Key Concepts of Museology - ICOM

with the overall work of the museum,
from preventive conservation to the
information disseminated to different
publics. The museographer differs
from the exhibit designer; a term
proposed to indicate the person with
all the skills required to create exhibitions,
whether these are situated in
a museum or in a non-museal setting,
and from the exhibition designer in
that the latter, who uses techniques to
set the scene for the exhibition, may
also fi nd himself skilled at setting up
an exhibition (see Museography). The
professions of exhibit designer and
exhibition designer have long been
related to that of decorator, which
refers to decoration of the spaces.
But the work of interior decoration
in functional areas pertaining to the
normal activities of interior decoration
differs from the tasks that are
required for exhibitions, which are in
the fi eld of exhibit design. In exhibitions,
their work tends more towards
fi tting out the space using exhibits as
elements of decoration, rather than
starting from the exhibits to be displayed
and given meaning within
the space. Many exhibit designers
or exhibition designers call themselves
fi rst of all architects of interior
design, which does not mean that any
architect of interior design can claim
the status of exhibit designer or exhibition
designer, or of museographer.
In this context the exhibition and
display curator (a role often played by
the curator, but sometimes by a person
from outside the museum) takes
on its full meaning, since he or she
produces the scientifi c project for the
exhibition and coordinates the entire
project.
3. Assisted by the development of
the museal fi eld, a number of professions
have gradually emerged and
to become independent, and also to
confi rm their importance and their
will to be a part of the museum’s
destinies. This phenomenon can
essentially be observed in the fi elds
of preservation and communication.
In preservation, it was fi rst of all the
conservator, as a professional with
scientifi c competences and above
all the techniques required for the
physical treatment of the collection
objects (restoration, preventive and
remedial conservation), who required
highly specialised training (by
types of material and techniques),
competences which the curator does
not have. Similarly the tasks imposed
by the inventory, relating to management
of the reserves, and also to the
moving of items, favoured the relatively
recent creation of the post of
registrar, who is responsible for the
movement of objects, insurance matters,
management of the reserves and
sometimes also the preparation and
mounting of an exhibition (at which
point the registrar becomes the exhibition
curator).
4. Regarding communication, the
staff attached to the educational
department, along with all the staff
who work in public relations, have
benefi ted from the emergence of
a number of specifi c professions.
Undoubtedly one of the oldest of
these is that of guide-interpreter,
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