Annual REPORT 2014 2014, a Year Full of Change
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
ANNUAL REPORT 2014 2014, a year full of change “Every year around the world, one hundred new museums are said to open their doors to the public. Opening a new museum is the dream of every architect, curator, collector and sponsor, rightly due to the new symbolic value tied to this matter.” These are the words used by Isabella Pezzini to delve into to the topic of new museums in her work co-authored with Umberto Eco, El museo (the museum), Casimiro, 2015, p. 47. The International Council of Museums (ICOM), which turns 70 in 2016, is pondering this central issue of the museum of tomorrow. Long viewed as bygone, even old-fashioned institutions, today museums are seeing extraordinary development. New museums are appearing around the world, remarkable for their architectural features but above all, for the universal access that they provide to culture. In 2014, ICOM and UNESCO drafted a recommendation on the protection and promotion of museums and collections, placing museums more explicitly at the heart of the exchanges that occur between peoples and societies. This is a first step in considering a new definition for third-millennium museums, as Eco highlights. 3 ICOM has also joined forces with major international institutions to support and defend countries in the throes of armed conflict, including Iraq and Syria, to fight the spread of illicit trafficking in cultural property and develop tools to confront emergency situations. ICOM supports concrete and concerted efforts: a new platform, the ICOM International Observatory on Illicit Traffic in Cultural Goods, was launched in July 2014, and three Red Lists are being finalised, concerning Iraq, Libya and West Africa, including Mali. Training is also at the heart of ICOM’s activities, and 2014 saw two successful training seminars in China at the Palace Museum, each of which involved some thirty young museum professionals. Our national and Project Management: ICOM General Secretariat international committees are also undertaking a number of initiatives and should be encouraged to do so, notably via special projects and grants Layout: Justine Navarro - www.justine-navarro.com made available by the SAREC. In 2015, ICOM is pursuing its ambitious projects: acting on a worldwide level, coordinating actions to enhance museums of all types, working with With the assistance of international bodies, and developing reference tools for museum ethics and training. A nearly 35,000-member-strong network, a team of 24 Secretariat staff members and nearly 200 committees are all striving to assert the vital role of our organisation in global dialogue on heritage and museums. Prof. Dr Hans-Martin Hinz, ICOM President Prof. Dr Anne-Catherine Robert-Hauglustaine, ICOM Director General Citation: Umberto Eco, Isabella Pezzini, El museo, Casimiro Livres, 2015, 76 p. With the financial support of the Prevention of and Fight against Crime Programme European Commission Washington, D.C. Directorate-General Home Affairs. 2014 Key Figures Summary 3 Editorial 4 2014 Key Figures 34,864 5 Summary ICOM members M+9.9% Members registered with International Committees 6 ASSERTING ICOM’S ROLE AS A RESPECTED EXPERT 6 Strengthening the Voice of Museums in Global Exchanges 7 At the Heart of Societal Debates 88.75% 8 Intervening in Conflict Zones 9 Extending ICOM’s Global Expertise Average annual 10 Clarifying, Spreading and Encouraging the Creation renewal rate of Normative Frameworks 24 12 Map: [International Committee Annual Meetings in 2014] Average number of staff members at ICOM General Secretariat in 2014 16 OPENING UP TO THE WORLD 16 Extending the Network Globally 1945N 17 Exchange and Transmission 18 Cooperating for Local Action Registration of Luisa Arruda 19 Making the Ressources of ICOM Available to Professionals (ICOM Portugal) 68,707 € 22 Map: [Participation by ICOM committees in other national and The ICOM member international meetings in 2014] with the oldest record for 16 special projects +55.7% compared to 2013 26 STRENGHTENING RELATIONSHIPS 26 Cultivating Relationships Within the ICOM Network 28 Stimulating Local Synergies 31 Encouraging Healthy Competition Between Museums 77 32 118 O Map: [Trainings offered by ICOM in 2014] ICOM National Years Committees Age difference between the youngest 36 RESPONDING TO NEW CHALLENGES ICOM member (19 years old, ICOM 36 Protecting Cultural Heritage Portugal) and oldest ICOM member 39 Responding to Social Challenges (96 years old, ICOM Germany) 40 Map: [ICOM presence on social networks in 2014] 116 42 They talked about ICOM in 2014 Number of requests received 74% 44 Main financial data for 2014 in 2014 by UNESCO-ICOM Average renewal rate of Information Centre three years in a row 46 Bibliography of ICOM committee publications put