icom key concepts in museology anglais francais bd

8/21/2019 ICOM Key Concepts in Museology Anglais Francais BD

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Key Concepts

of Museology


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Key Conceptsof Museology

Edited by Andr Desvalles

and Franois Mairesse


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With the assistance of the Muse Royal de Mariemontwww.musee-mariemont.be

And the assistance of the ICOM International Committee for Museology

Cover photos:

2009 Muse du Louvre / Angle Dequier

National Heritage Board, Singapore

Auckland Museum

Ningbo Museum

Armand Colin, 2010

ISBN: 978-2-200-25398-1


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EDITORIAL COMMITTEE

Franois Mairesse, Andr Desvalles, Bernard Deloche, SergeChaumier, Martin Schrer, Raymond Montpetit, Yves Bergeron,

Nomie Drouguet, Jean Davallon

With the participation of:

Philippe Dub, Nicole Gesch-Koning, Andr Gob, Bruno BrulonSoares, Wan Chen Chang, Marilia Xavier Cury, Blondine Desbiolles,

Jan Dolak, Jennifer Harris, Francisca Hernandez Hernandez, DianaLima, Pedro Mendes, Lynn Maranda, Monica Risnicoff de Gorgas,Anita Shah, Graciela Weisinger, Anna Leshchenko, all of whom havecontributed to the ICOFOM Symposium in 2009 on this subject orhave read through this document.

Translated from the French version by Suzanne Nash


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FOREWORD

The development of professional standards is one of the coreobjectives of ICOM, particularly in the area of advancement, sharing,and communication of knowledge to the broad-ranging global museumcommunity, but also to those who develop policies in relation to its

work, to those responsible for managing the legal and social aspectsof its profession, and not least to those to whom it is directed and whoare expected to participate in and benefit from it. Launched in 1993,

under the supervision of Andr Desvalles, and with the collaborationof Franois Mairesse from 2005 onwards, theDictionary of Museologyis a monumental work resulting from many years of research,interrogation, analysis, revision and debate by ICOMs InternationalCommittee for Museology (ICOFOM), which is particularly devotedto the process of developing our comprehension of the practice andtheory of museums and the work that is undertaken within theseinstitutions daily.

The role, development and management of museums has changedgreatly in the last couple of decades. Museum institutions have becomesteadily more visitor-focused and some of the larger museums areveering more towards a corporate management model in their dailyoperations. The museum profession and environment have thereforeinevitably evolved. Countries such as China have seen an unprecedentedincrease in their museum presence, but there are equally importantmuseum developments occurring at the micro level, for examplein Small Island Developing States (SIDS). These exciting changes


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lead to increasing discrepancies in museum job specifications andtraining courses across different cultures. In this context, a referencetool for museum professionals and students of museology is all-

the-more essential. Where the ICOM/UNESCO publicationRunninga Museum: A Practical Handbookprovided museum practitioners witha basic handbook on current museum practice, the EncyclopaediaDictionarium should be regarded as a companion piece, providing acomplementary perspective on the theory of museums.

While the challenges of day-to-day work often overwhelm theability of the museum field to stop and think about its fundamentalphilosophical bases, there is a growing need for functionaries at all

levels to rise to the challenge of bringing clarity and comprehensionto those who question the relevance of the museum to society andits citizens. ICOFOMs crucial work as encapsulated in the Encyclo-paedic Dictionary provides for a cogent, structured deconstructionand distillation of the core precepts underpinning our work today.Although the Dictionary presents a predominantly Francophone visionof museology for reasons of linguistic coherence, the terminologies

synthesised herein are comprehended and/or utilised by museologistsin several different cultures. The publication, while not exhaustive,synthesises decades of knowledge development in a systematic investi-gation of both the epistemology and etymology of the museum andoffers an in-depth presentation of the primary concepts in Museologytoday, with an elegantly pragmatic view of both the historicalredundancies and current contentions, which invest in the growth andexpansion of the profession. ICOFOM, the Dictionarys editors and its

authors have consistently brought sensibility, perception, rigour andbalance to this task of defining and explaining the institution andthe practice.

As an avant premireof the complete Encyclopaedic Dictionary,this brochure has been designed to give access to the widest publicpossible, in the context both historical and current, for the derivationand evolution of the various terms that litter the language today. Inthe spirit of ICOMs policy of embracing diversity and promotinggreater inclusion, ICOM anticipates that like theICOM Code of Ethics

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for Museums, its publication will stimulate broad-based debate andcollaboration in its continued updating and revision, rather than beingleft on the high shelf. ICOMs 22nd triennial General Conference,

in Shanghai, China is therefore a fitting dbut for this invaluablereference tool in museology. Bringing together museum professionalsof all nationalities is precisely the type of platform that gives birthto standards and reference tools such as these for current and futuregenerations.

Alissandra Cummins

President

International Council of Museums (ICOM)

FOREWORD


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PREFACE

In accordance with the underlying principles of ICOM, the aimof the International Committee for Museology (ICOFOM) since itsbeginnings in 1977 has been to develop museology as a scientific andacademic discipline which will foster the development of museumsand the museum profession through research, study, and dissemi-nation of the main currents of museological thinking.

To this end a multidisciplinary working group was created to

make a critical analysis of museological terminology, focusing itsthinking on the fundamental concepts of museology. For nearlytwenty years the Thesaurus Working Group compiled remarkableessays and summaries from its scientific research. Convinced of theimportance of providing the public with a catalogue of terms consti-tuting fundamental reference material, ICOFOM decided with thesupport of the International Council of Museums to introduce this

publication at the ICOM General Conference to be held in Shanghaiin November 2010. The introductory brochure, a summary of each ofthe twenty-one essays on a fundamental museological term, will bepresented as a preview of the forthcomingDictionary of Museologyin

which these essays will be published in full, accompanied by a selectivedictionary describing close to 500 words mentioned in them.

I would like to emphasise that this brochure, an introduction to thefar more extensive work, does not pretend to be exhaustive but aimsto permit the reader to differentiate between the concepts that are


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covered by each term, to discover new connotations and their links tothe entire museological field.

Dr. Vinos Sofka did not work in vain when, in the first years of

ICOFOM, he strove to turn this international committee into a forumfor reflection and debate on museological theory, able to reflect onits own foundations. Thus the committees ongoing intellectualproduction, which continues today, has been preserved throughthe annual publication of the ICOFOM Study Series (ISS) which hasenriched the body of museological theory for over thirty years. Theinternational bibliography of all ICOFOM publications is unique andrepresents a faithful picture of the evolution of museological thinking

throughout the world.From reading the articles in this brochure we can understand the

need to reconsider the theoretical fundamentals of museology froman integrating and pluralistic approach, founded in the conceptual

wealth of each word. The terms presented in this brochure are aclear example of the work of a group of specialists who have beenable to understand and enhance the fundamental structure of thelanguage, our intangible heritage par excellence. The conceptualreach of museological terminology allows us to appreciate the extentto which theory and practice are inseparably linked. Wishing to gobeyond beaten paths, the authors introduced their own observations

wherever they needed to draw attention to a specific characteristic ofa term. They were not trying to build or rebuild bridges, but rather tostart from an examination of other more precise concepts and searchfor new cultural meanings which enrich the theoretical foundations

of a discipline as vast as museology, destined to strengthen the role ofmuseums and their professionals worldwide.

In my position as Chair of ICOFOM it is a great honour andpleasure to be present at the launch, through this brochure, of a workthat will soon be a landmark in the vast museological bibliographyproduced by the members of ICOFOM from different countries anddisciplines, all united around one common ideal.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all who havegenerously contributed their time and talents to bringing these

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fundamental works to life: our friends and colleagues of whom we areextremely proud:

to ICOM, our guiding organisation, for having understood, thanksto the responsiveness of its Director General, Mr. Julien Anfruns,the importance of a project begun long ago and which can now becompleted thanks to his commitment,

to Andr Desvalles, author of and driving force behind a projectwhich has gained unexpected and well-deserved importance,

to Franois Mairesse, who began his trajectory within ICOFOM

in his youth, bringing his gifts as a productive writer and resear-cher, and who, with Andr Desvalles, successfully coordinated theactions of the Thesaurus Working Group and completed the editingof this brochure and theDictionary of Museology.

to all the internationally renowned authors of the different articles,museological experts in their respective disciplines,

and finally to our three translators, whose work has also been scien-tific in the translation of specialised terms from French when theirequivalent is not always obvious, either in English or in Spanishor in Chinese.

To all those who have contributed, each in their own way, tofulfilling a dream that has become a reality, I would like to express mymost sincere gratitude.

