icom news vol.67 n.4 december 2014

SPECIAL REPORT The visitor experience

HERITAGE IN DANGER Syria

BEST PRACTICES Visitor research

T H E I N T E R N A T I O N A L C O U N C I L O F M U S E U M S M A G A Z I N E V O L 6 7 N O 4 D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 4

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visitors in a more detailed understanding of the works surrounding them.

This issue’s In Focus section introduces the 2015 theme of International Museum Day, Museums for a sustainable society, with articles by Marlen Mouliou and by Eric Dorfman and Maria Isabel Landim, describing the important role museums can play in ensuring social and environmental sustainability within their communities and beyond.

The year 2015 will give rise to many new museum-related questions, and a new draft Recommendation on the Protection and Promotion of Museums, their Diversity and their Role in Society2 will be proposed by UNESCO in May. It promises to be another year rich with discussions and commitments from our international community of museums.

We wish you all much success and happiness for 2015 and look forward to your continued support and fruitful collaboration in the New Year.

Prof. Dr Hans Martin Hinz ICOM President Prof. Dr Anne-Catherine Robert-Hauglustaine ICOM Director General

The cult of the muses to which the ancient museum dedicated itself was no doubt a preliminary version of what we call culture today.’1 With these words, André Chastel introduced his article, L’Italie, musée des musées (Italy, the museum of museums), published in 2012.

The International Council of Museums will hold its next triennial General Conference in Milan, Italy—the land of museums and culture—in July 2016. We have a year and a half to prepare for this key gathering of professionals on the theme of Museums and cultural landscapes. Our International and National Committees and Regional Alliances can use this theme as a focal point for discussions on the future of our museums in an increasingly competitive environment and an ever-diversifying landscape.

While museums have always been attentive to their visitors, innovative approaches are now being developed across the world compatible with a new vision of the museum’s social role. Defining the place of museums in their cities, territories and communities is a question that concerns us all and many projects are emerging to make museums more inclusive. Our Special Report opens with an analysis by Nick O’Flaherty of what visitors really want, while in our Best Practices section, the Dallas Art Museum gives examples of how to engage

4Museum NewsEvents, openings and more

6Best PracticesKnowing your audience

8In FocusMuseums for a sustainable society

10Special Report:The visitor experienceWhat visitors wantReaching the modern visitorNew experiences, new practicesExperimental design

16Heritage in DangerArchaeological looting in Syria

18ICOM CommunityICOM Committee meetings: the year in review

22PublicationsMemories of tomorrow

ICOM PRESIDENT Hans-Martin Hinz

DIRECTOR GENERAL Anne-Catherine Robert-Hauglustaine

EDITOR IN CHIEF Aedín Mac Devitt

COPY EDITOR Ena Lupine

DESIGN AND LAYOUT Agnès Quemper

TRANSLATION Kristina Jackson

CONTRIBUTORS Mayte Bernabeu Sara Heft

ADVERTISING France Édition

PRINTING GraphiProd, 93290 Tremblay en France

©ICOM ISSN 1020-6418COVER IMAGE © BOCA MUSEUM OF ART/GESI SHILLING

ICOM Maison de l’UNESCO 1, rue Miollis 75732 Paris Cedex 15 France Tel +33 1 47 34 05 00 Fax + 33 1 43 06 78 62 [email protected] http://icom.museum

ICOM News is a magazine published by the International Council of Museums in English, French and Spanish, with the financial assistance of the French Ministry of Culture. Opinions expressed in signed articles do not commit ICOM in any way and are the responsibility of their authors.

Next issueIn Focus: Museums for a sustainable societySpecial Report: Human rights museumsBest Practices: Augmented realityIf you wish to contribute to the next issue of ICOM News, please contact Aedín Mac Devitt at [email protected] for details.

EDITORIAL

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1Original French: «Le culte des muses auquel se vouait le museum antique n’est sans doute qu’une première version de ce que nous nommons aujourd’hui : la culture.»2Title as suggested by ICOM

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OpeningsIn November, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, unveiled the new presentation of its permanent collection to the public. The new design focuses on the artist’s story, with his personal life and art elucidated through drawings and letters that have rarely been shown to date, while providing more space for his masterpieces. According to the museum, this presentation aims to clarify some of the myths surrounding Vincent Van Gogh, such as his illness, the ear and his suicide, and to shed light on the ideas and ambitions behind his art. The new display is the work of Dutch exhibition designer Marcel Schmalgemeijer and graphic designer Mariëlle Tolenaar.

The Fondation Louis Vuitton, a new contemporary art institution in Paris, France, opened its doors to the public on 27 October, 2014. The 11,700 m2 building (pictured below), designed by architect Frank Gehry, houses 11 galleries, an auditorium that seats 350 and terraces offering unique panoramic views of Paris and the Bois de Boulogne. The museum’s opening programme includes an exhibition showcasing the design process of the building, presented in parallel with the first European retrospective of Gehry’s work exhibited by the Centre Pompidou (Paris) from October 2014.

EventsThe Musée et Alzheimer (Museums and Alzheimer’s) colloquium was held at the Cité de la musique in Paris, France, on 21 November, 2014. Organised by the Fondation Swiss Life and the Fondation Réunica Prévoyance, the event brought together cultural and health professionals to discuss how best

to carry out programmes geared towards Alzheimer’s patients. International speakers gave presentations varying from the specifics of the disease and the benefit patients gain from cultural outings to case studies of Alzheimer’s programmes at museums in France, Canada, the US and Norway. Audience discussion centred on the importance of continuing to develop these types of programmes around the world.

In 2015, the Hong Kong edition of the international modern and contemporary art show, Art Basel, will take place on 15-17 March. According to the show’s website, half of the participating galleries in the upcoming edition will come from Asia and Asia-Pacific. The new show provides galleries from the region (and around the world) with a platform to demonstrate how they collaborate with artists. Art Basel in Hong Kong will trace 12 decades of art history across six sectors: Galleries, Insights, Discoveries, Encounters, Magazines and Film. Founded by gallerists in 1970, Art Basel is held each year in Hong Kong, Basel (Switzerland) and Miami (US).

As part of its World War I centenary programme, the Auckland War Memorial Museum in New Zealand is preparing a new exhibition by renowned New Zealand artist Michael Parekowhai. Set to open in April 2015, Pare Kawakawa by Parekowhai will explore the impact of war on both an individual and universal level. Pare kawakawa are head wreaths made of greenery that are worn during tangihanga (Māori funeral rites). According to the museum, the exhibition will feature new art works by Parekowhai, as well as a series of his photographs called The consolation of philosophy (2001), with each one named after a different WWI battleground where New Zealand soldiers fought and lost


F rederick Wiseman is an American film-maker who has made his mark on cinematography through documentaries depicting the inner workings of a wide variety of institutions.

Many of his films focus on cultural institutions, such as La Comédie-Française ou l’Amour joué, Ballet (American Ballet Theater), La Danse –The Paris Opera Ballet and At Berkeley. In his most recent film, National Gallery, he observes the day-to-day work of the staff of the National Gallery in London, UK, bringing to light the work of its curators, conservator-restorers, docents, educators, administrators and more.

What attracted you to the National Gallery? The National Gallery is one of the world’s great museums. At the same time, it is relatively small and its collections only include paintings, which allowed me to concentrate on the museum’s exhibition, restora-tion, scientific and educational work related to painting. This way, I did not have to treat superficially or leave out collections of other art forms that are available in larger museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Louvre or the Prado. The museum was small enough that I felt I could cover all aspects of both public and behind-the-scenes activities.

How have museums inspired your work? Paintings that I have seen in museums have influenced my work in the choice of subject matter and in the study of light. Some of the themes of paintings I have admired have also become themes of my films. Painters, novelists, playwrights, poets and film-makers have the same general issues to deal with—abstraction, metaphor, storytelling, the relation between the literal and the abstract, passage of time, rhythm and transitions. It is very useful for me to see and try to understand how people working in different times and in other forms deal with these common issues.

The film focuses quite a bit on conservation-restoration... The importance, and the technical and artistic skills of the people that work in conservation-restoration are not generally known, understood or appreciated by the general public. They are great professionals whose skill and craft are humbly at the service of others. There is little recognition of the trust that is granted them to actively preserve our common cultural heritage.

