Modern Museum Research Articles

William Hunter and the Anatomy of the Modern Museum

This hefty book was published to accompany the special exhibition of the same name held at the Hunterian in Glasgow in 2018 and the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven in 2019. Taken together, the exhibition and accompanying volume may be regarded as the culmination of more than a decade’s programme of workshops, exhibitions, conferences and publications inspired by and commemorating the 200th anniversary of the foundation of the Hunterian in 2007 and the 300th anniversary of William Hunter’s birth in 2018. As we have become used to with publications from Yale, the production of William Hunter and the Anatomy of the Modern Museum is of the highest quality: it presents erudite essays and detailed catalogue entries authored by specialists, thoroughly edited for consistency and clarity, laid out intelligently and generously on large-format glossy pages, and illustrated throughout with high-quality photographs. It is well known that the highly successful physician, anatomist and man-midwife William Hunter (1718–1783) was one of the great collectors of the eighteenth, or any other, century. In addition to the 3,000 or so anatomical preparations that were in his possession at the time of his death, there were also some 30,000 coins and medals, 10,000 books, 650 manuscripts, 7,500 insects, 6,000 shells, 2,500 minerals and rocks, a herbarium of unknown extent (sadly unrecorded since 1825), and a smaller number of ‘artificial curiosities’, including a small collection of objects traceable to the Pacific voyages of Captain James Cook – all this in addition to an important collection of prints and drawings, conceived as integral to the museum. Remarkably, this extensive and encyclopedic collection was accumulated in only fifteen years: from 1768, when at the age of 50 Hunter started collecting, until his death in 1783.

서울 송현동 일대의 문화 헤게모니와 장소성 변화 분석

The History and Culture Park and the Lee Kun-hee Donation Hall will be built in Songhyeon-dong, Seoul. Political games from the Joseon Dynasty to the present greatly influenced the historicity of Songhyeon-dong. However, place analysis was limited to changes in landowners and land uses rather than a historical context. Therefore, this study analyzed the context in which the placeness of Songhyeon-dong changed according to the emergence of cultural hegemony using the perspective of modern cultural geography and comparative history. As a result of the analysis, cultural hegemony in historical transitions, such as Sinocentrism, maritime expansion, civil revolutions, imperialism, nationalism, popular art, and neoliberalism, was found to have created new intellectuals in Bukchon, including Songhyeon-dong, and influenced social systems and spatial policies. In this social relations, the placeness of Songhyeon-dong changed as follows. First, the founding forces of Joseon created pine forests as Bibo Forests to invocate the permanence of the dynasty. In the late Joseon dynasty, it was an era of maritime expansion, and as Joseon’s yeonhaeng increased, a garden for the Gyeonghwasejok, who enjoyed the culture of the Qing dynasty, was built. Although pine forests and gardens disappeared due to the development of housing complexes as the population soared during the Japanese colonial era, Cha Gyeong’s landscape aesthetics, which harmonized artificial gardens and external nature, are worth reinterpreting in modern times. Second, the wave of modernization created a new school in Bukchon and a boarding house in Songhyeon-dong owned by a pro-Japanese faction. Angukdongcheon-gil, next to Songhyeon-dong, was where thinkers who promoted civil revolution and national self-determination exchanged ideas. Songhyeon-dong, the largest boarding house, served as a residence for students to participate in the March 1st Movement and was the cradle of the resulting culture of student movements. The appearance of the old road is preserved, so it is a significant part of the regeneration of walking in the historic city center, connecting Gwanghwamun-Bukchon-Insadong-Donhwamunro. Third, from the cultural rule of the Government General of Joseon to the Military Government, Songhyeon-dong acted as a passage to western culture with the Joseon Siksan Bank’s cultural housing and staff accommodations at the U.S. Embassy. Ancient and contemporary art coexisted in the surrounding area, so the modern and contemporary art market was formed. The Lee Kun-hee Donation Hall is expected to form a cultural belt for citizens with the gallery, Bukchon Hanok Village, the Craft Museum, and the Modern Museum of Art. Discourses and challenges are needed to recreate the place in harmony with the forests, gardens, the street of citizens’ birth, history and culture park, the art museum, and the surrounding walking network.

