Appropriate Museology with Professor Christina Kreps

Location: MICA Fred Lazarus IV Center, Auditorium, 131 West North Ave, Baltimore, MD, 21201

In partnership with UMBC’s American Studies Department and the Dresher Center for the Humanities, the MFA in Curatorial Practice at MICA* presents a lecture and master class with Professor Christina Kreps (University of Denver) on appropriate museological theory and practice. Based on Kreps’ extensive research on non-Western and indigenous museum models and curatorial methods, which emphasize community-based conceptualizations and techniques for interpreting, curating, disseminating, and caring for material and immaterial culture, participants will have the opportunity to engage with alternative understandings of museum and gallery work. The afternoon master class will focus on the methodologies that are used to ensure collaborative and co-creative museum and gallery projects, bridging theory to student projects based in the Baltimore region.

Bio: Christina Kreps is Associate Professor, Director of Museum and Heritage Studies and the Museum of Anthropology at the University of Denver. For over twenty years, Dr. Kreps has studied museological forms and practices from cross-cultural, comparative, and international perspectives. She has conducted research on museums and been involved in museum development and heritage training programs in Indonesia, Viet Nam, Thailand, and Europe, in addition to the United States. Some of her publications include Liberating Culture: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Museums, Curation, and Heritage Preservation (Routledge 2003) and ‘Intangible Threads: Curating the Living Heritage of Dayak Ikat Weaving’ in Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage, edited by Peter Davis and Michelle Stefano (Boydell & Brewer 2012). She is currently co-editor of the Routledge series, Museum Meanings, with Richard Sandell of Leicester University. Christina was the recipient of the 2013-2014 University of Denver Distinguished Scholar Award.