Finding Ourselves
An American in the American Museum
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Karma Waltonen
The webpage for the American Museum and Gardens in Bath, UK, has a whole section answering the clickable question “Why Have an American Museum in Britain?” This question is actually answered in several different places on the webpage, indicating its pervasiveness, and the Museum boasts it’s “the only museum outside the United States to showcase the decorative arts of America.” The history of Bath drew me to its museums and monuments, but my love for museums and the interest in how they curate the past drew me to enter a museum not actually designed for me. Would they mention the American Revolution? How would they handle a discussion of our civil war? This paper explores my journey as a postcolonial American scholar in a museum created to teach my British cousins about their former colony.
“Break Out Those AirPods”: Digital Music Playlists as Exhibition Engagement Tools in Museums and Galleries
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Morghen Jael
Museums are increasingly attempting to use digital and multisensory tools to engage visitors. The curation of a digital music playlist to accompany an exhibition, often meant for consumption on visitors’ own devices and headphones, is one such practice. This paper charts the current state of implementation of digital music playlists, specifically playlists on the streaming service Spotify, for museum and gallery exhibitions. I take a case study approach: I first collected a variety of examples of exhibition music playlists, then I closely profiled and analyzed a handful of the most interesting ones using an original “profiling framework.” Stemming from this analysis and from a literature review, I identify important dimensions of the current state of the application of digital playlists in museums. I also discuss the status of these playlists as exhibition “add-ons” with reference to the concept of the “post-museum” with an “edutainment” mandate. I conclude by offering concrete suggestions for museums considering implementing digital music playlists for their exhibitions. Ultimately, I argue that digital exhibition playlists on Spotify, though novel, are in fact fairly conventional interpretative and engagement tools; the constraints of Spotify prevent active responses from listeners, and the playlists are not often presented with curator self-reflexivity. Exhibition playlists are a relatively new engagement tool and are being implemented in a variety of ways and to a variety of effects, so they are worth compiling and studying. This project is just one part of my larger, ongoing research work, focusing on sonic add-ons in museum exhibitions.
The Integrated Museum Engagement Model: Bridging Participatory Design, Immersive Storytelling, and Digital Representation for Enhanced Museum Experiences
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Vanessa Cesário
In a time marked by rapid technological progress and evolving visitor expectations, museums and cultural heritage sites find themselves at a crucial point of transformation. This paper presents the Integrated Museum Engagement Model (IMEM), a framework that adeptly melds participatory design, immersive storytelling, and digital representation. Rooted in human-centered design principles, the compelling impact of narrative transportation, and the engaging essence of constructivist learning, the IMEM is showcased as a strategic plan to revitalize visitor interactions. This paper elaborates on the theoretical bases of the model while also providing practical suggestions for institutions to leverage its benefits effectively. Highlighting the necessity for cross-disciplinary research, cooperation, and ongoing evaluation, the IMEM stands as a guiding light toward achieving genuinely inclusive and captivating museum experiences. In line with The International Journal of the Inclusive Museum’s mission, our discussions endorse a forward-thinking stance, advocating for a more integrated and inclusive trajectory for museums in the knowledge society.
Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Contemporary Museum Environment based on Sociocultural Sustainability Factors in Kyrenia Castle in Cyprus
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Negin Nazari Moayed, Özlem Olgaç Türker
One of the highly discussed issues in recent decades is the socio-cultural sustainability of heritage buildings as an expression of cultural identity. As a major link to the history of human settlements, historic castles, and fortresses are considered capacious heritage structures for refunctioning. Likely, bringing a new contemporary function in a successful way to a heritage building can strengthen the heritage significance of the building. The museum function is known as one of the appropriate alternative functions in reusing heritage buildings. Certainly, the sociocultural value of a heritage building enhances the efficiency of contemporary use, by offering an appropriate environment for museum use. Thus, the way of reusing historic castles needs more concentration to make the museum environment effectively used and make continuity of sociocultural aspects of sustainability. So, this study aims to assess the sociocultural sustainability of Kyrenia Castle, as an important monument from the ninth century AD, after its conversion into a museum. The related factors for sustaining the sociocultural aspects of heritage buildings are collected by reviewing relevant literature. Likewise, some successful examples of museum environments in castles are investigated. Although Kyrenia Castle is worthy to implement the museum use, most of the spaces only show tangible objects, excluding intangible cultural heritage as well as limitations in any supportive function. Based on the importance of the sociocultural sustainability of the heritage structure in the success of contemporary museums, this study uses qualitative methodology to assess the reuse of spaces based on the obtained factors.
