Talk on queer and decolonial curating in museums.

A talk at Birkbeck College about how museums are rethinking the authority behind their exhibitions. Dr Lilian Cameron of the University of Sydney examines wall texts from four recent exhibitions in Australian and UK museums, including Queer British Art at Tate Britain and Unsettled at the Australian Museum. She looks at queer, decolonial and indigenising curatorial approaches that use subjectivity, plurality and transparency to invite contention with institutional authority rather than simply reproduce it. The talk ends by tracing these ideas into permanent collection displays, where object selection and placement stage multivalent encounters with contested histories.