Museological Review Issue 24: What Is a Museum Today?
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www.le.ac.uk/museological-review L ISSUE 24, 2020 Museological Review: What is a museum today? A Peer-Reviewed Journal Edited by the PhD Students of the School of Museum Studies Museological Review Issue 24: What is a museum today? Editors-in-Chief Eloisa Rodrigues | [email protected] Laura Dudley | [email protected] Editors Blaire Moskowitz Christine Hristova Jenni Hunt Kristina Dziedzic Wright Sheng-Yen Lin Tom Eaton Cover image: Photo by Cesare Cuzzola (see also page 112). Layout Design and illustrations: Laura Dudley Layout Template: Yang Chen Contributors: Anupam Ray, Ava Salzer, Blaire Moskowitz, Cesare Cuzzola, Damian Etherington, Daniela Döring, Elli Leventaki, Farina Asche, Jessica Starns, Katla Kjartansdóttir, Kristy Van Hoven, Lanzhou Luo, Mari Østhaug Møystad, Minju Oh, Nanna Balslev Strøjer, Nora Sternfeld, Susanne Boersma, Valentina Vavassori, Yanrong Jiang and Dr Yunic Cai. Contributors- Museum Definitions: Aaron Pahl, Adam Shery, Amber Foster, Angela Gala, Annissa Malvoisin, Anthony James Del Aversano, Corrie Roe, Elli Leventaki, Emily Kraft, Emily Hampel, Emily Olsen, Erika Taylor, Esther Fox, Fair Museum Jobs, Harriet Jackson, Heidi Summers, Jenni Paton, Jenny Durrant, Joan Baldwin, Kate Fellows, Lance Wheeler, Leong Jacina, Matthew Tarr, Michelle Friedman, Mingqian Liu, Natalie Sweet, Pardis Zahedi, Peter H Welsh, Pierrette Squires, Rachel Coman, Sabra Gossett, Samuel J. Redman, Sean Thomson, Seema Rao, Shannon Nortz, Sierra Van Ryck deGroot, Stefania Zardini Lacedelli, Stephanie Richards, Steven Miller, The Colour Garden volunteers, William Tregaskes. Our special thanks to: all anonymous peer-reviewers, Christine Cheesman, Gurpreet Ahluwalia, Dr Isobel Whitelegg, Yang Chen and Dr Yunci Cai Contact: School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester, 19 University Road, Leicester LE1 7RF [email protected] © 2020 School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester All rights reserved. Permission must be obtained from the Editors for reproduction of any material in any form, except limited photocopying for education, non-profit use. Opinions expressed in the publication are those of the authors, and are not necessarily those of the University of Leicester, the Department of Museum Studies, or the editors. ISSN 1354-5825 Issue 24, 2019 - 2020 Museological Review Museological Review Contents 04 Editorial 07 Reflections on ICOM’s New Museum Definition- Dr Yunci Cai 08 Contributors 10 What is a museum to you today? Rethinking Approaches to Display 12 Democratising Power Relations in Art Institutions - Nanna Balslev Strøjer 25 Book Review: Extinct Monsters to Deep Time: Conflict, Compromise, and the Making of Smithsonian’s Fossil Halls. by Diana E Marsh - Ava Salzer 30 Exhibition Review: The New Museum of Modern Art - Blaire Moskowitz Contemporary Conflict 34 “The Radical Democratic Museum” – A Conversation about the Potentials of a New Museum Definition - Farina Asche, Daniela Döring and Nora Sternfeld 43 Representations of Socialist Democracy in China’s Museums - Lanzhou Luo 53 ‘Shouts of Korean’: Review of the Newly Opened Exhibition in the Independence Hall of Korea, and the Emotional jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjRole of Museums with Difficult History - Minju Oh 65 Visual: No One Can Contain Us - Anupam Roy Approaches to Health and Wellbeing 67 The Social Prescription of Museums: Creating Wellness in Our Communities - Kristy Van Hoven 73 Book Review: Museums as a Space for Promoting Children’s Wellbeing - Yanrong Jiang 77 Visual: Neurodiversity Museum - Jessica Starns Community Projects and Storytelling 79 Can Contextual Technologies Favour Museums as Polyphonic Spaces? On the Interplay between Digital and Physical Narratives in Museums - Valentina Vavassori 91 From Local to Community Museum: Hastings Museum & Art Gallery’s Journey to a Sustainable Future in the Public Sector - Damian Etherington 97 The Stories Museums Tell - Mari Østhaug Møystad 112 Visual: Small Acts of Kindness - Cesare Cuzzola Migration reflected in Exhibition Narratives 114 Facilitators of Integration? The Potential Role of Museums in Integration as a Two-Way Process - Susanne Boersma 124 Visitor Engagement with the Temporary Photography Exhibition The Long Apartment Block in Upper-Breiðholt at the National Museum of Iceland - Katla Kjartansdottir 135 Exhibition Review: The Mirror - Elli Leventaki 3 Museological Review Editorial - Issue 24: What is a museum today? Welcome to issue 24 of the Museological Review. This year’s health and wellbeing, community projects and storytelling, theme is ‘what is a museum today?’, which was originally and migration reflected in exhibition narratives. We would inspired by the debate around how ICOM (International