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- Convenors:
-
Johanna Turunen
(University of Jyväskylä)
Mari Viita-aho (University of Helsinki)
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- Discussants:
-
Marzia Varutti
(University of Geneva)
Áile Aikio (University of Lapland)
Britta Timm Knudsen
- Format:
- Panel
Short Abstract:
Museums as knowledge institutions are historically contoured by written and unwritten rules. We understand unwriting the museum as an evolving set of practices of staying with the topics that trouble us and dismantling the norms, values and hegemonies the museum institution leans on.
Long Abstract:
The role of museums as knowledge institutions has always been contoured by different kinds of written and unwritten rules. While we may sometimes be ignorant or unaware of their normative effects, these rules do not exist by accident. They were created to solidify the power of the museum’s establishers and hegemonise a specific set of narratives and values. They define what kind of knowledge is considered worthy of being preserved and passed on and, as a result, silence a range of different voices and experiences. These rules and norms embody many problematic power relations: racialised discourses promoted by colonial sentiments, strict divisions between experts and lay people, juxtapositions between art and craft, culture and nature, and human and non-human. There is a need to rupture these established cognitive structures in the museum.
Our panel seeks to bring different attempts to unwrite these rules into dialogue. We understand unwriting the museum as practices of staying with the trouble, moving towards the uncomfortable, and dismantling the norms, values and hegemonies the museum institution leans on. We are interested in topics related to knowledge production, alternative epistemologies and cognitive ruptures in museums, the role of affects and emotions as avenues for unwriting the museum, and critical attempts to un- and rewrite exhibition design and modes of representation. Through theoretical approaches and empirical case studies, the panel seeks to show that even though the museum institution is a site of embodied privileges and norms, it also carries transformative power to impact the future.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Paper Short Abstract:
This paper explores themes of ghosts and grief as they emerge in museum documentation at the University of Aberdeen. The central argument is that museum documentation, though written, provides a powerful tool for the unwriting of the museum, troubling notions of privilege, hegemony and permanence.
Paper Abstract:
This paper seeks to add to the growing literatures in museum taphonomy and hauntology, drawing on the twin themes of ghosts and grief. Previously, I have argued that museums are both haunted and hauntological, and that to understand them as such offers a vision for a museum that is ethically engaged. Here, I contend that that most “written” part of a museum – it’s documentation – provides a powerful tool for it’s unwriting. The fragility and partiality of museum documentation demonstrates that the museum is, ultimately, a space of loss and impermanence.
The paper utilizes the documentary archive at the University of Aberdeen to explore the haunted, bereaved nature of museums. Between the fragments the archives hold, it considers what documentary ruins remain of the lost Archaeological Museum at King’s College, the never built Anatomical Museum of William Charlmers, and a collection of blank accession books, purchased in the 2010s, indicative, perhaps, of a “formal nostalgia” for an analogue utopia.
A key consequence of this hauntological nature is the implicit emergence of grief as central to museum operations. Once again drawing from the University of Aberdeen’s documentation, the paper identifies grief in both specific moments and in modes of operation. Museum documentation, as a temporal rupture between the has been and the not yet, is the most overt evidence of the nature of museums as material and political exercises in grief – tangible expressions of desolation at mortality and impermanence.
Paper Short Abstract:
We examine the transformative potential of art and art museums through an exhibition case study that contributed to unwriting the museum's existing institutional practices and exemplified the transformative potential that engaging with difficult heritage through art can have on a societal level.
Paper Abstract:
This paper examines the transformative potential of art and art museums through a case study of a Palestinian-Danish artist, Larissa Sansour’s exhibition at Amos Rex, Helsinki, Finland, from 9.10.2024 to 2.3.2025. We propose that the exhibition produced two shifts that contributed to unwriting the existing institutional practices of the museum and exemplified the transformative potential that engaging difficult heritage through art can have on a societal level. The exhibition produced a shift in the agency of Amos Rex as an individual museum. Although the planning process for the Sansour exhibition started in 2022, the intensification of the Israel-Palestinian conflict in October 2023 forced the museum to revisit its internal policies and learn ways to be comfortable with discussing difficult and divisive topics. Another shift was produced on a more societal level. We argue that both the strategies chosen by the museums and the imaginative, future-oriented and emotional tone of Sansour’s art enabled museum visitors to reflect on the conflict from a more personal and open-ended perspective.
Drawing on interviews with the museum director, curators and educators, our case study presents how museums can seek to navigate their role in a changing political and cultural landscape. Based on the analysis of the exhibition and visitor interviews, the research also exemplifies art exhibitions’ potential to create transformative cognitive ruptures by focusing on uncomfortable topics.
