The 27th International Committee Of Museums (ICOM) General conference was held in Dubai from November 11-17 this year. Key topics were youth, technology, and shaping the future of museums. Opportunities to be with and meet new colleagues are important and I am grateful to have attended. So grateful to have been chosen by IC Ethics (ICOM’s International Committee on Ethical Dilemmas) to speak about Girl Museum and the work we do. Sharing our pro-girl message and taking the mission of girls’ rights and advocacy into the museum space had a positive response. I heard many other interesting talks about ideas and projects that challenged my way of thinking and approaching the world.
However, I also heard and saw things that I cannot get my head around. The setting was so unfamiliar that finding touchstones to relate to were few and far between. The social and financial situation of museums in Dubai is utterly different to 99% of the rest of the world.
There was a lot of talk of embracing AI in all its forms, minimizing the environmental and maximizing the social impact, which I find hard to take. There was a lot of talk about sustainability, while we were sat ensconced in excess and wealth derived from fossil fuels. Many local women told me that I shouldn’t believe what I hear about how things are for them. But this rang a bit hollow when I could see much of the realities for myself.
The fundamental principles of human respect and rights at the core of museum practice seemed contradicted by the emphasis on technology, spectacle, and surveillance. Everything was filmed and photographed, compiled and edited into a glossy and dramatic advertisement. Just by being there, we all became unwitting players in a promotional campaign for something many conference participants neither agree with nor stand by.
I am open-minded, but here the slope is slippery. Countries like Dubai showcase how some people matter and others do not. How some people count and should be considered, and others don’t. Some people don’t appear to mind being ruled, being beholden to those whose wealth and power keep you firmly in ‘your place’. Or maybe they do mind and just don’t have the pathways to express it.
This is not to minimize the incredible work by many women in museums and in their communities who are genuinely making things better, if incrementally and even if just for themselves. But this system did not seem interested in making the kinds of progress that most of the world is working towards.
I was lucky to have been surrounded by compatriots, women who were able to support and mitigate, to discuss and divert. This got me through a challenging time when I wanted to cry out.
If you cannot share the work you are doing to advance human rights in a community of your colleagues, then you are not free.
If you cannot share your thoughts without fear of reprisal, then you are not free.
Let’s not go back to that again.
-Ashley E. Remer
Head Girl
Girl Museum