Nelly DecarolisChair

ICOFOM

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INTRODUCTION

What is a museum? How do we define a collection? What is aninstitution? What does the term heritage encompass? Museumprofessionals have inevitably developed answers to questions such asthese, which are fundamental to their work, compiled according totheir knowledge and experience. Do we need to reconsider these? Webelieve so. Museum work shifts back and forth between practice andtheory, with theory regularly being sacrificed to the thousand and onedaily tasks. The fact remains, however, that thought is a stimulatingexercise which is also fundamental for personal development and forthe development of the museum world.

The purpose of ICOM, on an international level, and of nationaland regional museum associations more locally, is to develop standardsand improve the quality of the thinking that guides the museum worldand the services that it provides to society, through meetings betweenprofessionals. More than thirty international committees work on this

collective think tank, each in its specific sector, producing remarkablepublications. But how can this wealth of thought on conservation, newtechnologies, education, historical houses, management, professions,and more, all fit together? More generally, how is what one might callthe museum field organised? These are the questions addressed by theICOM International Committee for Museology (ICOFOM) since itsfoundation in 1977, in particular through its publications (ICOFOMStudy Series) which set out to inventory and synthesise the diversity of

opinions in museology. This is the context in which the plan to make


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a compendium of basic concepts in museology, coordinated by AndrDesvalles, was launched in 1992 by Martin R. Schrer, Chairman ofICOFOM. He was joined eight years later by Norma Rusconi (who

sadly passed away in 2007), and by Franois Mairesse. Over the yearsa consensus emerged that we should try to present, in some twentyterms, a panorama of the varied landscape that the museum fieldhas to offer. This work has gathered momentum over the past fewyears. Several preliminary versions of the articles were published (in

ICOFOM Study Seriesand in the review Publics & muses, which laterbecame Culture & muses). We propose here a summary of each ofthese terms, presenting different aspects of each concept in condensed

form. These are addressed and further developed in the articlesof about ten to thirty pages each, along with a dictionary of about400 terms, which will appear in theDictionary of Museologynow beingprepared for publication.

The project to compile theDictionaryis based on an internationalvision of the museum, fuelled by many exchanges within ICOFOM.The authors come from French-speaking countries, for reasons of

linguistic coherence: Belgium, Canada, France, Switzerland. Theyare Yves Bergeron, Serge Chaumier, Jean Davallon, Bernard Deloche,Andr Desvalles, Nomie Drouguet, Franois Mairesse, RaymondMontpetit and Martin R. Schrer. A first version of this work waspresented and discussed at length at the 32ndsymposium of ICOFOMin Lige and Mariemont (Belgium) in 2009.

Two points are worthy of brief discussion at this point: thecomposition of the editorial committee and the choice of the twenty-

one terms.

The French-speaking museal world

in the ICOM dialogue

Why did we choose a committee with almost exclusively Frenchspeakers? Many reasons explain this choice, most but not all ofthem practical ones. We know that the idea of an international andperfectly harmonious collective work is a utopian vision, when not

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everyone shares a common language (scientific or not). The interna-tional committees of ICOM are well aware of this situation, which, toavoid the risk of a Babel, leads them to favour one language English

todays lingua franca. Naturally, the choice of the smallest commondenominator works to the benefit of those who master the language,often to the detriment of many others less familiar with the tongueof Shakespeare, who are forced to present their thoughts only in acaricatured version. Using one of the three ICOM languages (English,French and Spanish) was unavoidable, but which one? The nationalityof the first contributors, under the direction of Andr Desvalles(who had worked for many years with Georges Henri Rivire, the first

Director of ICOM and the founder of French museology) quickly ledto the selection of French, but there were other arguments in its favour.Most of the contributors can read if not all three, then at least two ofthe ICOM languages, even though their command may be far fromperfect. We are familiar with the wealth of Anglo-American contri-butions in the museum field, but we must point out that most of theseauthors with some notable exceptions, such as the emblematic figures

of Patrick Boylan and Peter Davis, read neither French nor Spanish. Thechoice of French in connection, we hope, with a fairly good knowledgeof foreign literature, allowed us to embrace, if not all contributionsin the museum field then at least some of its aspects, which are notgenerally explored but which are very important for ICOM. We are,however, aware of the limits of our research and hope that this work

will inspire other teams to present, in their own language (German orItalian, for example), a different approach to the museum field.

On the other hand, the choice of a language has consequencesfor the structuring of thought as illustrated by a comparison of thedefinition of the museum by ICOM in 1974 and in 2007, the first beingoriginally drafted in French, the second in English. We are awarethat this volume would not have been the same in Spanish, English orGerman, both on the level of its structure and in its choice of terms,but there would also have been a certain theoretical bias! It is notsurprising that most practical guides about museums are writtenin English (such as the excellent manual edited by Patrick Boylan

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Running a Museum: A Practical Handbook1), while they are much rarerin France or in the old eastern European countries, which favour essay

writing and developing thought and theory.

It would nevertheless be too caricatural to divide museumliterature into a practical component, strictly Anglo-American, and atheoretical component, closer to the Latin way of thinking: the numberof theoretical essays written by Anglo-Saxon thinkers in museumliterature completely contradicts this picture. The fact remains thata number of differences exist, and differences are always enriching tolearn and to appreciate. We have tried to take this into consideration.

Finally it is important to pay tribute, through the choice of theFrench language, to the fundamental theoretical work continued formany years by the first two directors of ICOM, Georges Henri Rivireand Hugues de Varine, without whom a large part of the museum

work in continental Europe and in the Americas and Africa could notbe understood. A fundamental reflection on the museum world cannotoverlook its history, just as it must keep in mind that its origins wereanchored in the Enlightenment and that its transformation (that is itsinstitutionalisation) occurred at the time of the French Revolution, butalso that the theoretical foundations were laid on the other side of theBerlin wall during the 1960s when the world was still divided into twoantagonistic blocs. Although the geopolitical order was completelyoverturned nearly a quarter of a century ago, it is important thatthe museum sector should not forget its own history this would beabsurd for an instrument that passes culture on to the public and tofuture generations! However, there is still a risk of a very short memory

which retains from museum history only how to run such institutionsand how to attract visitors

A constantly evolving structure

Right from the start it was not the authors aim to write a definitivetreatise about the museum world, an ideal theoretical system cut off

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BOYLANP. (coord.), Running a Museum: A Practical Handbook, Paris, ICOM/Unesco, 2004.http//:unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001410/141067e.pdf (accessed: June 2010).

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from reality. The relatively modest formula of a list of twenty-oneterms was chosen to try to mark out a continuum of thought on themuseum field with only so many waymarks. The reader will not be

surprised to find here a number of familiar terms in common use,such as museum, collection, heritage, public, but we hope he willdiscover some meanings and aspects of these which are less familiar.He may be surprised not to find certain other terms, such as conser-vation, which is examined under preservation. We have not, however,taken up all the developments that have been made by the membersof the International Committee for Conservation (ICOM-CC), whose

work extends far beyond our pretensions in this field. Other moretheoretical terms may seem somewhat exotic to museum practitionersat first sight: museal, musealisation, museology, etc. Our aim was topresent the broadest view possible of what can be observed in themuseum world, including some common and some more unusualpractices likely to have a considerable impact on the future of museumsin the long term, for example the concept of virtual museums andcyber museums.

Let us first set out the limits of this work: we are proposing atheoretical and critical reflection on museum work in its broad sense,

which goes beyond traditional museums. We can of course begin withmuseumand try to define it. In the ICOM definition of museum, it is aninstitutionat the service of societyand its development. What do thesetwo fundamental terms mean? But above all and museum definitionsdo not immediately answer this question why do museums exist? We

know that the museum world is linked to the concept of heritage, but itis far larger than this. How can we suggest this wider context? By theconcept of museal(or the museal field), which is the theoretical fielddealing with these issues, in the same way that politics are the field ofpolitical reflection, etc. The critical and theoretical examination of themuseal field is museology, whereas the practical aspect is museography.For each one of these terms there are often not one but severaldefinitions which have altered over time. The different interpretations

of each of these terms are examined here.

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INTRODUCTION

The museum world has evolved a great deal over the years, bothin terms of its functions and through its materiality and the mainelements upon which its work is built. In practical terms, museums

work with objects which form their collections. The human elementis obviously fundamental to understanding the way museums work,as much for the staff working within the museum theprofessionals,and their relation to ethics as for thepublicfor whom the museumis intended. What are the functions of museums? They carry outan activity that can be described as a process of musealisation andvisualisation. More generally, we speak of museal functions, whichhave been described in different ways over time. We have based our

research on one of the best known models, crafted at the end of the1980s by the Reinwardt Academie in Amsterdam, which recognisesthree functions:preservation(which includes the acquisition, conser-vation and management of collections), research and communication.Communication itself includes educationand exhibition, undoubtedlythe two most visible functions of museums. In this regard it seemed tous that the educational function had grown sufficiently over the pastfew decades for the term mediationto be added to it. One of the majordifferences that struck us between earlier museum work and today isthe growth in the importance attached to notions of management, so

we thought that because of its specificities, it should be treated as amuseum function. The same is probably true for museum architecture,

which has also grown in importance to the point where it sometimesupsets the balance between other museum functions.

