Abstract
This article suggests museum theory and practice needs to shift its ideological foundation from storage, preservation, restoration, exhibition making, and learning, to one of radical care. Responding to the questions posed by the Journal of Social Theory in Art Education and drawing focus around the theme of (re)activating theory to envision an alternative educational model, I engage with Dana Carlisle Kletchka’s (2023) introduction of care ethics to art museum education. I suggest that care ethics, as a growing theory in museums, is interdisciplinary and should include contemplative scholarship and practices to embody its guiding tenants. I then take up Kletchka’s provocation for museum educators to reflect on their guiding frameworks through two approaches, first, a contemplative arts-based inquiry, followed by applying contemplative practices to a museum program. By building care skills, contemplative practices can be applied not only to cultivate personal well-being, but also the well-being of museum staff and the communities they serve.
Included in
Art Education Commons, Art Practice Commons, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons
