field. Such dynamics are also crucial in the constitution of the Nation-Sate (cf. Buchholz 2016, Steyerl 2011) and I approach them through a post/ and de(s)colonial understanding of the art field (cf. Acha 1993 and 2004 and Buenaventura 2012). I search for a definition of a contact zone between periphery and center that questions the implicit binary logic of the center-periphery conception. My doctoral thesis aims to contribute to the cultural-scientific discourse on the representation of female and non-binary (*) visual artists of the Global South from a subjective-critical perspective, through addressing questions on representation, positioning in the artistic field, and power relations within the museological context. In doing so, the thesis also contributes to debates about loss, mourning (cf. Pollock 1999) and restitution of the denied position for women and non-binary (*) people in the art field.

 Short biography

claudia* sandoval romero is an Austro-Colombian journalist, researcher and transdisciplinary artist. At the heart of sandoval romero’s proposal is a critical reflection on archives and counter-archives, care work and the pursuit of epistemological justice within the contact zones. sandoval romero’s work engages deeply with feminisms (*), horizontal pedagogies and practices of deScoloniality, driven by a commitment to expose power relations and open up spaces for erased voices to be heard. This approach to art is nurtured by the driving force of creating pedagogical spaces of horizontal exchange, contributing to the urgent debates around loss, mourning and restitution for women and non-binary people (*) of the Global South—voices systematically erased from the symbolic, economic and social fields. sandoval romero’s practice spans photography, film/video and research, fusing sociological methods with collective creation.
claudia* sandoval romero holds a Bachelor in Media and Journalism (University of Valle, Colombia), a Master in New Media Art (University of Sao Paulo, Brazil) and a Master in Critical Studies (Academy of Fine Arts Vienna). sandoval romero is currently pursuing her* PhD in the sociology of art at the Academy of Fine Arts, supported by the DOC Scholarship of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) until December 2024 and the Dissertation Completion Fellowship from January to June 2025.