ARHI 178 PZ -The Museum in Society

Institution: Pitzer College

Description: Museums are powerful cultural institutions that shape public memory, transmit values, and negotiate politics, despite arguments for their neutrality. This course explores the art museum as a civic project, contested site, and a lens onto urgent social and political debates. We begin with the history of the art museums-their architecture, missions, and imagined audiences-before looking at contemporary debates around access, representation, censorship, protest, and institutional accountability. Students will visit college museums and galleries, read key critical texts, and engage with artists and curators who have challenged and reimagined the museum space.