What now and what next for museum and heritage studies in the European Union?
Museum Studies at Leicester 50th Anniversary Conference
The Museum in the Global Contemporary: Debating the Museum of Now 20th April 2015
Panel organised by: Prof. Chris Whitehead, Prof. Luca Basso Peressut, Dr Francesca Lanz Moderator: Prof Andrea Witcomb, Deakin University Panel Discussants Prof. Peter Aronsson, School of Cultural Sciences, Linnaeus University, EUNAMUS Project Prof. Luca Basso Perresut and Dr Francesca Lanz, Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, Politecnico di Milano, MeLa and TRACES Project Prof. Anna Cento Bull, Department of Politics, Languages & International Studies, University of Bath, UNREST Project Mag. Karin Schneider, Institute for Art Education - Zurich University of the Arts, TRACES Project Prof. Chris Whitehead, School of Arts and Cultures - Newcastle University, MeLa and CoHERE Project
What now and what next for museum and heritage studies in the European Union?
This panel brings together researchers involved in some of the European Commission’s flagship research projects focusing on museums and heritage in Europe, including EUNAMUS (European National Museums: Identity Politics, the Uses of the Past and the European Citizen, 2010-13) and MeLa (European Museums in an age of migrations, 2011-2015). They asked questions about identity and society, nations and nationalism, migration and mobility, about new technologies and about historical and contemporary understandings of Europe and being European. In line with EU research funding agendas, the projects were conceived to meld state-of-the-art scholarship with attention to contemporary social and economic issues, with a view to developing instrumental cultural policy, advancing museum and heritage practice and, ultimately, ameliorating key problems of the time, such as the tensions of multicultural societies. This panel provides a forum for reflecting on the discussions and findings of these projects and considering their purchase now, in a Europe that is arguably very different from the one in which the research was commissioned. The heightened profile and nature of terrorist threats signaled by the Paris massacres of 2015, the Refugee Crisis and EU countries’ different responses to it, the collapse of the Greek economy, increasingly difficult relations with (and between) the historic ‘Europe makers’, Turkey and Russia, the entrenchment of nationalist movements and parties, the mobilization of exclusionary European identities, an entirely changed global situation connected to conflict in the Middle East… These are all factors that were (largely) beyond view in the first major tranche of EU-funded research into museums and heritage, and we ask now what this changed world means for our research and for museum and heritage practice. As well as looking back at completed projects, the panel also looks forward to the future role of museum and heritage research in addressing what the European Commission has called an ‘EU crisis’ – a financial crisis, an identity crisis and a crisis of confidence. To do this we bring together speakers involved in past and forthcoming EU-funded projects, including EUNAMUS, MeLa, CoHERE (Critical Heritages: performing and representing identities in Europe, 2016-2019), TRACES (Transmitting Contentious Cultural Heritages with the Arts, 2016-2019), UNREST (Unsettling Remembering and Social Cohesion in Europe) and concluding the session with an open round table.
