A leading activist museum director explains why museums are at the center of a political storm and how they can be reimagined

In an age of protest, cultural institutions have come under fire. Protestors have mobilized against sources of museum funding, as happened at the Metropolitan Museum, and against board appointments, forcing tear gas manufacturer Warren Kanders to resign at the Whitney. That is to say nothing of demonstrations against exhibitions and artworks. Protests have roiled institutions across the world, from the Abu Dhabi Guggenheim to the Akron Art Museum. A popular expectation has grown that galleries and museums should work for social change.

As Director of the Queens Museum, Laura Raicovich helped turn that New York muni- cipal institution into a public commons for art and activism, organizing high-powered exhibitions that doubled as political protests. Then in January 2018, she resigned, after a dispute with the Queens Museum board and city officials. This public controversy followed the museum’s responses to Donald Trump’s election, including her objections to the Israeli government using the museum for an event featuring Vice President Mike Pence.

In this lucid and accessible book, Raicovich examines some of the key museum flashpoints and provides historical context for the current controversies. She shows how art museums arose as colonial institutions bearing an ideology of neutrality that masks their role in upholding conservative, capitalist values. And she suggests ways museums can be reinvented to serve better, public ends.

一位领先的活动家博物馆馆长解释了为什么博物馆处于政治风暴的中心，以及如何对其进行重新规划

在一个抗议的时代，文化机构受到了攻击。抗议者动员起来反对博物馆的资金来源，如发生在大都会博物馆的情况，以及反对董事会的任命，迫使惠特尼博物馆的催泪瓦斯制造商Warren Kanders辞职。更不用说针对展览和艺术作品的示威活动了。从阿布扎比古根海姆到阿克伦艺术博物馆，抗议活动已经搅乱了世界各地的机构。人们对画廊和博物馆应致力于社会变革的期望越来越高。

作为皇后区博物馆的馆长，劳拉-雷科维奇帮助把这个纽约市的机构变成了一个艺术和活动的公共场所，组织了强大的展览，并将其作为政治抗议活动。然后在2018年1月，在与皇后区博物馆董事会和市政府官员发生争执后，她辞职了。这场公开的争议是在博物馆对唐纳德-特朗普的选举作出反应之后发生的，包括她反对以色列政府利用博物馆举办副总统迈克-彭斯的活动。

在这本清晰易懂的书中，Raicovich研究了一些关键的博物馆热点，并为当前的争议提供了历史背景。她展示了艺术博物馆是如何作为殖民机构出现的，它带有一种中立的意识形态，掩盖了它们在维护保守的资本主义价值观方面的作用。她建议如何重塑博物馆以服务于更好的公共目的。