Eighteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

This exploratory paper examines the ways in which museum narratives are constructed in heritage destinations in an era of inclusive connections. The most immediately tangible value of the distinctive and high-quality museums typically encountered in urban cultural destinations lies in their ability to attract visitor audiences from as wide and diverse a spectrum as possible. Nevertheless, many museums are restricted by psychological barriers in terms of their physicality which enhance perceptions of elitism, and despite laudable stakeholder aspirations to connect museums with audiences, many approaches result in a failure to achieve their objectives. The definition of the traditional museum building requires that they are static entities, able to change the context of object display within a framework, but unable to challenge the framework itself. This research conceptualization has been situated in a relatively novel nexus bridging theoretical considerations and practical strategies. Using a case study from an historic English town, Chester, this paper argues that while reconstructing the fabric of museums is perhaps unreasonable, deconstructing the invisible barriers which prevent people accessing collections through mobilizing and displaying artefacts in settings that contrast with the traditional museum is achievable. Based on the premise that one way of engendering alternative discourse is to bring artefacts into mainstream life and provide both social and economic stimulation to communities in which they are both discovered and displayed, the case study for this project takes objects housed within the collections in Chester’s main municipal museum, and places them within locations around Chester’s city centre.