When legitimate claims collide: communities, media and dialogue

This paper discusses the exhibition Jerusalem at the Museum of World Culture (MoWC) in Gothenburg, Sweden. The exhibition mixes photographs of LGBTQ (LesbianGayBiTransQueer) persons in Jerusalem, with quotes from the three Abrahamitic Holy Scriptures condemning homosexual activities and behaviours. MoWC held dialogues with religious persons. Although no-one wanted to stop the exhibition, many were critical of the artist’s mixing of Holiness and Nudity/Sexuality. The Museum was criticized for bending to fundamentalist pressure, assuming that it had plans to stop the exhibition, and a media debate on censorship and freedom of speech followed. This paper analyzes the situatedness of MoWC, and its discursive belonging. How can a state governed institution deal with legitimate and opposing claims, and counter both heteronormativity and islamophobia? What discourses is the Museum institution inscribed in? What power relations follow from that? Is it, due to historic, bureaucratic, and cultural legacies, tied to certain positions and affiliations in the public space

Preliminary Notes towards a Soteriological Analysis of Museums

This article investigates the potentials of the concept of soteriology in museology. It is claimed that modern museum politics and policy can be analyzed as a soteriology built around the idea that culture is a means to promote peace, and that it can offer salvation from the inhumane horrors of World War II. The UN in general, and UNESCO in particular, played key roles as soteriological institutions after WWII, akin to that of the modern nation-state in the Westphalian order after the so-called Wars of Religion of the 17th century. The soteriological element in the nation-state is the nation, in UNESCO it is culture and heritage. Building on this as a premise the text explores the museological potentials of the concept of soteriology.Cet article étudie les potentialités du concept de sotériologie en muséologie. On prétend que la politique et les rėgles des musées modernes peuvent être analysées comme une sotériologie construite autour de l’idée que la culture est un moyen de promouvoir la paix et qu’elle peut permettre de sauver des horreurs inhumaines de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. L'ONU en général, et l'UNESCO en particulier, ont joué un rôle clé en tant qu'institutions sotériologiques après la Seconde Guerre mondiale, semblables à celles de l'État-nation moderne dans l'ordre westphalien après les prétendues guerres de religion du XVIIe siècle. L'élément sotériologique dans l'État-nation est la nation, à l'UNESCO c'est la culture et le patrimoine. S'appuyant sur cette prémisse, le texte explore les potentiels muséologiques du concept de sotériologie

Muhammad at the Museum: Or, Why the Prophet Is Not Present

This article analyses museum responses to the contemporary tensions and violence in response to images of Muhammad, from The Satanic Verses to Charlie Hebdo. How does this socio-political frame effect the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY, the V&A and British Museum in London, and the Louvre in Paris? Different genres of museums and histories of collections in part explain differences in approaches to representations of Muhammad. The theological groundings for a possible ban on prophetic depictions is charted, as well as the widespread Islamic practices of making visual representations of the Prophet. It is argued that museological framings of the religiosity of Muslims become skewed when the veneration of the Prophet is not represented

When legitimate claims collide: communities, media and dialogue

This paper discusses the exhibition Jerusalem at the Museum of World Culture (MoWC) in Gothenburg, Sweden. The exhibition mixes photographs of LGBTQ (LesbianGayBiTransQueer) persons in Jerusalem, with quotes from the three Abrahamitic Holy Scriptures condemning homosexual activities and behaviours. MoWC held dialogues with religious persons. Although no-one wanted to stop the exhibition, many were critical of the artist’s mixing of Holiness and Nudity/Sexuality. The Museum was criticized for bending to fundamentalist pressure, assuming that it had plans to stop the exhibition, and a media debate on censorship and freedom of speech followed. This paper analyzes the situatedness of MoWC, and its discursive belonging. How can a state governed institution deal with legitimate and opposing claims, and counter both heteronormativity and islamophobia? What discourses is the Museum institution inscribed in? What power relations follow from that? Is it, due to historic, bureaucratic, and cultural legacies, tied to certain positions and affiliations in the public space

Lagstadgad kunskap. Om svensk museipolitik och forskning

       &nbsp