Museum reinvention in the face of the pandemic challenge: digitization strategies, heritage, and audiences

Abstract

The pandemic period served as a catalyst in the museums’ adaptation, leading them to embrace innovation, collaboration, and resilience. As they emerged from the covid-19 crisis, these institutions found themselves in a unique position to play a vital role in society’s rebuilding and in preserving cultural heritage in an ever-changing world. The article aims to explore the main measures adopted, review the scientific literature on the subject, highlight some relevant cases in European, Asian, and American museums, and identify the challenges and dynamics driven in the post-pandemic period. The text stems from a thorough literature review to determine how the museum field should reconfigure its presence, considering three factors: technology, heritage, and audience. A landscape in which the presence of social networks, the rise of online exhibitions, and other digital resources are considered fundamental.