The film portrays the museum as a community centre that engages with audiences of all ages and walks of life. Is this how you see museums’ role in society? I am not an expert on this issue. I certainly think that great works of art should be accessible and that people from whatever class, age or background should have an opportunity to increase their knowledge and understanding. All methods available should be used to make people aware of the emotional and intellectual importance of great art.

For more information about National Gallery and Frederick Wiseman’s other films: http://www.zipporah.com/

Interview by Ena Lupine

Museums on the big screen

their lives. Following a season at Auckland Museum, Pare Kawakawa by Parekowhai will tour internationally, evolving throughout the centenary.

Projects

The Castle Museum in Weimar, Germany, hosted an educational project in autumn 2013, organised by Klassik Stiftung Weimar and Stiftung Zuhören, inviting students aged 13-15 to create a ‘young’ audioguide for the museum’s exhibits.

By conveying what they found interesting, the students (pictured left) developed a strong personal approach to discussing objects from the museum’s collection and their meaning in the modern context. Through workshops given by two museum educators and a radio journalist, the students learned about early 19th century history, creative writing strategies and technical possibilities to help them create their audio tracks. The audios were transferred to the museum’s existing audioguides and are now available to all visitors.

AwardsProduced by the MAPI (Pre-Columbian and Indigenous Art Museum) in Montevideo, Uruguay, Leticia Feippe’s play, Tukano y el libro de todas las historias (Tukano and the book of all stories), has been nominated for the Florencio Award, which is granted by the

Theatre Critics Association of Uruguay. The play was nominated in the categories of Best play for children aged 8 years and over, Director (Marinella Morena) and Sound setting (Susana Bosch, Gustavo Ripa and Fernando Yañez). Tukano is an indigenous boy who learns about different aspects of Andean culture in order to become a shaman. Created by the MAPI in 2011 as part of a videogame, the play has already received the Ibero-American Museums Award. PeopleThe Yale Center for British Art has announced the promotion of 10 of its employees in the areas of acquisitions, exhibitions, research, education, museum management and administration. Scott Wilcox (pictured right), formerly Chief Curator of Art Collections and Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings, has taken the role of Deputy

MUSEUM NEWS

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Director for Collections. In addition, Matthew Hargraves was promoted to Chief Curator of Art Collections, Elisabeth Fairman to Chief Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts, Gillian Forrester to Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings, Tim Goodhue to Chief Registrar, Rick Johnson to Chief of Installation, Linda Friedlaender to Senior Curator of Education, Lisa Ford to Assistant Director of Research, Richard Caspole to Senior Photographer, and Lyn Bell Rose to Head of Design. n

Compiled by Ena Lupine

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TRAVELLINGEXHIBITIONA UNIQUE AND IMMERSIVE WAY TO EXPERIENCE HAIDA CULTURE

A travelling exhibition produced by the Canadian Museum of History and the McCord Museum, in partnership with the Haida Gwaii Museum

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Knowing your audience galleries stay open until midnight—a new programme born from the DMA’s centennial anniversary in 2003. The thousands of visitors attending each Late Night choose from a menu of 20 diverse, FEA-informed programmes designed to increase the potential for relevant and engaging visitor experiences.

DMA FriendsIn early 2013, the DMA launched a new initiative to increase its understanding of individual participation in the museum, called DMA Friends. This programme is the first free museum membership programme in the US. On-site visitors are invited to sign up for the Friends programme, which runs on a flexible digital platform. Once signed up, DMA Friends members elect to tell the museum when they visit and what they do during their visit by checking in via kiosk or text message to gallery spaces and education programmes using codes. Since launching the programme two years ago, over 85,000 visitors have registered to be DMA Friends, with 95.4% identifying themselves as new members of the museum.

As a digital engagement platform, DMA Friends is a tool that values and creates incentives for visitor participation with art and the museum. It is also a tool

T he Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) is committed to knowing its museum visitors better and deepening their

connection with the art displayed in its collections and special exhibitions. For over 10 years, the DMA has conducted research using diverse evaluative tools that support the staff in their efforts to better understand the preferences, actions and curiosities of its audiences. Through this increased knowl-edge, museums gain valuable insight for nurturing relationships between people, art, and museums. This knowledge also leads to increased mission impact in the communi-ties we serve. In Dallas, this means doing the necessary work to live up to a key statement in the DMA’s mission: ‘The Dallas Museum of Art is […] a trusted advocate for the essential

place of art in the lives of people locally and globally.’

From 2003 to 2009, the DMA conducted research in collaboration with research specialists Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. on v isi tor preferences for experiencing art. This Framework for Engaging with Art (FEA) was among the first of such comprehensive studies performed by US art museums. Probing beyond tradi-tional demographic studies, FEA research explored two significant strands of visitor experience: visitors’ level of comfort with art and visitors’ preferences for experi-encing art.

The research explored these understand-ings through a core set of 10 statements developed by DMA staff and the research firm, which were used throughout multiple phases of the study in interviews and surveys. The first phase of the FEA study included over 1,000 interviews with adult visitors, who were asked to respond to statements such as ‘I like to know about the materials and techniques used by the artist’ and ‘Art affects me emotionally’ by rating them on a scale from 1 (does not describe me) to 7 (describes me well).

The key FEA research objectives were to describe museum visiting behaviour and determine whether characteristics and experiences—emerging from the core 10 statements and selected interview questions—could be organised into audience clusters. Analysis resulted in four defined clusters—Observers, Participants, Independents, and Enthusiasts—which remained consistent across subsequent research phases.

While the Framework for Engaging with Art became a shared concept and vocab-

ulary across diverse museum departments, including marketing, exhibitions, curato-rial, and education, the impact of this research was greatest on the

DMA’s Education Division. With objectives and implementation ideas developed for each audience cluster, DMA educators worked to diversify the educational and interpretive experiences offered to the public. One example is Late Nights—the museum’s signature monthly event series when the

BEST PRACTICES VISITOR RESEARCH

The Dallas Museum of Art uses visitor research to strengthen relationships with audiences and deepen visitors’ engagement with art

by Nicole Stutzman Forbes, Chair of Learning Initiatives and Director of Education at the Dallas Museum of Art

for visitor research, providing staff with high-volume, individualised quantitative data that enhances our understanding of visitors and their participation patterns; whether sparse or concentrated, repetitive or diverse. Staff can be aware of individual visitor behaviour, but can also group visitors into ‘communities’ of interest, such as families, creative types, etc. DMA staff use Friends data to customise communica-tions and to monitor the relative success of the educational programmes and experi-ences that emerged from the museum’s continued visitor research. They are also exploring how insights from this data can inform decision-making regarding effective techniques and programmes for creating deeper engagement.

The DMA’s interest in visitor participa-tion focuses largely on repeat participation, stemming from the belief that increased participation will lead to deeper engage-ment and a potentially transformative impact. For many years, the standard measure for any museum’s impact has been overall attendance, or total partici-pation. A focus on repeat participation is a step towards a more meaningful measure of impact because it further fleshes out the story of visits and visitors, working to


The Commonwealth Association of Museums (CAM), an Affiliated Organisation of ICOM, has collaborated with the Galt Museum and Archives and the Musée Héritage Museum in Alberta, Canada to conduct a study on Participatory Governance and Museums. The concept of participatory governance—engage-ment that enables citizens to be involved in policy deliberation, formation and oversight that may result in the implementation of public policies that affect their lives—may be more familiar to museum workers than the actual practice. Therefore, as part of this study, CAM developed and administered a survey to develop an understanding of how museums are engaging with communities, in particular how they are using their collections, exhibi-

tions, programmes and expertise to address government policy issues.

