Eleventh International Conference on The Inclusive Museum

Abstract

The classification and placement of “museum” as a base for entertainment has always been a major challenge for museum studies. Should the museum be considered a serious area for the development of education and community culture, or an opportunity for entertainment and excellence? This attitude and classification also gives rise to an evaluative analysis. In popular culture studies, it is stated that cultural production and consumption are designed in a way that the masses of the community are able to benefit from it. There is no need for preconceived training to enjoy it. However, in the social category, the cultural products that target the high class of society are designed in a way that its use requires the acquisition of cultural and educational knowledge. Therefore, the audience of these categories of cultural and artistic products function according to their own knowledge, while purposeful and targeted seeking purposeful chooses an cultural-artistic product. The museum, as one of the most important cultural and artistic institutions, is no exception from this principle. Producing popular content will inevitably lead to entertainment and having fun in the museum. However, if the subject and contents of the museum are specialized, its audience which often belongs to the high class of society will refer to the museum. It can also be said that the issue of entertainment in the museum and the production of enjoyable content has a direct relationship with the amount of visitors. In this research, by studying the case of the historical cultural complex of Saad Abad in Tehran, Iran, which includes sixteen palaces. Among them, there are five professional museums (fine art, miniatures, etc.) and the rest are palaces and public content museums. This study explores their separate relationships and mechanisms. The theoretical framework of this research has been studied based on Pier Bourdieu’s views on cultural capitalism, social class, and cultural sociology. This research is a quantitative-qualitative combination whose data are obtained through field observations, statistical data, and also desk studies.