Exhibiting Memory: Investigating the use of multi-sensory elements to communicate diasporic experiences in contemporary art exhibitions

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the use of multi-sensory and immersive curatorial strategies as a tool to communicate complex postcolonial identities in contemporary art exhibitions. Through analyses of four recent exhibitions – Indigo Waves (2022) at Zeitz MOCAA, The Waiting Gardens of the North (2023) at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, (ka) pheko ye – the dream to come (2024) at Migros Museum, and Sueño de la Madrugada (2024) at South London Gallery – the study explores how engaging multiple senses can create liminal spaces that allow for the expression of hybrid, ambiguous cultural experiences. This enquiry can be broken down into these parts: multisensory elements are used as a curatorial tool, the tool is used to make immersive space, the purpose of that space is to encourage ambiguity, and the reason one would want to increase ambiguity is that it allows for a nuanced understanding of complex narratives, like postcolonial identity. Drawing on postcolonial concepts, affect theory and curatorial practice, this dissertation examines how multisensory approaches can productively unsettle dominant narratives and make space for layered perspectives on diaspora, migration, and cultural memory. By advocating for exhibition models that embrace sensorial encounters/confrontations and ambiguity, this study contributes to ongoing debates about decolonisation in contemporary art institutions. It argues that multi-sensory curatorial strategies act as navigational and proto-linguistic tools for communicating the complexity of postcolonial identities and thereby fostering greater cross-cultural understanding.