Key Concepts of Museology - ICOM
Key Concepts of Museology - ICOM Key Concepts of Museology - ICOM
PREFACE 12 covered by each term, to discover new connotations and their links to the entire museological fi eld. Dr. Vinos Sofka did not work in vain when, in the fi rst years of ICOFOM, he strove to turn this international committee into a forum for refl ection and debate on museological theory, able to refl ect on its own foundations. Thus the committee’s ongoing intellectual production, which continues today, has been preserved through the annual publication of the ICOFOM Study Series (ISS) which has enriched the body of museological theory for over thirty years. The international bibliography of all ICOFOM publications is unique and represents 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 from an integrating and pluralistic approach, founded in the conceptual wealth of each word. The terms presented in this brochure are a clear example of the work of a group of specialists who have been able to understand and enhance the fundamental structure of the language, our intangible heritage par excellence. The conceptual reach of museological terminology allows us to appreciate the extent to which theory and practice are inseparably linked. Wishing to go beyond beaten paths, the authors introduced their own observations wherever they needed to draw attention to a specifi c characteristic of a term. They were not trying to build or rebuild bridges, but rather to start from an examination of other more precise concepts and search for new cultural meanings which enrich the theoretical foundations of a discipline as vast as museology, destined to strengthen the role of museums and their professionals worldwide. In my position as Chair of ICOFOM it is a great honour and pleasure to be present at the launch, through this brochure, of a work that will soon be a landmark in the vast museological bibliography produced by the members of ICOFOM from different countries and disciplines, all united around one common ideal. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all who have generously contributed their time and talents to bringing these
PREFACE fundamental works to life: our friends and colleagues of whom we are extremely proud: – to ICOM, our guiding organisation, for having understood, thanks to the responsiveness of its Director General, Mr. Julien Anfruns, the importance of a project begun long ago and which can now be completed thanks to his commitment, – to André Desvallées, author of and driving force behind a project which has gained unexpected and well-deserved importance, – to François Mairesse, who began his trajectory within ICOFOM in his youth, bringing his gifts as a productive writer and researcher, and who, with André Desvallées, successfully coordinated the actions of the Thesaurus Working Group and completed the editing of this brochure and the Dictionary of Museology. – to all the internationally renowned authors of the different articles, museological experts in their respective disciplines, – and fi nally to our three translators, whose work has also been scientifi c in the translation of specialised terms from French when their equivalent is not always obvious, either in English or in Spanish… or in Chinese. To all those who have contributed, each in their own way, to fulfi lling a dream that has become a reality, I would like to express my most sincere gratitude. Nelly Decarolis Chair ICOFOM 13
- Page 1: Key Concepts of Museology
- Page 4 and 5: With the assistance of the Musée R
- Page 7 and 8: F OREWORD The development of profes
- Page 9: FOREWORD for Museums, its publicati
- Page 15 and 16: I NTRODUCTION What is a museum? How
- Page 17 and 18: I NTRODUCTION everyone shares a com
- Page 19 and 20: I NTRODUCTION from reality. The rel
- Page 21: I NTRODUCTION In the early 1980s th
- Page 24 and 25: 24 New functions that emerged in th
- Page 26 and 27: 26 COLLECTION n. - Equivalent in Fr
- Page 28 and 29: 28 its assumed materiality as a sta
- Page 30 and 31: 30 not mean that the visitor is not
- Page 32 and 33: 32 is a theoretical and methodologi
- Page 34 and 35: 34 American Association of Museums)
- Page 36 and 37: 36 interactions specifi c to this p
- Page 38 and 39: 38 tion (the exact meaning of which
- Page 40 and 41: 40 ciples of history, history of ar
- Page 42 and 43: 42 5. The institution of heritage a
- Page 44 and 45: 44 objects. The museum institution,
- Page 46 and 47: 46 time within profi t-making organ
- Page 48 and 49: 48 which mobilises diverse technolo
- Page 50 and 51: 50 be incapable of using the resour
- Page 52 and 53: 52 sory perception, experiment, and
- Page 54 and 55: 54 Etymologically speaking museolog
- Page 56 and 57: 56 because it includes all the othe
- Page 58 and 59: 58 many that attest to a “specifi
- Page 60 and 61: 60 museum in its exterior theatre o
PREFACE<br />
fundamental works to life: our friends and colleagues <strong>of</strong> whom we are<br />
extremely proud:<br />
– to <strong>ICOM</strong>, our guiding organisation, for having understood, thanks<br />
to the responsiveness <strong>of</strong> its Director General, Mr. Julien Anfruns,<br />
the importance <strong>of</strong> a project begun long ago and which can now be<br />
completed thanks to his commitment,<br />
– to André Desvallées, author <strong>of</strong> and driving force behind a project<br />
which has gained unexpected and well-deserved importance,<br />
– to François Mairesse, who began his trajectory within ICOFOM<br />
in his youth, bringing his gifts as a productive writer and researcher,<br />
and who, with André Desvallées, successfully coordinated the<br />
actions <strong>of</strong> the Thesaurus Working Group and completed the editing<br />
<strong>of</strong> this brochure and the Dictionary <strong>of</strong> <strong>Museology</strong>.<br />
– to all the internationally renowned authors <strong>of</strong> the different articles,<br />
museological experts in their respective disciplines,<br />
– and fi nally to our three translators, whose work has also been scientifi<br />
c in the translation <strong>of</strong> specialised terms from French when their<br />
equivalent is not always obvious, either in English or in Spanish…<br />
or in Chinese.<br />
To all those who have contributed, each in their own way, to<br />
fulfi lling a dream that has become a reality, I would like to express my<br />
most sincere gratitude.<br />
Nelly Decarolis<br />
Chair<br />
ICOFOM<br />
13
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