Toward an Anticolonial, Non-Aligned Yugoslav Museum: Concept, Institution, Meta-Exhibit

Abstract

In recent decades, provenance research has become one of the most inter- esting areas of academic enquiry, particularly in response to the reorganization and establishment of new “museums of world cultures” amid globalization. However, critical examinations from a Western-centric perspective in museology often overlook the fact that the demand to decolonize museum theory and practices, as well as to establish new institutional forms—such as collections designed to fulfil this vision—was first raised in the second half of the 20th century through the cultural politics of Non-Alignment. The impact of the Non-Aligned Movement’s efforts to “decolonize the museum” remains invisible. This paper seeks to address this gap in the literature of museum studies by analyzing in detail the political and museological negotiations behind the establishment of the Museum of African Art: The Veda and Zdravko Pečar Collection in Belgrade (1977).