Some 121 participants from 38 countries throughout the world responded to the questionnaire. The survey was circulated through CAM social media and member-ship, the ICOM network, national museums associations, etc. The survey does not claim to be representative but was helpful in pointing out the range of activities and approaches to community engagement and in identifying case studies that had not previ-ously received due attention. The study will be complete in early 2015. Check the CAM website for updates: http://www.maltwood.uvic.ca/cam/

A second study was initiated by the ICOM

Asia-Pacific Alliance (ICOM-ASPAC) in order to gain a thorough understanding of the current situation of museums in the Asia-Pacific region as well as visitor expecta-tions. The aim of the study is to improve the services museums provide to the public in order to enrich the visitor experience. The study is based on a preliminary survey that was carried out between 2012 and 2013 in China. The questionnaires were designed and revised by museum professionals and academics, and have been distributed to both the general public and museum profes-sionals in 10 Asia-Pacific countries. The survey results will be released in February 2015 on the ASPAC website: http://aspac.icom.museum/

Visitor research across the ICOM network

capture the nuances of engagement. After nearly two years of running the Friends programme, repeat participation among Friends members is approximately 11.8%, with their participation ranging from two to well over 100 distinct museum visits. As the DMA continues to study visitor participation and engagement, staff recognise a need to pair continuous, effective methods for collecting qualitative data with the quantitative informa-tion captured via the Friends programme. The museum is currently exploring how to recon-cile these two sources.

The DMA also monitors audience demographics via a real-time mapping tool that can represent the number of Friends in each zip code in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, alongside population statistics for each zip code and 2010 Census information. While the map affirms assumptions about zip codes where the DMA has a large concen-tration of Friends, it also signals potential and opportunity in communities where few to no DMA Friends live. Staff have begun an investigation of two specific under-served zip codes within close proximity to the museum. It is our goal in the coming year to explore and strengthen any existing museum-community relationships in these areas and to create new ones. n

Two of ICOM’s regional bodies have carried out significant studies in order to better understand museum audiences in their respective regions.

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One of the first DMA Friends members signs up on launch day 2013

A focus on repeat participation is a step

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In today’s world, sustainability is a multifaceted vision and a necessity that permeates all arenas of everyday

life. The omnipresence of the words sustainability and sustainable indicates the concept’s integration into 21st century policies and practices. The theme of International Museum Day 2015, Museums for a sustainable society, reminds us that the ‘transition towards a sustainable society requ i res invent ing new methods of thinking and acting.’ City museums can play a key role in this process.

From a critical viewpoint, the term sustainability is synonymous with maintain-able, bearable and workable, all of which connote survival strategies. But isn’t the quest for sustainable societies more meaningful when associated with people’s wellbeing and the inherent and perennial human desire for happiness?

This article advocates an alternative reading of sustainable societies and city museums by reflecting on two key questions: What makes a happy city? and What makes a happy (city) museum?

What makes a happy city? In the century of the city, this question is more pertinent than ever, calling for inter-disciplinary research tools and reliable empirical data of global scope. Going beyond traditional assessment barom-eters and indexes, Charles Montgomery, in his book Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design (2013), charts the intersection of urban design and the science of happiness based on a number

of case studies and theories expressed by philosophers, psychologists and economists, in order to identify the generic elements of a happy city. He advocates that cities be regarded not merely as engines of wealth but rather as systems to improve human wellbeing by fulfilling seven needs:

maximise joy; lead us towards health; of fer us freedom to build our lives as we wish; build resilience against economic or environmental shocks;

apportion space, services and mobility fairly; enable us to build and strengthen bonds between friends, families and strangers; and open doors to empathy and cooperation, helping us tackle the great challenges of this century.

What makes a happy (city) museum?Museums today have a social responsibility to build happier, more sustainable lives for citizens. The Happy Museum Project in the UK ‘looks beyond financial and resource management and considers a museum’s role as steward of people, place and planet, supporting institutional and community resilience in the face of global financial and environmental challenges’ (http://www.happymuseumproject.org). Its philosophy is grounded on six principles: create conditions for wellbeing; pursue mutual relationships; value the environment as a steward of the future and the past; be an active citizen; learn for resilience; and measure what matters.

City museums achieving this happy state do exist, but their number needs to grow. Within the ICOM International Committee for the Collections and Activities

of Museums of Cities (CAMOC), examples of city museums that are introducing new concepts and adjusting old ones are frequent. Through participation, collabora-tion, community engagement, connectivity, control sharing, reciprocity, community stewardship and resilience, today’s progres-sive city museums are tackling issues of immigration, urban ecology, human rights, civic identities, and more.

The Museum of Copenhagen in Denmark has developed a mix of exemplary participatory community engagement projects to foster social wellbeing, such as The Dream of a City space, an interactive zone where children and adults imagine and invent the city of the future together; and the WALL, a 12-metre multi-touch screen that evokes the city’s past and present using the museum archive and crowdsourced material. Meanwhile, the Ghent City Museum in Belgium recently held a temporary exhibition, Sticking Around, which re-interprets and represents the heritage of immigrant workers as part and parcel of the city’s industrial heritage.

CAMOC’s quar te r l y newsle t te r (CAMOCnews) also presents inspiring examples of city museums operating on the basis of citizen involvement: from the Little Museum of Dublin, Ireland, which aims to become the world’s best small city museum with the support of its 2,500 volunteers, to the Suita City Museum in Osaka, Japan, which has been fully committed to culti-vating a participatory culture of operation.

A happy and sustainable city museum is a complex ecosystem whose residents define its mind, body and spirit. Monitoring the collective urban heartbeat and ensuring the city’s good health is the key role of city museums today and into the future. n

The happy (city) museumCity museums in a quest for sustainability

by Marlen Mouliou, Lecturer in Museum Studies at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece and Secretary of the ICOM International Committee

for the Collections and Activities of Museums of Cities (CAMOC)

IN FOCUS MUSEUMS FOR A SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY

Natural history museums for a sustainable society

by Dr Eric Dorfman, Director of the Whanganui Regional Museum, New Zealand and Chair of ICOM NATHIST; and Prof. Dr Maria Isabel Landim, Professor at the Museum of Zoology of the University of São Paulo, Brazil and Vice-Chair of ICOM NATHIST

to condone poaching, a major source of illicit wildlife trade. Further down the supply chain, assisting customs officials to identify material has long been a key role for museums that have the capacity to do

so. Even increasing biosecurity measures at border crossings is a complicated issue of politics and resourcing. The role of awareness-

raising on these topics is one for which natural history museums are ideally placed, because of their key roles in scholarship and public engagement. But is it ethical to intervene in cultural practice?

International Museum Day 2015 is an excellent opportunity to communicate on these issues throughout the broader museum sector, reaching members of the public who might not frequently visit natural history museums, or engage specifi-cally with their messages. Recycling, for instance, is a practice that can be equally promoted by art galleries, children’s museums, and museums of history.

However we address it, the theme of International Museum Day 2015 is an opportunity to reflect on the way we, as a society, practise the stewardship of our surroundings. The environment is not an optional add-on or somewhere pleasant to go at the weekend. It is the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. As our global temperature rises, our coral reefs pass into memory and the Earth’s species continue to disappear, celebrating sustain-ability through International Museum Day is timelier than ever.

The time has come for us to find collec-tive solutions. To quote Benjamin Franklin, ‘We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately’. n

The announcement that International M use um Day 2 015 was to embrace the theme of sustainable

societies was welcome news for the ICOM International Committee for Museums and Collections of Natural History (NATHIST). Ecosystem research and raising awareness of the need to use nature intelligently are part of the core activities of natural history museums, and the ICOM Code of Ethics for Natural History Museums, ratified in 2013, enhances the philosophical framework for doing so.

The history of building natural history collections stretches back as far as the beginning of humans’ extraction of resources from the environment, driven by the necessity to satisfy basic needs, and an insatiable curiosity about the vast variety of forms in nature. Since the beginning of human history, natural resources have been taken for granted, imagined to be unlimited and created for our benefit and usage. Today, we are all too aware of the fragility of nature, and of its limits.

One of the most valuable activities of natural history museums is to improve our understanding of the planet and its

vulnerabilities. For instance, estimates of something as basic as the number of species on Earth range hugely, from 10 billion to 100 billion. That, coupled with the fact that only 1.5 billion of these have been described, underscores how li t t le we know. Natural history collec-t ions hold records of species and entire natural habitats that no longer exist, as well as altered distributions of extant species. In megadiverse countries such as Brazil, natural history collections hold one of the keys to environmental protec-tion. The fact that Brazil is currently working through new legislation on collections under-lines their importance.

