Presentations abstracts
Poster presentation abstracts
Keynote speakers
Jette Sandahl
European Museum Forum (Denmark)No Time for Denial
As museums begin to adjust, revise and reinvent their principles, policies and practices to face the complexities of the 21st century, there is a continuous discussion about the future of museums and about future concepts, purposes and definitions of museums – often focused, as in this context, on the relevance of museums and of the contributions, museums make and could make to society.
Across the vastly different conditions under which museums work, there seems to be a general readiness to enter the obligations of engaging with the urgent issues and global concerns of today. Remaining – or becoming - relevant, for the individual museum as well as for the sector as such, implies dealing with climate change and the destruction of nature, with conflicts and wars, with the legacies of colonialism, with economic inequality and social injustice. There is no neutral place in society, and there is little time for denial. There is, however, a need to clarify a transparent ethical foundation in support of these commitments.
In this current landscape, museums increasingly frame and express their core museum functions and their social responsibilities as an interconnected whole. Museums strive to address and fulfil their societal and humanitarian purposes exactly through – and not in contradiction or opposition to - the unique, characteristic and specific museum functions and methods of collecting, preserving, documenting, researching, exhibiting and communicating the collections and other evidence of cultural heritage.
A wealth of examples shows how this is accomplished with great impact, with gravity, with beauty, in anger or with humour, by all types, scales, disciplines and traditions of museums, based and rooted, meaningfully, in each museum’s particular collection and expertise, its particular location and communities.
This development is often supported, and at times driven, by ever more permeable boundaries of museums, allowing the growing expectation of cultural democracy, of equal access, equal representation and the rights of participation for the stakeholder communities of the museum.
Nancy Proctor
Peale Center for Baltimore History and Architecture (USA)
From Treasure House to Production House: Community-driven storytelling and the “born digital” collection in the 21st century museum
What does it look like to put community storytelling and “digital first” strategies at the center of your museum practice? Presenting new strategies being developed at the Peale, a center for Baltimore stories and studies, this session looks at ways of making museums more immersive, inclusive, accessible, and relevant – at once social and personal. Inspired by the “new citizenship” model and transmedia initiatives presented at the international MW conferences, the Peale Center is an experiment in reversing a number of museum hierarchies, from the primacy of the object to the curatorial process. The aim is to transform the museum from treasure house to production house of culture for greater impact and sustainability in the 21st century.
Peale Center for Baltimore History and Architecture (USA)
From Treasure House to Production House: Community-driven storytelling and the “born digital” collection in the 21st century museum
What does it look like to put community storytelling and “digital first” strategies at the center of your museum practice? Presenting new strategies being developed at the Peale, a center for Baltimore stories and studies, this session looks at ways of making museums more immersive, inclusive, accessible, and relevant – at once social and personal. Inspired by the “new citizenship” model and transmedia initiatives presented at the international MW conferences, the Peale Center is an experiment in reversing a number of museum hierarchies, from the primacy of the object to the curatorial process. The aim is to transform the museum from treasure house to production house of culture for greater impact and sustainability in the 21st century.