How does one define a museum? By a conceptual approach

(museum, heritage, institution, society, ethics, museal), by theoreticaland practical considerations (museology, museography), by its functions(object, collection, musealisation), through its players (professionals,public), or by the activities which ensue from it (preservation, research,communication, education, exhibition, mediation, management,architecture)? There are many possible points of view which have tobe compared to better understand the museum phenomenon, which israpidly developing, the recent evolutions of which cannot leave anyone

indifferent.


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In the early 1980s the museum world experienced a wave ofunprecedented changes: having long been considered elitist andunobtrusive, museums were now, as it were, coming out, flaunting a

taste for spectacular architecture, mounting large exhibitions that wereshowy and hugely popular and intending to become part of a certainstyle of consumerism. The popularity of museums has not failed since,and they have doubled in number in the space of little more than ageneration, while astonishing new building projects spring up fromShanghai to Abu Dhabi, at the dawn of the new geopolitical changespromised in the future. One generation later the museum field isstill changing. Even if homo touristicus seems to have replaced the

visitor as the main target of museum marketing, we can still wonderabout their prospects and ask: is there still a future for museums as

we know them? Is the civilisation of material goods crystallised bymuseums undergoing radical change? We cannot claim to answersuch questions here, but we hope that those who are interested in thefuture of museums in general or, more practically, in the future of theirown institution, will find in these few pages some elements which may

enrich their thoughts.

Franois Mairesse and Andr Desvalles

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ARCHITECTURE

n.Equivalent in French: architecture; Spa-

nish: arquitectura; German: Architektur; Ita-

lian: architettura; Portuguese: arquitectura

(Brazil: arquitetura).

(Museum) architecture is defined asthe art of designing and installingor building a space that will be usedto house specific museum functions,more particularly the functions ofexhibition and display, preventiveand remedial active conservation,study, management, and receiving

visitors.Since the invention of the modernmuseum, from the end of the 18thcen-tury and the beginning of the 19th,

while old heritage buildings werealso being reconverted for museumuse, a specific architecture evolvedthat was linked to the requirements ofpreserving, researching and commu-

nicating collections through perma-nent or temporary exhibitions. Thisarchitecture is evident in the earliestmuseum buildings as much as in themost contemporary ones. The archi-tectural vocabulary has itself influen-ced the development of the idea of themuseum. Thus the form of the temple

with a cupola and columned porticobecame established along with thegallery, conceived as one of the main

models for fine arts museums, andby extension gave rise to the namesgallery, galerie, galleria, and Galeriein France, Italy and Germany and inAnglo-American countries.

Although the form of museumbuildings was often focused on safe-guarding collections, it evolved asnew functions in museum work weredeveloped. So it was that after see-king solutions for better lighting ofthe exhibits (Soufflot, Brbion, 1778;

J.-B. Le Brun, 1787), for distributingthe collections better throughout themuseum building (Mechel, 1778-1784), and for structuring the exhi-bition space better (Leo von Klenze,1816-1830), at the beginning of the20thcentury museum people realisedthat the permanent exhibitions mustbe reduced. To this end they createdstorage areas, either by sacrificingexhibition rooms or by creating spacein the basement, or by building newstructures. In addition, every effort

was made to make the setting forthe exhibits as neutral as possible even if this meant sacrificing all orpart of the existing historical dcor.The invention of electricity greatlyfacilitated these improvements andallowed the lighting systems to becompletely revised.


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New functions that emerged inthe second half of the 20thcenturyled to major architectural changes:the increase in the number of tem-

porary exhibitions led to a differentdistribution of collections betweenthe permanent exhibition and sto-rage spaces; the development of visi-tor facilities, educational workshopsand rest areas, in particular the crea-tion of large multi-purpose spaces;the development of bookshops, res-taurants and shops for selling items

relating to the exhibitions. But at thesame time, the decentralisation byregrouping and by subcontractingsome museum operations requiredthe building or installation of specia-lised autonomous buildings: firstly,restoration workshops and laborato-ries which could specialise while ser-ving several museums, then storage

areas located away from the exhibi-tion spaces.

The architect is the person whodesigns and draws the plans forthe building and who directs itsconstruction. More broadly spea-king, the person who designs theenvelope around the collections,the staff and the public. Seen fromthis perspective, architecture affectsall the elements connected with thespace and light within the museum,aspects which might seem to be ofsecondary importance but whichprove to be determining factors forthe meaning of the display (arrange-ment in chronological order, visibilityfrom all angles, neutral background,etc.). Museum buildings are thus

designed and built according to anarchitectural programme drawn upby the scientific and administrativeheads of the establishment. Howe-

ver, the decisions about definition ofthe programme and the limits of thearchitects intervention are not alwaysdistributed in this way. Architecture,as art or the method for building andinstalling a museum, can be seen asa complete oeuvre, one that integra-tes the entire museum mechanism.This approach, sometimes advocated

by architects, can only be envisagedwhen the architectural programmeencompasses all the museographicalissues, which is often far from beingthe case.

It can happen that the program-mes given to the architects includethe interior design, allowing thelatter if no distinction is made

between the areas for general useand those for museographical use to give free rein to their creati-vity, sometimes to the detriment ofthe museum. Some architects havespecialised in staging exhibitionsand have become stage designers orexhibition designers. Those who cancall themselves museographers, or

specialists in museum practice arerare, unless their practices includethis specific type of competence.

The present difficulties of museumarchitecture lie in the conflict whichlogically exists between, on the onehand, the ambitions of the architect(who will find himself in the spotli-ght due to the international visibilityof this type of building today), and on


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the other hand, the people connectedwith the preservation and displayingof the collections; finally, the comfortof the different visitors must be taken

into account. This issue has alreadybeen highlighted by the architectAuguste Perret: For a ship to float,should it not be designed quite diffe-rently from a locomotive? The speci-ficity of the museum building falls tothe architect, who will be inspired byits function to create the organism.

(Perret, 1931). A look at present dayarchitectural creations shows that,even if most architects take the requi-rements of the museum programme

into consideration, many continue tofavour the beautiful object over theexcellent tool.

DERIVATIVES: ARCHITECTURALPROGRAMME.

CORRELATED:DCOR, EXHIBITIONDESIGN,INTERIORDESIGNER, LIGHTING, MUSEOGRAPHICPROGRAMME, MUSEOGRAPHY.


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CCOLLECTIONn. Equivalent in French: collection; Spanish:

coleccin; German: Sammlung, Kollektion; Ita-

lian: collezione, raccolta; Portuguese: coleco

(Brazil: coleo).

Generally speaking, a collectionmay be defined as a set of materialor intangible objects (works, arte-facts, mentefacts, specimens, archivedocuments, testimonies etc.) whichan individual or an establishmenthas assembled, classified, selected,and preserved in a safe setting and

usually displays to a smaller or largeraudience, according to whether thecollection is public or private.

To constitute a real collection,these sets of objects must form a(relatively) coherent and meaningful

whole. It is important to distinguishbetween a collection and a fonds, anarchival term referring to a collec-tion from a single source, which dif-fers from a museum collection by itsorganic nature, and indicates archivaldocuments of all kinds which havebeen automatically gathered, crea-ted and/or accumulated and used bya physical person or a family in itsactivities or its functions. (Bureauof Canadian Archivists, 1992). Inthe case of a fonds, unlike a museum

collection, there is no selection and

rarely any intention to build a cohe-rent whole.

Whether material or intangi-ble, a collection is at the heart ofthe museums activities. Museums

have a duty to acquire, preserveand promote their collections as acontribution to the safeguarding ofthe natural, cultural and scientificheritage (ICOM Code of Ethics,2006, article 2). Without saying asmuch explicitly, ICOMs definitionof a museum remains essentially tiedto this principle, confirming Louis

Raus long-standing opinion: Weunderstand that museums are madefor collections and that they must bebuilt as it were from inside to out-side, shaping the container accordingto the content (Rau, 1908). Thisconcept no longer corresponds tosome models of museums which donot own collections, or which have

collections that are not at the heartof their scientific work. The conceptof collection is also one of those most

widely used in the museum world,even if we have favoured the notionof museum object, as will be seenbelow. However, one can enumeratethree possible connotations of thisconcept, which varies according to

two factors: on the one hand, the


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institutional nature of the collection,and on the other hand, the materialor intangible nature of the collectionmedia.