Paper Short Abstract:
Museums are often viewed as authoritative institutions, presenting their narratives as unquestionable facts. This paper explores how this perception can be utilized to foster critical awareness by intentionally curating exhibitions that challenge dominant historical narratives. Using a Wallace Collection exhibition on Maharaja Ranjit Singh as a case study, I aim to demonstrate how museums can prompt public discussions on colonial histories and inequalities surrounding cultural artifacts, leveraging their authority to open up space for interrogation and dialogue.
Paper Abstract:
Museums have long operated under the implicit rule that their authority as expert institutions renders their exhibitions factual and objective, often minimizing alternative narratives or voices. This paper examines how this unwritten rule, while historically problematic, can be strategically leveraged to foster critical engagement with history and its inequalities. Using the example of an exhibition at the Wallace Collection in London about Maharaja Ranjit Singh and his empire, I argue that by intentionally curating narratives that challenge conventional historical perspectives, museums can utilize their perceived authority to encourage public discourse and awareness. Specifically, the exhibition could highlight the colonial contexts and power imbalances inherent in the collection and display of objects, prompting visitors to question the historical narratives presented. By embracing a more reflexive approach to their curatorial practices, museums in transition can use their voice to empower audiences to interrogate the histories and inequalities surrounding cultural artifacts, thereby creating a more equitable and inclusive platform for shared knowledge.
Paper Short Abstract:
This paper examines the persistent bias against non-textual representations, critiquing how written text continues to constrain their interpretive range and reinforce colonial narratives. It argues for multimodality as a fundamental step toward decolonizing heritage and unwriting the museum.
Paper Abstract:
Whenever we encounter text in a museum, whether in the form of object labels, captions, or introductory panels, it always seeks to redirect our gaze beyond itself, guiding our eyes away from its own presence to the thing it claims to represent. Through this sleight of hand, text can frame nearly everything while concealing itself from critical gaze. It hides in the guise of representation, masking its own objectness. Texts consistently claim a position of neutrality, presenting themselves as mere mediums rather than objects in their own right.
Written text is often assumed to clarify and explain the visual, but in reality, it constrains the interpretive possibilities of the non-textual. It shields the spectator from the discomfort of an unmediated encounter with the Other’s culture, often dismissed as too visual, overly sensory, or vulgar. This mirrors broader critiques of anthropology and museology for their iconophobia and chromophobia, where non-textual and non-Western epistemologies are devalued.
Using case studies from the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum Cologne and Humboldt Forum Berlin, this paper explores how text reduces the non-textual to a passive object, reliant on explanation and incapable of autonomy. This dynamic reflects broader binaries, masculine over feminine, colonizer over colonized, where the former is empowered to speak and observe, while the latter is silenced and made an object of scrutiny. The paper critiques these hierarchical frameworks, arguing they facilitate colonial inscriptions on heritages. It calls for reclaiming sensorial sovereignty and rejecting textual dominance as critical steps to unwrite the museum and promote just representation.
Paper Short Abstract:
This paper draws on exhibitions and exhibition-making to develop a reflection on how an analytical focus on emotions might cast light on aspects of museum practice and museum experience that resist being written about, and put into question pre-formed expectations and rules in museums.
Paper Abstract:
The paper develops a reflection on how an analytical focus on emotions might cast light on aspects of museum practice and museum experience that resist being written about, and put into question pre-formed expectations and rules in museums.
For instance, exhibitions are by definition designed, curated and scripted spaces. However, the emotional responses of visitors cannot be fully anticipated nor controlled.
The paper explores this interface between curatorial intervention and audience agency and proposes emotions (their overwhelming power, radical subjectivity and unpredictability) as tools to unwrite museums’ prescriptive and pre-scripted codes.
Paper Short Abstract:
The paper uses the case study of Belgium’s largest museum, the Royal Museums of Art and History, to reflect on decolonisation in museums. We argue that confronting and unwriting uncomfortable colonial and imperial legacies is crucial to harness the transformative power of the museum for the future.
Paper Abstract:
At the Royal Museums of Art and History (RMAH) in Brussels, Belgium, an equestrian statue of king Leopold II (r.1865-1909) towers high above the visitors. It was installed in the 1930s as a tribute to the Belgian monarch who had supported the museum both financially and through lobbying. However, Leopold’s legacy has increasingly become contentious due to his dubious role in the brutal colonial exploitation of Congo. Recently, therefore, the RMAH has taken steps to address Leopold’s controversial legacy through the contextualisation of the statue, using both signage and artistic intervention.
