Abstract
How can national museums reconcile differing perspectives on national identity, especially when these differences interact with legacies of colonial institutions? In this study, I argue that museums can more effectively address intersections of intangible heritage by engaging more directly with time as an element of exhibition design. I examine this question through a case study of the Republic of Korea’s National Folk Museum, whose ethnological galleries self-reportedly represent “daily life and culture of Korea” – certainly an ambitious task. I consider the museum’s architecture, interior design, displays, and theming through the lens of philosopher Henri Bergson’s duration: a temporal framework that presents history as a subjective process of emotional making, rather than rational learning. NFM succeeds in depicting rural, urban, modern, and traditional visions of South Korea as complementary national narratives through duration-minded exhibitions, where broader cycles of time frame different objects and customs that visitors can experience simultaneously. By employing similar strategies, museum exhibitions can more fully embrace inclusivity in their collections while resisting a single “authentic” history. The resulting spaces champion a move in ethnological museums towards viewing culture as pluralistic and ever-changing.
Presenters
Alexander CallowaySpecialist, Membership, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Korea, Time, Design, Curation, Narrative, Authenticity, Nationhood, Postcolonialism, Representation