1. Frequent attempts have beenmade to differentiate between amuseum collection and other types ofcollection because the term collectionis so commonly used. Generallyspeaking (since this is not the casefor every museum) the museumcollection or the museum col-lections are both the source andthe purpose of the activities of themuseum perceived as an institution.Collections can thus be defined asthe collected objects of a museum,acquired and preserved because oftheir potential value as examples, asreference material, or as objects ofaesthetic or educational importance(Burcaw, 1997). We can thus referto the museum phenomenon as theinstitutionalisation of a private col-lection. We must note, however, thatif the curator or the museum staffare not collectors, collectors havealways had close ties with curators.Museums should have an acquisitionpolicy as emphasised by ICOM,

which also mentions a collectionpolicy museums select, purchase,assemble, receive. The French verbcollectionneris rarely used because itis too closely linked to the actions ofthe private collector and to its deri-vatives (Baudrillard, 1968), that is tosay collectionism and accumulation,known pejoratively as collectionitis.From this perspective the collectionis seen as both the result and the

source of a scientific programme,the purpose of which is acquisitionand research, beginning with thematerial and the intangible evidenceof man and his environment. Thiscriterion, however, does not diffe-rentiate between the museum andthe private collection, in so far asthe latter can be assembled with ascientific objective, even though themuseum may acquire a private col-lection which has been built withvery little intention to serve science.This is when the institutional natureof the museum dominates whendefining the term. According to JeanDavallon, in a museum the objectsare always parts of systems and cate-gories (Davallon, 1992). Amongthe systems relating to a collection,besides the written inventory whichis a basic requirement of a museumcollection, it is just as essential toadopt a classification system whichdescribes and can also rapidly findany item among the thousands ormillions of objects (taxonomy, forexample, is the science of classifyingliving organisms). Modern classi-fication systems have been greatlyinfluenced by information techno-logy, but documenting collectionsremains an activity requiring speci-fic and rigorous knowledge, basedon building up a thesaurus of termsdescribing the relations between thedifferent categories of objects.

2. The definition of collection canalso be viewed from a more general

perspective to include private col-lectors and museums, but taking


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its assumed materiality as a startingpoint. Since this collection is madeof material objects as was the casevery recently for the ICOM defini-

tion of museums the collection isidentified by the place where is loca-ted. Krysztof Pomian defines thecollection as any group of naturalor artificial objects that are held tem-porarily or permanently outside thecircuit of economic activity, subjectto special protection in an enclosedplace designed for this purpose, and

displayed on view (Pomian, 1987).Pomian thus defines the collectionby its essentially symbolic value, inso far as the object has lost its use-fulness or its value as an item forexchange and has become a carrierof meaning (semiophore or carrierof significance). (see Object).

3. The recent development ofmuseums in particular the reco-gnition of intangible heritage hasemphasised the more general natureof collections while also raising newchallenges. Intangible collections (tra-ditional knowledge, rituals and mythsin ethnology, ephemeral gestures andperformances in contemporary art)have led to the development of newsystems for acquisition. The materialcomposition of objects alone some-times becomes secondary, and thedocumentation of the collecting pro-cess which has always been impor-tant in archaeology and ethnology now becomes the most importantinformation. This information is notonly part of research, but also partof communicating to the public.

Museum collections have alwaysappeared relevant provided that theyare defined in relation to the accom-panying documentation, and also

by the work that results from them.This evolution has led to a much

wider meaning of the collection asa gathering of objects, each preser-ving its individuality, and assembledintentionally according to a specificlogic. This latter meaning, the mostopen, includes toothpick collectionsaccumulated as well as traditional

museum collections, but also col-lections of oral history, memories orscientific experiments.

DERIVATIVES: COLLECT, COLLECTION, COLLECTOR,

COLLECTIONMANAGEMENT.

CORRELATED: ACQUISITION, CATALOGUE,CATALOGUING, CONSERVATION, DEACCESSION,

DOCUMENTATION, EXHIBIT, EXHIBITION, PRESERVATION,

RESEARCH, RESTORATION, RETURN, RESTITUTION, STUDY.

COMMUNICATION

n. Equivalent in French: communication;

Spanish: comunicacin; German: Kommuni-

kation; Italian: communicazione, Portuguese:

communicao.

Communication (C) is the actionof conveying information betweenone or several emitters (E) and oneor several receivers (R) through achannel (the ECR model, Lasswell1948). The concept is so general thatit is not limited to human processesof bearing information of a semanticnature, but is also encountered inrelation to machines and to animalsor social life (Wiener 1949). The


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term has two usual connotationswhich can be found to differentdegrees in museums, according to

whether the phenomenon is recipro-

cal (ECR) or not (ECR).In the first case the communicationis called interactive, while in thesecond it is unilateral and spreadout in time. When communication isunilateral and operates in time, andnot just in space, it is called transmis-sion(Debray, 2000).

In the museum context commu-

nication emerges both as the pre-sentation of the results of researchundertaken into the collections(catalogues, articles, conferences,exhibitions) and as the provision ofinformation about the objects in thecollections (the permanent exhibi-tion and the information connected

with it). This interpretation sees the

exhibition both as an integral partof the research process and as anelement in a more general commu-nication system including for exam-ple, scientific publications. This isthe rationale which prevailed in thePRC (PreservationResearchCom-munication) system proposed by theReinwardt Academie in Amsterdam,

which includes under communi-cation the functions of exhibition,publication, and education fulfilledby the museum.

1. Application of the term com-munication to museums is notobvious, in spite of the use made ofit by ICOM in its definition of themuseum until 2007. This definition

states that a museum acquires,conserves, researches, communicates

and exhibits the tangible and intan-gible heritage of humanity and itsenvironment for the purposes of edu-cation, study and enjoyment. Until

the second half of the 20thcenturythe principle function of a museum

was to preserve amassed culturalor natural treasures, and possiblyto display these, without explicitlyexpressing any intention to commu-nicate, that is to convey a messageor information to a receiving public.If in the 1990s, people were asking

themselves whether the museumwas really a medium (Davallon,1992; Rasse, 1999) this was becausethe museums communication func-tion did not appear obvious to eve-ryone. On the one hand, the idea of amuseum message appeared only rela-tively late, with thematic exhibitionsthat were principally aimed at educa-

tion; on the other hand, the receivingpublic remained a great unknownfor a long time, and it is only quiterecently that museum visitor studiesand visitor surveys have developed.Seen from the perspective favouredin the ICOM definition of museums,museum communication wouldappear to be the sharing, with diffe-rent publics, of the objects in the col-lection and the information resultingfrom research into them.

2. We can define the specificityof communication as practised bymuseums in two points: (1) it is mostoften unilateral, that is, without thepossibility of reply from the recei-ving public, whose extreme passivity

was rightly emphasised by McLuhanand Parker (1969, 2008). This does


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not mean that the visitor is not perso-nally involved (whether interactivelyor not) in this type of communication(Hooper-Greenhill, 1991); (2) it is not

essentially verbal, nor can it really becompared with reading a text (Daval-lon, 1992), but it works through thesensory presentation of the objectsexhibited: The museum as a com-munication system, then, dependson the non-verbal language of theobjects and observable phenomena.It is primarily a visual language, and

at times an aural or tactile language.So intense is its communicative powerthat ethical responsibility in its usemust be a primary concern of themuseum worker (Cameron, 1968).

3. More generally speaking, com-munication gradually became thedriving force of museum operationstowards the end of the 20thcentury.

This means that museums communi-cate in a specific way (using their ownmethods), but also by using all othercommunication techniques, possiblyat the risk of investing less in whatis most central to their work. Manymuseums the largest ones havea public relations department, or apublic programmes department,

which develops activities aimed atcommunicating to and reachingvarious sectors of the public that aremore or less targeted, and involvingthem through traditional or inno-vative activities (events, gatherings,publications, extramural activities,etc.), In this context the very largesums invested by museums in theirinternet sites are a significant part ofthe museums communication logic.

Consequences include the many digi-tal exhibitions or cyber-exhibitions(a field in which a museum may havegenuine expertise), on-line cata-

logues, more or less sophisticateddiscussion forums, and forays intosocial networks (YouTube, Twitter,Facebook, etc.).