In this paper, we argue that although this intervention is an important step forward, it may not suffice as sole decolonising effort in the RMAH. We interrogate the RMAH’s current practices of addressing its past colonial and imperial ties and observe that the museum generally remains steeped in silence.
Importantly, we reflect on future steps towards a more in-depth decolonisation of the museum and the unwriting of its colonial legacies. Drawing on insights from critical heritage, museum and tourism studies, we identify ways of breaking through the silence in the RMAH. We especially emphasize the importance of further research into the museum’s history based on its rich archive and the necessity of participation of and co-creation with diverse communities at multiple levels. Finally, we argue that by addressing uncomfortable legacies, the RMAH can serve as a leading example of how institutions worldwide can confront and reconcile with their dissonant past, paving the way to a more equitable future.
Paper Short Abstract:
Sámification as Decolonial Practice: Rewriting Museums and Cultural Heritage This paper examines Sámification, the process through which the Sámi reclaim and transform museum practices to align with their cultural heritage. Framed as a decolonial, two-way dynamic, it explores how Sámification reshapes both museums and broader heritage discourses.
Paper Abstract:
The entanglement of museums and cultural heritage practices with colonialism and Western hegemony is a widely recognized reality, as is their role in reinforcing narratives that marginalize Indigenous voices. Equally acknowledged is the critical need to decolonize museums, a challenge increasingly addressed by both majority populations and marginalized groups, including Indigenous Peoples. My research, based on my doctoral dissertation, investigates the Sámification of museums, examining how the Sámi—the only Indigenous people within the European Union—have reclaimed the museum institution. By establishing Sámi museums, the Sámi have redefined museum practices to align with their cultural heritage, values, and needs.
Museums, as fundamentally European institutions, were historically designed to serve the needs of nation-states, which adapted them to reflect their own values and priorities. For stateless Indigenous peoples such as the Sámi, integrating their cultural heritage into this framework requires deeper and more transformative processes. I conceptualize Sámification as a two-way dynamic: it involves reshaping Sámi cultural heritage to fit dominant museum conventions while simultaneously transforming museums to meet the evolving needs of the Sámi people. This dual process entails both unwriting and rewriting entrenched practices, dismantling colonial norms while fostering inclusive, decolonial approaches. I argue that Sámification transcends the Sámi context, offering valuable insights into how decolonization can address broader societal inequities in our colonial world order. Finally, I explore the implications of Sámification for critical heritage studies, particularly the concept of authorized heritage discourse, advocating for a transformative and inclusive reimagining of museums.
Paper Short Abstract:
This paper examines disputes over patrimonial and historical narratives in contemporary Chile. To achieve this, it critically and digitally analyses over sixty versions of curatorial statements and audience comments related to the two most controversial exhibitions at the National Historical Museum in recent years.
Paper Abstract:
Between 2019 and 2023, Chile experienced a volatile political context. It navigated a social revolt, human rights violations at the hands of the police, two failed constitutional drafts, a health pandemic, and more than a dozen elections. During these years, the Museo Histórico Nacional (National History Museum of Chile) was tasked with curating two exhibits on the history of democracy. The first focused on constitutional history in the midst of the elections for the first Constituent Assembly and riots. The second commemorated the 50th anniversary of the 1973 coup d'état when studies indicated the most extraordinary collapse of democratic credibility in the last three decades. Each curatorial process involved negotiations with the governments in power —first from the right, then from the left— heritage agents and communities.
This presentation traces these negotiations through commentaries on the more than 60 versions of its curatorial statement, characterising the objects, materialities, and words most contested by each political sector and their historical narratives, materialities and words most contested by each political sector and their historical narratives.
Paper Short Abstract:
This paper explores ways to actively intervene in museum exhibitions and rewrite the conventional modes of representing 20th-century experiences. It focuses on two examples from memory and museum research in Estonia.
Paper Abstract:
Museum exhibitions are rarely linear; their aim is to be dialogical in nature. However, in many cultural history exhibitions, the main narrative remains hegemonic, highlighting the experiences of only certain groups.
Within the framework of our research project we examine ways to promote mnemonic plurality in Baltic cultural history museums. In addition to research and publications, the project aimed to actively intervene in museum exhibitions. I will explore here the possibilities available to memory researchers for extending and reshaping history museum exhibitions.
I will focus on two interventions: an additional audio layer featuring LGBT+ stories at the Museum of Occupations and Freedom Vabamu (Tallinn, 2023), and a small exhibition based on audio-visual biographical interviews conducted in Russian at the Estonian National Museum (Tartu, 2024).
