A Space of Many Dimensions: Reading the Museum as an Author (original) (raw)

BREAKING DEFINITIONAL BOUNDARIES – MUSEUMS IN ICELAND

The article presents the results of a research on Icelandic museums and their specifics. The analysis is based on the traditional concept of 'land, nation and language,' which form the core of the Icelan-dic culture and national identity. The first section of the paper describes the definitional problems which occurred during the research. Then the methodology is explained, also taking into consideration the difficulties in examining Icelandic museums using standard tools and guidelines. The last section is devoted to the results of the research, presenting a few examples of different Icelandic museums and their approach to heritage through the prism of the abovementioned trinity. SŁOWA KLUCZE: dziedzictwo niematerialne, koncepcje muzeów, kultura Islandii, zarządzanie dziedzictwem KEY WORDS: intangible heritage, museum concepts, culture of Iceland, heritage management

MUSEUMS AND MUSEOLOGIES

Art History and Visual Studies in Europe : Transnational Discourses and National Frameworks

Reflection on the history and practice of art history has long been a major topic of research and scholarship, and this volume builds on this tradition by offering a critical survey of many of the major developments in the contemporary discipline, such as the impact of digital technologies, the rise of visual studies or new initiatives in conservation theory and practice. Alongside these methodological issues this book addresses the mostly neglected question of the impact of national contexts on the development of the discipline. Taking a wide range of case studies, this book examines the impact of the specific national political, institutional and ideological demands on the practice of art history. The result is an account that both draws out common features and also highlights the differences and the plurality of practices that together constitute art history as a discipline.

Perspective. Museums beyond neutrality

Nordisk Museologi

being engaged, or decided, on either side of an issue. As we shall argue in this position paper, a neutral position is neither possible nor, indeed, desirable for museums. We develop our argument by drawing on examples from research as well as from recent conversations in the museum community, and conclude by considering the implications of our proposal for museum practice. We focus on science museums (natural history museums, science and technology museums and science centres) because this is our collective area of expertise, and because realisations of the non-neutrality of the scientific endeavour have been much longer in the making in the natural sciences than in other disciplines. Even so, the arguments we make could be considered in other contexts and across museum genres. Museums are not neutral First of all, we contend that the institution of the museum is not, nor has it ever been, neutral. Evidence of the value-ladenness of museums comes from many quarters. Kathleen McLean says about museum practice: Even in the earliest temples of the muses, someone set forth some object for others to experience, and

Analysing the Adjectival Museum: Exploring the bureaucratic nature of museums and the implications for researchers and the research process

Museum and Society, 2018

The proliferation of titles for types of museum has resulted in an adjectival explosion in recent years (with museums being engaging, relevant, professional, adaptive, community, national, universal, local, independent, people’s, children’s, scientific, natural history, labour, virtual, symbolic, connected, trust and charitable, amongst many other labels). This paper argues that the adoption of an organizational focus on bureaucratic features such as hierarchical authority, centralisation of power, functional specialisation and research processes can show commonalities in the understandings and challenges linked to museum function. The emphasis on museums as a specific institutional and organizational form allows for the identification and explanation of similarities and differences in their operational existence that extends beyond their particular individual natures. This also implies that the bureaucratic nature of museums has implications for researchers as they are organization...