Museums and Media Archaeology: An Interview with Wolfgang Ernst

Abstract

This interview with Professor Wolfgang Ernst, which took place at the Institute of Musicology and Media Studies at Humboldt University in Berlin in 2011, explores the significance of “media archaeology” as a method for analyzing museums as well as media, and the relationship between the theoretical approaches relevant to media and those appropriate to museums. The question of whether the museum can be considered as a kind of media form is addressed, as well as the larger questions of what media‐oriented thinking can bring to the analysis of museums, and what a museological orientation can do to the study of media. In the interview, Ernst emphasizes questions of materiality and the importance to museums, of their special orientation to the material object in an era of digitalization. This, he argues, sets museums apart from electronic media. He also emphasizes the importance of retaining museums as a space outside media, a space in which media themselves can be reflected on.