1. EuNaMus European National Museums: Identity Politics, the Uses of the Past and the European Citizen Prof. Peter Aronsson
European National Museums: Identity Politics, the Uses of the Past and the European Citizen
Duration Febbruary 2010 – January 2013 (3 years) Project Coordinator Prof. Peter Aronsson, Linköping University, Sweden Funding scheme European Union 7th Framework Programme. Funded under Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities. SSH-2009-5.2.2. “Interrelation between collective representations and uses of history and cultural evolution in an enlarged Europe”. EU contribution: 2.640.000 euro Consortium: - The Department of Culture Studies (Tema Q), Linköping University (SE) – Peter Aronsson - School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester, (GB) - Simon Knell - Department of Cultural Technology and Communication, University of the Aegean (GR) – Alexandra Bounia - The Department of Art History and Archaeology, Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne (FR) – Dominique Poulot - The Research Centre of Culture and communication, University of Tartu (EE) – Kristin Kuutma - The Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo (NO) – Arne Bugge Amundsen - The Department for Historical Disciplines, University of Bologna (IT) – Ilaria Porciani - Department of History, Central European University/Kozep-Europai Egyetem (HU) – Constantin Iordachi www.eunamus.eu
Abstract
The EuNaMus project was concerned with understanding how the national museum can best aid European cohesion and confront the social issues which test European stability and unity. EuNaMus explored the creation and power of European national museums, with the aim to deliver a comprehensive statement on the future role of national museums in a changing Europe, looking for new and subtle ways to understand modern Europeans’ relationship with history and material culture. The Project focused on understanding historiographic practices that underlie national museums’ uses of the past, and how they mould collective sensibilities, notions of community, citizenship, and boundaries of difference; its objective was to create a strong platform for comparative museum studies and produce knowledge and reflexive tools for cultural policy makers, museum professionals and citizens. The research was conducted through multidisciplinary collaboration between eight leading university institutions. Project partners and associated researchers explored institutional path dependencies, the handling of conflicts, modes of representation, cultural policy and visitors’ experiences. Their activities have been divided into six complementary thematic research fields: Mapping and framing institutions 1750-2010: national museums interacting with nation-making, provided the intellectual foundations for the project, a sophisticated
understanding of the nature and diversity of national museums across Europe;
Uses of the Past: Narrating the Nation and Negotiating Conflicts, looked at the
overt construction of historical narratives and the museum’s role in the construction of nations and Europe;
The museology of Europe: the language of art, the local nation and the virtual Europe, considered how notions of Europe are embodied implicitly within material culture; Museum policies 1990-2010: negotiating political and professional utopia, sought to understand how national museums have been involved in the development and implementation of government policy, with a focus on contemporary issues including diversity, inclusion and migration; Museum citizens: experience and identity of audiences, explored how national
museums are seen and negotiated from the citizen’s perspective;
National museums, history and a changing Europe, brought research together and
sought comparators far beyond Europe to reveal the possibilities for national museums to act as agents of social change in their complex uses of the past.
2. MeLa* European Museums in an Age of Migrations
Prof. Luca Basso Peressut and Dr. Francesca Lanz
European Museums in an age of migrations
Duration March 2011-February 2015 (4 years) Project Coordinator Prof. Luca Basso Peressut, Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, Politecnico di Milano Funding scheme European Union 7th Framework Programme. Funded under Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities. SSH-2010-5.2-2. “Reinterpreting Europe’s cultural heritage: towards the 21st century library and museum?”. EU contribution: 2.699.880 euro Consortium: - Politecnico di Milano, Department of Architecture and Urban Studies and Department of Design (IT) – Luca Basso Peressut and Gennaro Postiglione - Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design, (DK) – Jamie Allen and Jacob Bak - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Institute for Industrial Technologies and Automation (IT) – Marco Sacco - University of Glasgow, History of Art, School of Culture and Creative Arts (GB) – Perla Innocenti - Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (E) – Bartomeu Marí, Maite Muñoz Iglesias - Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Musée de l’Homme (FR) – Fabienne Galangau Quérat - The Royal College of Art, Department of Curating Contemporary Art (GB) – Victoria Walsh - Newcastle University, The International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies (GB) – Chris Whitehead and Rhiannon Mason - L’ “Orientale”, University of Naples, Department of AHuman and Social Sciences (IT) – Iain Chambers www.mela-project.polimi.it www.mela-archive.polimi.it
Abstract
Adopting the notion of “migration” as a paradigm of the contemporary global and multi-cultural world, the MeLa Project investigated the role, challenges and potentialities of museums in 21st century Europe. The Project examined from different perspectives the ongoing evolution of contemporary museums triggered by accelerated mobility, fluid circulation of information, ideas and cultures, and the consequent increase of cultural encounters, cross-fertilisation and hybridisation of societies and identities, as well as by the politic, economic and cultural processes pertaining to the creation and consolidation of the European Union. By analysing contemporary museums both as cultural spaces and physical places, MeLa aimed at identifying innovative practices, which can support them in fostering mutual understanding, social cohesion, and a sharper awareness of an inclusive European identity. The MeLa Project involved nine European Partners, including five universities, two museums, a research institute and a small enterprise, which carried out several multidisciplinary investigations organised into five thematic Research Fields: Museums & Identity in History and Contemporaneity, examined the historical and
contemporary relationships between European museum representations and identity within the contextual structure of place;
Cultural Memory, Migrating Modernity and Museum Practices, focused on the question of memory to reassess its relationship with identities and migration, and redefine its role in the social spaces of museums; Network of Museums, Libraries and Public Cultural Institutions, aimed to investigate, identify and propose innovative coordination strategies between European museums, libraries & other public cultural institutions; Curatorial and Artistic Research, explored new approaches to the relationship between
art, migration and representation within the contemporary exhibition sector;
Exhibition Design, Technology of Representation and Experimental Actions,
scoped and experimented with the potentialities of communication technologies in the renovation of museum approaches and practices;
Envisioning 21st Century Museums, cohered the investigations developed within the
Project with the aim to identify and envision innovative exhibition strategies, approaches and tools, enhancing the role of European museums in this “age of migrations”.
