Using New Tools to Attract Visitors to Museums and Heritage Sites

This chapter discusses the ways in which museums and heritage sites have adapted to the need to create technology-based experiences in recent decades culminating in the intensive online provision during the COVID period. The aim of both online and live visits should be as inclusive as possible of different audiences, stimulating interesting, rich, multi-cultural experiences that encourage re-visitation or at least recommendation to others. Ideally, sites should create meaningful as well as memorable experiences. This process includes several aspects and is very complex requiring the combination and harmonisation of education, heritage interpretation, marketing skills, and local initiatives. This chapter uses case studies to analyse the extent to which museums are rising to these challenges above, including the principles of the so-called ‘new museology', the need for more innovative technology to create visitor experiences, and COVID-19.

The State of Play: An Exploration of Games and Their Value in museum Exhibitions

<p>In the field of museum studies there has been very little consideration of games and their application to exhibiting practice. This represents a significant gap in the theory on current museum practice given the frequency of games in exhibitions and the scale of the commercial games industry in contemporary culture. This study begins to redress this issue by exploring how a significant and influential museum operating within the paradigm of the new museology views the role of games in its exhibitions. The thesis considers the central research question: what do practitioners currently think about games in museum exhibitions and how could museum games be improved. Following an interpretivist methodology the study seeks to answer this question through a case study of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Seven practitioners affiliated with this museum were interviewed about their understanding of games and their application in a museum context. The research findings illuminate the current understanding of games held by these practitioners and factors that inhibit the successful implementation of games at Te Papa. It was found that the practitioners’ opinions had not been influenced by the available theoretical literature on games. It was also found that practitioners thought games in exhibitions at the museum have not been particularly successful in achieving either the goals of exhibitions or the potential that games offer. It is concluded that the introduction of theories on play and on games into museum theory and practice has potential for significant advances in this area of exhibition development. In contemporary museums there is a shift away from presenting absolute, positivist understandings of knowledge toward the subjective, construction of meaning. Museums are also increasingly required to maintain economic efficacy while offering a valuable service to the populace. This thesis responds to this situation by proposing that a greater knowledge and utilisation of games in exhibitions offers a valuable approach in negotiating these two trends. By presenting an understanding of games, their potential value for museums and perspectives on what currently inhibits their successful application this research offers the field of museum studies a basis from which to develop knowledge of this under-theorised aspect of museum practice.</p>

The State of Play: An Exploration of Games and Their Value in museum Exhibitions

<p>In the field of museum studies there has been very little consideration of games and their application to exhibiting practice. This represents a significant gap in the theory on current museum practice given the frequency of games in exhibitions and the scale of the commercial games industry in contemporary culture. This study begins to redress this issue by exploring how a significant and influential museum operating within the paradigm of the new museology views the role of games in its exhibitions. The thesis considers the central research question: what do practitioners currently think about games in museum exhibitions and how could museum games be improved. Following an interpretivist methodology the study seeks to answer this question through a case study of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Seven practitioners affiliated with this museum were interviewed about their understanding of games and their application in a museum context. The research findings illuminate the current understanding of games held by these practitioners and factors that inhibit the successful implementation of games at Te Papa. It was found that the practitioners’ opinions had not been influenced by the available theoretical literature on games. It was also found that practitioners thought games in exhibitions at the museum have not been particularly successful in achieving either the goals of exhibitions or the potential that games offer. It is concluded that the introduction of theories on play and on games into museum theory and practice has potential for significant advances in this area of exhibition development. In contemporary museums there is a shift away from presenting absolute, positivist understandings of knowledge toward the subjective, construction of meaning. Museums are also increasingly required to maintain economic efficacy while offering a valuable service to the populace. This thesis responds to this situation by proposing that a greater knowledge and utilisation of games in exhibitions offers a valuable approach in negotiating these two trends. By presenting an understanding of games, their potential value for museums and perspectives on what currently inhibits their successful application this research offers the field of museum studies a basis from which to develop knowledge of this under-theorised aspect of museum practice.</p>

