Museums and Civic Dialogue features exhibition projects that demonstrate how three museums have functioned as provocative and effective forums for civic dialogue. Focusing on contemporary and conceptual works of art as well as historic images, the projects highlight new and adapted approaches to curatorial practice, interpretation, and education prompted by civic intention. The case studies also offer insights regarding institutional challenges and changes in practice that necessarily occurred. Through Gene(sis): Contemporary Art Explores Human Genomics, Henry Art Gallery employed the power of art to provoke dialogue about new developments in the science of human genomics. The Jewish Museum’s Mirroring Evil: Nazi Imagery/Recent Art exhibition featured images incorporating Nazi perpetrators as a springboard for dialogue about complicity and complacency toward evil in today’s society. The Andy Warhol Museum’s Without Sanctuary Project engaged regional audiences in dialogue about race and bigotry through an extensive project centered around 19th and 20th century photos and postcards illustrating lynching in the United States.

Museums and Civic Dialogue features exhibition projects that demonstrate how three museums have functioned as provocative and effective forums for civic dialogue. Focusing on contemporary and conceptual works of art as well as historic images, the projects highlight new and adapted approaches to curatorial practice, interpretation, and education prompted by civic intention. The case studies also offer insights regarding institutional challenges and changes in practice that necessarily occurred. Through Gene(sis): Contemporary Art Explores Human Genomics, Henry Art Gallery employed the power of art to provoke dialogue about new developments in the science of human genomics. The Jewish Museum’s Mirroring Evil: Nazi Imagery/Recent Art exhibition featured images incorporating Nazi perpetrators as a springboard for dialogue about complicity and complacency toward evil in today’s society. The Andy Warhol Museum’s Without Sanctuary Project engaged regional audiences in dialogue about race and bigotry through an extensive project centered around 19th and 20th century photos and postcards illustrating lynching in the United States.