How We Are Where We Are, 2024
by Yu-Chen Wang
Tate Modern, The Tanks, London
In collaboration with
Installation: Andro Semeiko
Camera: Chris Keenan
Sound: Capitol K
Resembling a theatre set, this installation highlights the visual tropes used by museums founded in nineteenth-century Britain, a period marked by industrial development, economic progress and imperial expansion. The artist has researched the social relations and power dynamics that shaped institutions in Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and London. Wang focusses on museum spaces, both the physical architecture and intangible systems of collecting and interpreting, and how these museums represent the relationship between art, industry and empire. Moving through the installation, the audience is encouraged to seek new perspectives, reflecting on how we perceive museum collections and narratives.
With thanks to Kate Jesson, Natasha Howes from Manchester Art Gallery
Victoria Osborne, Jo-Ann Curtis from Birmingham Museums
Nicola Selsby-Cunningham, Laurence Westgaph, Fiona Slattery Clark, Adiva Lawrence, Madelyn Walsh from Liverpool Museums
Prof. Kate Nichols from University of Birmingham
Prof. Sadiah Qureshi from University of Manchester
National Cultural and Arts Foundation, Taiwan
Museum x Machine x Me
Practice Research Displays
Explore new work developed during the Transforming Collections Artist Research Residencies
Be immersed in installations exploring how museums collect and care for collections, how people, artworks and objects gain or lose recognition, and the potential role of new technologies in unearthing these stories. Curated by susan pui san lok and Mark Miller, the Museum x Machine x Me programme aims to share some of the practice research insights and findings generated by the 3-year project, Transforming Collections: Reimagining Art, Nation and Heritage, led by the University of the Arts London (UAL) Decolonising Arts Institute and Creative Computing Institute with Tate, and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.