An Exploratory Study on the Role of Websites in Gastronomy Museum Dialogic Communication

Rooted in the dialogic communication model, the main objective of this study is to analyse the interactivity level of websites of gastronomy museums in Turkey. Thus, it will be unearthed whether gastronomy museums are progressing towards more dialogic or are staying informative systems with the relationship with their target audience. Via content analysis on websites, two questions were sought: (1) What kind of tools are utilized to present information? (2) What tools or resources are utilized on websites to interact with virtual visitors? The data were analysed by comparing private and public museums. The results indicate that the websites of gastronomy museums in Turkey have a medium level of interaction in presenting information and a low level of interaction in the tools available to virtual visitors. And thus, it can be said that museums use their websites for one-way communication, which are not fit for dialogic communication. This is valid for both private and public museums. Managerial implications were discussed, and future research directions are presented.

Gas, Oil and Heritage

How does corporate sponsorship shape the narration and curation of Dutch history in public museums? This article evaluates the significance and impact of private funding in the Dutch heritage and museum sector. By focusing on three museums that have received funding from Dutch oil and gas companies we foreground specifically the nexus heritage, oil, and funding. We show how a particular type of ‘energy literacy’ is promoted, a narrative that is favourable to the agenda of the gas and oil sector. Our explorations are based on interviews with museum officials, an analysis of policy documents, and a close reading of exhibitions. By describing the impact of oil and gas money on the Dutch heritage sector, this article charts the growing influence of corporate players in the Dutch public cultural sector. Following neoliberal reforms in 2011-2012 promoting cultural entrepreneurship and self-sufficiency, museums and heritage sites had to act even more like businesses and attract sponsorships and gifts from private players. This development is part of a global retraction of the state in the public sector. Our discussion of the intricacies of corporate heritage funding in the Netherlands shows that through a fairly limited investment, enterprises acquire disproportionate outreach and influence in the cultural heritage field, an environment that is generally perceived by the public as reliable and independent.Hoe beïnvloedden private spelers en bedrijven de manier waarop musea de Nederlandse geschiedenis vertellen en presenteren? Dit artikel onderzoekt het belang en de invloed van private financiering in de Nederlandse erfgoed- en museumwereld. We onderzoeken de invloed van de industrie op de publieke erfgoedsector aan de hand van drie musea die in de voorbije decennia geld hebben ontvangen van de Nederlandse olie- en gasindustrie. Dit artikel beschrijft hoe een bepaald ‘energiediscours’ wordt gepromoot in tentoonstellingen, een narratief dat de olie- en gassector in een positief daglicht stelt. De resultaten van dit onderzoek zijn gebaseerd op interviews met medewerkers van musea, een analyse van beleidsdocumenten en een close reading van de tentoonstellingen die worden, of werden, gefinancierd door de industrie. Het artikel brengt de groeiende invloed van private spelers in de Nederlandse cultuursector in kaart door de impact van de olie- en gasindustrie op de Nederlandse erfgoedsector te beschrijven. Het gevolg van neoliberale hervormingen in de periode 2011-2012 is dat cultureel ondernemerschap en financiële onafhankelijkheid worden aangemoedigd, wat er voor zorgt dat het voor musea en erfgoedsites steeds noodzakelijker wordt om zich op te stellen als bedrijven die sponsorcontracten met, en giften van, partners uit de industrie moeten najagen. Deze evolutie is niet eigen aan Nederland en maakt deel uit van een wereldwijde ontwikkeling waarbij de staat zich uit de culturele sector terugtrekt. Onze analyse toont echter dat de unieke financieringsmechanismen voor private spelers in Nederland ervoor zorgen dat bedrijven met een minieme investering een disproportionele zichtbaarheid en invloed verkrijgen in het culturele erfgoedveld, een omgeving die door de bevolking over het algemeen wordt beschouwd als betrouwbaar en onafhankelijk. Actualiteitsparagraaf Besmeurd verledenBMGN-LCHR toont invloed van fossiele industrie op het vertelde verhaal in Nederlandse musea De Nederlandse olie- en gaswinning zijn in toenemende mate controversieel, niet in de laatste plaats door klimaatverandering en de aardbevingsproblematiek in Groningen. Historici Gertjan Plets en Marin Kuijt onderzochten voor BMGN – Low Countries Historical Review (BMGN-LCHR) het belang en de invloed van bedrijven uit deze sectoren, zoals Shell en de NAM, in de museale sector in Nederland. Zij onderzochten die invloed aan de hand van drie musea die de voorbije decennia geld hebben ontvangen van de Nederlandse olie- en gasindustrie: het Nederlands Openluchtmuseum, het Drents Museum en Rijksmuseum Boerhaave. Hun onderzoek, gebaseerd op interviews met medewerkers van musea, een analyse van beleidsdocumenten en een close reading van tentoonstellingen, laat zien dat de fossiele industrie met relatief kleine investeringen veel inhoudelijke invloed weet te vergaren. Gevolg: de belastingbetaler betaalt in feite mee aan de PR en marketing voor de fossiele economie. Video