4. The discussion regarding thecommunication methods used by themuseum raises the question of trans-mission. The chronic lack of interac-tivity in museum communication has

led us to ask ourselves how we canmake the visitor more active, whileseeking his participation (McLuhanand Parker 1969, 2008). We could,of course, remove the labels or eventhe story line so that the public couldbuild their own rationale as theymove through the exhibition, butthis would not make the communi-

cation interactive. The only placeswhere a degree of interactivity hasbeen developed (such as the Palais dela Dcouverte, the Cit des sciences etde lindustriein Paris, or the Explo-ratorium in San Francisco) seem clo-ser to amusement parks that developfun attractions. It appears neverthe-less that the real task of the museum

is closer to transmission, understoodas unilateral communication overtime so that each person can assimi-late the cultural knowledge whichconfirms his humanity and placeshim in society.

CORRELATED: CULTURALACTION, EXHIBITION,EDUCATION, DISSEMINATION, INTERPRETATION, MEDIA,

MEDIATION, TRANSMISSION, PUBLICAWARENESS, PUBLIC

RELATIONS.


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EDUCATION

n. (Latin: educatio, educere, to guide, to lead

out of) Equivalent in French: ducation; Spa-

nish: educacin; German: Erziehung, Museums-

pdagogik; Italian: istruzione; Portuguese:

educao.

Generally speaking, education meansthe training and development ofhuman beings and their capacities byimplementing the appropriate meansto do so. Museum education can bedefined as a set of values, concepts,knowledge and practices aimed atensuring the visitors development;it is a process of acculturation whichrelies on pedagogical methods, deve-lopment, fulfilment, and the acquisi-tion of new knowledge.

1. The concept educationshould bedefined in relation to other terms, thefirst of these being instruction, whichconcerns the mind and is unders-

tood as knowledge acquired by whichone becomes skilful and learned(Toraille, 1985). Education relatesto both the heart and the mind, andis understood as knowledge whichone aims to update in a relationship

which sets knowledge in motion todevelop understanding and indivi-dual reinvestment. Education is theaction of developing moral, physical,intellectual and scientific values, and

knowledge. Knowledge, know-how,beingand knowing how to beare fourmajor components in the educatio-nal field. The term education comesfrom the Latin educere, to lead out

of (i.e. out of childhood) which assu-mes a dimension of active accompa-niment in the transmission process.It is connected with the notion ofawakening, which aims to arousecuriosity, to lead to questioning anddevelop the capacity to think. Thepurpose of informal education is thusto develop the senses and awareness;

it is a developmentprocess which pre-supposes change and transformationrather than conditioning and incul-cation, notions it tends to oppose.The shaping of it therefore happensvia instruction which conveys use-ful knowledge, and education whichmakes this knowledge transformableand able to be reinvested by the indi-vidual to further the process of hisbecoming a human being.

2. In a more specifically museumcontext, education is the mobilisa-tion of knowledge stemming fromthe museum and aimed at the deve-lopment and the fulfilment of indi-viduals, through the assimilation ofthis knowledge, the development ofnew sensitivities and the realisation ofnew experiences. Museum pedagogy

E


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is a theoretical and methodologicalframework at the service of educatio-nal activities in a museum environ-ment, activities the main purpose of

which is to impart knowledge (infor-mation, skills and attitudes) to thevisitor (Allard and Boucher, 1998).

Learningis defined as an act of per-ception, interaction and assimilationof an object by an individual, whichleads to an acquisition of knowledgeor the development of skills or atti-tudes (Allard and Boucher, 1998).

Learning relates to the individualway in which a visitor assimilates thesubject. With regard to the science ofeducation or intellectual training, if

pedagogy refers more to childhoodand is part of upbringing, the notionof didacticis considered as the theoryof dissemination of knowledge, the

way to present knowledge to an

individual whatever his or her age.Education is wider, and aims at theautonomy of the individual.

We can mention other relatedconcepts which shade and enrichthese different approaches. Theconcepts of museum activities orcultural action, like that of interpreta-tionor mediation, are often invokedto describe the work carried out withthe public in the museums effortsat transmission. I am teaching yousays a teacher, I am allowing you toknow says a mediator (Caillet andLehalle, 1995) (see Mediation). Thisdistinction aims to reflect the diffe-rence between the act of training,and a process of awareness appea-ling to an individual who will finish

the work according to the extentto which he assimilates the contentbefore him. Training assumesconstraint and obligation, whereas

the museum context supposes free-dom (Schouten, 1987). In Germanythe term pedagogy, or Pdagogik isused more frequently, and of the

word used to describe educationwithin museums is Museumspdago-gik. This refers to all the activitiesthat a museum may offer, regardlessof the age, education or social bac-

kground of the public concerned.DERIVATIVES: ADULTEDUCATION, EDUCATIONAL

SCIENCES, EDUCATIONALSERVICES, LIFE-LONG

EDUCATION, INFORMALORNON-FORMALEDUCATION,

MID-CAREEREDUCATION, MUSEUMEDUCATION, POPULAR

EDUCATION.

CORRELATED: AWAKENING, CULTURALACTION,CULTURALACTIVITIES, DEVELOPMENT, DIDACTIC,

INTERNSHIP, INSTRUCTION, MEDIATION, PEDAGOGY,

TEACHING, TRAINING, TRANSMISSION, UPBRINGING.

ETHICS

n. (From the Greek ethos: customs, charac-

ter) Equivalent French: thique; Spanish:

etica; German: Ethik; Italian: ethica; Portu-

guese: tica.

Generally speaking, ethics are a phi-losophical discipline in philosophythat deals with identifying values

which will guide both private andpublic human conduct. Far frombeing a simple synonym of morality,as is currently believed, ethics is theopposite in so far as the choice ofvalues is not imposed by a specificset of rules, but rather freely chosenby the individual taking action. This


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distinction is essential because of itsconsequences for museums, sincethe museum is an institution, that isto say a phenomenon which exists by

common agreement and which canbe altered.

Within the museum, ethics canbe defined as the discussion processaimed at identifying the basic valuesand principles on which the work ofthe museum relies. Ethics lead to thedrawing up of principles set out inmuseums codes of ethics, of whichthe ICOM code is one example.

1. Ethics are aimed at guiding amuseums conduct. In a moral visionof the world, reality is subject to amoral order which determines theplace occupied by each person. Thisorder constitutes a perfection towards

which each being must strive by ful-filling his function perfectly, and thisis known as virtue (Plato, Cicero,etc.). By contrast, the ethical vision ofthe world is based on a chaotic anddisorganised world, left to chanceand without any fixed bearings.Faced with this universal disorder,individuals are the only judge of whatis best for them (Nietzsche, Deleuze);they alone must decide for themsel-ves what is good or bad. Betweenthese two radical positions that aremoral order and ethical disorder, amiddle road is conceivable in so faras it is possible for people to agreefreely among themselves to recognisecommon values (such as the principleof respect for human beings). Againthis is an ethical point of view whichon the whole governs the way modern

democracies determine values. Thisfundamental distinction still influen-ces the division between two typesof museums or two ways of operating

even today. Some very traditionalmuseums such as fine arts museumsseem to follow a pre-establishedorder: their collections appear tobe sacred and define a model ofconduct by different actors (curatorsand visitors), and a crusading spiritin the way they carry out their tasks.On the other hand, some museums,

perhaps more attentive to the prac-tical reality of peoples lives, do notconsider themselves subject to abso-lute values and continuously reas-sess them. These may be museumsmore in touch with real life, suchas anthropology museums, strivingto grasp an ethnic reality which isoften fluctuating, or so-called social

museums for which questions andpractical choices (political or social)are more important than the religionof collections.

2. While the distinction betweenethical and moral is quite clear inFrench and Spanish, the term inEnglish is more open to confusion(thique in French can be trans-lated as ethic or also as moral inEnglish). Thus the English versionof the ICOM Code of Ethics (2006)in appears in French as Code dedontologie (Cdigo de deontologain Spanish). The vision expressed inthe code is, however clearly prescrip-tive and normative (and very similarto that expressed in the codes of theUK Museums Association and the


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American Association of Museums).It is laid out in eight chapters whichidentify basic measures to allow the(supposedly) harmonious develo-

pment of the museum institutionwithin society: (1) Museums takecare of the protection, documenta-tion and promotion of the naturaland cultural heritage of humanity(institutional, physical and financialresources needed to open a museum).(2) Museums which maintain collec-tions hold them in trust for the bene-

fit of society and its development(issues of acquisition and deaccessionof collections). (3) Museums hold pri-mary evidence for building up andfurthering knowledge (deontology ofresearch or of collecting evidence).(4) Museums provide opportunitiesfor the appreciation, understandingand management of the natural and

cultural heritage (deontology of exhi-biting). (5) Museums hold resourcesthat provide opportunities for otherservices and benefits to the public(issues of expertise). (6) Museums

work in close collaboration withthe communities from which theircollections originate as well as withthose that they serve (issues of cultu-

ral property). (7) Museums operatein a legal manner (respect for therule of law). (8) Museums operate ina professional manner (professionalconduct and conflicts of interest).