Population growth and its challengesOne of the greatest challenges for natural history museums is how to address the social issues that are the main obstacles to creating environmental sustainability. With a world population of more than seven billion, the saturation of natural resource consump-tion has left a question mark over the legacy for future generations on this planet.

In this context, NATHIST is working to raise awareness of illicit trafficking of wildlife among natural history museums and to incite their participation in combat-ting the problem. The first meeting of the ICOM NATHIST Illicit Trafficking Working Group held in Zagreb, Croatia in October 2014, attracted international experts from all over the world, specialising in genetics, wildlife ecology, documentation and international law. The discussions quickly revealed the key issues at stake: public awareness, equity, social welfare, museum security and education. For instance, extreme poverty forces many communities

Museums today have a social responsibility to

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The Dream of a City exhibition, Museum of Copenhagen


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Farming on Mount Kenya highlights rural development and climate change—two of the issues natural history museums must grapple with to address the challenges of environmental sustainability


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SPECIAL REPORT THE VISITOR EXPERIENCE

or lifts us somehow; something that sets us on a new journey of discovery. That’s why I go to museums: because they are where the unexpected happens.’1

So when should museums meet visitor expectations, and when should they defy them? For example, when does keeping up with technology enhance the visitor experience, and when does it detract from and ultimately diminish it? To make the right decisions, museums first need to be clear about their purpose and the unique value they bring to audiences. Any new initiative or investment should either augment this value or remove barriers that detract from it.

An experience designed around the visitor that incorporates service training, digitally enhanced ticketing, navigation and planning information can have a huge impact on visitors. It helps them reach the awe-inspiring good stuff sooner, without the frustration that many visitors (particularly first-timers) feel upon entering a museum. Museums should employ best practices from hospitality, retail and other sectors to help visitors access and find their way around the museum, and to make them feel welcome. Museums would do well to put as much thought into accessibility as they do into an exhibit or installation.

Amplifying unique valueMany museums today are enhancing or augmenting their unique value to audiences by getting to know them better. This means understanding how visitors process or seek information, and that language doesn’t need to be simplified in order to be understood, made relevant or to pique curiosity. More museums are providing tools that allow visitors to uncover a deeper understanding of their collections, helping them see connections and context in a way that is neither didactic nor overwhelming. With 80% of adults predicted to have smartphones by 2020,2 we are well equipped to access data. With screens in our pockets, the need for more screens, which are constantly becoming outdated in galleries, is diminished. The value visitors seek from museums is help viewing patterns in the data —a role museums have fulfilled since their inception.

Museums are experimenting with digital technology more than ever—helped by organ-isations like Bloomberg Philanthropies, which recently expanded its grant funding for cultural institutions’ digital projects to $17 million. One grantee, the Brooklyn Museum, US, will equip employees with smartphones and an app to help answer visitor questions in real time as they move through the galleries. This innovation stays true to the museum’s mission to bridge the gap between the museum’s artistic heritage and the unique needs of each of its visitors. Last month, another grantee, Gardens by the Bay in Singapore, launched its first mobile app, which adds a layer to the museum experience with a multimedia guide to the plant life in the gardens, an interactive map and educational games. This allows visitors to go deeper, explore hidden locations and interact with its content and each other. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, former New York City mayor, Michael

Bloomberg, commented, ‘each of the institutions we’re supporting use technology in different ways to engage, educate and immerse their visitors—and to make their world-class resources available to a greater number of people, more of the time.’

The Serpentine Galleries in London have recognised the central role a website can play in enhancing and extending the overall visitor experience. The museum has acknowledged the growth and power of the online community by enabling currently exhib-iting artists to design and re-design their website. By allowing for co-creation, the galleries have redistributed power from the institu-tion to the hands of artists—maintaining the museum s dynamism and relevance. It also recognises visitors desire and expectation to engage with the museum beyond the physical space.

Partners to unlock potentialNew partnerships are being formed beyond the field of philan-thropy to help museums find new ways to unlock the potential of their unique resources. Collaboration with online learning

platforms like Khan Academy and tech giants like Google, or inviting thinkers and innovators to a permanent co-working space housed within the museum, are just a few successful examples. These outside collaborations are helping decision makers challenge the status quo, understand their audiences better and

extend the impact of their institutions.Museums are working to hit the sweet spot between what they

alone can offer as an institution and what their visitors are looking for in the outside world. As they enhance the experiences they offer, digital or otherwise, museums must innovate by identifying their unique value, and find ways to augment it or provide better access to it. In doing so, they produce an experience as transcendent and unexpected as the content and space of the museum itself. n A

number of recent cul tura l sh i f ts have shaped, and continue to shape, individual expectations: the ubiquity of the internet, constant connection to screens, desire for authenticity, heightened levels of service, alter-native forms of communication … and the list

goes on. Museums have realised that in order to remain relevant in this modern environment, the experience they offer must evolve in tandem with visitor expectations. But to what degree? As museums rush to keep up with changing contexts, do they risk delivering experiences that are more quotidian and expected, and less the

departure from the day-to-day that many visitors seek? For these visitors, museums are at their best when they

surprise, awe and delight. They go to see in real life what a screen cannot provide, collectively experience the museum as a space, and to deepen and broaden their knowledge. It is when these elements come together that the visitor gets that transcendent, overwhelming, unexpected experience. As Mark Elliot, Senior Curator at the Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology at Cambridge, puts it, ‘we may go to see a famous artwork, and end up meeting someone special. We may go to get out of the rain and come face to face with an artefact that changes the way we think,

What visitors want The way to meet museum visitors’ expectations is by defying themby Nick O’Flaherty, Strategy Director at brand consultancy, Wolff Olins

That’s why I go to museums: because they

are where the unexpected happens

1Univers i t y of Cambr idge, 2013. We ask the exper ts: why do we put t h ings i n to museums? h t tp: // w w w.c am.ac .uk / resea rch /d iscuss ion /we-ask-the-experts-why-do-we-put-things-into-museums/2Andreessen Horowitz, 2014. ‘Mobile is Eating the World’. Forbes Online Magazine. http://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2014/11/09/mobile-is-eating-the-world/

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You have been working for the Rijksmuseum since 2002. How has the visitor experience at the museum evolved in that twelve-year period?

Peter Gorgels: Twelve years ago, the Rijksmuseum presented its various collections of paintings, fine art, crafts and so on, as separate departments. There was also a separate Dutch history department. Tourists mainly came to see our most famous art works, those of Rembrandt and Vermeer and the paintings of the Golden Age; the rest of the permanent exhibition was primarily of interest to specialists and enthusiasts. The connections between these different strands were left unexplored. This led to a perception of the museum as complicated and daunting. A visit to the Rijksmuseum was more of an obligation than an energising experience.

Our recent renovation was an opportunity for the museum to reinvent itself. Today the Rijksmuseum tells the story of the Netherlands from the Middle Ages to the present. The collection is presented chronologically, mixing the various strands to produce an enchanting picture of the history and art history of the Netherlands.

In your experience, what do audiences really love?PG: I think visitors want to see a fresh, modern presentation,

with an open atmosphere and a few surprises in store. These days everyone is welcome to take photographs in the Rijksmuseum; we have high-quality public-access Wi-Fi and a first-rate restaurant. We have also introduced playful elements such as Maarten Baas’ Grandfather Clock and Shylight by Studio Drift, a light sculpture that unfolds and retreats in a fascinating choreography that mirrors the movement of real flowers. As the museum’s director Wim Pijbes puts it: ‘the Rijksmuseum should be an exciting, happening venue’.

It’s also important to carry out renovation that lasts. I’ve seen some wonderful new renovations lose their sheen and look dated within a matter of years. In my view, a combination of freshness and durability is ideal.

What digital channels have been most effective in bringing about positive experiences for visitors to the Rijksmuseum?

PG: Our new website has proved to be a success. We believe that this is due to a number of principles. The first is simplicity. The

Reaching the modern visitorPeter Gorgels, Digital Manager at the Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands, explains how the museum’s renovation and digital strategy have transformed the visitor experience


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Shylight by Studio Drift, a captivating light sculpture at the Rijksmuseum

website has been designed as an app. We have taken a good look at what motivates visitors to visit our website and we have designed the site to respond directly to their needs. That’s why there are only three buttons on our homepage: Plan your visit, Collection and About the museum. Plan your visit and Collection cover 90% of visitors’ needs. The Rijksmuseum sells 30% of its tickets through the website, an unprecedentedly high figure for the museum world. While this is partly a reflection of the museum’s success, we think it’s also because the vast majority of visitors to the site are able to find what they want immediately. In no time at all, they can do what they came to do.

