Associate Professor Shelley Silver is screening her film, Girls / Museum, this Friday, April 8 at the Goethe-Institut in New York. After the film, Silver will be in conversation with Brooklyn Museum curator Lisa Small.
The screening will feature Girls / Museum, a 2020 documentary. Taking as its subject the way we are always interpellated into visual media we do not control, the film follows girls ages 7 - 19 as they voyage through the historical art collection of the MdbK/Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig. The thought provoking piece brings to the forefront questions of curation and the male gaze.
According to the film's press release, "Museums are institutions that are entrusted to preserve—they are a repository of highly selective views of history and civilization. The artwork presented under the guise of education and expertise, has, in fact, been historically made, collected, curated and contextualized, by men. There is no lack of depictions of women on display, mothers, wives, prostitutes, artist’s models and muses—contemporary, classical and religious figures are all seen through the eyes of male artists. Taking into account this imbalance, through what lens should this work be viewed today?"