Is there a European conceptof the museum professional?
Léontine Meijer-van Mensch
museums
subject matter disciplines support disciplines
museums
subject matter disciplines support disciplines
museums
museology
museology as a science
Zbyňek Stránský (1926 - ) Brno
Handbuch Grundlagen der
Sowjetischen Museumskunde
(Moskau 1955)
Auszüge (Halle 1960)
1930: 1. Museumskongress der SU
"nicht Dinge sondern Prozesse"
1955: Handbuch
"Gegenständen als Primärquellen des
Wissens"
first museum revolution
• Professional organisations1917 Deutscher Museumsbund
• Professional journals1878 Zeitschrift für Museologie und Antiquitätenkunde (Dresden)
• Handbooks1869 Philipp Leopold Martin, Praxis der Naturgeschichte (Weimar)
• Codes of ethics1918 Grundsätze über das Verhalten der Mitglieder des DeutschenMuseumbundes gegenüber dem Kunsthandel und dem Publikum
heritage
functions
institutions
society
basic parameters
heritage
functions
institution
society
“old” paradigm
heritage
functions
institution
society
“new” paradigm
UNESCO Round table, Santiago (Chile) 1972
The development and the role of museums in thecontemporary world
Integrated museum
Integration
• Academic disciplines
• Museographic disciplines
• Museum - society
second museum revolution
UNESCO Recommendation on participation by thepeople at large in cultural life and their contributionto it (Nairobi 1976)
Georges Henri Rivière(1897 – 1985) Paris
Musée de l´HommeInternational Council of MuseumsEcole du Louvre
New Museology
• Community museology
• Social museology
• Popular museology
• Active museology
• Participative museology
• Ecomuseology
• Territorial museology
Richard Sandell 2000
• Access
• Participation
• Representation
social inclusion
• Inclusive museums
• Museums as agents of social regeneration
• Museums as vehicles of broad social change
third museum revolution
• Social curatorship
• Co-curatorship
• User generated content
third museum revolution
• Museum 2.0/Heritage 2.0
• The Museum Professional asFacilitator/Mediator
Convention of Faro 2005Council of Europe
On the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society
Heritage communities
a heritage community consists of people whovalue specific aspects of cultural heritagewhich they wish, within the framework ofpublic action, to sustain and transmit to futuregenerations
networking
museums – archives – libraries
ex situ – in situ
professional collectors – private collectors
professionals – “source communities”
Reinwardt Academie
1976 Leiden > 1992 Amsterdam
Collections based organisation
Curator 1 Curator 2 Curator 3 Curator 4 etc.
director
PreservationResearchExhibitions
Curator 1
PreservationResearchExhibitions
Curator 2
PreservationResearchExhibitions
Curator 3
PreservationResearchExhibitions
etc Educator
director
Functions based organisation
Chart Title
Documentation Conservation
Preservation Research
Collections
Exhibitions Education
Communication
director
Chart Title
Documentation Conservation
Preservation Research
Collections
Exhibitions Education
Communication
director
Amsterdam Museum(simplified diagram)
collectionsmanagement
research(curators)
education
museum services resources
director
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam(simplified diagram)
documentation conservation
collectionsmanagement
research(curators)
collections
exhibitions education
presentation resources
director
theory
practiceethics
professionalism
break-evenloss
negative
positive
neutral
contribution to revenues
profit
III IV
I II
Profit CentreCost Centre
break-evenloss
negative
positive
neutral
contribution to revenues
after Kersti Krug 1992
profit
III IV
I II
Profit CentreCost Centre
break-evenloss
negative
positive
neutral
contribution to revenues
after Kersti Krug 1992
profit
research
conservation
education
exhibitions
shop
restaurant
space rental
III IV
I II
Profit CentreCost Centre
break-evenloss
negative
positive
neutral
contribution to revenues
after Kersti Krug 1992
profit
mostpreferred
to beavoided
ethicaldilemmas
vulnerable
co
ntr
ibu
tio
nto
mis
sio
n
contribution torevenue
Stephen Weil 1995
[A museum] must be able to demonstrate that[…] it is something more than a “federation ofself-interest” in which curators are contentsimply to curate, conservators to conserve,and registrars to document and managecollections.
Stephen Weil 1995
To survive [a museum] must […] be able todefine the positive difference that it can maketo the community from which it solicits itsnecessary support, and it must also be able toshow that community that it is, in actual fact,making such a difference.
Stephen Weil 1995
To do so is more than just a managerialimperative; it is also an ethical necessity.
basic responsibilities of the museum professional
• responsibility to the maker (and first users) of the object and his orher society;
• responsibility to the preservation of the information value (includingthe aesthetic and emotional values) of the object and its physicaland intellectual accessibility;
• responsibility to the institute with which the professional isassociated, regardless of whether this association is temporary orpermanent, paid or unpaid, or whether they are employed by theinstitute or have volunteered their services;
• responsibility to those who made the activities possible by financialsupport;
• responsibility to colleagues inside and outside the instituteconcerned, including professionals associated with non-museuminstitutes such as academic researchers;
• responsibility to the visitors of permanent and temporaryexhibitions and to participants in other activities;
• responsibility to the community as a whole, now and in the future.