This letter by Exhibition‘s editor Jeanne Normand Goswami first appeared in Spring 2025 issue, Vol. 44 No. 1 and is reproduced with permission. If you don’t read the journal, become a member to receive your copy of the full upcoming issues or purchase the Spring 2025 issue.
Dear Friends,
Working on a print publication like Exhibition is a fascinating exercise in patience. Each issue takes shape over nearly a year, from the time we put out the call for proposals to the moment it finally arrives in our readers’ hands (or, in this case, on their screens). Occasionally, a topic that feels relevant at the time we are formulating the call will feel superfluous by the time the issue lands. I think you will all agree that this is not the case with The Ethics Issue.
As we all struggle to make sense of the deluge of executive orders attempting to influence the ways we exhibit and interpret our shared history and culture (to say nothing of those designed to dissolve agencies and cut funding to vital programs), understanding the ethical dimensions of the work we do, and communicating that clearly to our audiences and partners, is of the utmost importance.
Which is not to suggest that we all agree upon what ethical exhibition-making is, does, or looks like. As the authors in this issue demonstrate, ethics is a multivalent topic, a way of looking at the world that acknowledges both our legal obligations and our interconnectedness to one another and to the planet we share. I invite you to reflect on the dynamic processes our authors highlight. From examining our supply chains to adopting AI, from adapting our institutions to properly honor Indigenous materialities to creating institutions that espouse, rather than just exhibit, political viewpoints, these projects highlight colleagues and institutions acting, adapting, and evolving to meet the questions and challenges of the moment.
I hope you return to these articles time and again, especially as we enter new territory, publishing this issue digitally for the first time in our history. As the journal reaches more dedicated professionals in its new form, I hope the ideas, projects, and points of view it shares spark innovative solutions, deep introspection, and dynamic changes. I have no idea what the future may hold, but I do know that continuing to foster just, equitable, and yes, ethical, relationships and processes will always be our work.
Jeanne Normand Goswami
Editor
Exhibition journal
