Fwd : Museums

Museums are the subject of this issue, which looks at how the people who work in them and the people who visit them both shape what these institutions become. Its pieces follow the ways a museum can reach past its own walls to welcome those it has historically kept out, and they also examine the times it has fallen short of doing so. Several contributors argue that museums must rethink their missions and daily practices if they hope to change.

The issue borrows the figure of the alien to think about how outsiders are treated in culture, politics, and everyday life. Its contents range from sharp critiques and warm tributes to overlooked histories and manifestos, all concerned with what it means to be set apart and what it might mean to belong.

The pieces explore difference, other worlds, and the futures that might open up if institutions were willing to imagine them.