For a Black Lesbian Museology

In this paper, I introduce part of my academic-activist trajectory from a biomitography (Lorde, 1984) of “escrevivências” (Evaristo, 2007). With that, I present the crossing of my own political practices linked to my research practices as a museum professional and Sociomuseology activist. By establishing an approximation of the New Museology movement, of LGBT Museology, as well as of a museology permeated by the (in) visibility of narratives, memories and cultural heritage claimed by sexually dissident black women, I intend to articulate a territory of epistemic dispute for the nomination of a Black Lesbian Museology. Palavras-chave: Biomitografia, Escrevivências, Sociomuseologia, Museologia LGBT, Museologia Lésbica Negra. Keywords: Biomitography, Escrivivências, Sociomuseology, LGBT Museology, Black Lesbian Museology.

Social object: museum object in the participatory museum

The «new museology» movement, which seeks to revise the principles and foundations of the activities of modern museums, has introduced a few new concepts into consideration, one of which is the concept of «social object». «New Museology» interprets a social object as the basis for constructing an exposition of a participatory museum, which makes it possible to consider a social object as an analogue of a museum item. Since the concept of a «museum item» is one of the key theoretical tools of modern museology, its content can be expanded within the framework of the scientific understanding of a participatory museum. Directions of such a theoretical study are presented in this article. The analysis of the transformation of a museum object into a social object during the transition from the traditional principle of building a museum exposition to a participatory one made it possible to identify several problems in the activities of a participatory museum related to the communication potential of its exhibits. The understanding of a social object is formed based on an analysis of examples of exposition and exhibition activities presented in the book by N. Simon «The Participatory Museum».

Mnemosyne w muzeum i w szkole

The article is dedicated to the issue of cultural memory in Polish studies. It is discussed in the context of the so-called memory turn, and the transformations occurring in the museum science under the influence of the “new museology”. The text consists of three parts. The first one concerns the changes and shifts in the discourse of cultural and social memory in the days of the increasing musealization process. The second one indicates new educational strategies in narrative, critical, and especially in participatory museums, which contributes to the formation of new models of participation in culture and of receptive habits. The third part, on the other hand, provides diagnoses concerning challenges, as well as the hints which the transformations of the museum activities in the field of education offer to Polish studies.

Identity and the Controversial Experiences of Museum Researchers: The Case of the National Museums of Finland and the Baltic States

This paper* highlights the internal contradictions of museum institutions when they are influenced by neoliberal market-driven policies and new museology from the viewpoint of the museum-working researcher. Museums increasingly interface with the public because they are now part of the leisure market. Recent transformations have affected the roles and responsibilities of museum researchers. Whereas marketing, communication and sales specialists have gained more prominence in museum decision-making, the researchers’ role has been marginalised. Semi-structured interviews at five national museums in Finland and the Baltic States give voice to museum researchers and reveal their subjective reflections. The interviews revealed two discursive patterns: 1) caring for museum collections is more of a priority than conducting research, and 2) if academic results are prioritised, researchers are less involved in servicing the collections. The analysis showed how perceived marginalisation has caused role conflict and ambiguity for researchers, and that current shifts reduce researchers’ motivation to contribute to research.

Museums in the Long Now: History in the Geological Age of Humans

History in times of crisis is practical: future action depends on historical framing. Moving beyond “human scales” to include the evolutionary and the geological, and beyond humans to include other species, demands different approaches and new “archives” like ice-cores. This paper considers history in the Long Now, and particularly how museums and big public arts institutions develop new sorts of history through practical story-telling, taking seriously the notion that “the central role of museums [is] both an expression of cultural identity and … a powerful force for human development and education.” The museum has a particular value as “slow media”, deepening news stories in times of rapid change. The new epoch of Earth, the Anthropocene, where humans have become a geological force, poses challenges for exhibitions, but also reshapes museums themselves. Crucial to managing stories, collections and objects in Anthropocene times is the capacity to change course, to remain open to new developments, using performances, events and “pop-up” exhibitions alongside traditional museum offerings. New Museology regards stories as the fundamental unit of museums. Thus, the curation of stories is central work. No longer are museums defined solely by objects: the artistic and the ephemeral are all part of story-telling.