5,266 research outputs found

    Metamorphosis:

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    In 1990 the then Minister for Culture, Hedy d’Ancona, issued the Delta Plan for Cultural Preservation: a large-scale and national program to thoroughly improve collection storage conditions in Dutch museums. This signalled the start of a transformation of the Dutch museum.he reason for this radical transformation of Dutch museums was the pending privatization of the country’s national museums. From the beginning of the 1990s, national museums had to stand on their own feet. That gave the museum visitor a new position: the museums were forced to engage the public and did so with conviction. This new approach bore fruit: the public has been flocking to museums in increasing numbers and by doing so, have further transformed the Dutch museum. Museums want to open up their collections to everyone while protecting these collections as well as possible. To align these ambitions Dutch museums have engaged in an unprecedented construction boom. The desire to be able to study the results of those building activities brought the TUDelft to approach the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE) to undertake a joint investigation into the transformation of museums in the Netherlands since 1990 together. This study shows that much has been achieved to realize the two ambitions of better collection management and increased visitor numbers. The RCE continues to endeavour to further align those two conflicting ambitions, which is why we develop and disseminate knowledge about the safety of heritage including researching climate control possibilities for collection storage and display. In her policy letter Heritage Counts (2018–2021), Minister Van Engelshoven (Education, Culture and Science) opted to further both ambitions: conservation of, and employing the unifying power of heritage. Museums particularly embody the contradiction between preservation and accessibility. They exist to preserve valuable and often vulnerable objects of art, history, science and daily life. But they are also there to make us take ownership of those objects.  The challenge for museums is to find the best relationship between their need to ensure the safety of their top pieces and prevent any risk of damage. At the same time, they want to be hospitable and open to everyone who wishes to enjoy their collection. An object has to be preserved for many generations and the current generation must be able to become acquainted with and enjoy it in large numbers. In other words: the museum must be comfortable for both visitors and collection, now and in the future. The RCE and the TU Delft Section for Heritage & Architecture often collaborate. This time we found common ground in research into the transformation of museums. Architects and museum managers are constantly faced with the task of realizing this transformation as fittingly as possible. Their mutual communication and coordination is crucial. This study hopes to contribute to that. The cooperation of the museums investigated has been of great importance in this regard. By making data available and sharing insights and experiences, they have made it possible to investigate the transformation on museums in the Netherlands. The result presents a fascinating picture of the metamorphosis of Dutch museums

    Three Versions of History: The Tempe, Chandler, and Scottsdale History Museums

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    abstract: Since the initial impetus to collect, preserve, and interpret history with the intent of safeguarding American heritage for posterity, historical societies have made substantial contributions to the preservation of historical records. Historical societies have tended to originate in socially exclusive groups and found history museums, celebratory in nature. In contemporary society, this exclusivity raises issues and concerns for contemporary institutions seeking to "serve the public." Tempe History Museum, Chandler Museum, and Scottsdale Historical Museum are examples of local history museums, initially formed by historical societies, which are currently at different stages of developing exhibits and collections more representative of their diverse communities. The three museums have different approaches to not only defining their local community but also to what it means to serve and represent their city by being the local history museum. In recent years, the Tempe History Museum has undergone a renovation of its facility and exhibits, the Chandler Museum is in the midst of transferring its collection to the City of Chandler and planning for a new facility, and the Scottsdale Historical Museum has remained largely the same since the early 1990s. The decisions made by the historical societies that found these museums have shaped and directed the museums' paths to becoming, or failing to become, relevant to their local communities. The Tempe, Chandler, and Scottsdale historical societies came from the Anglo-community within each city, so did the collections they acquired and the objects they displayed. At a time of rising social history, the historical societies presented socially exclusive museums. Becoming incorporated within the city government, would prove to be the point of change, the tipping point when the history museums moved from particularism to pluralism. The change, however, did not come overnight. It was change over time. The city governments had an obligation to equally represent its taxpayers and constituency, meaning that the newly incorporated museums had to eventually follow the same mission. In the case of Tempe, Chandler, and Scottsdale museums, incorporation within city governments has led to a stable funding source, professional staff, and a move towards representation of diverse communities within museum exhibits and programming.Dissertation/ThesisM.A. History 201

    Threats and hopes for abandoned buildings in Berlin: an urban exploration approach

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    Abandoned buildings have become a distinguishing mark for the recent history and alternative spirit of Berlin. The growth in popularity of urban exploration, which focuses in illegally trespassing these neglected places, has made Berlin a hotspot for such a subculture, whose practitioners express an extreme sensibility about the current and future state of the buildings they explore. Through this perspective, the present article identifies three main threats towards the buildings: a touristification phenomenon created by urban exploration; commodification as a result of this touristification; and the increasing gentrification in the city that ignores the tangible and intangible qualities of the buildings. By critically reviewing these aspects, the article concludes proposing ‘informal re-appropriation’ as an integrated solution that prioritizes public participation and slow urban development over neoliberal immediate revenues, where minimal interventions contribute to preserve Berlin’s unique aesthetics embedded in its abandoned buildings