3. The third impact on museumsof the concept of ethics is its contri-bution to the definition of museologyas museal ethics. From this pers-pective, museology is not a science

in development (as proposed byStrnsk), because the study of thebirth and the evolution of museumsdoes not follow the methods of both

human and natural sciences in so faras it is an institution that is mallea-ble and can be reshaped. However,as a tool of social life, museumsdemand that endless choices aremade to determine the use to whichthey will be put. And precisely here,the choice of the ends to which thisbody of methods may be subjected

is none other than a choice of ethics.In this sense museology can be defi-ned as museal ethics, because it isethics which decide what a museumshould be and the ends to which itshould be used. This is the ethicalcontext in which it was possible forICOM to build a deontological codefor the management of museums,

a deontology which constitutes acode of ethics common to a socio-professional category and serving itas a paralegal framework.

CORRELATED: MORAL, VALUES, DEONTOLOGY.

EXHIBITION

n. (early 15c., from O.Fr. exhibicion, fromLatin exhibitionem, nom. exhibitio, from exhi-

bere to show, display, lit. to hold out, from

ex- out and habere to hold) Equivalent

French: (from the Latin expositio, gen. espoi-

tionis: expos, explication) exposition; Spa-

nish: exposicin; German: Austellung; Italian:

esposizione, mostra; Portuguese: exposio,

exhibio.

The term exhibition refers tothe result of the action of displaying


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something, as well as the whole ofthat which is displayed, and the place

where it is displayed. Let us consi-der a definition of the exhibition

borrowed from outside and not draf-ted by ourselves. This term along

with its abbreviated term exhibit means the act of displaying things tothe public, the objects displayed (theexhibits), and the area where this dis-play takes place (Davallon, 1986).Borrowed from the Latin expositio,the French term exposition (in old

French exposicun, at the beginningof the 12th century) first had at thesame time the figurative meaning ofan explanation, an expos, the lite-ral meaning of an exposition (of anabandoned child, still used in Spa-nish in the term expsito), and thegeneral meaning of display. Fromthere (in the 16thcentury) the French

word exposition had the meaningof presenting (merchandise), then(in the 17th century) it could meanabandonment, initial presentation(to explain a work) or situation (ofa building). In 18th century Francethe word exhibition, as a display ofart works, had the same meaning inFrench as in English, but the French

use of the word exhibitionto refer tothe presentation of art later gave wayto exposition. On the other hand, the

word exposition in English means(1) the setting forth of a meaning orintent, or (2) a trade show, thus pre-serving the earlier meanings of theFrench. Today both the French expo-sitionand the English exhibitionhave

the same meaning, which applies to

the setting out of exhibits of all kindsin a space for public viewing; also theexhibits themselves, and the space in

which the show takes place. From

this viewpoint, each of these mea-nings defines somewhat differentelements.

1. The exhibition, understood asthe container or the place where thecontents are on display (just as themuseum appears both as a functionand as a building) is characterisednot by the architecture of this spacebut by the place itself. Even thoughthe exhibition appears to be one ofthe characteristics of museums, exhi-bition thus has a far broader reachbecause it can also be set up by aprofit-making organisation (market,store, art gallery). It can be organisedin an enclosed space, but also in theopen air (in a park or a street) or insitu, that is to say without moving theobjects from their original sites natu-ral, historical or archaeological sites.Seen from this perspective exhibi-tion areas are defined not only by thecontainer and the contents but alsoby the users visitors and museumprofessionals that is to say the peo-ple who enter this specific area andshare in the general experience of theother visitors at the exhibition. Theplace of the exhibition is thus a spe-cific place of social interaction, theeffects of which can be assessed. Evi-dence of this is provided by the deve-lopment of visitor studies, and thegrowth of a specific field of researchconnected with the communicationaspect of the place and with all the


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interactions specific to this place, orto all the images and ideas that thisplace might evoke.

2. As a result of the act of dis-

playing, exhibitions are seen todayas one of the main functions of themuseum which, according to thelatest definition by ICOM, acquires,conserves, researches, communicatesand exhibits the tangible and intan-gible heritage of humanity Accor-ding to the PRC model (ReinwardtAcademie), exhibition is part of themuseums more general function ofcommunication, which also includespolicies for education and publica-tion. From this point of view exhi-bitions are a fundamental featureof museums, in so far as these provethemselves to be excellent places forsensory perception, by presentingobjects to view (that is, visualisation),monstration (the act of demonstra-ting proof), ostention (initially theholding up of sacred objects for ado-ration). The visitor is in the presenceof concrete elements which can bedisplayed for their own importance(pictures, relics), or to evoke conceptsor mental constructs (transubstantia-tion, exoticism). If museums can bedefined as places of musealisationand visualisation, exhibitions thenappear as the explanatory visualisa-tion of absent facts through objects,and methods used to display these,used as signs (Schrer, 2003). Show-cases and picture rails are artifices

which serve to separate the realworld and the imaginary world ofmuseums. They serve no other role

than to mark objectivity, to guaran-tee distance (creating a distancing,as Bertolt Brecht said of the theatre)and let us know that we are in ano-

ther world, a world of the artificial,of the imaginary.

3. Exhibitions, when they areunderstood as the entirety of theobjects displayed, include musealia,museum objects or real things,along with substitutes (casts, copies,photos, etc.), display material (displaytools, such as show cases, partitionsor screens), and information tools(such as texts, films or other multi-media), and utilitarian signage. Fromthis perspective the exhibition worksas a specific communication system(McLuhan and Parker, 1969; Came-ron, 1968) based on real thingsand accompanied by other artefacts

which allow the visitor to better iden-tify their significance. In this context,each of the elements present in theexhibition (museum objects, substi-tutes, texts, etc.) can be defined as anexhibit. In such a situation it is not aquestion of rebuilding reality, whichcannot be relocated in the museum(a real thing in a museum is alreadya substitute for reality and an exhi-bition can only offer images whichare analogous with that reality). Theexhibition communicates realitythrough this mechanism. Exhibits inan exhibition work as signs (semio-tics), and the exhibition is presentedas a communication process whichis most often unilateral, incompleteand interpretable in ways that areoften very different. The term exhi-


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bition as used here differs from thatof presentation, in so far as the firstterm corresponds, if not to a dis-course, physical and didactic, then at

least to a large complex of items thathave been put on view, whereas thesecond evokes the showing of goodsin a market or department store,

which could be passive, even if inboth cases a specialist (display desi-gner, exhibition designer) is neededto reach the desired level of quality.These two levels presentation and

exhibition explain the differencebetween exhibition design and exhi-bit display. In the first case the desi-gner starts with the space and usesthe exhibits to furnish the space,

while in the second he starts withthe exhibits and strives to find thebest way to express them, the bestlanguage to make the exhibits speak.

These differences of expression havevaried during different periods,according to tastes and styles, andaccording to the relative importanceof the people installing the space(decorators, exhibition designers,display designers, stage designers),but the modes of exhibition also varyaccording to the disciplines and the

objective of the show. The answersto the questions regarding to showand to communicate cover a vastfield allowing us to sketch the his-tory and typology of exhibitions.We can imagine the media that wereused (objects, texts, moving images,environments, digital informationtechnology, mono-media and multi-

media exhibitions); according to

whether or not the exhibition wasof a profit-making nature (researchexhibition, blockbuster, stage showexhibition, commercial exhibition),

and according to the general conceptof the museographer (exhibit designfor the object, for the point of view orapproach, etc.). And we note that theseeing visitor has become more andmore involved in this great range ofpossibilities.

4. The French words expositionand exhibition differ, in so far as

exhibitionnow has a pejorative mea-ning. Towards 1760 the word exhi-bitioncould be used in French andin English to indicate an exhibitionof paintings, but the meaning of the

word has been degraded in French toindicate activities that are clearly forshow (sport exhibitions), or indecentin the eyes of the society where the

exhibition takes place. This is thecase for the derivatives exhibitionistand exhibitionism in English, whichrefer even more specifically to inde-cent acts. Criticism of exhibitionsis often the most virulent when ittakes the approach that the exhibi-tion is not what it should be and byassociation, what a museum should

do but has become a hawker show,far too commercial, or offensive tothe public.

5. The development of new tech-nologies and computer-aided designhave popularised the creation ofmuseums on the internet with exhi-bitions that can only be visited onscreen or via digital media. Rather

than using the term virtual exhibi-


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tion (the exact meaning of whichwould be a possible exhibition, thatis to say a potential reply to the ques-tion of showing), we prefer the

terms digital or cyber exhibition torefer to these particular exhibitionsseen on the internet. They open uppossibilities (collecting objects, new

ways of display, analysis, etc) thattraditional exhibitions of materialobjects do not always have. Whilefor the time being they are hardlycompetition for exhibitions of real

objects in traditional museums, itis not impossible that their develo-pment will affect the methods cur-rently used by museums.

