UMMA - Biased or Just Cute?

I toured the museum once with Afsheen, then set out on a slightly different adventure to find answers.  In my quest to discover the mystery of the missing art exhibit on Middle Eastern and / or Islamic art, I recently contacted the UMMA regarding their policy on exhibits and selection of art to be displayed. 

My questions and answers will be outlined shortly, however, suffice it to say that while the museum workers seem to have good intentions, my conclusions from our conversations may be a bit pessimistic, but hey, it’s my opinion, so feel free to draw your own conclusions. 

When researching the Middle Eastern exhibition, I found on the UMMA website that there seems to be a substantial collection in the area….

            So when I asked UMMA one of the responses I got was that there simply wasn’t much?? (and I was pointed to the lovely plate which Afsheen has a brilliant picture of).

            A response from another UMMA staff was that there wasn’t a significant donation to create a permanent exhibit, and yes, the UMMA does have a good collection in the area which comes in and out of rotation.

However, my correspondence with the Museum did lead to a great deal more knowledge about how art is selected for exhibition and galleries.  It seems that the museums are largely dependent on donations, which explains why our museum over-represents some regions of the world while shunning others.  Also, it appears that art attracts similar art, and as museums come to be known for certain collections they invariably gather more of these materials through charitable contributions.  Finally, the curators have some say in the matter, and the simple fact is that there have not been Middle Eastern curators at the museum while there have been a number of Asians, etc.

Still, I have to agree with Afsheen that the exhibits seemed sub-par when it came to representing many parts of the world.  (even the architecture exhibit had nothing from the Middle East where some of the most amazing buildings are conceived). 

After thinking about the ideological work of representation for the last semester, one cannot but help to question the work that is done when a museum represents so many cultures and at the same time shuns so many others.  What does this say about the importance of art from these neglected regions?  How come Africa and Asia are largely represented by exotics, yet their architecture and contemporary art are rather ignored?  How can a museum represent everything on a limited budget and donations while still showing appreciation to donors and not shunning anyone?

The questions here are many, but go out and decide for yourself what ideological work is done by the museum.  It really is remarkable, and whatever you decide, it is a great little place to study and browse are Orientalist past, present, and future?