This review examines the discourses and practices that have produced a lively literature on museum decolonization created by scholars of museum practices and curators. We consider the trajectory of ...decolonization efforts in museums, focusing especially on the care of Native North American heritage, with comparison to similar trajectories internationally. We begin with a discussion of decolonizing moments in theory and practice, with particular attention to 1990s critique of ethnographic museums and developments after the passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Following this discussion is a review of works on concerns regarding Native American representation and public displays, involvement in collections care, and the varied collaborations that are changing museum practices. The final section foregrounds the fluorescence of tribal museums and their contributions to the decolonization and indigenization of museums, as well as emerging paradigm shifts in both the anthropology of museums and anthropology in museums.
From October 1965 to May 1966, the Science Museum in London displayed the American spacecraft Freedom 7, the first capsule in NASA’s Mercury programme to take a human on a suborbital flight. Archival ...records concerning this temporary display are extensive and contain photographic sources as well as written ones. This case therefore lends itself to a study aimed at evaluating the comparative merits of these two types of records, for understanding the logic at play in the display, and for retrieving at least part of the visitors’ experience. Visual sources emerge from this comparison as invaluable records for accessing the materiality of this temporary exhibition. They demonstrate that the Freedom 7 special exhibition was a key moment in the establishment of a space science and technology section at the Science Museum, as it enabled the Museum to begin historicising what was then a new field of scientific and technological enquiry. The exhibition follows a logic of display theorised in 1950 by Henry Calvert, a senior curator, in a note recently discovered in the Science Museum’s archives. It is based on the display of a star object that draws visitors’ attention towards less charismatic exhibits.
Science and technology museums and centres are usually conceived as settings for science communication. In the STS tradition of Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST), galleries and ...exhibitions represent the museum side most exposed to research. However, these museums are complex organisations where artefacts are not only exhibited but also collected, stored, studied, and preserved because they make the technoscientific heritage of a place. In this Scenario, I review the literature in PCST/STS and Museum Studies to show how the PCST approach is insufficient to study science and technology museums because issues about the private side and heritage are not addressed. I argue for the need for STS to enter the private sides of science museums and study them as places of technoscientific knowledge production. The Scenario suggests an STS approach situated in sociomaterial ecologies to study museum practices which, as discussed by Museum Studies, are the sites where narratives about science and technology arise.
Experimental Museology scrutinizes innovative endeavours to transform museum interactions with the world. Analysing cutting-edge cases from around the globe, the volume demonstrates how museums can ...design, apply and assess new modes of audience engagement and participation. Written by an interdisciplinary group of researchers and research-led professionals, the book argues that museum transformations must be focused on conceptualizing and documenting the everyday challenges and choices facing museums, especially in relation to wider social, political and economic ramifications. In order to illuminate the complexity of these challenges, the volume is structured into three related key dimensions of museum practice - namely institutions, representations and users. Each chapter is based on a curatorial design proposed and performed in collaboration between university-based academics and a museum. Taken together, the chapters provide insights into a diversity of geographical contexts, fields and museums, thus building a comprehensive and reflexive repository of design practices and formative experiments that can help strengthen future museum research and design. Experimental Museology will be of great value to academics and students in the fields of museum, gallery and heritage studies, as well as architecture, design, communication and cultural studies. It will also be of interest to museum professionals and anyone else who is interested in learning more about experimentation and design as resources in museums.
"So you’re the one getting this gift? Lucky you! Someone who knows you has visited the museum. They searched out things they thought you would care about, and they took photos and left messages for ...you." This is the welcoming message for the Gift app, designed to create a very personal museum visit. Hybrid Museum Experiences use new technologies to augment, expand or alter the physical experience of visiting the museum. They are designed to be experienced in close relation to the physical space and exhibit. In this book we discuss three forms of hybridity in museum experiences: incorporating the digital and the physical, creating social, yet personal and intimate experiences, and exploring ways to balance visitor participation and museum curation. The book reports on a three-year cross-disciplinary research project in which artists, design researchers and museum professionals have collaborated to create technology-mediated experiences that merge with the museum environment.
Three years after the sensational debut of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the art scene, it seems timely to reflect on their presumed revolutionary attributes. The speculative fascination at the ...beginning has gradually given way to mixed outcomes, with hardly predictable future directions. However, once recontextualized in the art ecosystem and its value chain, one may question the ability of NFT technology to lead to radical changes. Our main argument is that although they offer perspectives that are worth considering regarding contracts, authors’ rights management, and provenance, blockchain-based technologies do not substantially modify the typical characteristics of the art world. Based on recent press articles and academic publications, we comment on the effects of this technology on producers (artists’ creative process and career development), intermediaries (art market gatekeepers), and consumers (quest for authenticity, collecting habits, and museum intervention in the art market). Our main conclusions suggest that NFTs perpetuate oversupply and job precarity in cyberenvironments and reinforce existing purchasing behaviors driven by the quest for authenticity and conspicuous consumption. Our goal is to mitigate some statements found in the literature and the press, especially regarding the democratization of the art market, and to help art market stakeholders approach this technology most objectively.
