ART IN MUSEUMS

CONFLICTS AND NARRATIVES OF POST-TRUTH

Abstract

This work aims to foster discussion about media narrative conflicts involving art and performances in museums, from a post-truth perspective, analyzing two specific cases that occurred in Brazil in 2017, the exhibition “Queermuseu: Cartographies of Difference in Brazilian Art” and the performance “La Bête” at the Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo (MAM/SP). Methodologically, the study is based on the content analysis of eight journalistic articles that address the controversial developments of these events in the public sphere, in addition to theoretical grounding in the areas of Information Science and Museology. The results show that it was possible, from the selected material, to contextualize the cases and demonstrate their relationships with the typical dynamics of post-truth; in which emotions and personal beliefs prevail over objective facts, fueling misinformation and conflicts based on morality. In conclusion, both the Queermuseu exhibition and the performance “La Bête” exemplify how narratives can be manipulated, distorted, and amplified by media and social networks, leading to consequences such as compromising artistic freedom and the role of museums as spaces for critical reflection, highlighting the urgency of understanding the effects of post-truth in the field of art and culture.