Outsiders or Insiders? John Berger and the Ethical Reframing of Animals

The paper focuses on the changing status of the moral framing of animals in Western visual culture in the last four decades. The author proposes to revise John Berger’s critique of the marginal way of seeing animals in modern museums and zoos. Both institutions presented animals as strangers to urban culture by keeping them isolated in showcases and cages. Mass media that disseminated wildlife documentaries kept on separating animals from human culture by picturing them as representatives of “wild” species. The paper brings attention to a decisive moment in the reframing of the public gaze, which occurred with the birth of two new visual genres. First, investigative documentaries and activist blogs allowed the human right to exploit animals to be criticized. Second, the rise of social networks allowed animals to be pictured as companions. The author argues that both genres caused an inclusive turn of public gaze that visually integrated animals into urban culture.

The Danzanravjaa museum in the Mongolian Gobi: An ancient exhibition temple revived as a modern museum?

Mongols claim that Mongolia’s first museum was founded in the 19th century by the great eccentric lama, poet, and dramaturge Danzanravjaa (1804-1856), from his personal collection, in order to educate his people. The museum was located in Hamar Monastery in the Gobi Desert, and after Danzanravjaa’s death, it was turned into his funerary temple. The monastery was destroyed during the religious persecutions of 1937-1938 but some of the artefacts were hidden in caves in the nearby mountains. In 1991, Altangerel, the descendant of the museum’s lama-curator, rebuilt the museum in the city of Sainshand. The museum houses many Buddhist artefacts, Danzanravjaa’s artworks and writings, diplomatic gifts, as well as a wax statue of Danzanravjaa and a stupa enshrining his corporeal remains. There is also a room that is usually locked to protect the most precious and holiest objects, and which is open to special devout visitors only. The museum is visited by both tourists and Buddhist devotees who worship the relics of Danzanravjaa. This paper examines the general organisation and scenography of the museum, the hybrid (partly religious) character of the place, the link with the rebuilt monastery, and the attitude of visitors, with the broader aim of questioning the presence of a living religion inside the museum.

Grading the Level of Inclusiveness in Museum Buildings: İstanbul Modern Museum

Grading the Level of Inclusiveness in Museum Buildings: İstanbul Modern Museum

Музей как субъект культурных индустрий и городского развития

In this article, the authors substantiate the idea that the museum of local lore in a small town should assume the role of a cultural leader and influence the choice of urban development strategies and geocultural branding, performing not only the traditional functions but also new ones due to the modern museum openness trend. This is, firstly, the function of updating museum collections in the process of interaction with museum audiences, including through the implementation of virtual museum practices; secondly, the function of updating the territory in which the museum is located, through the creation of a unique cultural product based on historical heritage and intended for both internal and external (tourism) consumption; thirdly, the implementation of an expert-protective function that ensures the special role of the museum in regional cultural policy as a key entity capable of preserving, systematizing, and transforming the cultural capital of the territory into a symbolic capital necessary for the formation of the territory’s image. Based on the experience of the Krasnoufimsky Museum of Local Lore, the authors demonstrated how the idea of the brand "Krasnoufimsk – the city of Zemstvo traditions" originated on the basis of local lore research and how modern museum practices can promote this brand. Museum practices, representing the communication of the museum and urban communities, the museum and a particular visitor, are proposed to be considered as an empirical level of museum anthropology. The article provides examples of the participation of the Krasnoufimsky Local Lore Museum in municipal projects aimed at improving and developing the city of Krasnoufimsk – the administrative center of the Krasnoufimsky district of the Sverdlovsk region, as well as examples of fruitful cooperation with external partners from the non-governmental sector.

Theoretical Aspects of the Museum’s Communication Strategy: Conventional and Non-Conventional Communication Channels

Perspective aspects of the development of the domestic theory of museum communication are considered. The object of the research is the interdisciplinary discourse of the general field of communication theories. The subject of the research is the theoretical models applicable for structuring museum communication channels. The authors substantiate the need to focus the communication strategy of a modern museum not only on conventional communication channels, but also on long-term prospects for nonconventional connections. The presented typology of conventional and non-conventional channels in the structure of museum communication makes it possible to determine the basic components of the communication process along two main channels: “Society → Museum → Society”; “Museum → Society → Museum”. The communication strategies of a modern museum, considering the potential of both channels, will be more efficient and will enhance the value of storage objects at the lowest cost.