The main goal of our e-strategy is to establish the closest possible relationship between the collection and the general public. The power of the image comes first. We live in a visual, digital culture where pictures are the primary mode of communication. This realisation has led us to identify a new target group known as culture snackers. This group enjoys viewing images online and sharing them with friends and followers. We reckon that, to some extent, everybody is a culture snacker nowadays and it’s important for museums to tap into this development.

Rijksstudio has been developed with this target audience in mind. It is an environment in which visitors can view all of our works full-screen, zoom in and create collections based on their own interests, Pinterest-style. They can also download all of our works in high res and do their own thing with them, even for commercial use. Rijksstudio now has over 170,000 accounts, 250,000 collections and 900,000 downloads.

What are the most common pitfalls for museums in digital terms?

PG: In our opinion, a good concept and good execution offer the best chance of success when combined with thinking in terms of relevant trends from the perspective of today’s digital users. Museums often make the mistake of emphasising issues that are of little direct relevance to their audience, focusing too much on political or organisational concerns or letting themselves be led by technology. Open data, open design, html5, apps, responsive web, zoom-in technology and the like are all important elements, but in themselves, don’t really provide added value for users. The ultimate

aim is to offer products and services that genuinely enhance the user’s experience and which are a pleasure to use.

In your opinion, is social media most effective as a com-munications tool, or as a means of engaging visitors?

PG: I think that social media can be extremely effective as a way of getting visitors involved in the museum. The aim is not so much direct conversion, though that may be a knock-on effect, but to establish a natural presence in the lives of our visitors.

In our social media strategy, the image is paramount. We present beautiful and surprising works that have a topical link or relate to a specific activity or exhibition. This enables the collection to function as a natural form of content marketing and turns the works and our friends and followers into ambassadors for the Rijksmuseum.

In emphasising the digital experience, is there a danger of alienating a more traditional, older audience?

PG: No, I don’t think so, because—as I’ve already mentioned— these days we are all culture snackers to some extent. That said, it is important not to lose touch with enthusiasts and professionals, and that’s something that we’ve built into the Rijksstudio concept. Choosing a target audience and focusing on that group doesn’t necessarily mean that you stop serving your other audiences. The more people engage with the works through digital media, the more

they want to come and see them in real life. The physical and the digital domains work hand-in-hand towards the same goal: encour-aging people to enjoy these works of art, wherever they are. n

Interview by Aedín Mac Devitt

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In June 2014, the Bardo National Museum in Tunisia, located in the Tunis suburb of Bardo, launched a digital

visitor guide offering interactive visits. The guide uses a mobile software application that can be downloaded on a smartphone or loaded onto mobile devices available at the entrance to the museum.

This guide—the first of its kind to be offered in a Tunisian museum—aims to improve museum visits while making up for the museum’s lack of audiovisual offerings. It also brings the museum into the digital age by using state-of-the-art technology.

An identified needDespite the renovation and expansion of the Bardo National Museum—the largest museum in Tunisia—which resulted in the opening of a new wing in 2012 and

The Volkskundemuseum Wien (Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art) was founded in 1895 in

Vienna. It houses extensive collections of objects covering folk art and historical everyday culture, as well as a compre-hensive collection of photographs. The holdings come from all regions of the former Habsburg Monarchy, as well as other European countries.

In contemporary society, this type of collection has taken on an almost archaeo-logical nature, slipping out of public, cultural and political consciousness. Yet today more than ever, ethnological museums need to explain and assert their potential for participating in public discourse. Traditionally guardians of cultural memory, the role of ethnological museums now lies in engaging with cultural diversity and contrib-uting to social dialogue. Their collections can create fodder for discussion about the past, present and future.

Paradoxically, much of this politi-cally charged cultural heritage is found in museums that are themselves on the margins of cultural and political life. This lack of attention, resulting in ever-decreasing resources, led the Volkskundemuseum Wien to develop a project called Museum_inside_out. Work on memory. A discourse and exhibition project.

Staff-visitor interactionThe project’s objective was to invite public discussion on the very foundations of the museum. It aimed to engage visitors on the themes of the museum and its collections; its exhibition practice; and its relationship with the public. Following a prolonged period of research and dialogue, the setting


New experiences, new practices

Experimental design

A new digital visitor guide at Tunisia’s Bardo National Museum is part of the museum’s new interactive approach

Engaging visitors through experimental exhibitions

by Soumaya Gharsallah-Hizem, former Director of the Bardo National Museum and current Director of the Tunis office of the Kamel Lazaar Foundation for Arts and Culture

by Matthias Beitl, Director of the Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art

chosen for this exhibition was an all-access workspace, which allowed visitors to come into contact with museum staff without any defined structure.

By working their way through the multi-functional workstations—a temporary depot, an object registry, an inventory station, a study and education station, and a library—visitors could, at any time, start up a conversation with a member of the museum’s staff. This open invitation to engage with the staff represented the most personal and direct form of museum communication. In the event that certain staff members were not available, personalised workstat ion boxes on which each staff member described their work in their own words—known internally as ‘poetic job descriptions’—functioned as a storytelling placeholder.

An elaborate signage system was created to help orient visitors in the museum. Several red lines marked pathways into the staged workspace area, which were designed to make visitors feel comfortable entering a real workspace. In practice, however, many visitors still felt that they were in the way, so we began greeting the guests at the room’s entrance and inviting them in, which proved successful.

While the arrangement did give rise to many valuable exchanges, it did not attract a large number of visitors, probably due to a lack of marketing resources. However, this may ultimately have been the best outcome, as it would have been impossible to deal with a high concentration of visitors, and the experience encouraged us to

continue experimenting as an integral part of our museum work.

Another project hosted by the Volkskundemuseum Wien was initiated and led by cultural anthropologist Elisabeth Timm. Entitled Family Makers. On holding on, connecting, letting go, this project was more a form of interactive installation than an exhibition. One section, called Super-Family Album, consisted of an oversized book with samples of family photos and a neutral photo studio wall, where visitors could take selfies. The intention of this hands-on exhibition was to provide space for reflec-

tion on the tradition of positioning families in front of a camera.

Another insta l -lation called Swap Shelf invited visitors to contribute objects

from their own family contexts, along with a short inventory of the objects and explana-tions as to why they selected them. Others took or exchanged items, but were always asked to document this on inventory cards. The installation worked best within certain organised events, evoking intense dialogue between visitors on leaving behind and shifting memories.

As part of these exchanges, the museum was able to shift its own percep-tion of itself and its role in society. The projects raised many questions about the importance of museums as learning insti-tutions and how they could engage with visitors more effectively. It led to a sense of self-discovery for the museum and to a new understanding of how the museum can operate to connect with visitors on a meaningful level. n

The project’s objective was to invite public discussion on the very foundations of

the museum


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The Bardo National Museum’s new digital guide

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the redesigning of many of its rooms, the institution has remained removed from the public. This was confirmed by visitor comment cards expressing frustration with the lack of information on the collection. In addition, the visitor guides that were available before the museum’s expansion became obsolete after the renovation and the resulting reorganisa-tion of the collection and development of new tours. These were the reasons behind the creation of a digital guide aimed primarily at school groups and individual visitors.

The Bardo National Museum’s new layout encompasses what Jean Davallon, Professor of Museology at France’s Uni- versity of Avignon, calls ‘object museo-logy’, leaving little space for interactive technologies. The collection is therefore intellectually inaccessible to the public, and especially to young and uninitiated visitors. What’s more, the labyrinthine hallways of the exhibition lose visitors as would the streets of an old city, requiring them to construct their own points of refer-ence throughout the visit.

With limited financial resources, which were further reduced by the economic and social crisis that has plagued Tunisia since the events of 14 January, 2011, the museum had to find donors to fund the digital visitor guide project. The creation of the new guide was technically and financially supported by a telephone operator in Tunisia, which has also developed visitor guides for the

Château de Versailles and the Louvre-Lens in France. The scientific component was designed by a team of representatives from the institutions that manage the museum, under the umbrella of the Tunisian Ministry of Culture.