During the creation of the LGBT+ exhibit “From ‘Such People’ to LGBT Activism” heated debates were unfolding in Estonian society surrounding the marriage equality law. The development of the “ Lõige/Razrez/Mine" exhibition, centered on the experience of Northwast-Estonian mining community, was influenced by the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. This context increased mistrust towards the Russian-speaking community in the society and posed significant challenges for the exhibition team.
In this paper, I will explore the ideological, museographical and artistic choices we made during the preparation of these exhibitions. I will attempt to evaluate how successful we were in maintaining and asserting our critical positions. The work presented here is part of the research project “Practices and Challenges of Mnemonic Pluralism in Baltic History Museums" (2021-25)
Paper Short Abstract:
This paper analyses the perspectives of museum professionals in the UK and Germany, reflecting on their work and on ‘museum activism’, which is challenged by the impact of contemporary democratic crises, drawing out the complications of the dynamic relationship between ideals and practices while unwriting/rewriting museums.
Paper Abstract:
I argue that the museum is a public space in Benhabib’s dual sense (1992) of being symbolically representative as an institution of the demos, and in acting as a place where contrasting and varied ideas may be negotiated and explored (Eckersley 2022). As such, the museum is inevitably a part of the political and social realm. Conflicts over the political and social roles of museums internationally (Sandell 1998, Weil 1997) and in Germany (Korff & Roth 1990; Thiemeyer 2019) both prefigure and respond to the rewriting of the ICOM definition of museums (Fraser 2018, ICOM 2018, 2019, ICOM Germany 2020). ICOM consultations with museum professionals highlight polarisation within professional perspectives and that the idea of a 'museum' is homogenous neither internationally nor within Europe. More recently, conflicts over museums’ roles and the responsibilities of museum actors during democratic crises have come to the fore – in Germany the rise of the AfD, impacts of October 7th, and in the UK, Brexit, public disorder in summer 2024, etc – alongside European crises including the conflict in Ukraine.
Presenting initial findings from the AHRC-DFG funded project ‘Cultural Dynamics: Museums and Democracy in Motion’, this paper will focus on the perspectives of museum professionals in the UK and Germany, reflecting on their work and on ‘museum activism’ (Janes & Sandell 2019) – often addressing past democratic crises – which is challenged by the impact of contemporary democratic crises, drawing out complications of the dynamic relationship between ideals and practices while unwriting/rewriting museums.
Paper Short Abstract:
In this paper I explore how spatial colonial geographies in the city of Aarhus, Denmark, is decolonized by indigenous perspectives through immersive technologies and affective ambivalence. More concretely, the paper will dive into a case of an augmented reality city walk and its reception in the polar explorer neighbourhood in Aarhus, to look at how the walk could be seen as a site-specific museum activity to let audiences discover, experience and critically reflect on unnoticed colonial relics in the city.
Paper Abstract:
In this paper I explore how spatial colonial geographies in the city of Aarhus, Denmark, is decolonized by indigenous perspectives through immersive technologies and affective ambivalence. More concretely, the paper will dive into a case of an augmented reality city walk and its reception in the polar explorer neighbourhood in Aarhus, to look at how the walk could be seen as a site-specific museum activity to let audiences discover, experience and critically reflect on unnoticed colonial relics in the city.
My point of departure lies in projects such as ECHOES (2018-2021) and PLAYING WITH GHOSTS (2022-2025) that explore how colonial heritage is dealt with in city spaces by decolonial artists, activists and citizen initiatives and in PWG we look at how art and cultural practices decolonize through the lens of humour and affective ambivalence.
The AR-walk “Qallonology 101: White Male Polar Explorers and Danish Desire to Settle” makes visible the hidden and haunting layers of polar explorers street names through their various mediated representations (memes, documentary clips, interviews, songs etc). Thus, the paper unfolds the mnemonic tactics and aesthetic strategies of the AR-walk and detect how indigenous voices dismantle the ‘cool colonizer’ and take the position of political subjects through inversion and Inuit worldmaking. The paper will likewise look at how the walk was decoded, responded to and experienced by three high school classes and will focus on if and how the walk affected the audiences’ positionalities and worldview as well as to give rise to productive affective ambivalence.
Paper Short Abstract:
This paper explores how museums reproduce nature-culture dichotomies, why this is problematic and how, through educating future museum professionals and furthering nature-inclusive museum practices we can include different ways of knowing and question anthropocentrist hegemonies in museums.