3. TRACES Transmitting Contentious Cultural Heritages with the Arts. From Intervention to Co-Production Mag. Karin Schneider
Transmitting Contentious Cultural Heritages with the Arts From Intervention to Co-Production
Duration March 2016-February 2019 (3 years) Project Coordinator Prof. Klaus Schönberger, Institut für Kulturanalyse, Universitaet Klagenfurt Funding scheme European Union Horizon 2020. SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Europe In A Changing World - Inclusive, Innovative And Reflective Societies. Reflective 2: Emergence and transmission of European cultural heritage and Newcastle University Europeanisation. EU contribution: 2.303.858,75 euro Consortium: - Universitat Klagenfurt (A) – Klaus Schönberger (Project Coordinator) - Politecnico di Milano, Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (IT) – Luca Basso Peressut, Francesca Lanz - Humboldt-Universitaet Zu Berlin (DE)– Sharon Macdonald - Universitetet I Oslo (NO)– Arnd Schneider - Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (CH)– Nora Landkammer, Karin Schneider - Hosman Durabil (RO) – Julie Dawson, Anda Reuben - Naturhistorisches Museum (A) – Maria Teschler Nicola - The University Of Edinburgh (GB) – John Harris - Uniwersytet Jagiellonski (PL) – Roma Sendyka, Erika Lehrer, Magdalena Zych, Wojciech Wilczyk - University Of Ulster (GB) – Aisling O’Beirn, Martin Krenn - Društvo za domače raziskave (SLO) – Alenka Pirman, Jani Pirnat www.traces.polimi.it
Abstract
The TRACES project deploys an innovative ethnographic/artistic approach, focusing on a wide range of ‘contentious cultural heritages’ with the aim to provide a systematic analysis of the challenges and opportunities raised by transmitting awkward and difficult pasts. To do so, the Project will set up a series of Creative Co-Productions (CCPs) in which artists, researchers, heritage agencies and stakeholders work together in longer term engagements to collaboratively research selected cases of contentious heritage and develop new participatory public interfaces. These art-based research actions will be supported and complemented by theoretical investigations aimed at documenting, analysing and drawing on their outcomes, to eventually identifying new directions for cultural heritage institutions to effectively transmitting contentious heritage and productively contribute to an evolving European identity. TRACES involves a multi-disciplinary team, bringing together established and emerging scholars and cultural workers, with high-level expertise, relevant experience and creative energy, to provide a rigorous and innovative approach to the transmission of European cultural heritage. Their work will be structured around the 5 CCPs and 5 research fields: Artistic Research: Creative Co-Production beyond Intervention, develops and
analyses participatory methods and models of innovative contemporary creative collaborations between artists, researchers, heritage agencies and their stakeholder;
Ethnographic Research on/with Art Production, critically evaluates artistic research
and processes in relation to challenges posed by the post-colonial legacy of museums’ collections and the relationship with new users’ communities;
Research on Education and Stakeholder Involvement, investigates the educational
aspect of transmitting contentious cultural heritage in Europe researching and developing new art and design based methods to foster communication on contentious collections with wider and differentiated audiences;
Performing Heritage: Creative Everyday Practices in Popular Culture, on one hand conducts ethnographic basic research with a focus on popular culture and intangible heritage, on the other reviews and theorizes on best-practice examples to be collated in a Contentious Heritage Manual Contentious Collections: Research on Material Culture of Difficult Cultural Heritage, undertakes comparative and contextual analysis in order to identify the particular
challenges and potentials involved in transmitting contentious cultural heritage and identifying new ways of mediating difficult collection.
