Alice A. Procter
@aaprocter
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writer and art nuisance, Uncomfortable Art Tours and The Whole Picture, also @HistoryFriction, allegedly a phd student. she/they
New York, NY
Joined February 2015
I have lived in England for nineteen and a half years and I really think the defining attitude of this country is that they've internalised the idea that "it could be worse" so deeply that they've completely lost the ability to imagine that it could also be better.
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Look. Whatever they tell you, all museum people got into this field cos they want to touch the art. It's not about "preserving" or "inspiring people". We'd lick it if we could.
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Sorry the wildest part of this is that if the guy who stole from the BM is 56, as reported, then he’s been there since he was 26?! for THIRTY YEARS and this is his only job? Rip to the last true Lifetime Museum Career I guess
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GOOD MORNING .University of Aberdeen to return pillaged Benin bronze to Nigeria | Colonialism | The Guardian
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this is 1. not a very original thought and 2. was meant to be a reply to my thoughts on shitty arts jobs but it stands alone too.
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Do I want to do a phd or do I miss having library access.
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my friend just told me a story about a broken museum freezer and I cannot share it but it involved '50 gallons of liquid ex-bear' so this is a reminder to all natural history museums to check on their stores #IsYourRefrigeratorRunning.
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@ everyone listing other countries did you miss the part where I said I live here.also I'm talking about working to improve people's lives and material conditions, fuck optimism, I want public luxury.
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excuse me, I just got a message telling me that the schoolkids I did a tour for were so excited and righteously angry afterwards, on their next trip they did a furious little takeover and put notes up critiquing the exhibition&text and now I will be crying for the rest of my life.
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Many museum workers cannot afford to go to exhibitions without reciprocal agreements and professional body discounts (ICOM, MA, etc). There are two main ways of explaining this: wages are too low, or ticket prices are too high. Both are true, neither should be acceptable.
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Cutting educators is the fastest way for historic sites and museums to save money and lose relevance.
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The British Museum can afford to end its relationship with BP and the fact that it still hasn't is one of the very many things its trustees have to be ashamed of.
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look, yes, there are so many things to talk about, but I'm going to spend my day being uncontrollably mad about this Mary Wollstonecraft statue.
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the REAL crime is short term contracts barring young museum workers from this kind of opportunity!!!!!!!!!!!.
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Taking part in #TheSchoolThatTriedtoEndRacism was a dream. These kids were maybe the most engaged school group I've ever worked with. We spent all morning talking and filming, and what you've seen is a tiny snippet of how hard they worked to understand and unpick this history.
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what colour lanyard for "do not perceive me: let your eyes slide over the space I occupy, unable to pin down my eldritch form, only a vague shimmer in your peripheral vision".
Now everyone’s coming back in to the office, we’ve upgraded our lanyards so we all know where we’re comfortable. 🙌
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MY PAPERBACKS ARRIVED and wow look! at that cover quote!!! Out on Thursday with a spicy new coda
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sorry but who the fuck can do a phd with a £6k/year stipend.
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been asked for a comment on why I think museums aren't sharing their reopening plans and my main response is honestly, if you think your desire to go look at some art outweighs other people's right to be safe and not die then you can go fuck yourself.
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most galleries do this - it's straightforward exploitation, and it just reinforces the idea that these narratives aren't worth the cost of expertise.
Very disappointed to see the @tate relying on unpaid labour to deliver its queer history programme. This is not a serious approach to diversity.
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way too early for the inevitable 'does it belong in a museum or not' crisis but I know I'm going to be asked this so many times today so: museums must not be sites of stasis, static preservation shouldn't be the goal, there's no moral imperative to conserve everything.
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Tfw you can keep track of like eight characters all called Thomas but you can’t handle a neutral pronoun.
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Museums falling over each other asking how to acquire that baby balloon but not working on the racist, imperialist violence perpetrated in their collections is so typical of this industry #MuseumsAreNotNeutral.
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You do know how it got here in the first place though?.
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Kisses to everyone celebrating the holiday today! (the holiday is Captain Cook dying)
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Idk, maybe that it’s incredibly exploitative, devalues people’s work and creates an industry in which only people that are hugely privileged can survive?.
Q1: Let us start off simple - what are the pros and cons of being fully volunteer run? What about mostly staff run? #MuseumHour.
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I don’t want to hear a word from museum directors right now unless they’re announcing their pay cut to take care of staff.
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how are you looking at these neonazis and fascists and still thinking it's just about statues?.
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My mum’s in Manchester and just sent me this from @mcrartgallery - hi, Millie, I love you and this label is excellent
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Look I am just a humble art historian but I feel like if school kids are a big scary threat to your capitalism you’re probably fucked anyway.
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I have a new child!! Historical Friction is a podcast about how we represent the past. It’s about the accuracy or anachronism of a book or a tv show, but it’ll also be a conversation about the ways we imagine and engage with other lifetimes, and how we access history.
hello this exists now, oh my god.
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be a real shame if we had some kind of map or database of statues of racists hey.
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the whole process of choosing someone for a position like this is judging them in advance!! stop it!!
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FOH staff at museums go through SO FUCKING MUCH - at the hands of institutions and visitors - and don’t get anywhere near enough credit or care.
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Spare a thought for the writers of the year 2434, under lockdown for some 25th century plague, being told that if Taylor Swift could write two albums then they have no excuse.
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My DMs are open for gossip.