New practicesThe new guide is therefore a solution that will help place archaeological objects in their proper context by linking them to frames of reference (maps showing where they were discovered, timelines, etc.) and offering more didactic tours.

Visitors can choose from one of three scripted tours: a discovery tour featuring the highlights of the collection, a mosaic tour exploring the most beautiful objects at the Bardo, which houses the largest collection of mosaics in the world, and a children’s tour, which encourages the interactive discovery of a selection of museum pieces in the form

of a treasure hunt. The children’s tour promotes reading and imparts knowledge by presenting it in a fun way. The three different visits were designed

around scripts and tours that make use of the museum’s layout as well as signs made specifically to accompany the digital guide.

The new visitor guide is helping to change the image of archaeological museums in Tunisia as dusty, archaic insti-tutions. Its gaming aspect draws in young museum-goers and has transformed the visit into an interactive experience in which the visitor becomes a central player. The guide offers a way to connect a genera-tion that is increasingly familiar with video games, touch screens, and new technology with archaeology, helping young people explore their history. It was also designed to allow visitors to continue their visit at home through a mobile application, which will link back to information they learned at the museum.

This project is considered a forerunner for Tunisian museums, which often avoid introducing interactive digital tools for fear of encountering technical or maintenance problems. It is above all an effort to attract larger numbers of visitors to the museum and to disseminate knowledge to the public. n

The new visitor’s guide places archaeological

objects in context by linking them to frames of reference

Handing over memories at the exhibition Family Makers. On holding on, connecting, letting go


HERITAGE IN DANGER SYRIA

Archaeological looting in SyriaAn analysis of the widespread looting and illicit trafficking of Syrian cultural heritage, and efforts to combat it

Dr Brian I. Daniels, Director of Research and Programs, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Penn Cultural Heritage Center, US

Now almost in its fourth year, the Syrian civil war has devastated the country’s people and its cultural heritage. In recent months, increasing attention has been given

to archaeological site looting as an additional area of concern, especially because it points to the involvement of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in illicit trade. An increase in illicit trade in cultural goods from Syria is of special concern for ICOM and its International Observatory on Illicit Traffic in Cultural Goods.

Regrettably, we have watched archaeo-logical site looting in Syria occur in something approximating real time. While accessing these sites on the ground is nearly impossible due to the conflict, the country’s civil war is the first major event for which Google Earth imagery has been widely available to a broad public audience. Using this online tool, by 2012, archaeologists and other cultural heritage profes-sionals were pointing to before and after images of Apamea, which

had been pockmarked with the all-too-familiar halo of looters’ pits. These images have since circulated widely on the internet, raising scholarly and public awareness about the possibility that famous sites might be targeted and raising expectations that updated satellite imagery through Google Earth might offer a regular aerial view of on-the-ground site damage in an active conflict zone.

What we knowCareful satellite analysis is telling us a great deal about the scale of archaeological site looting. A December 2014 report authored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in conjunction with the University of Pennsylvania Museum and Smithsonian Institution, showed how extensive looting has become at some of Syria’s tentative World Heritage sites. The famous frontier city of Dura-Europos, home to the oldest surviving synagogue in the world, has been close to obliterated. By April 2014, 76% of the area within its city walls had been completely looted. Outside the city walls, looters opened some 3,750 pits between 2011 and 2014.

Similarly, looting is now widespread at the early 3rd millennium BC site of Mari and appears to have intensified within the past year. Between August 2011 and March 2014, looters opened about 165 excavation pits. Between March and November 2014, they dug approximately 1,286 pits, i.e. an average of 5.5 holes every day during this seven-month period. Even more worrisome is that Mari is located in a region of Syria that came under ISIS control in

June 2014. At Ebla—the site of an important Early Bronze Age kingdom—looters dug 45 pits between August 2013 and August 2014, and some looting seems to have resulted in the erosion of portions of the site.

While we know that looting is occurring on a significant scale at these and other famous

archaeological sites, we know much less about the profit that traffickers have realised from the trade. Some media reports have claimed that looted Syrian and Iraqi archaeological material might be worth between $70m and $200m USD on the black market—or even higher amounts. Others have gone so far as to insist that archaeological looting is the second-largest source of ISIS

income. However, these assertions have no empirical basis and should be regarded as spurious. The existence of a direct link between terrorist groups such as ISIS and the international art market is a strong and controversial claim.

What we do know of ISIS involvement comes from Syrian archaeologists and museum professionals who have been caught up in areas now under its control. They have observed that ISIS is charging a certain percentage of the value on looted objects as a kind of tax. However, how this tax is collected is not uniform across ISIS-controlled territory, as local ISIS emirs seem to be maintaining a good deal of discretion in determining whether archae-ological excavation is itself an un-Islamic activity. In some regions, ISIS may also be entering the business of illicit excava-tions itself.

Combatting effortsArchaeological site looting in Syria is being addressed in multiple ways. There have been significant legal developments to curtail the international circulation of looted

material. The European Union has already restricted the importation of Syrian cultural property, and the United States is now considering a new law that would enact import restrictions on certain archaeolog-ical and ethnological material that left Syria unlawfully after 2011. ICOM has been at the forefront of raising awareness among the public and law enforcement agencies about the illicit trade in antiquities from Syria. In 2013, it launched an Emergency Red List for Syria, funded by the U.S. Department of State, which illustrates examples of commonly looted objects.

Other efforts have focused on system-atic documentation and emergency training. The U.S. Department of State has partnered with the American Schools of Oriental Research to conduct a geospatial survey of damage to Syrian archaeolog-ical sites. An association of international experts in the archaeology, art and history of the ancient Near East has formed in order to offer their expertise. Known as Shirín, the group aims to support ongoing efforts to protect Syrian cultural heritage and produce a comprehensive database

Between March and November 2014, looters

dug 1,286 pits: an average of 5.5 holes every day

of excavation records. In addit ion, ICOMOS and ICCROM have provided training on emergency planning and conservation to staff in Syria’s Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums.

A collaborative project between the University of Pennsylvania Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the U.S. Institute of Peace, and The Day After Association is implementing emergency cultural heritage protection projects inside Syria. Jointly directed by the Chair of ICOM’s Disaster Relief Task Force, this initiative has brought together refugee scholars and a network of heritage professionals from Syria in order to safeguard museum collections and sites at extreme risk for looting or damage in areas that are now outside of the control of the Assad government.

These efforts represent the first practical steps in protecting Syria’s cultural heritage and controlling the pernicious trafficking of Syria’s past. We can only hope that they contribute collectively to the protection of Syria’s heritage into the future. nAn image of an ancient palace in Syria, showing a looter’s pit going into

the side of the mound

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Museum and Politics International ICOM Conference, Saint Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, Russia, 9-12 September, 2014by Katrin Hieke, independent museum professional and Board member of ICOM Germany and Linda Norris, independent museum professional and blogger (The Uncatalogued Museum)

Some 400 participants of 30 nationalities, including many from the hosting ICOM National Committees of Russia, Germany and the United States, came to St. Petersburg to attend the Museum and Politics conference at the State Hermitage Museum. In his opening remarks, ICOM President Prof. Dr

Hans-Martin Hinz spoke about the founding of ICOM in 1946, in ‘a world trying to repair our own devastation’, a motivation that remains ‘the living impulse for ICOM’s work.’ It would be a failure, he said, if we did not cooperate or allowed ourselves to become overwhelmed by new political circumstances. Alluding to the different impassioned views on the conflict in Ukraine, he said that ICOM is pursuing its work without being pulled apart by politics.

Conference speakers from throughout the world addressed issues of politics and power in museums. They spoke about identity, war and reparations, and addressing painful history. Along with our team members Kristiane Janeke and Irina Chuvilova, we

were able to cover the conference as a four member, tri-national team, where we encouraged worldwide discussion about the topic long before the conference began, and reported directly from the event. For many participants, our experiences in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg demonstrated the enormous potential and the great need for creating spaces where deep dialogue can happen among colleagues. This conference, and the social media project, were important steps in finding spaces for global dialogue among museum colleagues.