4. CoHERE Critical Heritages: Performing and Representing Identities in Europe Prof. Christopher Whitehead
Critical Heritages: Performing and Representing Identities in Europe
Duration April 2016-March 2019 (3 years) Project Coordinator Prof. Christopher Whitehead, Schools of Arts and Cultures, Newcastle University Funding scheme European Union Horizon 2020. SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Europe In A Changing World - Inclusive, Innovative And Reflective Societies. Reflective 2: Emergence and transmission of European cultural heritage and Newcastle University Europeanisation. EU contribution: 2.499.651,75 euro Consortium: - Newcastle University (GB) - Aarhus University (DK) - Amsterdam University (NL) - University of Athens (GR) - Istanbul Bilgi University (TR) - University of Bologna (IT) - Latvian Academy of Culture (LV) - Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh (GB) - Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design (DK) - European Network of Cultural Centres, Brussels (B) - POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews (PL) - National Museums of World Cultures (NL)
Abstract
CoHERE explores the ways in which identities in Europe are constructed through heritage representations and performances that connect to ideas of place, history, tradition and belonging. The research focuses on existing heritage practices and discourses in Europe in official and nonofficial spheres and engages with various cultural forms. Addressing the “EU Crisis” through a study of relations between identities and representations and performances of history, it explores the ways in which heritages can be used for division and isolation, or to find common ground and ‘encourage modern visions and uses of its past.’ The Project seeks to identify, understand and valorise European heritages, engaging with their socio-political and cultural significance and their potential for developping inclusive communitarian identities. By involving an experienced, multidisciplinary consortium, CoHERE will implement different theoretical and methodological approaches to the exploration of a number of modes of representation and performance. The research covers a carefully selected range of European territories and realities comparatively and in depth; Productions and omissions of European heritage interrogates different meanings of heritage, historical constructions and representations of Europe, formative histories for European identities that are neglected or hidden because of political circumstances; The use of past in political discourse and the representation of Islam in European museums, investigates public/popular discourses and dominant understandings
of a homogeneous ‘European heritage’, attending particularly to the place and perception of Islam and to legacies of colonialism in contemporary European societies;
Cultural forms and expressions of identity in Europe, focuses on cultural traditions as significant factors that form local, regional, national and European identities and the ways in which cultural communities and policy makers develop cultural tradition; Digital heritage dialogue[s]: the role of digitally-enabled conversations in constructing heritage identities in Europe, engages with digital design methodologies
to investigate heritage conversations online and on-site, and to craft opportunities for talk/ dialogue within exhibition and heritage settings to develop intercultural dialogue;
Education, heritage and identities, develops best practices in the production and transmission of European heritages and identities within education and cultural heritage production; Food as Heritage, focuses on food as a fundamental element of heritage, and as a means of
exploring identities, bringing together the cultural construction and invention of traditions, social practices, commercial practice, tourism, public policies and marketing strategies.
