Click the star to add/remove an item to/from your individual schedule.
You need to be logged in to avail of this functionality.
Log in
- Convenor:
-
Hester Dibbits
(Reinwardt Academy for Cultural Heritage)
Send message to Convenor
- Stream:
- Archives and Museums
- Location:
- Aula 1
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 17 April, -, -
Time zone: Europe/Madrid
Short Abstract:
This panel investigates the impact of the participatory paradigm on museum policy and practice by tracking changes in (the discourse on) processes of musealisation.
Long Abstract:
This panel investigates the impact of the participatory paradigm on museum policy and practice by tracking changes in (the discourse on) processes of musealisation.
All over Europe, as elsewhere, museums and heritage professionals have been trying to work according to what they consider as the 'participatory approach'. Transforming societies have lead to new tasks and responsibilities for museums and museum workers. Participatory methods have been considered an appropriate response to the challenges museums have been facing in a transforming world.
Special community projects were initiated and events for the neighbours were organized. Sometimes visitors were asked to collaborate in the making of an exhibition, in other cases community members were asked to hand in (or hand over) objects for the collection. Other kinds of participative initiatives can also be found. What they share, is the idea that this approach increases the relevance of museums for the society: the museum should be an inclusive, democratic platform, accessible to everybody. How has this idea been articulated and what does it mean, in practice?
We welcome papers that focus on museum management, collecting practices, audience orientation or community work. We are interested in your methodological reflections - how did you, as a researcher, track the actual impact of the participatory paradigm - and in your own vision on the phenomenon as such: how do you position yourself in the participatory paradigm?
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Wednesday 17 April, 2019, -Paper short abstract:
Does participative curating mean to avoid and counteract hegemonial classistic, racist and anti-feminist tendencies in curating? I want to discuss these questions based on my research on curating an exhibition about the work of transnational operating home-carers.
Paper long abstract:
Exhibitons on migration were already participative before the hype on participation1 reached the museum-world. When the great cultural, historical and anthropological significance of migration was realised in the 1990s, practically no museum had built a collection around this topic. So curators were forced to, although they were - pretty obviously - lacking both empirical value as well as theoretical reflections about participation in and for exhibitons.
Until now, though one can find critical literature2 about participation, the role of curators is a subject seldom dealt with. Astonishing, because long before participation was discussed in museology, Architect Markus Miessen described in "The Nightmare of Participation"3, the importance of curators in depriving participation of innocence. Translated for museology: Curators have to realise their action as hegemonial, as defined by Trinh T. Minh-ha: "Authority of special groups over others..."4. This means, that linked attributes like classism, racism and anti-feminism cannot be avoided by participative approach and have to be dealt with. Rather should be asked, if participation strengthens ‚curatorial arrogance', as I call it, and intesifies these topics.
Being a curator myself, I tried to find answers in conducting participative research with transnational operating 24-hour-home-carers on (re)presentation of their work in an exhibition. One reason for curators not acting as equals in exhibitons, I found in the origins of anthropolocial resarch-methods, that are just being continued in display. At SIEF I'd like to discuss my thoughts on how we can encounter curatorial arrogance and make exhibitons a non-discriminating space.
Paper short abstract:
The MAS Museum is a city museum that believes in a diverse network of city partners: to reflect on heritage and thus discover or reveal its (renewed) meaning for the city and its various communities. Two projects illustrate the connection between (historical) objects and (current) traditions.
Paper long abstract:
Antwerp has important Jewish, Christian (Catholic) and Muslim communities. They shape the city and its identity. These religions are closely related: their belief in one God and his revelation to mankind. But they also share a rich variety of practices and rituals: visiting sacred places such as Jerusalem, Rome, Compostela and Mecca. But also burial practices and the belief in Final Judgement of mankind after death.
One past temporary exhibition 'Sacred Places, Sacred Books' and a new permanent exhibition 'Life & death in the three Religions of the Book' depicts the beliefs, the life, the search for the meaning of life of a large group of Antwerp inhabitants.
Goal: a cross-cultural approach with a balance between objects with an arthistorical value and personal stories from people of the various Antwerp religious and heritage communities. The revelation of striking parallels and inciting respect for the differences, connecting (historical) objects and (current) traditions:
1.Sacred Places (pilgrimage), Sacred Books - 18/09/2014 to 18/01/2015
Depicting the departure, journey, arrival and return home of pilgrims to Jerusalem, Rome, Mekka, …. and the importance of the Holy Book.
2.Life & death in the three Religions of the Book - October 2018
Jews, Christians and Muslims belief in one God who reveals himself in the Torah, the Bible and the Quran: guidelines for a good or righteous life. A reward will follow after death when all people are judged and may or may not have access to paradise.
Paper short abstract:
Museum collections become a part of everyday life of museum visitors in their interpretations of exhibitions and activities in museum events. In this context, cultural heritage could serve as a multi-perspective tool in co-creative, transformative processes of everyday culture in the society.
Paper long abstract:
Culture is like an ever-changing stream (Ulf Hannerz 1992) which flows from person to person and from past to future intentionally and unintentionally. In the stream of culture, cultural change and resistance to change are constantly produced by human beings as cultural tangible and intangible traditions in everyday life. Thus, continuity defines traditions only partly, and they have also an implicit transformative power. Traditions defined as heritage in museums and in the society make always an impact and promote explicitly some changes in everyday life and in the society.
The role of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is stronger than ever in the current era of globalization. ICH is living actions, skills and thoughts of human beings. It is not possible to separate it from human beings. Thus it is not possible to collect living ICH in an ethical way in museum collections, or to keep living ICH unchanged and define it by authorities. The strengthening position of ICH has changed practices and power relationships in different heritage processes in the society and in museums.