CULTURAL AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES IN THE FIELD OF MUSEUM STUDIES AND MONUMENT STUDIES: INNOVATIONS IN MUSEUM PEDAGOGY

The article examines the transformations of museum and monument practice under the influence of the development of creative industries and modern communication technologies. It is noted that the spread of modern creative practices has contributed to the diversification of communicative and pedagogical strategies of the modern museum. The author highlights the subject-subject orientation of modern museum practice as a program necessity in the globalized world, the central feature of which is active socialization. The political-diplomatic and institutional dimension of the use of creative industries in the field of museum and monument practice is emphasized. The ambivalence of terminological and conceptual distinction between creative and cultural industries in the context of modern post-industrial production is noted. The author educes the potential for the development of creative industries for the modern post-industrial sector at the global and national levels. It is described the specifics of the institutionalization of creative industries in Ukraine. The tendency towards the intensification of the development of creative industries is fitted into the general logic of the “cultural turn” as a dynamic component of globalization.

Reconstruction of the image of Soviet everyday life in a modern museum exposition

Reconstruction of the image of Soviet everyday life in a modern museum exposition

ONLINE REPRESENTATION OF AN ART INSTITUTION USING THE EXAMPLE OF THE LNAA GALLERY

The article examines the transformations of museum and monument practice under the influence of the development of creative industries and modern communication technologies. It is noted that the spread of modern creative practices has contributed to the diversification of communicative and pedagogical strategies of the modern museum. The author highlights the subject-subject orientation of modern museum practice as a program necessity in the globalized world, the central feature of which is active socialization. The political-diplomatic and institutional dimension of the use of creative industries in the field of museum and monument practice is emphasized. The ambivalence of terminological and conceptual distinction between creative and cultural industries in the context of modern post-industrial production is noted. The author educes the potential for the development of creative industries for the modern post-industrial sector at the global and national levels. It is described the specifics of the institutionalization of creative industries in Ukraine. The tendency towards the intensification of the development of creative industries is fitted into the general logic of the “cultural turn” as a dynamic component of globalization.

The Logic of Emancipation in Modern Museum Practices

The Logic of Emancipation in Modern Museum Practices

Підготовка музеєзнавців-педагогів: розроблення та реалізація інтегративної сертифікатної програми

The aim of the study is to explore the peculiarities of obtaining the qualification of a museum studies expert and educator by higher education seekers within the framework of the integrated certificate program “Museum pedagogy”. The article describes domestic and foreign experience of training specialists for the integrated field of museum pedagogy. The analysis of the scientific literature shows that while defining a museum educator researchers give primary importance either to museum or pedagogical component of their work. Therefore, the authors provide a comprehensive definition for a specialist in the field of museum pedagogy in the paper. It is shown that a museum studies expert and educator is able to combine cultural and pedagogical expertise and skills, develop teaching technologies through museums, design a museum-educational environment, experiment with museum and pedagogical methods and techniques. The content of the two-year certificate programme designed and implemented on the basis of Mariupol State University is comprised of ten three-credit academic disciplines, inter alia,“Museum Studies”, “History of Arts”, “Cultural Studies”, “Preservation of Historical Monuments of Ukraine”, “Practicum on Perception of Contemporary Art”, “Modern Museum Communications”, “Museum Didactics”, “Methodology of Museum Education”, “Art Pedagogy” and “Pedagogical Practicum”. In the focus of the programme are: acquisition of theoretical knowledge in museum studies, familiarisation with museum development in Ukraine and all over the world; enhancing the understanding of cultural and art orientations; development of skills to design and organise the educational process in institutions of general secondary education by means of museum pedagogy, and create a museum-educational environment. The paper gives rationale for the core competencies for a prospective museum studies expert and educator, enumerates the learning outcomes of the integrated certificate programme. The authors provide the requirements for text and visual content of the programme presentation.

Музеология и исследования новой материальности

The expansion and diversification of the museum space prompts researchers to return to the concept of «museum object», which is fundamental for all museum activities and theoretical museology. The interdisciplinary character of modern humanitarian knowledge gives way to the integration of the concepts of a museum object with new areas of material studies. These studies directly interact with museum practice and influence the construction of new museological theories. The dynamism of the new methodology of material research correlates with the performative nature of modern museum practices, therefore accentuating the mercurial relationship between material, intangible and digital heritage, the museum object itself and the museum collection. The developments and conceptual positions of material studies, transferred to museology, make it possible to substantiate the modes of soft musealization as a hybrid existence of an artifact in the museum and non-museum space, the legitimacy of creative research and interpretations of artifacts and collections, the relevance of their inclusion in museum practice. The considered methods can be fundamental not only for the fixation and representation of intangible heritage in the museum, but for creation and development of collections of digitized and digital heritage as well.

