Paper Short Abstract:

We examine the transformative potential of art and art museums through an exhibition case study that contributed to unwriting the museum's existing institutional practices and exemplified the transformative potential that engaging with difficult heritage through art can have on a societal level.

Paper Abstract:

This paper examines the transformative potential of art and art museums through a case study of a Palestinian-Danish artist, Larissa Sansour’s exhibition at Amos Rex, Helsinki, Finland, from 9.10.2024 to 2.3.2025. We propose that the exhibition produced two shifts that contributed to unwriting the existing institutional practices of the museum and exemplified the transformative potential that engaging difficult heritage through art can have on a societal level. The exhibition produced a shift in the agency of Amos Rex as an individual museum. Although the planning process for the Sansour exhibition started in 2022, the intensification of the Israel-Palestinian conflict in October 2023 forced the museum to revisit its internal policies and learn ways to be comfortable with discussing difficult and divisive topics. Another shift was produced on a more societal level. We argue that both the strategies chosen by the museums and the imaginative, future-oriented and emotional tone of Sansour’s art enabled museum visitors to reflect on the conflict from a more personal and open-ended perspective.

Drawing on interviews with the museum director, curators and educators, our case study presents how museums can seek to navigate their role in a changing political and cultural landscape. Based on the analysis of the exhibition and visitor interviews, the research also exemplifies art exhibitions’ potential to create transformative cognitive ruptures by focusing on uncomfortable topics.