5. UNREST Unsettling Remembering and Social Cohesion in Europe Prof. Anna Cento Bull
Unsettling Remembering and Social Cohesion in Europe
Duration April 2016-March 2019 (3 years) Project Coordinator Prof. Stefan Berger, Institute for Social Movements, Ruhr - Universitaet Bochum Funding scheme European Union Horizon 2020. SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Europe In A Changing World - Inclusive, Innovative And Reflective Societies. Reflective 5: The cultural heritage of war in contemporary Europe EU contribution: 2.489.648,75 Consortium: - Ruhr - Universitaet Bochum (DE) - University of Bath (GB) - Aarhus Universitetd (DK) - Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior De Investigaciones Cientificas - Mambrino Sls (ES) - Polish Academy of Sciences (PL) - The Ruhr Museum, Bochum (DE) - The Theatre Company Micomic贸n (ES)
Abstract
The main purpose of UNREST is to deliver new empirical yet also theoretically informed knowledge of those memory agents, practices and contexts capable of countering fixed and essentialist war and conflict memories, opening them to reflexive reinterpretation and change. Theoretically, the project will develop the concept of an agonistic ethico-political mode of remembering as distinct from the antagonistic and cosmopolitan modes, and provide a thick description of their defining characteristics, to finally identify which of the two self-reflective modes, best contributes to a shared European ethico-political framework and transnational solidarity. Empirically, the project will test the different ethico-political modes of remembering in contemporary heritage discourses and practices by different memory milieus located at various territorial scales in relation to some of the armed conflicts of the 20th century with an enduring legacy. By exploring the relationship between the modes of remembering being negotiated and contested in various European settings; the memory agents promoting them; and material and immaterial heritage, the project will assess how, why and in which contexts certain modes of remembering the violent past are able to prevail as well as their articulation with various territorial identities. The project is organised into several Work Packages, including theoretical, case oriented and impact oriented WPs, namely: Theory and methodology, works with four groups of partners to develop, test and
disseminate new approaches to European heritage that focus on revitalizing the memory of past conflicts;
Mass Graves exhumations, examines heritage and memory practices and narratives in
recent exhumations of mass graves of civilians killed during WWII and two 20th Century intrastate conflicts, both before and after WWII;
War Museums, in-depth analyses of the history, reception, narrative, aesthetics and political-
cultural contexts of five World War I and World War II museums, which are representative of the ‘cosmopolitan’ approach to history;
Product development, works with the elaboration of cultural products and events (a theatre play performed to live audiences and a new museum exhibit) created with the purpose of destabilizing and unsettling stable and institutionalised functional memory.
Participants’ Bio
*Peter Aronsson is professor of History at Linnaeus University His recent work is on the role of historical narrative and consciousness in directing action, in regard both to historiography and the uses of the past in historical culture at large. Recently he has performed leading roles in three international projects exploring the uses of the past (coordinating www.eunamus.eu funded in FP7, Nordic culture – national history and working with Time, Memory, Representation (www. histcon.se). The projects on museums and use of history has established a new comparative approach and first set of systematic knowledge assessing the role of museums in the making of nations and states. Among his recent publications are “National Museums. New Studies from around the World” (London: Routledge, 2011); “Performing Nordic heritage. Everyday practices and institutional culture” (Burlington: Ashgate, 2013); “National Museums and Nation-building in Europe 1750-2010. Mobilization and legitimacy, continuity and change” (London: Routledge, 2015).
*Luca Basso Peressut, Architect, PhD in Architectural Composition, is full professor of interior architecture, exhibition design and museography at Politecnico di Milano, and coordinator of the academic board of the doctoral programme in architectural, urban and interior design. Since 1993, he has been involved as principal investigator and scientific coordinator in a number of national and international research projects in the field of museum studies and museography, among which most recently the EU funded project sMeLa - European Museums in an Age of Migrations (FP7 , 2011-2015) and TRACES – Transmitting Contentius Cultural Heritages with the Arts (H2020, 2016-2019). He has been participating in several design competitions resulting in different developed and realised projects for new museums and exhibition design and has published widely in the field of the theory and practice of museography and design for cultural heritage. Selected publications include: “Architettura per l’archeologia: museografia e allestimento” (with P.F. Caliari, Rome: Prospettive Edizioni, 2015); “Mettere in scena, mettere in mostra” (with G. Bosoni and P. Salvadeo, Siracusa: Letteraventidue, 2014); “Museums in an age of migrations” (with Clelia Pozzi, Milan: Politecnico di Milano, 2012); “Il museo moderno” (Milano: Lybra, 2005).
*Anna Cento Bull is Professor of Italian History and Politics at the University of Bath, UK. She has published widely on ethno-regionalism and political populism, focusing especially on the Lega Nord. More recently, she has worked on the divided legacy and memory of terrorism in Italy, paying particular attention to the memoirs and modes of remembering of former terrorists and of victims and relatives of victims. Her publications include “Italian Neo-Fascism: The Strategy of Tension and the Politics of Nonreconciliation” (Berghahn Books: Oxford and New York, 2007 hbk, 2011 pbk) and “Ending Terrorism in Italy” (with P. Cooke, Routledge: Abingdon and New York, 2013). She has also co-authored ‘On Agonistic memory’ with her UNREST partner Hans Lauge Hansen, currently published online in Memory Studies, 2015.
