The Certification of Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion for Contemporary Art Museums and Art Collections research project aims to create a comprehensive framework to assess and promote diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) in the selection of artists and artworks within contemporary art institutions. The project is organized around three key objectives:

  1. Definition of an Equal, Diverse, and Inclusive Contemporary Art Museum and Art Collection:
    The first objective centers on defining what it means to be an equal, diverse, and inclusive contemporary art museum and art collection. This includes establishing criteria and benchmarks to evaluate the representation of artists selected and collected. It also involves analyzing how museums and collections can authentically reflect a variety of artistic expressions, narratives, and cultural perspectives, ensuring equity and inclusivity in their acquisition, curation, and exhibition practices.
  2. Developing Certification Analysis Procedures:
    The second goal is to design detailed evaluation methodologies to certify museums and art collections as meeting DEI standards in their selection processes. This includes collecting and analyzing data on the artists selected and shown in the institution space, the diversity of narratives conveyed by the artworks, and the mechanisms for selecting artists and artworks. The certification process will provide a standardized approach to assess how effectively institutions reflect diverse perspectives.
  3. Providing Recommendations for Sustainable DEI Practices:
    Lastly, the project seeks to propose actionable mechanisms, recommendations, and policies to help museums and art collections enhance their DEI efforts in the selection of artists and artworks. These strategies will address areas such as acquisition policies, curatorial practices, public programming, and community engagement, offering a roadmap for achieving sustainable and impactful change over the medium and long term.

By focusing on the diversity, equality, and inclusion of artists and artworks, this research aims to foster more representative and equitable cultural institutions that celebrate a wide range of voices and artistic expressions.

The ODBK Certification project is currently in the research phase. We make an open call to all DEI Experts, Experienced Curators, art theoretical, academics to participate in this project, in one or more of the following points:

  1. Research and development of the metrics and procedures to evaluate  an art institution is equal, diverse, and inclusive
  2. Being part of the experts and consultants database of the consultancy, training, and evaluations, and teams will offered to the contemporary art museums and art collections
  3. Lecturer at the ODBK EMAMI Conference on one of the topics related to bring DEI, transparency, and democracy to the art world.

As part of this research project, two other subprojects have emerged

Conference EMAMI ( Empowering Artists Minorities )

EDI for the Art world Wiki ( https://dei4.art/ )

ODBK Certification Researchers Team

Sharon Toval

Sharon is a French-Israeli researcher and independent curator of contemporary art based in Tel-Aviv. He holds a master degree in theory and policy of the arts from the prestigious Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem and a museology diploma from The Israel Museum of Art headed at the time by Chief Curator Yigal Zalmona. He hast curated many group and solo exhibitions in prominent galleries and museums in Israel and Europe. In addition to his independent activities, is the chief curator and art collection manager of the Isrotel hotel chain for which he purchase art collections, curate temporary exhibitions and manage several residency programs, AFAR (Art Forest Artists Residency) in northern Israel, MRAR (Mitzpe Ramon Artists Residency) and in Tel-Aviv, hosted at the new LAB experimental art space. Click here to download the biography from Sharon Toval.

 

Jorgina Stamogianni

Jorgina Stamogianni is a freelance curator based in Berlin. Studied Political Science and Social Anthropology. She have been actively involved in the field of contemporary art, working at various institutions, including Rebecca Camhi Gallery (Athens), Kunsthalle Athena (Athens), Künstlerhaus Bethanien (Berlin), Kreuzberg Pavillon (Berlin) and documenta 14 (Athens & Kassel) among others.