Looking through the Skiascope: Benjamin Ives Gilman and the Invention of the Modern Museum Gallery

Looking through the Skiascope: Benjamin Ives Gilman and the Invention of the Modern Museum Gallery

PROGRAMUL UNEI VIEȚI: ROLUL LUI LAJOS PÁKEI ÎN ÎNFIINȚAREA MUZEULUI INDUSTRIAL ȘI A ȘCOLII INDUSTRIALE DIN CLUJ

"One Life’s Mission: Lajos Pákei’s Role in Establishing the Industrial Museum and the Industrial School in Cluj. The development of museums and schools of industry took place in some important industrial cities of the Dual-Monarchy, a part of the capitals in Salzburg, Graz, Prague, Brno, Czernowitz starting from the 1870-1880s. In the last quarter of the 19th century several school and some museum buildings of industry were erected in Hungary. Some of these new edifices were capable of performing dual, educational and museum tasks due to their special spaces: their list includes Ödön Lechner’s Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest, Alajos Hauszmann’s Technologic Museum of Industry in Budapest and Lajos Pákei’s Museum of Industry in Kolozsvár (Cluj Napoca). It is exactly in this period that Lajos Pákei graduated from Theophil Hansen’s studio in Vienna, and soon after, in 1880 he became chief architect of the city of Kolozsvár. In his new position the young architect played a prominent role in the infrastructural and institutional modernization of the city. One of the biggest investments of the city focused on the reshaping of the industrial institutional structure – this process was articulated around the foundation of the Museum and School of Industry of the city. Acting also as the director and professor of architectural disciplines in the school of industry of the city he had a significant impact on the development of a master builder, stone and wood carving classes and moreover in the curriculum of the educational profile of the institution. Lajos Pákei followed the architectural principles of Camillo Sitte in terms of urban city planning in Kolozsvár under the influence of the Austrian architects work published in 1889 entitled Der Städtebau nach seinen künstlerischen Grundsätzen. Kolozsvár, the par excellence renaissance town of historic Hungary. The town was the birthplace of the last great medieval king of Hungary, the earliest renaissance ruler over the Alps, King Mathias (1443-1490) whose political and cultural legacy as national king and the town’s long goldsmith and woodcarving activity have become a points of reference the late 19th century discourse on the modernization of Kolozsvár. Lajos Pákei was one of the members of the first generation of architects having accomplished their studies in the new political circumstances related to the creation of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Lajos Pákei in Kolozsvár has completed diverse missions simultaneously such as did Camillo Sitte in Vienna or Joseph Leitzner in Czernowitz: he actively reshaped the urban spaces of his city, made architectural plans for the industrial museum and school, as director he influenced the educational profile of the school of industry and the acquisition policy of the museum of industry. Lajos Pákei prepared several plans for this building of dual function through almost first fifteen years. After a number of design changes the museum-school building was finally built between 1896 and 1898. Due to the rapidly growing collection, the shift in the acquisition policy from technological profile to applied arts objects, the growing number of students soon it became too small, and the construction of a purely museum building has become necessary. The building of the museum of industry has been erected in 1903–1904 opposite the previous one, according to the plans of Lajos Pákei. The first, museum-school building followed the construction principles of Hungarian secondary school architecture of its time, including a centrally positioned external wing for the technological collection. The second one – planned purely for museum purposes – followed the latest example of applied art museum buildings, the one of Joseph Schulz in Prague built in 1897–1901. The history of two buildings of Lajos Pákei in Kolozsvár reflect the specialization of educational and museum spaces, the characteristics of the changing models in industrial education and presentation of the changing profile of the collection as “ideal of a modern museum” as an attempt to develop. The study interprets the foundation and the management of the museum and school of industry as the lifetime project of Lajos Pákei in the context of architectural modernization (both in education and practice) in the Dual Monarchy and in the theoretical framework of urban planning. Keywords: urban planning, museum of industry, vocational education, decorative arts, museum of decorative arts "

Speculation with the Term ‘Museum’ in the Names of Consumer Infrastructure Entities and on the Pages of the Periodical Press

The purpose of the article is to outline the current problems in modern museum studies regarding the negative impact on the public perception of museum activities of the manipulation of the term ‘museum’ in the names of consumer infrastructure and periodicals. Research methodology. General scientific research methods were used, in particular historical, method of analysis, typological, method of analogies, method of generalization. Scientific novelty. The state and degree of speculation research with the term ‘museum’ in the names of elements of consumer infrastructure are determined. It is revealed that such a phenomenon did not originate in the 21st century but has existed since pre-Soviet times. It is determined why the speculation process with the term ‘museum’ is so popular in Ukraine and abroad. Conclusions. The article reflects the position of the authors on the use of the term ‘museum’ in the names of consumer infrastructure institutions – cafes, restaurants; usually carried out in order to use the authority of museums to attract new customers and consumers. Today it is popular to decorate catering establishments and cafes using antiques without investing in a special concept or design. A proposal was made to amend the legislation on the names of legal entities.