*Francesca Lanz, Architect and PhD in Interior Architecture and Exhibition Design, she is Lecturer at the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies of Politecnico di Milano. Since 2006 she has been teaming up with different POLIMI departments, collaborating as associate researcher and research fellow on several national and international research projects and teaching activities. Most recently, she has been contributing as researcher and dissemiantion mangaer to the EU funded Research Projects MeLa - European Museums in an age of migrations (2011-2015), and TRACES – Transmitting Contentious Cutlural Heritage with the Arts (20162019). Selected publications include: “Staging Migration (in) Museums” (Museum and Society: 14 (1), 2016); “Advancing Museums Practices” (with E. Montanari, Turin: Allemandi, 2014); “European Museums in an Age of Migrations: setting the framework” (Milan: Politecnico di Milano, 2013).
*Karin Schneider is an arts educator and researcher currently working at the Institute for Arts Education / Zurich University of the Arts and the University Klagenfurt on the Horizon2020 project TRACES. She studied contemporary history and gender studies at Vienna University. Since 2007 she has been involved in several participatory and art-based research projects such as “Science with All Senses – Science and Gender in the Making” (2007-2010), “MemScreen” (2010-2012), “Conserved Memories” (2013-2015) and “Field research with young students and children” (2008-2010; 2013-2015). Since 2013 she has been teaching methods of arts education at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. From 2001-2007 she was head of the arts education team at the Museum of Modern Art (MUMOK) in Vienna.
*Christopher Whitehead is Professor of Museology at Newcastle University and member of the University’s Cultural Affairs Steering Group and the Great North Museum’s Board. His research activities focus on both historical and contemporary museology. He has published extensively in the field of art museum history, with particular emphases on architecture, display and knowledge construction. His second major strand of activity relates to education and interpretation practices in art museums and galleries, and includes considerable government-funded and policy-relevant research. In the context of musicological study he has strong interests in social constructionism, theories of representation, cultural cartography, time and place, coproduction, art theory, disciplinarity and epistemology. He is the author of the following books: “Museums, Migration and Identity in Europe” (Farnham: Ashgate, 2015); “The Public Art Museum in Nineteenth-Century Britain” (Farnham: Ashgate 2005), “Museums and the Construction of Disciplines” (London: Bloomsbury/ Duckworth Academic 2009) and “Interpreting Art in Museums and Galleries” (Oxford: Routledge 2012).
*Andrea Witcomb is a Professor of Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. Her research is attentive to the potential of museums and heritage sites to provide opportunities for cross-cultural encounters. Her work thus focuses on relations between museums and communities and the interpretation of difficult histories. This leads her not only into a study of the politics of representation but a desire to understand which curatorial exhibition strategies can enable a questioning of well established narratives about the past and collective identities. In this context she has a particular interest in the uses of multimedia and the role of exhibition design. Her work is informed by the recent sensorial turn as well as an interest in theories of memory. Recent projects have included two Australian Research Council funded projects – the first on Australia’s management and interpretation of its extra-territorial war heritage (war heritage sites in countries’ other than Australia) and the second on the engagement of the Australian collecting sector with cultural diversity and changing understandings of citizenship. Her books include “Reimaginging the Museum: Beyond the Mausoleum” (London and New York:Routledge 2003), “South Pacific Museums: An Experiment in Culture” (with Chris Healy, Victoria: Monash Epress 2006;2012), “From the Barracks to the Burrup: The National Trust in Western Australia” (with Dr Kate Gregory, Kensington: UNSW Press, 2010) and “Museum Theory” as part of the “Handbooks of Museum Studies” series edited by Sharon Macdonald and Helen Rees-Leahy (with Kylie Message, Oxford & Malden MA: Wiley Blackwell 2015).
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