Beyond the "object-oriented vs. visitor/idea-oriented museum" divide: the value of objects for museum experiences

Vol.6,No.1(2017)

Cintia Velázquez Marroni

https://doi.org/10.5817/MuB2017-1-2

Stable URL (handle):
http://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/137194

PDF
Abstract
Ever since the so-called New Museology times (1980s–1990s), the idea of a divide between "object-oriented" and "visitor/ideas-oriented" museums became pervasive. This view oversimplified deeper and more complex discussions that were taking place, and created an artificial rift between the two indispensable elements of the museum experience: objects and visitors. Furthermore, the divide de-historicised museums and fostered an uncritical use of labels such as "traditional" and "modern". However, significant efforts have been made over the past decade to rethink material culture and, thus, museum history and the use of objects in exhibitionary practices. All of which is having a positive impact on the way objects are being conceived and used to generate richer museum experiences for the visitors.

Keywords:
material culture; New Museology; visitor-oriented exhibitions; object-oriented exhibitions; object biography; materiality

Pages:
12–20
References

ALBERTI, Sam. Nature and Culture: Objects, Disciplines and the Manchester Museum. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-7190-8114-9.

BENJAMIN, Walter. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. In BENJAMIN, Walter. Illuminations. Glasgow: Fontana/Collins, 1977 [1936].

BERGER, Arthur A. What Objects Mean. An Introduction to Material Culture. 2nd ed. Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press, 2014. ISBN 978-1-61132-904-9.

DUDLEY, Sandra (ed.). Museum Materialities. Objects, Engagements, Interpretations. Abingdon: Routledge, 2010. ISBN 978-0-415-49217-1.

DUDLEY, Sandra. Encountering a Chinese Horse. Engaging with the Thingness of Things. In DUDLEY, Sandra (ed.). Museum Objects: Experiencing the Property of Things. Abingdon: Routledge, 2012, pp. 1–15. ISBN 978-0-415-58177-6.

GOSDEN, Chris and Yvonne MARSHALL. The Cultural Biography of Objects. World Archaeology, 1999, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 169–178. ISSN 0043-8243. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.1999.9980439 | DOI 10.1080/00438243.1999.9980439

GREENBLATT, Stephen. Resonance and Wonder. In KARP, Ivan and Steven D. LAVINE (eds.). Exhibiting Cultures. The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991, pp. 42–56. ISBN 978-1-56098-020-9.

HEUMANN GURIAN, Elaine. What is the Object of this Exercise? A Meandering Exploration of the Many Meanings of Objects in Museums. Daedalus, 1999, vol. 128, no. 3, pp. 163–183. ISSN 0011-5266.

HILL, Kate (ed.). Museums and Biographies. Stories, Objects, Identities. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2012. ISBN 978-1-84383-727-5.

INGOLD, Tim. Materials against Materiality. Archaeological Dialogues, 2007, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 1–16. ISSN 1380-2038. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1380203807002127 | DOI 10.1017/S1380203807002127

Introduction. In Handbook of Material Culture. London: Sage, 2006, pp. 1–6. ISBN 978-1-4129-0039-3.

JORDANOVA, Ludmilla. Objects of Knowledge: A Historical Perspective on Museums. In VERGO, Peter (ed.). The New Museology. London: Reaktion Books, 1989, pp. 22–40. ISBN 978-0-948462-04-7.

KARP, Ivan and Steven D. LAVINE (eds.). Exhibiting Cultures. The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991. ISBN 978-1-56098-021-6.

KARP, Ivan. Culture and representation. In KARP, Ivan and Steven D. LAVINE (eds.). Exhibiting Cultures. The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991, pp. 11–24. ISBN 978-1-56098-021-6.

KNELL, Simon (ed.). Museums in the Material World. Abingdon: Routledge, 2007. ISBN 978-0-415-41699-3.

KNELL, Simon. Museums, Reality and the Material World. In KNELL, Simon (ed.). Museums in the Material World. Abingdon: Routledge, 2007, pp. 1–28. ISBN 978-0-415-41699-3.

KOPYTOFF, Igor. The Cultural Biography of Things: Commoditization as Process. In APPADURAI, Arjun (ed.). The Social Life of Things. Commodities in Cultural Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986, pp. 64–91. ISBN 978-0-521-32351-2.

MACLEOD, Suzanne. Museum Architecture. A New Biography. Abingdon: Routledge, 2013. ISBN 978-0-415-52904-4.

MILLER, Daniel. Artefacts and the Meaning of Things. In KNELL, Simon (ed.). Museums in the Material World. Abingdon: Routledge, 2007, pp. 166–186. ISBN 978-0-415-41699-3.

SAUMAREZ SMITH, Charles. Museums, Artefacts, and Meanings. In VERGO, Peter (ed.). The New Museology. London: Reaktion Books, 1989, pp. 6–21. ISBN 978-0-948462-04-7.

TYTHACOTT, Louise. Classifying China: Shifting Interpretations of Buddhist Bronzes in Liverpool Museum, 1867–1997. In HILL, Kate (ed.). Museums and Biographies. Stories, Objects, Identities. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2012, pp. 173–185. ISBN 978-1-84383-727-5.

VERGO, Peter (ed.). The New Museology. London: Reaktion Books, 1989. ISBN 978-0-948462-04-7.

VERGO, Peter. The Reticent Object. In VERGO, Peter (ed.). The New Museology. London: Reaktion Books, 1989, pp. 41–59. ISBN 978-0-948462-04-7.

WEIL, Stephen. The Proper Business of the Museum. Ideas or things? In WEIL, Stephen. Rethinking the museum and other meditations. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990, pp. 43–56. ISBN 978-0-87474-948-9.

WITCOMB, Andrea. On the Side of the Object: an Alternative Approach to Debates About Ideas, Objects and Museums. Museum Management and Curatorship, 1997, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 383–399. ISSN 0964-7775.

WOOD, Elizabeth and Kiersten LATHAM. Numinous Experiences with Museum Objects. Visitor Studies, 2013, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 3–20. ISSN 1064-5578.

WOOD, Elizabeth and Kiersten LATHAM. The Objects of Experience. Transforming Visitor-Object Encounters in Museums. Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press, 2014. ISBN 978-1-61132-214-9.

Metrics

3

Crossref logo

15

Views

0

PDF views

PDF