Description
This seminar examines the museum as an institution and a set of cultural practices. We will think about the museum as a site of ritual and a cultural and political battleground. Through museum visits, we will think about the ways in which museum architecture and exhibition design control the visitor’s experiences, and then switch positions and consider why visitors so routinely take something different from exhibitions than was intended by their curators. We will also ponder the ability, or suitability, of museums to speak to non-traditional audiences. Another of our themes will be the question of cultural patrimony and museums of ethnology and ethnic art in a post-colonial world. Finally, we will select a set of recent museum controversies and debate the merits of the exhibitions and the efficacy of the responses.
Teaching method
Seminar meetings
Admission requirements
See Art History program guide and Exam regulations.
Course objectives
Students will gain insight into the strategies and agenda’s museums employ in managing and presenting their collections; they are capable of critical assessing the choices museums make regarding content and management; they will gain insight into current debates on heritage, especially concerning issues as repatriation and ‘Mutual Heritage’.
Course load
10 ects
Required reading
Will be posted on Blackboard.
Test method
Oral presentation and Paper.
Time table
Check the MA timetable on the Internet.
Information
Academic content, Dr. M. Meadow:
m.meadow@hum.leidenuniv.nl; and
Dr. M. Schraven:
m.schraven@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Study coordinator MA:
stucokg@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Study coordinator Res. MA:
b.p.m.dongelmans@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Registration
U-twist
Blackboard
There is an accompanying site on Blackboard.
Remarks
na