Paper Abstract:
Culture-nature dichotomies are reproduced in and through museums on many levels: types of museums, exhibition styles and general lack of recognition of ecological infrastructure and interconnectedness. Previous research has shown that historical storytelling plays a key role in how we perceive and act upon climate change and biodiversity loss, through the widely described shifting baseline syndrome. The shifting baseline syndrome describes the process wherein every human generation perceives the situation wherein they grow up as normal. Using this as a starting point, this paper explores different strands that might inspire disruptive practices targeting anthropocentrist and speciesist hegemonies. I reflect on the potential of ‘nature-inclusive museum practices’ as common aim to connect different museum-disciplines in articulating practice-based development questions. Finally I will reflect on what ethics, theory and practice come to the fore to make change on nature-culture dichotomies through museum work.
Paper Short Abstract:
The Conflictorium, India’s first participatory museum, in Gujarat, examine the concept of conflict and contests the traditional museums by restructuring it to confront hegemonic norms. This abstract delves into how it serves as a blueprint for rewriting museums as inclusive, transformational spaces.
Paper Abstract:
Being the first participatory museum of India situated in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, the Conflictorium challenges the traditional museum norms by centring itself as a space for collective healing, dialogue and dissent. The museum examines the concept of conflict and amplify marginalised voices, restructuring the museum as an institution that confronts hegemonic norms of colonial, hierarchical and patriarchal traditions.
The Conflictorium unwrites current structures of power and traditional divisions with the museum community through their participatory exhibits, such as The Sorry Tree and the Memory Lab. These exhibits prioritise emotional engagement, community participation, and alternative epistemologies, thus breaking the traditional division between art and activism, and expert and layperson. The Conflictorium serves as a blueprint for rewriting museums from a static repository into a living, participatory space for collective healing. Through this space that address societal issues, the Conflictorium demonstrates the transformational ability of museums to restructure museum as a dynamic platform to societal healing and transformation that challenges the cognitive hierarchies. This case study aims to examine the Conflictorium as it serves as a powerful model for the global museological community, showcasing how participatory practices can unwrite hegemonic norms and redefine the relationship between museums and its’ audiences.
Paper Short Abstract:
In a world of global ecological crises, such as climate change and biodiversity loss, museums should increasingly be focusing on the future rather than concentrating on the past. As experts in cultural processes and change, museums can play a role in ecological reconstruction and start working with their stakeholders, individuals and communities towards cultural transformation for a more sustainable future.
Paper Abstract:
In a world of global ecological crises, such as climate change and biodiversity loss, museums should increasingly be focusing on the future rather than concentrating on the past. As experts in cultural processes and change, museums can play a role in ecological reconstruction and start working with their stakeholders, individuals and communities towards cultural transformation for a more sustainable future.
Museums have great potential to do this and the development in museums is already going on. For example, museums are investing in promoting sustainable development in close cooperation with museum visitors and various communities. However, new activities combining different temporal levels and novel ideas for futures work are still needed. As well, futures thinking must be taken in museum strategies to become impactful. In Finland, the concept of a "dynamic museum" has been introduced, which actively focuses on the present, looks to the future(s) and keeps the past firmly in mind. Dynamic museum invites people to engage in futures processes together and intentionally explore their ideas about the futures. The basis of the model is laid for the concepts of cultural heritage, living heritage and heritage futures. Strengthening futures thinking provides museums with the understanding of societal impact, temporal relevance and inclusive heritage work needed for strategic planning and day-to-day museum work.
The presentation will introduce museums’ superpowers and potential in advancing and pushing cultural transformation and ecological reconstruction for sustainable futures. It gives examples of Finnish museums and discuss the benefits of futures thinking.
Paper Short Abstract:
Digital mediation transforms museum storytelling, breaking colonial and patriarchal narratives. Interactive technologies decentralize authority, amplify marginalized voices, and promote inclusive, multi-perspective storytelling for a richer engagement with cultural heritage.
Paper Abstract:
The practice of ‘unwriting’ in museums opens up a space for critical reflection on the way in which museum narratives are constructed, consolidated and perceived by audiences. This talk will look at how digital tools can be used to deconstruct historically established museum narratives, which are often aligned with elitist, Western or patriarchal perspectives, and to promote more inclusive and participatory approaches.
Today, digital technology offers a range of tools for recomposing museum discourse by making it more flexible and interactive. Devices such as augmented reality, interactive interfaces and mobile applications facilitate the integration of diverse voices and perspectives, introducing alternative narratives that challenge hegemonic interpretations of collections. By promoting plural and sometimes dissonant narratives, these digital approaches pave the way for a more dynamic mediation experience, where visitors can actively contribute to redefining the meanings of heritage.
Through an analysis of innovative digital mediation projects, this talk will highlight how the process of ‘de-writing’ not only makes it possible to question traditional modes of narration, but also to reconstruct a space in which museum heritage is seen as a place for dialogue, shared memory and inclusion. This helps to develop the museum's mission as a space for collective reflection and social transformation.