DERIVATIVES: AGRICULTURALEXHIBITION,COMMERCIALEXHIBITION, CYBEREXHIBITION, EXHIBIT,EXHIBITIONCATALOGUE, EXHIBITIONCURATOR, EXHIBITIONDESIGN, EXHIBITIONDESIGNER, EXHIBITIONGALLERIES,EXHIBITION

PRACTICE

,EXHIBITION

SCENARIO

,EXHIBITION

STUDIES, EXHIBITOR, INSITUEXHIBITION, INTERNATIONALEXHIBITION, NATIONALEXHIBITION, OPENAIREXHIBITION,PERMANENTEXHIBITION(ALONGORSHORTTERMEXHIBITION), TEMPORARYEXHIBITION, TRAVELLINGEXHIBITION, TOEXHIBIT, UNIVERSALEXHIBITION.

CORRELATED: COMMUNICATION, DECORATOR,DEMONSTRATION, DIDACTICOBJECT, DIORAMA, DISPLAY,DISPLAYTOOL, EXPOSITION, FAIR, FICTIONALREALITY,GALLERY, HANGING, INSTALLATION, INSTALLINGSPACE,

MEANS, MECHANISM, MEDIA, MESSAGE, METAPHOR,MONSTRATION, OPENING, OSTENTION, PICTURERAIL,POSTING, PRESENTATION, PROJECTMANAGER, REALITY,REPRESENTATION, STAGESETTING, SHOW, SHOWCASE,SOCIALSPACE, SPACE, STAGEDESIGN, VISUALISATION.


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HERITAGE

n. Equivalent in French:patrimoine; Spanish:

patrimonio; German: Natur- und Kulturerbe;

Italian:patrimonio; Portuguese:patrimnio.

The notion of heritage (patrimonium)in Roman law referred to all theassets received by succession, assets

which, according to law, are inhe-rited by children from fathers andmothers; family assets, as opposedto assets acquired since marriage. Byanalogy, two metaphorical uses wereborn later. (1) Recently the expression

genetic heritage to describe thehereditary features of a living being;(2) earlier the concept of culturalheritage seems to have appearedin the 17th century (Leibniz, 1690)before being taken up again bythe French Revolution (Puthod deMaisonrouge, 1790); Boissy dAn-glas, 1794). The term, however, hasmany more or less broad meanings.Because of its etymology, the termand the notion that it infers havespread more widely in Romancelanguages since the 1930s (Desval-les, 1995) than in the Anglo-Saxon

world, which favoured the term pro-perty (goods) before adopting theterm heritage in around the 1950s,

while differentiating it from legacy.In the same way the Italian govern-

ment, while one of the first to reco-gnise the termpatrimonio, continuedto use the expression beni culturali(cultural goods). The idea of heritageis inevitably tied to that of potential

loss or disappearance as was thecase after the French Revolution and at the same time to the will topreserve these goods. Heritage canbe recognised by the fact that its lossmeans a sacrifice and that its conser-vation also presupposes sacrifices(Babelon et Chastel, 1980).

1. Starting with the French Revo-

lution and throughout the 19th

cen-tury, heritage essentially referred toimmovable property and was gene-rally confused with the idea of his-torical monuments. A monument, inthe original sense of the word, is aconstruction intended to perpetuatethe memory of somebody or something. Alos Riegl identified three

categories of monuments: thosethat were conceived intentionallyto commemorate a specific time ora complex event in the past (inten-tional monuments), those chosenby subjective preferences (histori-cal monuments), and finally all thecreations of mankind, independentof their significance or their origi-nal intent (ancient monuments)(Riegl, 1903). According to the prin-

H


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ciples of history, history of art, andarchaeology, the last two catego-ries essentially belong to the cate-gory of immovable heritage. Until

very recently the Directorate of theHeritage of France, whose princi-ple purpose was the preservation ofhistorical monuments, was separatefrom the Directorate of the Museumsof France (French Museums Board).Today it is not unusual to find peo-ple supporting this differentiation,

which is at the very least strict. Even

when expanded worldwide underthe aegis of UNESCO, the idea thatis fostered especially by ICOMOS,the equivalent of ICOM for histori-cal monuments, is first of all basedessentially on monuments and ongroups of monuments and sites.Thus the Convention on the WorldCultural Heritage stipulates: For

the purposes of this Convention, thefollowing shall be considered cultu-ral heritage: monuments: architec-tural works, works of monumentalsculpture and painting, [] groupsof buildings: groups of separate orconnected buildings, [] because oftheir architecture, [] sites: worksof man or the combined works ofnature and man, []. For the purpo-ses of this Convention the followingshall be considered natural heritage:natural features, [] geologicaland physiographical formations[] natural sites or natural areas.(UNESCO 1972).

2. From the mid 1950s, the notionof heritage gradually incorporatedall material evidence of man and hisenvironment and became conside-

rably wider. Thus folklore heritage,scientific heritage and then industrialheritage were gradually integratedinto the concept of heritage. The defi-

nition of heritage in French-speakingQubec also followed this generaltendency: May be considered heri-tage all objects or groups of objects,material or intangible, that are col-lectively recognised or appropriatedfor their value as evidence and histo-rical memory and which merit beingprotected, preserved, and enhanced(Arpin, 2000). This concept refers toall natural or man-made goods andvalues, whether material or intan-gible, without restriction of time orspace, whether they be simply inheri-ted from the forbears of earlier gene-rations or gathered and preserved tobe transmitted to the descendantsof future generations. Heritage is apublic good; its preservation mustbe assumed by the community whenindividuals fail to do so. Individuallocal natural and cultural characte-ristics contribute to the conceptionand building of the universal cha-racter of heritage. The concept ofheritage differs from the concept ofinheritance with regard to time andevents: whereas inheritance is iden-tified immediately after a death or

when there is a transferral of goodsfrom one generation to another, heri-tage defines all the goods received orgathered and safeguarded by earliergenerations that will be transmittedto their descendants. To a certainextent, heritage can be a line of inhe-ritances.


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3. For some years the notion of heri-tage, essentially defined on the basisof a western concept of transmission,has felt the impact of the globalisation

of ideas, such as the relatively recentconcept of intangible heritage. Thisconcept, of Asian origin (in particu-lar from Japan and Korea) is foundedon the idea that transmission, to beeffective, must essentially be done byhuman carriers, from whence evol-ved the idea of living human treasu-res: Living human treasure refers

to a person who excels above othersin performing music, dance, games,plays and rituals which are of outs-tanding artistic and historical valuein their respective countries as envi-saged in the Recommendation on theSafeguarding of Traditional Culturesand Folklore (UNESCO, 1993).This principle was accepted inter-

nationally and endorsed in the 2003Convention for the Safeguarding ofthe Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The intangible cultural heritagemeans the practices, representations,expressions, knowledge, skills as

well as the instruments, objects,artefacts and cultural spaces asso-ciated therewith that communities,groups and, in some cases, indivi-duals recognize as part of their cultu-ral heritage. This intangible culturalheritage, transmitted from generationto generation, is constantly recreatedby communities and groups in res-ponse to their environment, theirinteraction with nature and their his-tory, and provides them with a senseof identity and continuity, thus pro-

moting respect for cultural diversityand human creativity. For the purpo-ses of this Convention, consideration

will be given solely to such intangible

cultural heritage as is compatiblewith existing international humanrights instruments, as well as withthe requirements of mutual respectamong communities, groups andindividuals, and of sustainable deve-lopment. (UNESCO, 2003).

4. Heritage covers a field that hasbecome increasingly complex, and in

the past few years the uncertaintiesof its transmission have led to morefocused thinking on the mechanismsof building and extending heritage:

what exactly is the process of heri-tage building? Much contemporaryresearch analyses the institution ofheritage building beyond the empiri-cal approach, seeing it as the result of

strategies and interventions focusedon marking and signals (framing).Thus the idea of heritage building isnecessary to understand the positionin society that heritage represents,rather as others speak of the idea ofartification (Shapiro, 2004) withregard to works of art. Heritage is acultural process or performance that

is concerned with the types of pro-duction and the negotiation of cultu-ral identity, individual and collectivememory, and social and culturalvalues (Smith, 2007). If we acceptthat heritage is the result of the foun-ding of a certain number of values,this implies that these values are thebasis of heritage. These values shouldbe examined, but also sometimes contested.


