Encoding and decoding a postcolonial constellation. Challenges for the national museum of Colombia

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

The Colombian mnemonic landscape constantly shifts, adjusting to local demands and transnational tropes and devices. In Colombia, many museums and exhibitions are places that bring to light the diverse mosaic of history and, especially, the legacies of more than four decades of armed conflict that has left millions of victims. Building on Rivera Cusicanqui’s thoughts on decoloniality and applying Hall’s encoding/decoding model, we examine how current decolonial conceptions of history as “heterogeneous historico-structural nodes” (Mignolo) have manifested in the Colombian National Museum practice. Based on our experience as curator, educator, and visitor, and paying particular attention to visual and other sensory aspects, we critically engage with current scriptwriting and the idea of the inclusive and transformative museum. We argue that this museum was pioneering new curatorial practices that questioned linear narratives of history, and offers critical, inclusive and fragmented narratives as well as multiple interpretative spaces around objects.