Triumphs and challenges in contemporary
museology Held on the occasion of Louvre Abu Dhabi's first
anniversary, the symposium Worlds in a Museum addressed
the topic of museums in the era of ...globalisation, exploring
contemporary museology and the preservation and presentation of
culture within the context of changing societies. Departing from
the historical museum structure inherited from the Enlightenment,
leading experts from art, cultural, and academic institutions
explore present-day achievements and challenges in the study,
display and interpretation of art, history, and artefacts. How are
"global" and "local" objects and narratives balanced - particularly
in consideration of diverse audiences? How do we foster perspective
and multiculturalism while addressing politicised notions of centre
and periphery? As they abandon classical canons and categories, how
are museums and cultural entities redefining themselves beyond
predefined concepts of geography and history?
This collection of essays arises from the symposium Worlds in a
Museum organised by Louvre Abu Dhabi and École du Louvre.
Contributors: H.E. Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa (Bahrain
Authority for Culture and Antiquities), Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak
(Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi), Guilhem André
(Louvre Abu Dhabi), Claire Barbillon (École du Louvre), Nathalie
Bondil (Montreal Museum of Fine Arts), James Cuno (J. Paul Getty
Trust), Noëmi Daucé (Louvre Abu Dhabi), Hartwig Fischer (British
Museum), Cecilia Hurley (Neuchâtel University / École du Louvre),
Rose-Marie Herda Mousseaux (Louvre Abu Dhabi), Hervé Inglebert
(Paris-Nanterre University), Henry Kim (Aga Khan Museum),
Anne-Marie Maïla-Afeiche (The National Museum of Beirut),
François-René Martin (Ecole du Louvre / Ecole des Beaux-Arts de
Paris), Jean-Luc Martinez (Louvre Museum), Sophie Mouquin
(University of Lille / École du Louvre), Souraya Noujaim (Louvre
Abu Dhabi), Martin Pitts (University of Exeter), Manuel Rabaté
(Louvre Abu Dhabi), Sylvie Ramond (Museums of Fine Arts and
Contemporary Arts Lyon), Kennie Ting (Asian Civilisations
Museum)
This article aims to map and analyze changes in museum definitions in Brazil and how they relate to museum education from the analysis of Brazilian scientific production. This is a qualitative ...bibliographic research. The data was constituted from the CAPES Thesis and Dissertations Catalog from 1987 to 2017 in ten-year intervals and explored through Content Analysis. The results show that museum definitions have changed over time giving more value to educational practices. However, more than half of the studies do not show a direct definition of a museum. The lack of conceptual clarity about museum education can contribute to less critical pedagogical trends compromising the educational potential of these institutions.
Este artigo objetiva mapear e analisar as mudanças nas definições de museu no Brasil e como estas se relacionam com a educação museal a partir da análise da produção científica brasileira. Esta é uma pesquisa qualitativa bibliográfica. Os dados foram constituídos a partir do Catálogo de Teses e Dissertações da CAPES, no período de 1987 a 2017, em intervalos de dez anos, e explorados por meio da Análise de Conteúdo. Os resultados mostram que as definições de museu mudaram ao longo do tempo, passando a valorizar mais as práticas educativas. Entretanto, mais da metade das pesquisas não exibe uma definição direta de museu. A falta de clareza conceitual sobre educação museal pode contribuir para que tendências pedagógicas menos críticas aconteçam, comprometendo as potencialidades educativas destas instituições.
Este artículo tiene como objetivo mapear y analizar los cambios en las definiciones de museo en Brasil y cómo estas se relacionan con la educación museística a partir del análisis de la producción científica brasilera. Se trata de una investigación bibliográfica cualitativa. Los datos fueron relevados del Catálogo de Tesis y Disertaciones CAPES, de 1987 a 2017, en intervalos de diez años, y explorados a través del Análisis de Contenido. Los resultados muestran que las definiciones de museo han cambiado con el tiempo, dando más valor a las prácticas educativas. Sin embargo, más de la mitad de las investigaciones no muestran una definición directa de museo. La falta de claridad conceptual sobre la educación museística puede contribuir a tendencias pedagógicas menos críticas, comprometiendo el potencial educativo de estas instituciones.
PDF