    FREEDOMS LOST AND GAINED: ENTWINING PRISON HISTORY INTO THE FUTURE OF LORTON ARTS FOUNDATION

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    This document has had referenced material removed in respect for the owner's copyright. A complete version of this document, which includes said referenced material, resides in the University of Maryland, College Park's library collection. Masters final project submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Historic Preservation. HISP 710/711 Spring 2010.The Lorton Workhouse Museum is part of a 55-acre adaptively reused colonial revival reformatory complex in Virginia that once served the District of Columbia. While most of the site, including dormitories, gymnasium, and farm buildings, has been transformed by a grass-roots organization, the Lorton Arts Foundation, into a visual and performing arts center, one cellblock building remains as a stabilized ruin, reserved for interpretation of the site history. This project will examine the difficult and emotional prison history and explore potential models for integrating the narrative with the current arts use. Active public programs and audio tours are recommended as the best method to engage visitors with the entire site, and inspire thinking about historic and contemporary issues of social justice. Interpretive themes that tie art and performances created by prisoners with artists working in the reused structures are explored as a way to bring visitors into a dialogue between past and present

    European Museums in the 21st Century: Setting the Framework (3 Voll.)

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    This book grew out of the earliest work of the MeLa Research Field 6, “Envisioning 21st Century Museums,” aimed at exploring current trends in European contemporary museums. Analysing their ongoing evolution triggered by this “age of migrations” and with specific attention to their architecture and exhibition design, the volume collects the preliminary observations ensuing from this survey, complemented by the some paradigmatic examples, and further enriched by interviews and contributions from scholars, curators and museum practitioners. With contributions by Florence BalĂ€en, Michela Bassanelli, Luca Basso Peressut, Joachim Baur, Lorraine Bluche, Marco Borsotti, Mariella Brenna, Anna Chiara Cimoli, Lars De Jaegher, Maria Camilla De Palma, Hugues De Varine, Maria De Waele, NĂ©lia Dias, Simone Eick, Fabienne Galangau QuĂ©rat, Sarah Gamaire, Jan Gerchow, Marc-Olivier Gonset, Klas Grinell, Laurence Isnard, Marie-Paule Jungblut, Galitt Kenan, Francesca Lanz, JosĂ© MarĂ­a Lanzarote Guiral, Vito Lattanzi, Jack Lohman, Carolina Martinelli, Frauke Miera, Elena Montanari, Chantal Mouffe, Judith Pargamin, Giovanni Pinna, Camilla Pagani, Clelia Pozzi, Paolo Rosa, Anna Seiderer

    Museums & Environmental Sustainability: Are They Doing Enough?

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    As the world continues to be affected by the rapid rates of climate change, institutions from every sector are transitioning to become more sustainable by reducing or eliminating their harmful habits on the ecosystem. Whether by their own accord or external pressure from current legislative action to cut carbon emissions, institutions are shifting towards a sustainable future. For museums there are additional unique reasons to adopt sustainability into various aspects with their institution. The most influential reason is that museums have a responsibility as community leaders and change makers. However, looming questions remain: Are museums doing enough? Are these cultural hubs willing improve to comply with new sustainability standards? What is preventing museums from pursing these goals? This paper aims to obtain the answers to the previous questions through extensive research on sustainability in museums as it pertains to daily operations and physical structures and investigating three museums within Buffalo, New York. This research began with defining the term sustainability, its history, and current events that is creating this need for sustainable actions. It transitions to provide numerous sustainability practices, technologies, and programs that museums across the country have successfully implemented. I reveal my findings from interviews conducted with employees from three different museums. I provide a critique for these institutions whilst comparing them to museums nationwide and give potential suggestions on how they can improve their sustainability efforts. The purpose of this study is to hold these institutions accountable and to inspire new and creative ways to become more environmentally conscious. My hope for this research is to encourage the reader to investigate their local museums’ sustainable efforts and collaborate on possible solutions

    Central of Georgia Depot

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    This interpretive plan gives a brief and condensed history of the central of Georgia Depot. Alongside a history of the depot, this resource provides potential interpretive themes for the historic site to pursue in future programs. The resource also contains reproductions of many historic photographs, as well as survey information regarding the depot\u27s events and programming.https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/history_heritagepreservation/1017/thumbnail.jp

    Greenwashed: Identity and Landscape at the California Missions

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    This paper explores the relationship of place and identity in the historical and contemporary contexts of the California mission landscapes, conceiving of identity as a category of both analysis and practice (Brubaker and Cooper 2000). The missions include twenty-one sites founded along the California coast and central valley in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The missions are all currently open to the public and regularly visited as heritage sites, while many also serve as active Catholic parish churches. This paper offers a reading of the mission landscapes over time and traces the materiality of identity narratives inscribed in them, particularly in ‘mission gardens’ planted during the late 19th and first half of the 20th century. These contested places are both celebrated as sites of California's origins and decried as spaces of oppression and even genocide for its indigenous peoples. Theorized as relational settings where identity is constituted through narrative and memory (Sommers 1994; Halbwachs 1992) and experienced as staged, performed heritage, the mission landscapes bind these contested identities into a coherent postcolonial experience of a shared past by creating a conceptual metaphor of ‘mission as garden’ that encompasses their disparities of emotional resonance and ideological meaning
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