Curating and the Legacies of Colonialism in Contemporary Iberia

Introduction

Combining postcolonial studies, curating and contemporary art, this book surveys the role played by artistic curatorship and contemporary art museums in the shaping of identities and cultural planning in contemporary Iberia.

Main Hypothesis

The book’s main hypothesis is that contemporary art has been pivotal in the construction of contemporary Iberia, a process marked by the attention paid (in heterogeneous, not always satisfactory ways) to the entanglement of the legacies of colonialism and the present-day status of Iberian territories as cosmopolitan societies now integrated in the European Union.

Curating and Identity

It is argued that, at least from the 1990s, curating emerged as a key activity for Iberian societies to display and configure an image of themselves as modern and fully integrated in the European cultural landscape.

Challenges and Transformations

Such an image, however, had to cope with the legacies of colonialism and the profound socioeconomic transformations of these societies.

Scope of the Book

This book is concerned with bringing together, while redefining and expanding, Iberian and curatorial studies.