Por um “arquivo vivo”: uma abordagem decolonial à coleção do Centro de Arte Moderna da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian

This article aims to situate the importance of the archive in the decolonization of museums and their collections through technological, discursive and museological perspectives. Taking the Modern Art Centre (CAM) collection of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (FCG, Lisbon) as a case-study and Gul...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Filipa Coimbra
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidade de Évora 2023-07-01
Series:Midas: Museus e Estudos Interdisciplinares
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/midas/4299
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1846131921835261952
author Filipa Coimbra
author_facet Filipa Coimbra
author_sort Filipa Coimbra
collection DOAJ
description This article aims to situate the importance of the archive in the decolonization of museums and their collections through technological, discursive and museological perspectives. Taking the Modern Art Centre (CAM) collection of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (FCG, Lisbon) as a case-study and Gulbenkian archives as a resource, the development of CAM’s collection during the final stage of the Portuguese colonial empire will be examined. To this end, I draw on unpublished data about the acquisition of two sets of artworks acquired in Mozambique and Angola by then Foundation's chairman, José de Azeredo Perdigão (1896-1993). These acquisitions occurred in the context of his official journey to these two African territories in 1963, which were under Portuguese colonial rule at the time. I will analyse the collecting processes of these artworks, by questioning their absence from the collection, institutional narrative and exhibitions. In the context of the collection's and the institution's histories, issues such as the autonomy and neutrality of the FCG vis-à-vis the Portuguese dictatorship (and its colonial policy) will also be under review. In this way and framed in the recent focus on collections and the responsibility of museums in recognizing persistent historical omissions, I will seek to highlight a poorly known (and problematic) period in the history of one of the most important modern and contemporary art collections in Portugal, in contrast with the period after its musealization, in 1983.
format Article
id doaj-art-0a8e60b58ad542ed8766d66aa87bbf77
institution Kabale University
issn 2182-9543
language English
publishDate 2023-07-01
publisher Universidade de Évora
record_format Article
series Midas: Museus e Estudos Interdisciplinares
spelling doaj-art-0a8e60b58ad542ed8766d66aa87bbf772024-12-09T15:19:00ZengUniversidade de ÉvoraMidas: Museus e Estudos Interdisciplinares2182-95432023-07-011610.4000/midas.4299Por um “arquivo vivo”: uma abordagem decolonial à coleção do Centro de Arte Moderna da Fundação Calouste GulbenkianFilipa CoimbraThis article aims to situate the importance of the archive in the decolonization of museums and their collections through technological, discursive and museological perspectives. Taking the Modern Art Centre (CAM) collection of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (FCG, Lisbon) as a case-study and Gulbenkian archives as a resource, the development of CAM’s collection during the final stage of the Portuguese colonial empire will be examined. To this end, I draw on unpublished data about the acquisition of two sets of artworks acquired in Mozambique and Angola by then Foundation's chairman, José de Azeredo Perdigão (1896-1993). These acquisitions occurred in the context of his official journey to these two African territories in 1963, which were under Portuguese colonial rule at the time. I will analyse the collecting processes of these artworks, by questioning their absence from the collection, institutional narrative and exhibitions. In the context of the collection's and the institution's histories, issues such as the autonomy and neutrality of the FCG vis-à-vis the Portuguese dictatorship (and its colonial policy) will also be under review. In this way and framed in the recent focus on collections and the responsibility of museums in recognizing persistent historical omissions, I will seek to highlight a poorly known (and problematic) period in the history of one of the most important modern and contemporary art collections in Portugal, in contrast with the period after its musealization, in 1983.https://journals.openedition.org/midas/4299Portuguese dictatorshippostcolonialismcollecting policycontemporary art collectionCentro de Arte Moderna – Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian
spellingShingle Filipa Coimbra
Por um “arquivo vivo”: uma abordagem decolonial à coleção do Centro de Arte Moderna da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian
Midas: Museus e Estudos Interdisciplinares
Portuguese dictatorship
postcolonialism
collecting policy
contemporary art collection
Centro de Arte Moderna – Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian
title Por um “arquivo vivo”: uma abordagem decolonial à coleção do Centro de Arte Moderna da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian
title_full Por um “arquivo vivo”: uma abordagem decolonial à coleção do Centro de Arte Moderna da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian
title_fullStr Por um “arquivo vivo”: uma abordagem decolonial à coleção do Centro de Arte Moderna da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian
title_full_unstemmed Por um “arquivo vivo”: uma abordagem decolonial à coleção do Centro de Arte Moderna da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian
title_short Por um “arquivo vivo”: uma abordagem decolonial à coleção do Centro de Arte Moderna da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian
title_sort por um arquivo vivo uma abordagem decolonial a colecao do centro de arte moderna da fundacao calouste gulbenkian
topic Portuguese dictatorship
postcolonialism
collecting policy
contemporary art collection
Centro de Arte Moderna – Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian
url https://journals.openedition.org/midas/4299
work_keys_str_mv AT filipacoimbra porumarquivovivoumaabordagemdecolonialacolecaodocentrodeartemodernadafundacaocaloustegulbenkian