also like to extend our thanks to Dr Yunci Cai for sharing Council of Museums) define what a museum is in contemporary her insightful reflections on the newly proposed ICOM society. This definition was discussed during their annual definition for museums as an introduction to our call for conference in Kyoto, Japan, last September. Within the journal shorter accounts and reflections. you will find academic articles, exhibition and book reviews and visual submissions which broadly respond to this idea, The first section of this issue, rethinking approaches to specifically considering the role that museums play in society display, begins with Nanna Balslev Strøjer’s discussion through exhibitions, programming and projects. Dispersed of museums’ as enablers and inhibitors for democratic action, in-between these submissions you will also find over 40 using MoMA’s recent launch of the ‘New MoMA’ (2019) and reflections of what a museum is today, contributed from the art exhibition ‘There is No’ at Nordnorsk Museum (2017) professionals invested in this field worldwide. These offer a as examples which encourage openness in new models of diverse and exciting look into how museums are understood display. Similarly, Ava Salzer reviews the processes involved today, and where their future might lead. in creating new ways of display through her reflection on Diana E Marsh’s ‘Extinct Monsters to Deep Time: Conflict, Issue 24 marks the first time where we have been collaborating Compromise, and the Making of Smithsonian’s Fossil Halls’. and developing the journal through a global pandemic. In Salzer gives an insight into how Marsh unravels the design the current situation with COVID-19 we would like to thank process throughout the publication. This leads on to Blaire everyone involved in issue 24 for supporting us and working Moskowitz’s exhibition review which explores the new so efficiently under the circumstances. We feel it has brought approach to storytelling at the ‘New MoMA’ (2019), re- us closer together through a difficult time apart, and we hope emphasising Strøjer’s earlier consideration of this to enact that the ideas, projects and insights presented in issue 24 democratic engagement, but Moskowitz also reflects on how provide some inspiration for the future, and how we can look the museum’s architecture and history is integrated into the at what a museum is today through new lenses. We feel that new approach. the front cover image by Cesare Cuzzola reflects this period of time perfectly, and how much the small acts of kindness The exploration into how display is being re-invented leads into have been a massive support to us all. section two where submissions consider how contemporary conflict can be represented within museums and art galleries, Following previous editions, issue 24 engages with a range and what this means in regard to what a museum is today. of platforms, alongside the new addition of shorter accounts This section begins with a conversation between Farina which speak directly to the theme of this issue. We hope these Asche, Daniela Döring and Nora Sternfeld to discuss will give a depth and range of perspectives. Contributions the potentials of a democratic museum, and how this might have been arranged according to five sub-themes: rethinking engage with issues and changes in contemporary society. approaches to display, contemporary conflict, approaches to This discussion draws on Sternfield’s publication ‘The radical 4 Museological Review Democratic Museum (2018) which opens up the museum as Vavassori’s exploration of the interplay between digital and a political space. Following this Lanzhou Luo reflects on physical narratives in our lives today, and how this can be similar questions of democracy represented in museums, but integrated into museum practice to build communities inside from a Chinese perspective to consider how socialist values the museum and through digital platforms. This reflection of might integrate with museum practices and collections. Minju what community means in how museums are understood is Oh continues to cast a lens on how contemporary conflict is further explored by Damian Etherington in his account engaged with through museum practices by critiquing the of how Hastings Museum and Art Gallery has adopted a newly opened exhibition in the Independence Hall of Korea, community-led approach to pursue a more sustainable and how it deals with emotions when it comes to tackling future. This first-hand critique supports how different roles difficult histories. Oh analyses how these historical dialogues within a museum play a part in how they communicate with might encourage diverse responses, and how museums can audiences. In Mari Østhaug Møystad’s article storytelling support and reflect these. Lastly in section two is a visual is reviewed as a way of displaying