Curatorial Workshop on Museum Interpretation

Sunday, November 1, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

When we encounter works of art in a museum, their labels often give the impression that there’s only one way to interpret them. This might leave you wondering: how do museums determine the stories they tell through their collections?

In this Zoom workshop, Assistant Curator of European and American Art Alexandra Letvin gives a behind-the-scenes view into curatorial decision-making and label writing by focusing on her experimental installation, How can Museum Labels be Antiracist? Most of the session will be spent in small groups, where students will gain practical experience in interpreting art for a general audience. Groups will collaboratively write their own alternative labels for the paintings on view in the installation. At the end of the workshop, students will share their labels with the larger group and discuss how they weighed competing narratives to come up with a final text.

Please register for the event using this google form.

Our hope is that students would be willing to share their labels with the AMAM’s larger audience through our social media channels.