Exhibiting Europe in Museums (original) (raw)

International Conference: National Museums in a Changing Europe

In recent decades, as Europe's populations have become increasingly diverse and mobile, as nations have struggled in difficult economic circumstances and wrestled with increasing integration, and as new nations have sought independence and greater power, and as larger nations have once again revealed their political muscle, so we have seen national histories deployed politically. A sense of Europe as a space of shared histories and cultural similarities is repeatedly challenged by a past that can be re-awakened by rising nationalism, national insecurity, and by religious and ethnic difference. Across Europe, some national museums construct historical narratives that speak of shared global culture while others promote essentialised nationalism, some memorialise a poetic heroic past while others struggle to forget a more troubled one, many celebrate the heights of cultural achievement while others have found educational and tourism potential in the depths of human depravity. National museums implicitly, and sometimes overtly, still engage in acts of competitive cultural representation, attempting to elevate one nation above another. They are also used to perpetuate a war against former enemies and Others. Europe's national museums house some the continent's greatest historical treasures but also some of its most difficult historical spaces.

European Museums in the 21st Century: Setting the Framework - Vol. 1 (National History Museums, Natural History Museums, Ethnographic and World Culture(s) Museums)

This book explore current trends in European contemporary museums. Analysing their ongoing evolution triggered by this “age of migrations” and with specific attention to their architecture and exhibition design, the volume collects the preliminary observations ensuing from this survey, complemented by the some paradigmatic examples, and further enriched by interviews and contributions from scholars, curators and museum practitioners. With contributions by Florence Baläen, Michela Bassanelli, Luca Basso Peressut, Joachim Baur, Lorraine Bluche, Marco Borsotti, Mariella Brenna, Anna Chiara Cimoli, Lars De Jaegher, Maria Camilla De Palma, Hugues De Varine, Maria De Waele, Nélia Dias, Simone Eick, Fabienne Galangau Quérat, Sarah Gamaire, Jan Gerchow, Marc-Olivier Gonset, Klas Grinell, Laurence Isnard, Marie-Paule Jungblut, Galitt Kenan, Francesca Lanz, José María Lanzarote Guiral, Vito Lattanzi, Jack Lohman, Carolina Martinelli, Frauke Miera, Elena Montanari, Chantal Mouffe, Judith Pargamin, Giovanni Pinna, Camilla Pagani, Clelia Pozzi, Paolo Rosa, Anna Seiderer. Volume 1 includes: Introduction, Chapter 1: National History Museums, Chapter 2: Natural History Museums, Chapter 3: Ethnographic and World Culture(s) Museums" Legal Notices: This work is provided on line as open access document under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported. The work is protected by copyright and/or other applicable law. Any use of the work other than as authorized under this license or copyright law is prohibited. For additional information http://creativecommons.org/. The views expressed here are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission.

European Museums for the 21st Century: Setting the Framework -Vol 3 (Local Museums,War Museums, Temporary Exhibitions)

Museum Europe. Negotiating Heritage

Anthropological Journal of European Cultures, 2008

This article is concerned with some of the implications of the fact that Europe is so widely seen as a place replete with heritage, museums and memory, and also with the continuing expansion in numbers and types of heritage, museums and memory. It seeks to explore some of the ways in which heritage, in particular, is understood (including what it calls 'sticky heritage'), and especially the cultural and social work that it is often seen as able to do. To this end, the article reviews a number of trends in heritage developments, especially the diversification of what it calls 'Museum Europe' (e.g. in the establishment of museums or exhibitions about migration) and the kinds of citizenship that this mobilises. Some of the dilemmas as well as capacities of these developments are discussed. At the same time, the article reviews some of the directions in heritage research and the implications of this, and of 'Museum Europe' itself, for anthropology , ethnology and related disciplines. Preamble A tour guide produced in the US gives the following advice to tourists visiting Europe: "Don't feel like you have to see something just because it is über-famous. Don't make Europe into a giant checklist. Visit what truly interests you, and feel free to skip what doesn't fl oat your boat. If you are going to wear yourself out, at least do it on the stuff that you truly enjoy."

Europeanization in Regional Museums?

Politeja, 2018

European museums have undergone major changes in recent decades, mirroring many of the social and cultural processes taking place in Europe. Two of the main issues that have shaped the public discourse concerning cultural heritage are that of democratization and civil participation, both of which have not only mobilized policies but also redefined musealized heritage. At the same time, a ‘new museology’ approach, where heritage is understood as a dynamic construct, shared and interpreted by communities rather than monopolized by external authorities, has inspired many museums to rethink their visions and programs. While heritage democratization processes may be found both in the Lund and Tarnów museums, there are considerable differences between the two of them. The article examines these with the use of several concepts from core civilizational ideas such as: utility, progress, dignity, democratic governance and inclusion. In both cases, heritage is used to support the present poli...

Aronsson and Elgenius 2015 National Museums and Nation building in Europe Routledge Open Access 2020

Routledge, 2015

Europe's national museums have been at the centre of ongoing nation-making processes, since their creation. These museums have successfully negotiated conflicts and contradictions to obtain the support of citizens and taxpayers, domestic and foreign visitors, scientists, art connoisseurs, and policy makers. National Museums and Nation-building in Europe 1750-2010 assess the national museum as a manifestation of cultural and political desires, rather than a straightforward representation of the historical facts of a nation. Examining the degree to which national museums have created models and representations of nations, their past, present and future, this book proceeds to assess the consequences of such attempts. Revealing how different types of nations and states-former empires, monarchies, republics, pre-modern, modern or post-imperial entities-deploy and prioritise different types of museums in their making, it constitutes the first comprehensive and comparative perspective on national museums in Europe and their intricate relationship to the making of nations and states.

European Museums in an age of Migrations_newsletter#02

MeLa European Museums in an age of migrations is a four year long research project funded by the European Commission under the Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities Program (FP7th). It is an interdisciplinary four year programme which will reflect on the role of museums in a context characterized by the continuous migration of people and ideas, dealing with several complex and crucial issues such as history, socio-cultural and national identity, the use of new technologies and the role of the exhibition design and museography.

European Museums in an age of Migrations_newsletter#05

Exhibiting Europe in Museums (original) (raw)

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