SUPERVISION OF MUSEUM ACTIVITY

Supervision of museums should be perceived taking into account both specific regulations: addressed directly to museums, particularly in the Act on Museums, as well as general regulations assuming supervision mechanisms in different respects, e.g., construction process or HR. This complex perspective: systemic and normative, is essential not only with respect to the supervision in a narrow basic meaning of the term, associated in the first place with an inspection of the supervised entity and application of respective executive actions, e.g., undertaken in the form of administrative decisions, but also the supervision in a broader perspective, understood as a whole range of support provided to a museum, including issuing recommendations, evaluations, and opinions important for its operation. In the context of ‘external’ supervision implemented by appropriate organs and entities, the following are of basic importance: the museum’s organiser (founder) supervision, constituting one of the organiser’s basic statutory responsibilities, as well as the supervision of the minister responsible for culture and preservation of national heritage, with respect to e.g., the preservation and care of historic monuments and museum operations; additionally, it is the matter of conservation supervision performed by Voivodeship Conservators of Historic Monuments as organs specialized in the preservation and care of historic monuments, the latter constituting, e.g., museum collections. As for the ‘internal’ supervision aspects, the role of museum councils, obligatory in public museums (state ones or organised by local governments), needs to be emphasized. Their statutory responsibility is to e.g., supervise how museums fulfil their responsibilities with respect to the collection and the public, in particular how they fulfil the goals as specified in Art.1 of the Act on Museums. The questions of supervision are also important for non-public museums (their founders) which in the event of violating either the Act’s provisions or their own charter have to be prepared that supervisory activities might be applied to them, up to the ban on their further operations.

Circulating Objects

The chapter explores how early American collections were consistently preoccupied with threats of loss and decay. It focuses on the American Philosophical Society’s cabinet, which was developed through the society’s networks of members and correspondents and included specimens, antiquarian artifacts, models, maps, and books. This chapter examines writings by J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur and Charles Willson Peale to show how the uncertainties of attempting to build museum collections informed ongoing conversations about preservation and potential loss. By narratively experimenting with the possibilities of lost or missing information in Letters from an American Farmer and other writings, Crèvecoeur reveals ongoing concern with the longevity and survival of fragile manuscripts and printed texts. Peale similarly takes up questions of preservation, using his skill at taxidermy to promote his relationship with the Society and to link public museums to national stability.

Private Collections as the Core of Picasso Art Museums: The Problem of Selection and Exposition, Intentions and Reality

The article reviews the history of several Picasso public museums, which have been based around private art collections. It examines the personal motivations and social conditions that accompanied the conception and realization of the projects. The records of Museu Picasso in Barcelona contain evidence highlighting Picasso’s lasting close friendship with Jaume Sabartés, who donated his private collection to the museum. These documents reveal the dramatic context surrounding Picasso’s citizenship, his persona non grata status, as well as the latent Catalan opposition to state authority. In addition, the article utilizes the case of Picasso museums to highlight and discuss a series of problematic issues related to adapting the modernist artworks, which have been installed within historic buildings and cultural heritage sites.