British Museum dismisses member of staff and police are investigating after treasures reported "missing, stolen or damaged"
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Hi my name is Allie and I’m gradually transforming my wardrobe to exclusively salty art-related shirts
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the nazi lesbian example is exactly the reason I am not interested in those daily queer/womens history accounts and formats! they inevitably flatten and oversimplify! I am always more interested in people's actions than the specific identities they hold!.
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I currently don’t have a desk but I do still have a terrible office mate
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I find it interesting that whenever I tweet about shit working conditions in museums/academia/arts, there are always people who feel the need to remind me that they/others have had it worse. That’s terrible! You deserved better too!!.
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not sure how I did a masters, worked full time on the tours, and wrote a book simultaneously when right now I can do about four and a half emails per week.
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Grateful to my assistant for always staying on top of my diary
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Anyway my main thought for museums is that these fucking bastards have already trashed your funding and attempted to kill your sector by attrition so the LEAST you can do is go hard on your way out. Don’t become tory nostalgia machines without a fight!! Have some spine!! Please!!.
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Happy second birthday to The Whole Picture!! It came out at such a chaotic time so I have still never done an in-person book event, which is very weird, but I'm proud of myself and this work, and grateful that it's out in the world
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NOT VERY PUNK ROCK AND ALSO CRINGE.
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#AskACurator how are you, individually and as a museum worker, supporting the FoH, education and precarious staff who are most vulnerable to layoffs, predatory hiring practices, and mistreatment at the hands of the institution?.
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We are fostering this good boy and he’s been here less than an hour
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I'm being that person again but .If you're asking people to represent and perform their marginalised identities in your institution, but you're not paying them for their work, you are *not as inclusive as you think you are* and it's pretty fucking clear how little you value them.
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FYI if we’re ever on a zoom call this is happening directly behind me
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Look there’s really no way to know if your stolen artefact is the reason for this plague curse so it’s definitely a good idea to return it just in case.
Bring out your loot!. Pending 'Coronavirus Apocalypse' Impels Man to Return Ballista Stolen From Jerusalem.
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Me for Tribune! You can’t separate the cuts and restructures at museums like the V&A from the govt’s threats and power plays . Fight at the Museum
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I made a museum twitter alignment chart inspired by last night's The Thing chat
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Seems like a good time to remind everyone that I’m pretty good at researching and interpreting colonial history in collections, I’m freelance, and I’m available.
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currently trying to register with a different GP and what is going on here - you can only pick one option
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full of Thoughts about the particular narratives of white feminine exceptionalism that are emerging but when you're focused on the difference between 'vigil' and 'protest' you are quite significantly missing the point.
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Hahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaa fuck yeah.
The European Union has opened up the prospect that Greece’s claim on the Elgin Marbles could become a bargaining chip in negotiations over its future relationship with Britain.
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Guess it’s time for your periodic reminder that Naomi Wolf apparently doesn’t know how to read and is a weird conspiracy theorist who doesn’t know what she’s talking about.
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I love to suffer so I’m going to watch this History Matters conference today
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These are ~inspired by~ not actually of that era and fine, cute, but that isn’t art history.
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It’s almost like the museums aren’t interested in getting better? What’s that about.
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When you make your own clothes you learn so much about yourself! For example, I learned that I hate sewing and also that I can’t follow instructions
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Precarity is such a broad category in the arts and academia, insecure employment and financial difficulty are not always the same thing and it’s interesting/difficult that we use this single term for them. I think the missing conversation is, unsurprisingly, about class.
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deeply sorry for every time I've been dismissive of the national trust, they seem to be the only ones paying attention
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Scratch the surface of these museums and you’ll find a graveyard. ‘They’re not property’: the people who want their ancestors back from British museums
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if the British Museum renew their relationship with BP I really think it will do catastrophic harm to their reputation, especially with younger generations.
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New thing, which my brother and I threw together this morning. Downloads available at physical postcards coming soon #FixYourLabels
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Pearl emerging from her baby jail to complain about fireworks
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'Probing, jargon-free and written with the pace of a detective story' !! The Whole Picture gets a fantastic review in the FT (this article is paywalled, sorry)
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I can’t believe I have to say this but I DO NOT ACTUALLY ADVOCATE LICKING but museum/gallery staff are nerds that want to be close to things and that is wonderful, and it is A Tragedy that conservation means most people never get to do that.
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I won't share the photos of the notes but rest assured, there are some fighty 17yos in Australia writing acidic 'tributes' to old white man collectors and copying passages from the gallery text to annotate with their corrections.
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that's it everyone, time to go home.
Lads, we're going to have to decolonise without the help of Times columnists 😞
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This is a job, not a volunteer role.
New #Volunteer role with @SenateHouseLib Special Collections team:.The role involves working w/ archival materials & would be ideal for an early career archivist or person considering a career in #Archives.Closing date: 18 Oct 11.59PM.#archivejobs
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this is a new one, and also blatantly untrue - the V&A disposes of objects every year.
I know headlines can be misleading etc., but I can’t think of a single instance in which this statement could be anything but utterly absurd
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The paperback of The Whole Picture is about to get a reprint! This is the loveliest news. And the hardback, which is almost sold out, won’t be getting another edition so if you’re fussy about things like this you should get one while you can
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I promise I do not actually have vendettas against any museums or their directors, it's just that some of them are apparently devoted to being shit.
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When you make a big show of welcoming a group of nazis into your museum to ‘talk it out’ you’re also automatically closing the door on groups who are not nazis. Your call.
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