Rethinking Participation in Museums (original) (raw)
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When the museum becomes the message for participating audiences
This article aims to analyse the notion of participation in the museum context using an audience studies perspective. Museums are increasingly competing for the attention of the public in the arenas of leisure and education, the process of which is part of the commercialisation of the museum institution. In addition, a turn towards interactivity is taking place in museums, and while that might serve well to revitalise the museum and bring it closer to its audiences, it does not sufficiently support realisation of the change of the museum institution into a laboratory-type museum (de Varine, 1988, van Mensch, 2005) -a concept defined through the communicative and democratic aspects of the museum. As is the case with many public institutions, the democratisation of society is increasing the need for transparency and accountability, which in turn has brought public engagement to the attention of the museum. According to , museums need to find a balance between the activities of the museum and audiences: the (potential) need to overcome the shyness of expertise combined with the need to organise the (potential) flood of amateurs.
In this essay I analyse the 'ideas ', 'philosophies', 'contexts' and 'companions' of several recent museum studies anthologies, and examine whether they respond to key issues facing museums today. I am particularly interested in how effectively these anthologies represent social inclusion and diversity discourses, how they account for outreach programs that aim to link museums and communities, and how they engage with the more general work, experience, and critical analysis of museums and museum contexts globally.
Making History Together: Participation in Museums
Narratives in History Museums – Reflections and Perspectives, 2022
The way in which cultural institu- tions preserve, create and commu- nicate history has greatly changed in the past decades. The revolution in communications – especially through digital technologies – has affected not only how museums display but also how they research, collect and in- terpret history. The role, functioning and practices of museums have been changing and have become more participatory. While participatory practices and projects are now widely developed, questions remain on how they impact how history is done and displayed in museums.
MUSEUMS IN THE LIFE OF THE PUBLIC
The present paper aims to emphasize how, in the latest years, more and more events and museum practices focus on the identification of new ways of engaging more individuals into the museum life, even exploring the possibility to extend and adapt the museum activities in the life of communities, according to the actual realities. In this regard we selected a number of relevant institutions in the field (museums, cultural forums etc.) and analyzed their innovative museum practices regarding the visitors and their engagement into the life of the museum. The results revealed that to attract more visitors and to increase public engagement, a museum must to be as a living entity who adapts its needs to the present cultural, economic, social, educational and technological context.
Curator: The Museum Journal , 2024
Set in the tradition of museum ethnography, this article looks at museum participation through the lens of labor. Based primarily on interview material, it analyzes the lengthy—and laborious—participatory process behind the creation of “Berlin Global,” an exhibition at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin, Germany. The authors explore three aspects of participation related to labor, as identified in their research: the different types of knowledge and experience that participants bring with them, the organization of the participatory work process, and the presentation of the participants' contributions within the exhibition. The authors argue that because museum participation tends to be viewed as an act of civic duty, individually and socially meaningful, the different kinds of labor involved in it are often overlooked, resulting in power imbalances between curators and their external partners. A greater awareness of the labor demanded by participatory work is able to address this problem, decreasing the number of frictions and tensions, and thus making mutual beneficiality, participation's main goal, more achievable.
Museums and cultural institutions as spaces for Cultural Citizenship
2014
The Age of Enlightenment fostered dreams of a united humanity, building on knowledge, education, and equal access to participating in society and culture. With digital technologies, we have stepped closer to fulfilling that dream. Millions, even billions, of people across the globe are connected by the Internet, where they have access to communicating, learning, exchanging, developing, creating, and sharing with each other. Enlightened ideas remain at the core of the cultural heritage sector today. How do we embrace this unique opportunity to make our institutions and work truly support a connected world? The anthology before you is an attempt at that vast and complex question. The term 'Sharing is Caring' has caught on in a wealth of contexts, from charity projects to file sharing services. What specific meaning and value does it have in a cultural heritage context? Cultural heritage belongs to everyone. It was created by-and for-all kinds of people. The digitisation of physical heritage objects enables them to move out of storage rooms, library shelves, and file drawers, and land in the hands of the worlds' citizens. When cultural heritage is digital, there is nothing standing in the way of sharing and reusing it. It can be sampled, remixed, embedded, it can illustrate new stories and move into new media, it can adorn books, posters, and public spaces, advance research and make ideas and creativity blossom. When cultural heritage is digital, open and shareable, it becomes common property, something that is right at hand every day. It becomes a part of us. * My article has a relatively long introduction, giving an account of my professional background and specific approach to what I call 'digital museum practice' (p. 23-31). Readers, who wish to move directly to the case study examining the development of digital museum practices at Statens Museum for Kunst, are recommended to start reading on p. 31. ** A few of the illustrations carry di erent Creative Commons licenses which will show beneath the individual images. Read more about the various licenses employed in the anthology on p. 264. Thanks My warmest thanks to everyone who has contributed to making Sharing is Caring an important hub for knowledge sharing and development in the Danish cultural heritage sector. Thanks to