Stakeholder Salience Model in the Practices of Public Museum Management

Stakeholder theory is extensively explored. On the one hand, previously pointed issues are deepened and reconsidered; on the second, new research contexts emerge. When it comes to museums, due to the changing environmental situation, they have to modify their way of functioning by combining tradi-tional museum duties with managerial perspective and necessity to be effective. Although discussions about museum management include stakeholders, yet such exploration is quite general. Hence, the aim of this article is to look at the stakeholder salience model in the context of the specificity and the prac-tice of public museums' functioning. Through qualitative research with in-depth interviews, content analysis, and observations, stakeholder attributes were specified, with reference to connected activities and associated entities. The findings present what attributes are characteristics of a particular stake-holders' group, including how their diversity and overlapping look like. Moreover, findings showed that perceived stakeholder salience depends on the particular project and that not always salient stakehold-ers have been identified with all three attributes. Although stakeholders are noticed as a crucial element for the effective museums' functioning, their analysis remains at the general level. Hence, by taking one of the theoretical perspectives for the analysis, the study aims to fill in the existing gap. It is also impor-tant to consider the challenges standing in front of the museums, including the difficult situations that arise from the pandemic restrictions. Although in practice it is hard to omit the unpredictability, the recognition of stakeholders' characteristics might minimize the risk and uncertainty, even if a new stakeholder is not considered.

Exploring the Technological Impacts

Aside from educating the public, museums are adapting to the changing world as they have become one of the popular sites for cultural heritage tourism. Thus, from tourists and educational activities, they generate an increase in the number of visitors every year. With the emergence of interactive technology, it enables museums to produce better visiting experience especially when technology able to facilitate the visitor-exhibition interactivity in diverse ways. This paper investigates visitors' satisfaction and findings demonstrate a detailed insight on how the interactive technology in museum approach shapes the visiting experience. Basically, this study will show the process of creating repeat visitation from the effects of technology use in the museums. Interactive exhibitions with technology use are required in enhancing visitor satisfaction. A conceptual framework is developed to provide guideline and knowledge in understanding the role of interactive technology to secure visitor satisfaction and repeat visitation particularly in the context of Brunei Darussalam.

THE SPHERE OF CULTURE IN THE PROCESSES OF NATION-BUILDING AND THE CONSOLIDATION OF CITIZENS: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE CULTURAL POLICY IN FRANCE AND GERMANY

The article examines the positive and negative experience of the consolidation of French and German citizens in process of nation-building by means of culture. The research deals with: practice of collecting masterpieces that influenced the development of public museums and the ability to defend national interests; the practice of consolidation of citizens around monuments of cultural figures; practices of confrontation between conservative intellectuals and modern artistic circles, which led to the fight against dissent, the destruction of books and the formation of the ideology of Nazism; practices of nazification of the education system, which revealed growing of the conflict between ideal virtues and the real behavior of participants in the educational process and politicians, and which subsequently legitimized absolute obedience to the leader; practices of collecting library collections, accompanied by theft of public libraries and private collections. The positive consequences of the consolidation citizens with the help of cultural institutions are indicated: the institutionally formed sphere of culture allows citizens to experience national pride, to be aware of themselves as a part of an original and rich national culture, to form their national identity. Cultural institutions create a space, which creativity is encouraged, opportunity for public discussions about culture and society are provided; educational and scientific activities are carried out. Recommendations on building a strategy for the cultural policy of Ukraine: the sphere of culture should be aimed at consolidating citizens; should expand the possibilities of various subjects of cultural activity and minimize the negative influences of the state; should expand access to quality education that fosters a culture of critical and creative thinking; should expand opportunities for international cooperation in educational and cultural projects based on the values of rights and freedom of individuals, mutual understanding and mutual respect of representatives of different cultures.