Dissonant Legacies: Engaging with Difficult University Heritage
Curating Silence
The cases presented on this page illuminate how gaps in documentation can create profound challenges for contemporary curators. From objects collected without recording their makers or cultural significance, to human remains acquired through exploitative commercial networks or architectural spaces implicated in state-sponsored atrocities, these examples reveal how silence itself becomes part of institutional heritage. By confronting rather than concealing these informational voids and their uncomfortable implications, universities can move beyond traditional collection management toward an active culture of responsibility that acknowledges the ongoing need for critical engagement with dissonant heritage.
