ABSTRACT
This chapter begins to explore those questions, presenting findings from an analysis of global English language press reporting over a two-year period, a time of extraordinary global tension and a political landscape characterised by unpredictability and uncertainty. There were also stories about museums actively collecting at sites of protest to produce rapid response displays that intervene in the political landscape, such as at the International Women’s March in January 2017. Museums remain cautious about engaging with difficult subjects, encouraging activism and being ‘purposeful’. In most instances, oil companies and museums were offered space to present their defence of such financial arrangements, arrangements that have become difficult to maintain in the face of more robust criticism from within the cultural sector. Cultural professionals from external institutions were also keen to come forward and comment, although the visibility of museums’ professional bodies was poor in the sample.
