Digital Art Museums, SDG 10, and the Applied Philosophy of Art

In 2015, The United Nations articulated 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the tenth of which (SDG 10) calls for the “social, economic, and political inclusion of all.” This paper focuses on both: (1) ways in which art museums can become more inclusive and advance SDG 10; and (2) why it is especially beneficial for art museums to be inclusive and advance this goal. We argue that art museums have unique opportunities to become more inclusive when they focus attention on displaying digital artworks. Further, we contend that it is especially beneficial for art museums to be inclusive in part because of the role that artworks can play as a source of both knowledge and personal growth, as noted by philosophers such as James O. Young and John Dewey. More broadly, this paper relates discussions from the philosophy of art to scholarship about museum inclusivity and to broader discussions about sustainable development goals. To advance its arguments, we focus on the practices of one specific, innovative art museum – the Lynn University NFT Art Museum – as a case study.