Primary Research on Exhibition Curating in Modern Museum

Primary Research on Exhibition Curating in Modern Museum

MUSEUM COMMUNICATION IN THE CONDITIONS OF DIGITALIZATION

The purpose of the article is to investigate the process of qualitative transformation of museum communication at the present stage, which takes place under the influence of digitalization factors. The methodology of the research consists of the application of analytical, system-functional, and culturological methods to identify features of technical and technological influence on changing the ways of museum representation in modern conditions and practical implementation of new forms of museum work mediated by new technological communications. The scientific novelty of the article is expanding and summarizing information on the updating of museums of communication strategies developed in connection with the gradual introduction of digital technologies in museums, and means as well as channels of communication designed to diversify forms of museum activities. Conclusions. As a result of the study, it was found that information and computer technologies occupy an important role within the formation of modern museum space, which can give new representativeness to the museum object and build multifaceted communication with visitors. Museum communication is increasingly mediated by digital technologies and means of communication, which directly affect both the way the museum is represented and the aspects of communicating with visitors, the positioning of museums in terms of the information space. In modern conditions, the visual communication of the museum communication occupies a significant place, which determines both the representation of the museum collection in digital format and the special communication channel that forms the field of museum semantics in the virtual information space. There is no doubt about the role of digital technologies in the process of musealization, which helps to choose the best ways to adapt the necessary objects for museum presentation. Keywords: museum communication, museums, exposition, information space, visual communication, virtual museum space, musealization.

Comunicación epistolar y colaboración científica entre especialistas alemanes en Sudamérica a fines del siglo XIX. Un estudio de la correspondencia entre Rodolfo Lenz y Robert Lehmann-Nitsche

AbstractThe following paper undertakes the presentation and subsequent analysis of the initial section of an extended, although only partially preserved letter exchange between two salient German scholars settled in Argentina and Chile from the end of the 19th century on, and during the first decades of the 20th century: Rudolf Lenz, trained in linguistics and Romance languages at the renowned Romanistik School of Bonn, who worked at the Instituto Pedagógico in Santiago de Chile, and Robert Lehmann-Nitsche, a Prussian physician and anthropologist who was in charge of the Anthropological Section of a brand new modern Museum in Argentina’s recently founded city of La Plata. The letter exchange between them lasted from 1897 until 1928 and the analysis of its initial pieces (1897–1898) allows us to see how personal and scientific networks were constructed, and how German science and sociability managed to settle down in such distant locations and still remain connected with its system of origin.

Цифровая музеефикация как перспективный механизм сохранения и презентации (репрезентации) историко-культурного наследия: к постановке вопроса

Introduction. During the 20th century the functions and essence of museums have undergone changes. One of the most relevant functions of modern museums is museumification. The purpose of the paper is to reveal the features of digital museumification as a promising direction and an actual form of museumification of material and non-material objects included in the socio-cultural environment. Discussion. The undertaken historiographical review allowed us to conclude that there is a sufficient methodological and factual basis for a comprehensive study of the essence of museumification. At the same time, many problems of the theory and practice of museumification have not even received a problematic definition. Analysis. Museumification is of particular importance in the activities of saving, preserving, and introducing cultural heritage objects into the modern socio-cultural environment. In modern domestic and foreign practice museumification develops in two main directions: removal from the natural area and museumification of cultural heritage monuments through actualization or introduction into the socio-cultural environment. The monument, which is a harmonious part of the socio-cultural environment, does not require artificial conservation of the habitat or the area of the monument. It is determined that for such objects of museumification it is reasonable to use the concept of “dynamic museumification”. The most adequate form of “dynamic museumification” should be considered digital museumification. Results. Digital museumification should be understood as an activity for the transformation of cultural heritage objects into living objects that develop together with their cultural space and socio-cultural environment. Digital museumification is presented as a combination of actions and means pointed at ensuring the implementation of preservation and popularizations tasks within the framework of the “smart city” system being formed. Digital museumification objectively makes it necessary to create open information bases for all interested persons. The detected connection between the space of a monument and the channels of forming the historical memory determines the need for organizing digital museumification in a digital creative urban space.