October 18-20, 2018
Hosted by Sabancı University Gender and Women's Studies Center of Excellence (SU Gender) and Women's Museum Istanbul, "Feminist Pedagogy: Museums, Memory Sites, Practices of Remembrance” and 1st Asian and European Conference of Women's Museums started in Istanbul.
On the first day of the conference, the speakers communicated the message that "A brand new and beautiful world is possible by bringing women's stories from the past to the future."
Sabancı University Gender and Women's Studies Center of Excellence (SU Gender) and Women's Museum Istanbul are hosting the international conference. The Conference “Feminist Pedagogy: Museums, Memory Sites, Practices of Rememberance” is also the 1st Asian and European Meeting of Women's Museums. The Conference brings together women’s and gender museums, peace museums and memorials working with feminist museum pedagogy; civil society activists and institutions working on human rights abuses in different fields; and museum administrators and educators.
The conference started with the opening remarks of Suay Aksoy, President of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), Mona Holm, Chair President of the International Association of Women's Museums (IAWM), and Prof. Dr. Şirin Tekinay, Vice President of Sabancı University, and it leads to the global establishment of an extensive information and communication network of 19 cities and 21 international institutions.
“Women's museums play a leading role for human rights and non-discrimination”
Suay Aksoy, President of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), said, “This conference has enabled us to be here and it is an advantageous start, but we need to see what has been done and what we can do more. We need to know history for a better tomorrow. Museums play a leading role in terms of belonging and women's museums play a leading role for human rights and non-discrimination. Museums are criticized for having a politicized approach, but that's exactly what they're supposed to do.”
Mona Holm, President of the International Association of Women's Museums (IAWM), said: “This conference is a historical event and we are the witnesses of it. I speak on behalf of women's museums from all over the world. We want to shape the future. We have come together for a world where women's voices can be heard and their stories are brought from the past to the future, and this is an important opportunity for us. This meeting also coincided with the 10th anniversary of the Network of Women's Museums. Thanks to this conference, we have the chance to explore the potential of our creative collaborations."
“There is no women's problem in the world, but a women's solution”
Prof. Dr. Şirin Tekinay, Vice President of Sabancı University, said in her speech: “In Sabancı University, we consider pedagogies in general terms and attach great importance to innovation. We have adopted the principle of 'solid roots and strong wings' in the field of education. We try to ensure that all of our students reveal their creativity. However, we are aware as a university at the beginning of the 21st century that our responsibility is to ensure that the principles we have adopted in the field of education are spread all across Turkey and the world. As an innovative university, we are number one in Turkey as per the Times Higher Education (THE) 2019 World's Best Universities Rankings. In addition, we wanted to measure what we have done for the United Nations' Development Goals. We have chosen gender equality as our top priority among the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals because there is no women's problem in the world, but a women's solution, and we want to reveal this solution.” Meral Akkent, Curator of the Women's Museum Istanbul (WMI), said, “The foundation of today's conference was laid in a conference in 2016. In that conferecen of 2016, it was decided to organize Asian and European Meetings of Women's Museums every 2 years as of 2018. We are very happy that the first of the series of events on this road we set out to build a new future is now held in Istanbul."
The opening conversation of the conference with the theme "Feminist Storytelling for Another World" was facilitated by SU Gender Director Ayşe Gül Altınay, with Catherine King, Executive producer, Global Fund for Women, writer Karin Karakaşlı, and Aylin Vartanyan of Boğaziçi University as the participants.
The conference also hosts two important art events. Michiko Saiki, a world-renowned pianist and multimedia artist who has worked with well-known composers in the USA and Europe and won awards at international film festivals and who is one of the representatives of the New Music movement, will perform her show called “Reaching audience through a vulnerable musical performance: The voices of women.” It will be also possible to see the exhibition “ UnEXPOSED?”, showing examples from past exhibitions of women's museums all around the world and proving that a violent history or memory can be re-narrated using non-violent photographs.
Source: GazeteSU
