Join us for a two-day event that explores new pathways of understanding, displaying, researching, and returning historic collections as we consider the ethics and moral implications of housing and collecting works, especially cultural objects of deep ritual significance or those considered colonial plunder. Presented as an extension of TUAG’s exhibition re:imagining collections, the event borrows its title from our keynote speaker Clémentine Deliss’s 2020 publication, The Metabolic Museum, in which she argues for the living and changing nature of collections and new, radical engagements and interventions by artists into ethnographic collections.

Featuring panelists: Nicole Cherubini, Exhibiting Artist, Kelli Morgan Director of Curatorial Studies,Tufts University, Nicholas M. O’Donnell, Partner, Sullivan & Worcester LLP, Kajette Solomon, Social Equity and Inclusion Program Specialist, RISD Museum. Supported by the Tufts AS&E Diversity Fund, the Toupin-Bolwell Fund, and Tufts Curatorial Studies program.⁠