От кризиса до расцвета: современный музей в оценках специалистов

Abstract

The article is devoted to conflicting assessments of the state of the museum in contemporary museum criticism: museums are experiencing either a protracted crisis or the Golden Age. The public is also criticized: people prefer to come to museums in order to be entertained with the help of new technologies and to achieve a scientific goal, and not in order to fulfill their civic duty (appreciating national treasure). In general, among the objectives of the museum (to form a “national imaginary”, to support a state ideology, to serve as a scientific and educational center, to entertain and give pleasure), the aesthetic is in the last place, but the current negative views about the state of a museum as a sociocultural institution are caused by the general suspicion that aesthetics has come to the fore as the most important factor. In order to correctly assess what is happening, modern approaches to the duties of the museum and the needs of the general public need to take the existing points of view on this subject in both Russian and international specialized literature into account. The analysis of the situation also involves data from Internet resources specializing in reporting on the modern art market, which is closely tied to museum politics. The article compares various approaches to the current situation: the goals and objectives historically attributed to the museum, a review of current exhibitions and of the technology used, a change in museum policy as a whole (in particular the fact that what was considered a profanation of a great idea 10 years ago has become a cultural norm today). Based on the results of the study, the following conclusion can be made: modern museums are indeed extremely commercialized. The most unexpected souvenirs are sold in museum stores. Para-museums openly parasitize on the tourist flow of large museums. More than that, nobody thinks twice about making a profit in any possible way, while simultaneously grumbling about the fall in cultural demands of the public. However, interest in museums among the general population remains unchanged, so asserting the widespread crisis of the modern museum is a very big stretch.