Museum Meanings

Full course description

The central focus of this course is on museums, museum education and the dynamic relation between museums and society. Museums had and still have various tasks such as collecting, conservation, research and education. However, there are many different types of museums and the contemporary museum differs from museums in the nineteenth century, which were mainly visited by the middle classes. Nowadays participation and reaching a broad and diverse audience are important for the legitimation of museums. In order to fulfill these new societal function museums changedtheir presentations from object centered to context and visitor centered and cultural or museum education has gained importance.

In this course students will study the historic development of the museum as an institution, museum architecture, organisation, funding, exhibitions, education programmes, information and websites, through reading, lectures, discussions and working visits to museums.