Artists are often thought of as being "on the margins" of society, partly because most of them struggle to have the value of their work recognized in our capitalist societies. Does being an artist automatically place you outside the dominant discourses and systems? The history of art is full of examples of marginal artists, who were not recognized during their lifetime, and who have since been awarded posthumous fame... And what about the propensity of a certain contemporary art scene to fuel on unknown, underground, rebellious practices?

 

Historically, museums have failed to showcase and collect the work of women artists and artists from a diversity of cultures. Several institutions, including the MAJ, now intend to rectify their approach by exhibiting and acquiring a greater number of works by artists from diverse backgrounds and/or who have historically been under-represented. Today, initiatives of all kinds give more space to the fringes of the arts community (people with mental health problems, people living on the street, the deaf community, the visually impaired community, to name but a few) and to the accessibility issues they raise.

 

For the twelfth week of Quarantined Museum, we invite you to think about the margin. What defines the margin? What defines what is not the margin? Is marginality determined by self-identification or is it done so by the view of others? Does difference automatically mean marginality?