Laying the Groundwork for the Contemporary Turn in Historical Collections

Cross-pollination of contemporary artworks and museum historical collections has become increasingly standard, especially since the 1970-80s heralding of institutional critique by Fred Wilson, Hans Haacke, Andrea Fraser, and others. Hybridized installations may fall into what Claire Bishop has described as “museums draw[ing] upon the widest range of artifacts to situate art’s relationship to particular histories with universal relevance.” Yet the trend (or expectation) has been under-contextualized in regard to historicization, that is, by situating the practice at the conjunction of art history and museum practice.

At a fall 2025 workshop at Vanderbilt University, Positioning the Contemporary in University Historical Collections, curators from university museums and galleries in the US, UK, and Europe shared perspectives and strategies from the vantage point of our particular peer network. This panel extends the project by inviting case studies of integrations of contemporary artwork in historical galleries at any type of museum. We view “historical” and “contemporary” as relational and shifting, with respect to their definitions across geographies, subfields, and curatorial departments, and this panel will probe the use of these terms. Similarly, we position “museum” as irrespective of size, scope, location, or departmental composition, but seek to expand upon the project’s initiation in the context of academic institutions.