What is a museum?

A Cultural House, an Enlightened Educational Centre, a Historical Museum, or a Tourist Magnet

Old museums revising their goals

A Conference in Copenhagen presented a cornucopia of models for future museums and is a good starting point to get an overview of what is happening in the Museum World right now.

These years lots of museums are celebrating their 200 years jubilees.  This the time had come for the National Museum in Copenhagen. Apart from the festivities, the Museum had invited representatives of new national museums or museums currently undergoing massive rejuvenations to a conference. The title of the conference was: “The National Museums in a Globalized world”.

Here is a presentation of the trends that seem to dominate the museum world currently.

Feel at home museums
In general there is no doubt that museums feel obligated to be open and accessible to each and every one in their community. A museum does not have a select group of stakeholders, but are public institutions catering for the entire community, be it a town or a nation.  This includes the disenfranchised, be they immigrants or invalids. There was an unchallenged consensus regarding this point. One might ask, however, if this premise should be taken for granted. Universities are for one not open to everybody? Why do museums carry this burden?  Why should every visitor be able to “feel at home”, as one representative claimed was the primary object? What about museums objective as research institutions? When I raised this question over lunch some museum directors pointed out that it was a foolish question. No politician would accept anything, but that a museum generated huge numbers of visitors. Of course I knew this, but sometimes the obvious has be brought up in order to get a reaction.

Infotainment still rules
Following this dictum, it became clear why every speaker at some point mentioned that they had an obligation to balance between exhibitions seen as shows and exhibitions considered as forums for education – in short “infotainment” is still the hidden if not downright open agenda. No doubt about it: Museums feel that they have worthy public agendas to fulfil. Most of them are, however, curtailed in this ambition by lack of funding.  Politicians on their part wish to harness the museums for their own purposes – right now enhancing integration, identity-formation or tourism.  

The Cultural House 
The most prominent type of museum presented may be classified as a Cultural House. This was the case with Te Papa Tongarewa in New Zeeland that opened about 10 years ago. This museum consciously aimed at making every visitor to feel at home, be they Maori, Scots or Italian immigrants. One of the museum’s instruments was to collaborated with specific groups – a tribe or a community – and let their voices be heard clearly in the exhibitions.  

The Enlightened Institution 
Next of kin to the Cultural House was the Enlightened Institution. This perspective was represented by the British Museum.  True to its foundation, it still wanted to enlighten visitors about their unique cultures in a comparative perspective. The motto is here that there is a unity in diversity.  Museums must help visitors get a sense of a dual perspective: their uniqueness and their common destiny. Of course it was also stressed that The British Museum is a museum for the whole world and not just “Britishness”, whatever that may be.  

The Historical Museum 
Another trend was the construction of historical museums that work with the presentation of a given history through artefacts and/or audiovisuals. The most prominent example presented was “The German Historical Museum”.  This museum illustrates the history of the German-speaking people in their ongoing relationship with their surroundings beginning with the Teutoburger-battle and ending with present day Germany. Another example was the Canadian War Museum that described Canada’s military history in all its gruesome details from the first mutually destructive war between Indians to the present day involvement in Afghanistan. Both these museums depended heavily on the use of artefacts – be they secular relics, everyday objects or massive war-machines. A third example was the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. These museums were not so much about the cultural identity formation of the people whose story was told, but more about the ways in which these stories came about.  

The Tourist Magnet 
Finally there was an example of a museum openly acknowledging its importance with regards to the development of tourism. The case presented was the National Museum of Prague whose director was the youngest and least sentimental. In order to get funding for a much-needed renovation he had openly played on the importance of having a national museum showcasing the Czech Republic’s national history. This did not exclude feelings for the value of museums as educational institutions. But first priority was education of the tourist.  

Potpourri without open-air museums and classic disciplines
What lacked in this 200-year birthday bouquet?

First and foremost the museums focused more on “demonstrate and tell” rather than “show and tell”. Open-air museums or eco-museums were thus not represented although some exist that are definitely national in their institutional history and scope. We therefore missed out on a type of museum that is in demand. 

Besides this element, we missed museums that are more process-oriented, for instance demonstrating how work behind the scene takes place in terms of collecting, restoring, documenting and exhibiting artefacts.  Visitors keenly seek this behind the scene experience from art museums and heritage institutions.