Museums as Societal Engines for Urban Renewal. The Event Strategy of the Museum of Natural History in Florence

Abstract

The paper aims to contribute to the debate on urban renewal, departing from the so-called Bilbao effect. Focusing on the resurgence of a societal function of cultural heritage, we discuss the idea of the museum as a societal engine through a case study. Although the literature has been mainly dedicated to assessing the economic impact of large art museums in former industrial regions, the paper focuses on a small scientific museum, the Museum of Natural History in Florence, and on its strategy of social enhancement through the organization of small- and medium-sized cultural events in the historical city centre. Through the application of social network analysis to 17 temporary exhibitions between 2000 and 2012 and the analysis of 790 events divided into three macro-areas (relations with territory, educational networks and scientific networks), the role played by the museum, the density and variety of events will be investigated. The resulting picture is that of a proactive museum located at the centre of a network of—mostly local—institutional actors that have effectively contributed to the re-vitalization of scientific knowledge and education as well as relations with the citizenship and the territory, therefore representing a valuable example of a societal enhancement of culture.     

视觉文化背景下博物馆展示价值定位——自然博物馆陈列的新体悟

博物馆展示艺术是一种诉诸视觉器官的文化形态。为观众提供可欣赏、受教育的展示精品,是博物馆追求的永恒主题。本文通过对博物馆展示主题、创意设计、科技维新及视觉艺术四方面进行思考,发掘博物馆自身所蕴藏的艺术价值和文化价值是当代视觉文化背景下展示艺术的价值定位。     

Memory, Distortion, and History in the Museum

Museums are conventionally viewed as institutions dedicated to the conservation of valued objects and the education of the public. Recently, controversies have arisen regarding the representation of history in museums. National museums in America and Germany considered here, such as the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum, the Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the German Historical Museum, have become sites of contention where national histories and personal memories are often at odds. Contemporary art installations in museums which take historical consciousness as their theme similarly raise contentious issues about public knowledge of and personal interest in the past. When members of publics find that their memories of the past or their expectations for museum experiences are not being met, a kind of "distortion" occurs. The "distortion" related to memory and history in the museum is not so much of facts or interpretations, but rather a distortion from the lack of congruity between personal experience and expectation, on the one hand, and the institutional representation of the past on the other. This essay explores the possibilities for a redefined relationship between personal memory and history that is experienced in contemporary museums.     

The dhow as cultural icon: heritage and regional identity in the western Indian Ocean

Dhows, the traditional sailing ships of the western Indian Ocean, are currently used in museums, heritage sites and popular culture as a symbol of a regional culture in the western Indian Ocean. While scholars have embraced the notion of seas as cultural or historical units, this type of ‘basin thinking’ is a recent phenomenon in the Indian Ocean. Over the last 150 years the dhow has gone from being a despised symbol of the slave trade and economic underdevelopment to representing a romanticized past and a regional identity. This article traces the parallel development of the idea of the dhow as a symbol of regional identity and changing perceptions of both the vessels and the region it is taken to represent. It argues that recent representations of dhows as cultural heritage represent a new and developing notion of regional identity within the western Indian Ocean.     

From the Archives: The Archbold Expeditions to New Guinea: A preliminary survey of archival materials held at the American Museum of Natural History,New York City

In accounts of the Kanak (Melanesian) opposition to the recruitment of volunteers for the Great War in 1916–17 and of the war that followed in the north of New Caledonia in 1917–18, the involvement of a district grand chef, Téâ Antoine Katélia, was the subject of conflicting testimonies. Drawing extensively upon archival materials dating from before, during and after the war, this paper examines the contested authority of a Kanak chief in the early-20th century and contributes to the local history of the Koné region.     

The Conservation Department of the National Museum of Chinese History

TheConservationDepartmentofNationalMuseumofChineseHistoryisanorganiza-tionspecializedontheresearchandpracticeofconservationscienceandtechnology.Itcom-prisesthreelaboratoriesofconservation,utensilrestorationandpaintingrestoration,with30scientistsandtechnicians.Thedepartmentwasestablishedin1952.Intheperiodofmorethan40years,thede-partmentcarriedontheworkofconservationscienceandtechnologyinall-roundway,withtheaimofpreservingtheculturalrelicsofhumanbeings,thedispositionoflayingequalstressonbothba…     

论自然标本的文物属性——以成都理工大学自然博物馆藏品为例

自然博物馆藏品中部分标本,在其被征集、研究、馆藏、展示过程中,不断积淀、附着重要的人文信息,成为具有文物特征的自然标本。然而,由于管理体制等原因,对于自然博物馆文物化标本尚缺乏科学管理办法,导致其重要的隐性人文信息得不到规范的管理和传播,不能凸现其实际科学研究价值。对此,应从自然博物馆及文物管理部门两方面入手,加强对具有文物特征标本的科学保护与管理。     

History, Memory, and the Law: The Historian as Expert Witness

There has been a widespread recovery of public memory of the events of the Second World War since the end of the 1980s, with war crimes trials, restitution actions, monuments and memorials to the victims of Nazism appearing in many countries. This has inevitably involved historians being called upon to act as expert witnesses in legal actions, yet there has been little discussion of the problems that this poses for them. The French historian Henry Rousso has argued that this confuses memory with history. In the aftermath of the Second World War, judicial investigations unearthed a mass of historical documentation. Historians used this, and further researches, from the 1960s onwards to develop their own ideas and interpretations. But since the early 1990s there has been a judicialization of history, in which historians and their work have been forced into the service of moral and legal forms of judgment which are alien to the historical enterprise and do violence to the subleties and nuances of the historian's search for truth. This reflects Rousso's perhaps rather simplistically scientistic view of the historian's enterprise; yet his arguments are powerful and should be taken seriously by any historian considering involvement in a law case; they also have a wider implication for the moralization of the history of the Second World War, which is now dominated by categories such as "perpetrator,""victim," and "bystander" that are legal rather than historical in origin. The article concludes by suggesting that while historians who testify in war crimes trials should confine themselves to elucidating the historical context, and not become involved in judging whether an individual was guilty or otherwise of a crime, it remains legitimate to offer expert opinion, as the author of the article has done, in a legal action that turns on the research and writing of history itself.     

历史与实践:纽约大都会博物馆的中国艺术收藏

纽约大都会博物馆的中国艺术收藏已有130年的历程。其间收藏的器类始于制作精美、雅俗共赏的明清瓷器,继而扩展到玉器、金银器、珐琅器、牙雕等整个明清时代的装饰艺术,再进一步扩展到中国古代的青铜礼器、玉器、陶塑和佛教造像,并且随着西方对于中国艺术的研究的深入,观众和收藏家逐渐领略到中国书画艺术深邃的文化内涵,最终全面地了解绵延不断的中华五千年文明;其收藏历程则见证了美国,或是说西方对中国文化艺术的认知过程,收藏过程中所形成的收藏家、赞助人和博物馆业务主任成功的合作模式和经验或许可以给中国的博物馆提供有益的借鉴。