out in 2014 Asserting ICOM’s role as a respected expert In 2014, ICOM was able to affirm its key role in international discussions on heritage and museums. A respected voice in public debates, the organisation intervened in sensitive and conflictual geopolitical contexts. ICOM is positioned at the forefront of important battles for the safekeeping of world heritage and museums in 2014. ICOM began thorough in-house work to harmonise and spread normative frameworks and encourage the transmission of best practices among its members. STRENgtheNING THE VOICE OF MUSEUMS IN GLobaL EXCHANGES The Museu da Maré in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil has welcomed over 40,000 visitors In 2014, ICOM successfully advocated in favour of museums since its creation in 2006. while attending major international meetings. A joint recommendation with UNESCO © Naldinho Lourenço currently underway 6 7 The draft recommendation on museums is the result of several months of collaborative work between ICOM and UNESCO and fills a normative gap regarding this topic. Initiated with IBRAM (Brazilian Institute of Museums), it reaffirms the leading role of museums as actors in global development and cultural diversity. Nowadays, museums are increasingly involved in human exchanges and must therefore be recognised not only as institutions dedicated to conservation, but as places for dialogue sharing, learning and training. The recommendation will be discussed on 27-28 May, 2015 by UNESCO Member States and reviewed during the 38th session of the UNESCO AT THE Heart General Conference in 2015. OF SocietaL Debates Standing up for copyright law reflecting museums’ singularity ICOM’s role goes beyond ensuring museum ethics. In 2014, it played a major role in a number of debates that found an ICOM also took part in the meeting of the World Intellectual echo in the public sphere. Property Organization (WIPO) from 16 to 20 December, 2013 in Geneva, Switzerland, for the first time. Represented by the Saving the Museu da Maré ICOM Legal Affairs Committee (LEAC), the organisation was able to make a case for museums’ unique situation as regards In 2014, ICOM supported the Museu da Maré, an institution that the acceleration of the flow of data as well as copyright issues. has existed since 2006, part of the social fabric of one of the This resulted in a vote in favour of carrying out a special study biggest favelas in Rio De Janeiro and threatened with eviction. on issues specific to museums. This should lead to their ICOM defended a model museum praised in 2013 during inclusion in the future international treaty on exceptions and its 23rd General Conference, which every year allows 40,000 limitations to copyright and related rights. This achievement visitors to discover 2,300 local objects. ICOM’s support through demonstrates the necessity of constantly lobbying for ICOM’s its national and international committees was part of a larger- voice to be heard within international institutions. scale mobilisation that led to the preservation of the museum, maintaining an essential space for transmission at the heart of its community. Cairo, Egypt, August 2014. Visit to the conservation laboratory at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA). © Daniel Hausdorf and Karen Stamm Fighting museum abuses The close ties between ICOM and Blue Shield were strengthened in in heritage management Spain where ICOM’s national committee now heads the Blue Shield national committee. On the American continent, ICOM US was In July 2014, CIPEG (International Committee for Egyptology) invited as a regional actor to a conference organised by Blue Shield spoke out on behalf of ICOM on the controversial sale of the in Washington, D.C in September 2014. The event, in partnership Sekhemka Statue held by the Northampton Museum and sold for with the Smithsonian Institution, gathered 200 participants. In over £15m.The committee stated that the transaction breached the Netherlands, 125 participants attended a seminar entitled ICOM’s Code of Ethics for Museums and best practices regarding “Heritage under Attack” held on 14 November, 2014. the sale of artefacts. Vigorous efforts amplified by numerous media internationally and applauded by the museum community contributed to the Northampton Museum losing its Art Council EXTENDING England accreditation. ICOM’S GLobaL Expertise Taking part in public debates ICOM International Training Centre for Museum Following the international outcry generated by the euthanasia Studies, a succesful initiative of giraffes at the Copenhagen Zoo in February 2014, NATHIST (International Committee for Museums and Collections of Natural After an inaugural training workshop of the newly-established History) took a stance on public autopsy and dissections of ICOM International Training Centre for Museum Studies (ICOM-