Today, however, they frequently represent new interests, and pressure groups mobilize either to force their own perspective upon museum walls, or to prevent opposing opinions from being expressed. Some of these exhibitions challenged standard narratives, while others were faulted for failing to do so. It's no exaggeration to claim that history and revisionism are central motifs of the 1990s, on both personal and social levels. Thus, the timing of any exhibition is crucial. Nor are they simply vanity sites, tributes to wealth, power, or the self -congratulations of mankind lording over other animal species or of one race of humans reigning over another.
Museums are noisy, contentious, and extremely vital places.
Steven C. Dubin directs the Media, Society and Arts Program at Purchase College, State University of New York.