Is there a European conceptof the museum professional?

Léontine Meijer-van Mensch

museums

subject matter disciplines support disciplines

museums

subject matter disciplines support disciplines

museums

museology

museology as a science

Zbyňek Stránský (1926 - ) Brno

Handbuch Grundlagen der

Sowjetischen Museumskunde

(Moskau 1955)

Auszüge (Halle 1960)

1930: 1. Museumskongress der SU

"nicht Dinge sondern Prozesse"

1955: Handbuch

"Gegenständen als Primärquellen des

Wissens"

first museum revolution

• Professional organisations1917 Deutscher Museumsbund

• Professional journals1878 Zeitschrift für Museologie und Antiquitätenkunde (Dresden)

• Handbooks1869 Philipp Leopold Martin, Praxis der Naturgeschichte (Weimar)

• Codes of ethics1918 Grundsätze über das Verhalten der Mitglieder des DeutschenMuseumbundes gegenüber dem Kunsthandel und dem Publikum

heritage

functions

institutions

society

basic parameters

heritage

functions

institution

society

“old” paradigm

heritage

functions

institution

society

“new” paradigm

UNESCO Round table, Santiago (Chile) 1972

The development and the role of museums in thecontemporary world

Integrated museum

Integration

• Academic disciplines

• Museographic disciplines

• Museum - society

second museum revolution

UNESCO Recommendation on participation by thepeople at large in cultural life and their contributionto it (Nairobi 1976)

Georges Henri Rivière(1897 – 1985) Paris

Musée de l´HommeInternational Council of MuseumsEcole du Louvre

New Museology

• Community museology

• Social museology

• Popular museology

• Active museology

• Participative museology

• Ecomuseology

• Territorial museology

Richard Sandell 2000

• Access

• Participation

• Representation

social inclusion

• Inclusive museums

• Museums as agents of social regeneration

• Museums as vehicles of broad social change

third museum revolution

• Social curatorship

• Co-curatorship

• User generated content

third museum revolution

• Museum 2.0/Heritage 2.0

• The Museum Professional asFacilitator/Mediator

Convention of Faro 2005Council of Europe

On the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society

Heritage communities

a heritage community consists of people whovalue specific aspects of cultural heritagewhich they wish, within the framework ofpublic action, to sustain and transmit to futuregenerations

networking

museums – archives – libraries

ex situ – in situ

professional collectors – private collectors

professionals – “source communities”

Reinwardt Academie

1976 Leiden > 1992 Amsterdam

Collections based organisation

Curator 1 Curator 2 Curator 3 Curator 4 etc.

director

PreservationResearchExhibitions

Curator 1

PreservationResearchExhibitions

Curator 2

PreservationResearchExhibitions

Curator 3

PreservationResearchExhibitions

etc Educator

director

Functions based organisation

Chart Title

Documentation Conservation

Preservation Research

Collections

Exhibitions Education

Communication

director

Chart Title

Documentation Conservation

Preservation Research

Collections

Exhibitions Education

Communication

director

Amsterdam Museum(simplified diagram)

collectionsmanagement

research(curators)

education

museum services resources

director

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam(simplified diagram)

documentation conservation

collectionsmanagement

research(curators)

collections

exhibitions education

presentation resources

director

theory

practiceethics

professionalism

break-evenloss

negative

positive

neutral

contribution to revenues

profit

III IV

I II

Profit CentreCost Centre

break-evenloss

negative

positive

neutral

contribution to revenues

after Kersti Krug 1992

profit

III IV

I II

Profit CentreCost Centre

break-evenloss

negative

positive

neutral

contribution to revenues

after Kersti Krug 1992

profit

research

conservation

education

exhibitions

shop

restaurant

space rental

III IV

I II

Profit CentreCost Centre

break-evenloss

negative

positive

neutral

contribution to revenues

after Kersti Krug 1992

profit

mostpreferred

to beavoided

ethicaldilemmas

vulnerable

co

ntr

ibu

tio

nto

mis

sio

n

contribution torevenue

Stephen Weil 1995

[A museum] must be able to demonstrate that[…] it is something more than a “federation ofself-interest” in which curators are contentsimply to curate, conservators to conserve,and registrars to document and managecollections.

Stephen Weil 1995

To survive [a museum] must […] be able todefine the positive difference that it can maketo the community from which it solicits itsnecessary support, and it must also be able toshow that community that it is, in actual fact,making such a difference.

Stephen Weil 1995

To do so is more than just a managerialimperative; it is also an ethical necessity.

basic responsibilities of the museum professional

• responsibility to the maker (and first users) of the object and his orher society;

• responsibility to the preservation of the information value (includingthe aesthetic and emotional values) of the object and its physicaland intellectual accessibility;

• responsibility to the institute with which the professional isassociated, regardless of whether this association is temporary orpermanent, paid or unpaid, or whether they are employed by theinstitute or have volunteered their services;

• responsibility to those who made the activities possible by financialsupport;

• responsibility to colleagues inside and outside the instituteconcerned, including professionals associated with non-museuminstitutes such as academic researchers;

• responsibility to the visitors of permanent and temporaryexhibitions and to participants in other activities;

• responsibility to the community as a whole, now and in the future.