Sydney Dalscheid

Sydney Dalscheid is a social and cultural anthropologist, currently working as an independent curator/art mediator and in an art gallery. Her work has focused on how indigenous art and culture are represented in museum collections, and how artistic interventions by community members can challenge the colonial histories embedded in them. Much of this research grew out of her engagement with Oceanic collections, particularly those relating to Māori material culture.

After her involvement with the Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) 2023 conference, her attention shifted toward the polar regions. Out of personal interest, she began exploring how indigenous communities and their artistic practices have been portrayed in museums, ethnographic contexts, and by the wider public. Running through all of this is an ongoing reflection of her own position as a researcher: who I am, where do I stand, and how does that shape the way I see, listen, and write?

Through her engagement with Polar.lu, she is deepening her knowledge and combining her curatorial interests with research, with the long-term vision of bringing this work to Luxembourg, in the form of an exhibition exploring polar research, indigenous art, or the intersection of both.