Eleventh International Conference on The Inclusive Museum

Abstract

In 2013, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam reopened after a ten year renovation that saw its galleries of fine art, history and decorative arts merge and its staffing structure reorganized. The resulting chronological display, produced collaboratively by a range of museum staff, merges historical narratives with the history of fine and decorative art. Key to tying these stories together are the wall texts, information cards and multimedia guides that combine traditionally distinct disciplinary knowledge. Produced by museum interpretation specialists, these resources serve as ‘boundary objects’ that allow many voices to be heard and the past to be more vividly brought into the present. This paper proceeds from the constructionist viewpoint that museum displays are a type of embodied theory – that museums are not merely ‘reflective’, presenting a single truth, but rather utilize displays as a means of representing a particular view or statement of position. This therefore begs the questions: Whose views or theories are presented? Whose voices have been included and whose have been excluded? Based on qualitative interviews with staff and analysis of museum displays, this paper argues that professional social formations within museums affect the production of knowledge - ultimately leading to new ways of understanding and experiencing art and history by both museum visitors and by the wider world.