For more about the conference and the subject of Museums, Politics and Power, visit: museumspoliticsandpower.org

In 2014, ICOM’s International and National Committees gathered in venues all around the world to share information and exchange ideas on a wide spectrum of themes. While all the noteworthy conferences and annual meetings cannot be covered here, the following reports by members of the ICOM network recount some of the year’s highlights.

Money and Banking Museums: Raising Heritage and Financial Education Awareness ICOMON Annual Meeting, Belgrade, Serbia, 1-4 July 2014by Vesna Kovač, Head of Exhibition and Education Unit, National Bank of Serbia

The annual meeting of the ICOM Committee for Money and Banking Museums (ICOMON) took place at the National Bank of Serbia and was attended by 49 participants from 23 countries spread across five continents. Its three-day programme included presentations

by 13 speakers on topics ranging from Money museums can be a tool for financial consumer protection to Rethinking development and management of a numismatic collection. Each day of the conference was dedicated to a theme, with the first day focusing on The importance of preserving and promoting numismatic collections as a symbol of national identity and the second day on Civic education comes before financial literacy and results in financial culture.

The third day was dedicated to a workshop entitled Show and tell: planning accessible numismatic exhibits, which was conducted by

Effrosyni Nomikou of King’s College London, UK. The workshop encouraged participants to discuss exhibition challenges and methods for text and visual presentation, and the use of other media to display and communicate the collection to the public. The workshop was very well received and ICOMON Chair Christel Schollaard suggested that similar workshops be organised for future annual meetings.

The conference highlighted the importance of outreach to other committees and provided a great opportunity for multicultural dialogue and networking.

Building Strong Cultures through Conservation ICOM-CC Triennial Conference, Melbourne, Austral ia , 15 -19 September, 2014by Kristiane Strætkvern, Conservator at the National Museum of Denmark and Chair of ICOM-CC

The 17th Triennial Conference of ICOM’s Committee for Conservation (ICOM-CC) brought together conservators, scientists, historians and art historians, curators, librarians, archivists, students, collection managers and directors to exchange news and discuss the field of conservation and collection care. Jointly organised by ICOM-CC, the Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation of the University of Melbourne and the Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Material (AICCM), this year’s edition attracted 650 delegates from 50 different countries.

Throughout the conference week, 150 papers presenting the latest research and practice in the field of conservation were delivered and 100 posters were displayed. These presentations introduced research, techniques and approaches in conservation and conservation science, mirroring the aims and triennial programmes of ICOM-CC’s 21 specialised working groups. The generous support of the Getty Conservation Institute has enabled ICOM-CC to publish peer-reviewed Conference Preprints of these presentations.

As is the custom for ICOM-CC conferences, Wednesday was dedicated to plenary sessions and technical visits. The first plenary session included keynote speakers from Australia, the Philippines and Japan, who presented case histories of cultural heritage sites and artefacts that had been damaged by natural disasters, a growing problem in Oceania and in other parts of the world. The second

ICOM Committee meetings: the year in review

ICOM International Committee for Collecting (COMCOL) in Slovenia for their 2014 meeting

ICOM International Committee for Marketing and Public Relations (MPR) at their 2014 Conference in Taichung, Taiwan

ICOM International Committee for the Training of Personnel (ICTOP) met in Vietnam this year

Participants of the 2014 Conference of the International Committee for Exhibition Exchange (ICEE) in Mänttä, Finland ©

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session highlighted ICOM-CC’s work with the International Institute for Conservation of Histor ic and Ar t ist ic Works ( I IC) regarding the development of global environmental standards for museums. The combined-effort document that came out of this session has been uploaded to the ICOM-CC and IIC websites, opening it up for further discussion : http://www.icom-cc.org/

For a non-exhaustive list of conferences organised by ICOM’s International and National Committees, Regional Alliances and Affiliated Organisations in 2014, visit ICOMMUNITY or the ICOM website: http://icom.museum/events/calendar/2014/

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ICOM President Hans-Martin Hinz with the ICOM Board members elected for 2014-2017

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Squaring the Circle? Research, Museum, Public CECA and UMAC Joint Conference, Alexandria, Egypt, 9-14 October, 2014by Nicole Gesché, Lecturer, Royal Art Academy in Brussels; Assistant at the Université libre de Bruxelles; and former Chair of CECA (1995-1998)

For the first time, ICOM’s International Committees for Education and Cultural Action (CECA) and for University Museums and Collections (UMAC) organised a joint conference at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt. Some 135 participants from all continents participated in the four-day programme, planned by Prof. Mona Haggag from the Faculty of Arts of the University of Alexandria, which addressed

questions such as: How should messages for museum audiences be conceived? What is the common work of museum researchers, curators and educators? How do they each view their role as a mediator? and How should visits be carried out to allow any visitor to enjoy any museum exhibit?

A wide variety of papers were presented during the conference, giving university researchers and museum educators an opportunity to revisit museum collections through multiple perspectives and interpretations. The conference opened with discussion of how to surprise, engage and involve visitors and attract their imagination. Egyptian researchers, curators and educators spoke about the current situation of museums in Egypt

1914-2014: From the War of Empires to the Dialogue of Culture International Conference and Exhibition, Lviv, Ukraine, 14-15 November, 2014by Kateryna Chuyeva, Deputy Director General, The Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts in Kiev, Ukraine; Executive Secretary, Blue Shield Ukraine; and ICOM Ukraine Board member

Organised by ICOM Ukraine and supported by the ICOM Special Project Grant and ICOM Europe, this international conference commemorating World War I took place at the Museum of Ethnography and Applied Arts in Lviv, Ukraine. The conference gathered more than 30 speakers from Austria, Croatia, France, Germany, Poland and Ukraine, as well as numerous guests from museums, reserves, universities and local authorities to discuss such themes as Memory of World War I and The cultural heritage of the border areas: ethnicity and social responsibility.

ICOM President Prof. Dr Hans-Martin Hinz gave the opening speech of the conference, in which he discussed how cultural public policy

has often supported museums in times of social change, enabling the public to reflect on the past and imagine a positive future. He pointed out that ‘political aspirations and the progress of museums are inevitably closely connected in the development of nation-states around the world today’. Prof. Dr Hinz also participated in a panel discussion on Cultural heritage: shared responsibility on the role of museums and public and governmental institutions in creating shared responsibility for cultural heritage, along with Dr Volodymyr V’atrovych, Director of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory and Dr Vasyl Rozhko, Head of the Museum Department of the Ministry of Culture in Ukraine.

The opening of the special exhibition, Our/Others. What the museum artefacts are silent about, supported by the R. Akhmetov Foundation, also took place during the conference. It focuses on the issue of social identification and museum interpretation of our own culture and heritage, versus that of others, gathering a number of objects from museum collections in Lviv.

Memory and Learning in a Changing World IC MEMO Annual Conference, Falstad, Norway, 15-17 September, 2014by Julie Higashi, Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan

The Falstad Memorial and Human Rights Centre in Norway was a perfect venue for the 2014 annual conference of ICOM’s International Committee of Memorial Museums in Remembrance of the Victims of Public Crimes (IC MEMO), which focused on dealing with near and distant traumas, and how memorials and museums can serve future democratic development and intercultural understanding. Local museum professionals and scholars, as well as those hailing from Estonia, Israel, Japan, Spain, Germany, the

and international speakers analysed the use of museums to promote inspiration and creativity, reminding participants of the importance of mutual respect and awareness of cultural identity. Examples from all over the world demonstrated how museums stimulate curiosity and imagination, pointing out how important such experiences can be in times of crisis. Thanks to Badrya Serry from the Bibliotheca Alexandrina; Nivine Khaled from the Faculty of Arts of the Univeristy of Alexandria; and Jean-Yves Empereur and Fanny Alliaud from the Centre d’Études Alexandrines, as well as many others. The conference impressed the Egyptian colleagues so much that it sparked discussions about creating a Master’s in Museum Studies at the University of Alexandria.

