Pandemic Ponderings (Asynchronous - Online Only)
The Kuril Islands: Museum Representations of Contested Spaces View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Emily Sandall
Since the turn of the twenty-first century, a boom of museums focused on the Ainu cultural subject has emerged in both Russia and Japan. By conceptualizing museums as nonneutral and culturally embedded productions which attempt to convey knowledge of foreign spaces to home spaces, this paper analyzes the ways in which various museum institutions in Russia and Japan, as well as those produced by Ainu activist groups, choose to tell certain stories about the disputed Kuril Island territories and the Ainu people, and to map those stories within the broader colonial framework of the Kuril Islands dispute and indigenous rights in Russia and Japan. The institutions discussed in the paper are the Upopoy National Ainu Museum and Park, Japanese National Museum of Territory and Sovereignty, Russian Ethnographic Museum, Omsk Oblast Museum of Fine Art, Nibutani Ainu Cultural Museum, and Ureshipa Shirarika. Particular attention is paid to the online exhibition spaces which have been developed by these institutions in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, and how the potential of an international online audience prompts changes in representational idioms.
Audience Engagement Practices by Cultural Institutions During the Pandemic: A Collection of Exemplary Practices View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Katerina Zourou, Elisa Pellegrini
From March 2020 onwards, the reality of cultural institutions around Europe has been severely disrupted (ICOM, 2020, NEMO 2020). To face the consequences of the pandemic, several museums attempted to adjust to the new situation and engage their audience using different means to the pre-pandemic continuity. This study is a collection of audience engagement practices developed by cultural institutions, namely Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAM), as a means of audience engagement with their collections and a broader connection with society during the pandemic. The paper discusses the preliminary results of the data collection among European GLAMs we launched in February 2021. In a sample of more than 50 practices collected, we will focus on ten exemplary practices that are selected based on criteria such as a) the degree of innovation in audience engagement, b) the emphasis on active involvement with the collection, including publicly shared derivative work and c) innovative uses of technology in cultural mediation. The results of our analysis are expected to be released in an open-access study in August 2021 to enhance the transferability of practices and support resilience and recovery in the GLAM sector.
Lessons for Museums from the Pandemic Lockdown: Exploring User Engagement with Art Museums in London on Facebook View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Bingjun Liu
Due to the unexpected COVID-19 pandemic, many institutions, such as museums, had been required to close so as to reduce non-essential human mobility. The dilemma of maintaining a consistent relationship with museums' users emerged. What are the digital initiatives that museums had developed? How did user engagement change during the lockdown? Most importantly, what can be learnt from these practices for developing more effective engagement strategies after the pandemic? With basic statistical analysis and content analysis as the main research methods, this study examines how London art museums used Facebook during lockdown and the changes of corresponding user engagement behaviours. Specifically, three London-based art museums are chosen for this study, which are the National Gallery, Tate and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A). The results show that, during the period of lockdown, all three museums adjust their Facebook strategies in terms of both post type and content. The increase in the level of user engagement also suggests the effectiveness of some strategies, such as the frequency of museum posts and creation of different types of post content. These findings give reflections on art museums’ digital initiatives and contributed to the understanding of the museum online users.
Rethinking the Museum Political Role and Space of Action in the Aftermath of COVID-19 View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Nicole Moolhuijsen
Contrary to growing debates which have set out an increased digital literacy and engagement capability in museums as automatic effects of the pandemic, our research adopts a strategic and organizational standpoint in order to investigate the actual medium- and long-term effects. The paper, based on an interdisciplinary research conducted by Venice Ca’ Foscari University (Department of Management) and ICOM Italy, discusses the ontological premises and the organizational processes of change that are required to navigate the hybrid world through a post-digital mindset. In particular we consider the implications in the domain of interpretation, visitor experience, and management. Data has been gathered through a quali-quantitative methodology: twenty semi-structured surveys to museum leaders and hundred questionnaires to digital chief officers in Italy. The findings, although in different forms depending on the context, suggest that in order to be relevant in a post-pandemic world museums are revisiting their strategies in three areas: (1) space of agency (2) political responsibility (3) business model. The study analyzes the changes and implications of each dimension, which collectively suggest an increased focus on geographical proximity and outdoor space in order to address new social responsibilities as well as on global relations to rethink sustainability practices. Drawing on critical heritage studies, philosophy and management, as well as on additional data to be gathered in the remaining phases of the pandemic, future studies could further explore the ambivalence between international responsiveness and local relevance, as well as the performance of new roles in space.
Imagine Someone Who Cannot Visit Museums: What the Lockdown Has Created View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Junko Anso
As educational facilities and museums around the world are buffeted by the COVID-19 crisis, Japanese museums are no exception. This harsh situation, however, could bring those who are concerned an opportunity to realize what they have missed; the feelings of people who are not able to visit museums because of different reasons – illness, poverty, inconvenience of transportation and so on. In Japan, the awareness of the idea of “social inclusion” has not been so high: not many museum staff have good understanding of what “inclusive” means. In addition, university students who are taking courses to be future museum professionals are not familiar with the phrase “social inclusion”. As they lack the concept of “inclusion,” many museums focus only on the “visitors” who are possible to visit the museums by themselves without reasonable accommodation. Fortunately, or not, the lockdown has given them an opportunity to experience inaccessible life to museums. Furthermore, university programs have been forced to adopt online courses due to the lockdown. In one online program, students have tried making short educational videos for children in the hospitals. This program seems to be very effective to have them realize that there are people who are in different environments or difficult situations. While many of the museums are struggling to get back the pre-COVID life, we also need to use this experience to create more “inclusive” museums around Japan.