Museum collections become a part of everyday life of museum visitors in their interpretations of exhibitions and activities in museum events. In heritage processes, different individuals and communities may sometimes lose their power to define what is important in their everyday traditions. In this context, cultural heritage could serve as a multi-perspective tool in co-creative, transformative processes of everyday culture in the society. In order to be ethical, this happens in participatory processes with museum visitors.
Paper short abstract:
Public involvement in the museum's processes is one of the most visible trends in the memory institutions activities in today's world. In my paper I will present how the participatory approach are disseminated in the practice of museums in Lithuania.
Paper long abstract:
Public involvement in the museum's processes is one of the most visible trends in the memory institutions activities in today's world. It is confirmed in its most direct and evident way by the situation of the 14th SIEF congress, where both museology panels, each with a slightly different aspect, are in touch to this topic. Participatory approach is still unknown or very little studied topic in academic life of Lithuania. And, so far, the first steps are being taken in the everyday practice of museum activity. Therefore, the involvement of the society in museum activities is more likely to be heard at seminars or conferences of foreign colleagues. On the other hand, interesting examples of practical activity and solutions can already be found in Lithuania. In my report I will present how the tendencies of public involvement are disseminated in the practice of museums in Lithuania. How many attention and effort is used there, what are the main activities, what problems are most commonly encountered and how they are being solved?
Paper short abstract:
The paper reveals the result of ethnographic field research prioritizing distinguishes features of particular traditions and customs in different geographical location of ethnographic regions, by giving concrete examples via educational programmes perspective in Lithuanian museums.
Paper long abstract:
The aim of a paper is to introduce to old Christmas-Eve traditions via educational activities of Lithuanian museums. Goals: 1) to discuss the analysis of Lithuanian case theoretical issues; 2) to explore the educational approaches about old Christmas-Eve traditions in a field of museum; 3) to analyse the behaviour and reflections of both museum educators and educational programme's participants 4) to figure out how does museum educational environment's impact strengthens and weakens the process of education, and how often the inclusion of ethnographic exhibits or ethnographic terms are carried out during the educational programmes.
The latest field research data was collected in December 2017 at six Lithuanian ethnographic museums. Methods used: participant observation, field notes, informal interviews, survey. Based on the empirical data, subsequently, comparative and interpretive methods were applied to gain the research results.
In conclusion, on purpose to convey the old Christmas-Eve traditions, there were various educational forms fixed via narratives, dialogue / questions-answers, collective and individual games and squadrons, main roles' distribution between participants, unusual meals' gustation from the perspective of nowadays, as well, customs of gustation. For educators it was important to make participants to become active, to creature dynamics and to immerse them into ethnographic environment. Meanwhile, educators allowed the audience to express the past, especially, by using learning methods both drama and visual. Furthermore, the disappearance of confines between reality and the past was simulated during educational programmes.
Keywords: Christmas-Eve traditions, ethnography, museum, educational programme
Paper short abstract:
As children are one of the most important group of museums' audience, paper focuses upon practices in organizing programs for children aged from 5 to 15 years in Serbian museums.
Paper long abstract:
Cultural participation, which includes visiting museums, in general contributes quality of life and senses of well-being. In young age, visiting museums helps in developing cognitive skills and better understanding of social and natural processes and phenomenon in both near and wider environments. Such (academic) findings resonated in museums' practices.
Paper draws from two recent researches in Serbia: "Cultural participation and Cultural heritage" and "We are family! Family day at local museum as part of cultural tourism offer in Serbia".
First research aimed to track changes in museums' practices regarding participatory programs for children from early 1980s up to present days. We dwelled into archives and interviewed curators engaged in organizing participatory programs for children back then and now.
Second research was initiated having in mind the role of museums in cultural tourism and, also, increasing number of parents who want to spend their leisure time with their children discovering different times and "places" in museums. Aim was to identify practices in Serbian museums that would enable launching family day as cultural tourism product. Two surveys were conducted: one among curators about programs for children and museum's activities in positioning as an actor in both local community and on cultural tourism market; and the other among parents of children aged from 5 to 15 years regarding attitudes towards visiting museums with their children in leisure time.
Being a parent puts a researcher of in a double position so instead of conclusion, paper will briefly address issues and challenges of such kind.
Paper short abstract:
This paper deals with the interpretation of symbolic forms in different artistic genres in Hmong ethnic community in central China. The interpretations embody the poetics and politics in art interventions within this minority ethnic community.
Paper long abstract:
In this article I aim to employ two distinct discourses, resonance and wonder, firstly proposed by historians to examine aesthetic pursuits, to re-interpret Hmong creation myths as recorded in ethnographic museums in Xiangxi Tujia and Hmong Autonomous Prefecture. By reviewing these two concepts, I intend to elucidate the specific ways of traditionalization in the symbolic forms in interest.
The first type of pursuit is materialized in an ethnographic museum with creation myths as a crucial part of exhibition. It exports ideologies as well as defines a unique ethnic culture through reconstructing creation myths. The origin tales contained in both textual and material cultures reflect subtle ideologies of differentiating self/others and the understanding of locality, history and memory, which are key terms in the current indigenous aesthetics about Hmong identity. This process fits the first model of wonder within museum ethnography, which aims at creating a distance between the constructed meaning and the targeted audience.
The second type of pursuit is embodied in an exhibition of the stronghold of the last generation of 'The King of the Hmong', Long Yun-Fei. Through demonstrating the idiosyncracies of this historical character, the decoration traditions of his family house become the artistic symbols which signifies Hmong identity. This process conforms with the second model of resonance within museum ethnography, which aims at provoking imagination of local history as part of a construction process of nationalism in China.