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5. The institution of heritagealso has its detractors: people whoquestion its origins and the abusivefetishist value attached to the forms

of the underlying culture, in thename of western humanism. In thestrictest sense of the word, that is tosay in the anthropological sense, ourcultural heritage is only made up ofvery modest practices and skills. Toa far greater extent it depends on theability to make and use these tools,especially when these are fixed as

objects inside a museum showcase.Too often we forget that the most ela-borate and powerful tool invented byman is the concept, the instrumentfor developing thought, which is verydifficult to arrange in a showcase.Cultural heritage understood as thesum total of the common evidence ofhumankind has been severely criti-

cised for being a new dogma (Choay,1992) in a society which has lost itsreligious bearings. It is possible,moreover, to list the successive stagesof building this recent product: heri-tage reappropriation (Vicq dAzyr,1794), spiritual connotation (Hegel,1807), mystical, disinterested conno-tation (Renan, 1882) and finally,

humanism (Malraux, 1947). The

notion of collective cultural heritage,which only transposes the legal andeconomic lexicon to the moral field,appears suspicious, to say the least,

and can be analysed as being part ofthat which Marx and Engels calledideology, that is to say a by-productof a socio-economic context inten-ded to serve special interests. Theinternationalisation of the conceptof heritage is [] not only false, butdangerous in so far as one imposes a

whole set of knowledge and prejudi-

ces whose criteria are the expressionof values built on aesthetic, moral,and cultural received ideas, in shortan ideology of a caste in a society

whose structures are not compati-ble with those of the third world ingeneral and Africa in particular(Adotevi, 1971). It is all the moresuspect because it coexists with the

private nature of economic propertyand seems to serve as the consolationprize for the deprived.

DERIVATIVES: HERITOLOGY, INHERITANCE.

CORRELATED: COMMUNITY, CULTURALPROPERTY,CULTURALRELIC, EXHIBIT, EVIDENCE, IDENTITY, IMAGE,LEGACY, LIVINGHUMANTREASURE, MATERIALCULTURE,MEMORY, MESSAGE, MONUMENT, NATIONALTREASURE,OBJECT, PATRIMONY, REALITY, SEMIOPHORE(SEEOBJECT) SUBJECT, TERRITORY, THINGS, VALUE, WITNESS.


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INSTITUTION

n. (From the Latin institutio, convention, set-

ting up, establishment, arrangement). Equiva-

lent in French: institution; Spanish: institucin;

German: Institution; Italian: istituzione; Portu-

guese: instituio.

Generally speaking an institutionindicates a convention established bymutual agreement between people,being thus arbitrary but also histori-cally dated. Institutions are elementsin the broad range of solutions thatmankind has created to answer theproblems raised by the natural needsof life in a society (Malinowski,1944). More specifically, institutionrefers to an organism that is public orprivate, established by society to fill aspecific need. The museum is an ins-titution in the sense that it is gover-ned by an identified legal system ofpublic or private law (see the terms

Management and Public). Whetherit is based on the concept of publictrust(in Anglo-Saxon law) or publicownership(in France from the Revo-lution), demonstrates, beyond thedifferences in conventions, a mutualagreement between the people in asociety, that is to say an institution.

In French, when the term is asso-ciated with the general qualifiermuseal (institution musale, in the

common sense of that which rela-tes to museums) it is often used as asynonym for museum, most oftento avoid excessive repetition of the

word museum. The concept of ins-

titution, for which there are threeprecise accepted meanings, is never-theless central to debates regardingmuseums.

1. There are two levels of institu-tions, according to the nature of theneed they are intended to satisfy.This need may be first of all biolo-gical (need to eat, to reproduce, to

sleep, etc.) or secondly the result ofthe demands of living in a society(need for organisation, defence,health, etc.). These two levels cor-respond to two types of institutionthat are unequally restrictive: meals,marriage, lodging on the one hand,and the State, the army, schools, hos-pitals, on the other. In so far as they

meet a social need (sensory relationto objects) museums belong to thesecond category.

2. ICOM defines museum as a per-manent institution in the service ofsociety and its development. In thissense the institution is a constructioncreated by man in the museal (see thisterm) field, and organised in order toenter into a sensory relationship with

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objects. The museum institution,created and maintained by society,rests on a collection of standardsand rules (preventive conservation,

forbidden to touch objects or displaysubstitutes while presenting themas originals) which are founded ona value system: preservation of heri-tage, presentation of works of artand unique pieces, the disseminationof current scientific knowledge, etc.Emphasising the institutional natureof museum thus means strengthening

its normative role and the authority ithas in science and the fine arts, forexample, or the idea that museumsremain in the service of society andits development.

3. In contrast to the English, whichdoes not precisely differentiatebetween them (and in general to the

way they are used in Belgium and in

Canada too), the terms institution andestablishment are not synonymous.Museum, as an institution, is diffe-rent from museum as an establish-ment, a specific concrete place: Themuseal establishment is a concreteform of the museal institution(Maroevic, 2007). One should notethat questioning of the institution,

even purely and simply denying it (asin the case of Malrauxs imaginarymuseum or the fictitious museum ofthe artist Marcel Broodthaers) doesnot mean that it has left the musealfield, in so far as the museal field can

extend beyond the institutional fra-mework. In its strict sense, the termvirtual museum (existing in essencebut not in fact) takes account of these

museal experiences on the margin ofinstitutional reality.

This is why in many countries, inparticular in Canada and Belgium,people use the expression musealinstitution (institution musale) toidentify an establishment whichdoes not have all the characteristicsof a traditional museum. By musealinstitutions, we mean non-profit esta-blishments, museums, exhibition andinterpretation centres which, besidesthe functions of acquisition, conser-vation, research and management ofcollections that some may carry out,have in common that they are pla-ces of education and disseminationdedicated to the arts, history and thesciences. (Socit des muses qub-cois, Observatoire de la culture et descommunauts du Qubec, 2004).

4. Finally, the term museal insti-tution can be defined, like finan-cial institution (the IMF or theWorld Bank) as all the national orinternational bodies which governmuseum operations, such as ICOMor the former Direction des musesde France.

DERIVATIVES: INSTITUTIONAL, MUSEALINSTITUTION.

CORRELATED: ESTABLISHMENT, PUBLICDOMAIN,PUBLICOWNERSHIP, PUBLICTRUST, VIRTUALMUSEUM.


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MANAGEMENT

n. Equivalent French: gestion; Spanish: ges-

tin; German: Verwaltung, Administration; Ita-

lian:gestione; Portuguese: gesto.

Museum management is definedtoday as the action of ensuring therunning of the museums adminis-trative business and, more gene-rally, all the activities which arenot directly attached to the specificfields of museum work (preservation,research and communication). In thisregard, museum management essen-

tially encompasses tasks relating tofinancial (accounting, managementcontrol, finances) and legal respon-sibilities, to security and upkeep, tostaff management and to marketingas well as to strategic proceduresand the general planning of museumactivities. The term management isof Anglo-Saxon origin (although

the Anglo-Saxon term comes fromthe French mange and mnage),and is currently used in French withthe same meaning. The guidelinesor style of management illustratea certain concept of museums inparticular its relationship to publicservice.

Traditionally the term administra-

tion (from the Latin administratio,

service, aid, handling) was used todefine this type of museum activity,but also, more generally, all the acti-vities necessary to make a museumfunction. The treatise of museology

by George Brown Goode, MuseumAdministration (1896), examines theaspects connected with the study ofthe display of collections and the dailymanagement, while also addressingthe overall vision of the museum andits integration into society. Rightfullyderived from the civil service ratio-nale, the act of administering means,

whether referring to a public or a pri-vate service, ensuring that it operatesproperly while taking responsibilityfor initiating and running all its acti-vities. The notion of (public) service,or even, with its religious undertones,that of vocation, is closely related toadministration.

We are aware of the bureaucratic

connotation of the term adminis-tration since it is used in connec-tion with the (dys)function of publicauthorities. So it is not surprising thatthe general evolution of economictheory in the last quarter of a century,favouring the market economy, hasled to increasingly frequent recourseto the concept of management,

which had been in use for a long

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time within profit-making organisa-tions. The concepts of market launchand museum marketing, like thedevelopment of tools for museums

that have resulted from businesses(defining strategies, focusing on thepublic/visitor, resource management,fundraising, etc.) has considerablychanged the museums themselves.Thus some of the conflicts regardingmuseum organisation and policieshave been directly conditioned bythe conflict, within the museum

itself, between a market rationale anda more traditional rationale of gover-nance by public authorities. Theresult has been the development ofnew forms of financing (expansion ofthe ranges of museum shops, rentingof premises, reintroducing entrancefees, developing popular temporaryexhibitions blockbusters or even

selling objects from the collection.Increasingly these tasks which wereauxiliary

icom key concepts in museology anglais francais bd

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