New Trends in Latin American Museology ICOFOM LAM Annual Conference, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 17-19 November, 2014by Mónica Risnicoff de Gorgas, Advisory Board member, ICOFOM LAM and former Director, Museo Nacional Estancia Jesuítica de Alta Gracia, Argentina

The 22nd meeting of the ICOM International Committee for Museology’s regional sub-committee for Latin America and the Caribbean (ICOFOM LAM) brought together more than 100 professionals from across the region to discuss peer-reviewed papers on key issues related to regional context, cultural diversity, memory and intangible heritage, highlighting the depth and social commitment of museology in Latin America. Convened by Nelly Decarolis, Chair of ICOM Argentina, the event was an excellent opportunity to celebrate the 25th anniversary of this regional sub-committee which, through its publications and annual meetings, is working to lay a foundation for museology in Latin America.

Keynote lectures gave a conceptual framework to the three-day programme, including speeches by François Mairesse, Chair of ICOFOM; Tereza Scheiner, ICOM Vice-President and founding member of ICOMFOM LAM; and Óscar Navarro Rojas of the University of Costa Rica.

The work methodology for ICOFOM LAM’s conferences involves theme-based workshops during which participants produce documents containing reflections and advice. This time, the themes were: The strengthening of museology as a disciplinary area, new trends or old paradigms?; The role of the museum in current society; and Museology, innovation and its impact on museums.

The meeting concluded with a celebration of ICOFOM LAM’s 25th anniversary and the election of its new Chair, Olga Nazor from Argentina, who will replace Gladys Barrios from Guatemala. Nelly Decarolis and Tereza Scheiner also became, respectively, Honorary Chair and Permanent Consultant of the sub-committee. n

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US, the Netherlands and Norway, participated in this three-day meeting, co-sponsored by the Trondheim Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Keynote speakers Dr Clifford Chanin, Vice-President for Education and Public Programs at the National 9/11 Memorial Museum, and Dr Tor Einar Fagerland, leader of the New Utøya Project on the 22 July, 2011 terrorist attacks in Norway, tackled issues related to creating memorials and museums from recent events. Bernhard Purin, a member of the scientific committee for the 1972 Munich Olympic Memorial, updated the participants on the progression of this project. Other speakers included representatives of the European Observatory on Memories, the University of Barcelona Solidarity Foundation, and the European

Association of History Educators.Excursions to visit the Tordenskiold

Park, the location of the July 22 Memorial, and to the nearby Jewish Museum were also organised, giving participants the opportunity to meet with local Trondheim government representatives to discuss the concept behind the memorial’s design. Following the conference, IC MEMO Chair Karen S. Franklin announced that the next meeting will be held in Munich and Flossenbuerg, Germany, on 8-11 November, 2015 on the theme Form-Architecture-Memory.

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ICOM COMMUNITY

Participants gathered at the Falstad Memorial and Human Rights Centre in Norway for the 2014 IC MEMO Annual Conference

Participants at the 2014 ICOFOM LAM Annual Conference

ICOM Portugal and ICOM Europe Public policies towards museums in time of crisis: ICOM Portugal and ICOM Europe joint conference, Lisbon, Portugal. 5-6 April, 2013 / Luis Raposo (coord.), Flóra Berei-Nagy (coord. and transl.), Irina Duarte (transl.), Clara Camacho (transl.). Oeiras: Mapa das Ideias, 2014, 224 p.

This e-book reports on the joint confer-ence of ICOM Portugal and ICOM Europe on the theme Public policies towards museums in time of crisis, which took place from 5-6 April, 2013. The publication includes speech-es and presentations given at the conference

as well as the Lisbon Declaration, which was penned during the event and later served as the basis for ICOM’s 2013 Resolution entitled ‘Via-bility and sustainability of museums within the Global Financial Crisis.’ The aim of the conference was to exchange knowledge about the diver-sity of public policies for museums and discuss the ways in which Euro-pean museums have been affected by the global economic crisis—not only financially, but also socially and culturally. Available online: http://issuu.com/mapadasideiaspt/docs/icom_view_final/0#

ICOM Switzerland L’éthique au musée : un kit pour les professionnels de musées / David Vuillaume, Sandra Haldi and Anne-Laure Jean (coords.). Zurich: ICOM Switzerland, 2014. 29 p. brochure, plus 1 CD and 1 copy of The ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums. (in French and German)

This kit aims to encourage and deepen reflection on the question of museum ethics. It contains a copy of The ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums and a CD that presents real and hypothetical case studies, which are displayed and described in the form of a PowerPoint presentation. The kit is adapted for individual study, but its principle function is to raise group discussion.

Available online: http://www.museums.ch/fr/publications/autres-publications/kit-déontologie/

ICOM Germany Zur Ethik des Bewahrens: Konzepte, Praxis, Perspektiven. Jahrestagung 2013 von ICOM Deutschland, Köln, 17. bis 19. Oktober 2013 : Tagungsband / Anke Ziemer (red.). Berlin: ICOM Deutschland, 2014. 148 p. (ICOM Deutschland - Beiträge zur Museologie ; 4) (in German)

This publication gathers the presen-tations and discussions that took place at ICOM Germany’s 2013 Annual Meeting on the theme The ethics of conservation, which was held from 17-19 October, 2013 at the Rauten-strauch Joest Museum in Cologne. The pro-

ceedings include reflections on standards and requirements related to the physical preservation of natural and cultural objects, pointing out that the conservation and preservation of cultural heritage, as well as the transmission of this heritage to future generations, are moral obli-gations for museums.

Price: €15; €10 for ICOM members and participantsOrder from: ICOM Deutschland e. V., In der Halde, 1 – D-14195 Berlin, Germany.Fax: +49 (0)30 69504526. Email: [email protected]

PUBLICATIONS

Review by Bernard Schiele, Professor in the Graduate Programme in Science, Technology and Society at the University of Quebec, Montreal

they also show the inherent fragility of scientific, technical and industrial culture, which must constantly innovate to reaffirm its role in society, renew interest in science and technology, and attempt to compensate for an endemic lack of resources—without ever truly succeeding. In fact, every story illustrates how much scientific, technical and industrial culture owes its development to the strength of conviction of those who dedicated themselves to it.

To fully appreciate these two works and the potential wealth of information contained in them, one must care-fully examine each testimony and then compare it to the others. Those who tell their stories focus mainly on their own experiences, which is why, in a way, this collection of memories is primarily intended for those with an interest in scientific, technical and industrial culture issues and especially for those who already understand them. Without such an understanding, reading these testi-monies would quickly become tedious. But if they are willing to undertake the patient work of an archaeologist, those with an interest in these issues will find enough raw material to start a body of work on scientific, technical and industrial culture in France.

If the authors’ objective was to leave a record so that someone, some day, could show the originality, wealth and complexity of scientific, technical and industrial culture in France, they have largely succeeded. These days, much attention is paid to intangible heritage. This is the heritage that these two volumes are restoring, and they are much needed. Hier pour demain : une mémoire de la culture scientifique, technique et industrielle, Premières «Rencontres Michel Crozon», edited by E. Caillet, E. Guyon, P. Guillet, J.-C. Guiraudon, B. Maitte, O. Morand and M. Van-Praët Une mémoire pour demain : 30 ans de culture scientifique, technique et industrielle en France, Deuxièmes «Rencontres Michel Crozon», edited by A. Bergeron, E. Caillet, D. Ferriot, E. Guyon, P. Guillet, J.-C. Guiraudon, B. Maitte, O. Morand and M. Van-PraëtPublisher: L’Harmattan

hese two volumes recount in extensive detail the develop-ment of scientific, technical and

industrial culture in France since the 1960s through the voices of those who, for the most part, were the movement’s key players and strongest supporters. They shared their experiences during two meetings dedicated to physicist Michel Crozon in March 2010 and March 2012. The stories here are an exercise in the duty of remembrance and are intended to provide a written testimony to counter the ‘risk of forget-ting the origins and conditions’ of the development of scientific, technical and industrial culture.

The reader will see from these testi-monies that, while science and technol-ogy dominate modern society and drive social change, the democratisation of the knowledge and expertise on which they are based remains incomplete. Sharing them requires careful and patient work on a daily basis to dis-seminate and appropriate knowledge, work that must constantly be reinvented due to the changing contexts to which scientific, technical and industrial culture must adapt in order to survive. These two volumes show that these types of culture are characterised by a constant flow of new initiatives, some of which occasionally crystallise—if for only a short time—in institutional forms (as was the case with France’s scientific and technical culture centres). Conversely,

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