Museums in Dispute: Artificial Intelligence, Digital Culture, and Critical Curation

Museums in Dispute: Artificial Intelligence, Digital Culture, and Critical Curation analyzes contemporary debates in the museum field through the lens of tensions between technology, digital culture, and political and epistemological disputes. Structured in three parts, the article develops a critic...

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Main Author: Priscila Arantes
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-06-01
Series:Arts
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/14/3/65
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author Priscila Arantes
author_facet Priscila Arantes
author_sort Priscila Arantes
collection DOAJ
description Museums in Dispute: Artificial Intelligence, Digital Culture, and Critical Curation analyzes contemporary debates in the museum field through the lens of tensions between technology, digital culture, and political and epistemological disputes. Structured in three parts, the article develops a critical approach that, in the first section, revisits critiques of the modernist museum model, highlighting how discourses from New Museology, institutional critique, and decolonial perspectives challenge the idea of neutral, universal, and Eurocentric museums. The second part explores the shift from temple-like museums to interface-museums, focusing on the analysis of practices such as digitization, immersive exhibitions, and gamification. It argues that while these technologies may expand access, their uncritical use can reproduce inequalities and render plural and inclusive narratives invisible. The third part addresses the emergence of hyperconnected museums and the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in curatorial, mediating, and reconstructive processes, analyzing collaborative and artistic projects such as Demonumenta and Curationist that critically reinterpret collections. Throughout the article, the concept of meta-algorithmic curation is developed, which is understood as a practice that makes algorithms visible, open to critique, and reconfigurable as cultural and political devices. Methodologically, the article combines critical theoretical review with analysis of institutional and artistic case studies, highlighting practices that appropriate the supposed neutrality of data to develop a critical pesrpective and advocate for more inclusive, distributed, and politically engaged curatorial narratives.
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spelling doaj-art-0e042ba5dc204fb2a7e0fea2f970b45f2025-08-20T03:26:15ZengMDPI AGArts2076-07522025-06-011436510.3390/arts14030065Museums in Dispute: Artificial Intelligence, Digital Culture, and Critical CurationPriscila Arantes0Pontifical Catholic University, São Paulo 05014-901, BrazilMuseums in Dispute: Artificial Intelligence, Digital Culture, and Critical Curation analyzes contemporary debates in the museum field through the lens of tensions between technology, digital culture, and political and epistemological disputes. Structured in three parts, the article develops a critical approach that, in the first section, revisits critiques of the modernist museum model, highlighting how discourses from New Museology, institutional critique, and decolonial perspectives challenge the idea of neutral, universal, and Eurocentric museums. The second part explores the shift from temple-like museums to interface-museums, focusing on the analysis of practices such as digitization, immersive exhibitions, and gamification. It argues that while these technologies may expand access, their uncritical use can reproduce inequalities and render plural and inclusive narratives invisible. The third part addresses the emergence of hyperconnected museums and the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in curatorial, mediating, and reconstructive processes, analyzing collaborative and artistic projects such as Demonumenta and Curationist that critically reinterpret collections. Throughout the article, the concept of meta-algorithmic curation is developed, which is understood as a practice that makes algorithms visible, open to critique, and reconfigurable as cultural and political devices. Methodologically, the article combines critical theoretical review with analysis of institutional and artistic case studies, highlighting practices that appropriate the supposed neutrality of data to develop a critical pesrpective and advocate for more inclusive, distributed, and politically engaged curatorial narratives.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/14/3/65critical museologyartificial intelligencedigital culturedata colonialismmeta-algorithmic curation
spellingShingle Priscila Arantes
Museums in Dispute: Artificial Intelligence, Digital Culture, and Critical Curation
Arts
critical museology
artificial intelligence
digital culture
data colonialism
meta-algorithmic curation
title Museums in Dispute: Artificial Intelligence, Digital Culture, and Critical Curation
title_full Museums in Dispute: Artificial Intelligence, Digital Culture, and Critical Curation
title_fullStr Museums in Dispute: Artificial Intelligence, Digital Culture, and Critical Curation
title_full_unstemmed Museums in Dispute: Artificial Intelligence, Digital Culture, and Critical Curation
title_short Museums in Dispute: Artificial Intelligence, Digital Culture, and Critical Curation
title_sort museums in dispute artificial intelligence digital culture and critical curation
topic critical museology
artificial intelligence
digital culture
data colonialism
meta-algorithmic curation
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/14/3/65
work_keys_str_mv AT priscilaarantes museumsindisputeartificialintelligencedigitalcultureandcriticalcuration