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ISS 25 (1995).pdf - The International Council of Museums

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and d istribute the whole range <strong>of</strong> e xhib i tio ns on any theme one<br />

can imagine. Another part <strong>of</strong> the a ctiviti e s was registra t ion <strong>of</strong><br />

local art collections owned by commun i ties a nd p r oduc t ion <strong>of</strong><br />

different learning materials mos tly related to circ ula t i ng<br />

exhibitions.<br />

This new generation <strong>of</strong> the national museum pr<strong>of</strong>ession wi th<br />

regional duties got to know their regions and respective<br />

communities and they learned how to survive nearly in any<br />

circumstances out <strong>of</strong> the center. That wasn't so easy as the<br />

museal and pr<strong>of</strong>essional constellations <strong>of</strong> regional activities<br />

and actors still lagged their status within the system.<br />

Finally at the turn <strong>of</strong> the 90s all was changed by the unbalanced<br />

economical development in the country. Even before that the<br />

ideas <strong>of</strong> equality and museums as social servants were already<br />

fading in the minds <strong>of</strong> museum pr<strong>of</strong>essionals and political<br />

decission makers, because there weren't any more extra res ources<br />

to be expected or accepted. <strong>The</strong> fiqures <strong>of</strong> regional activities<br />

didn,t count any more. Municipalities became jealous for their<br />

investments and museums couldn't get merit out <strong>of</strong> these regional<br />

activities any more. <strong>The</strong> new outwardbound service orientation <strong>of</strong><br />

70s was outdated.<br />

with the recession also the economical basis for the regiona l<br />

activities failed. <strong>The</strong> state and communities run out <strong>of</strong> money<br />

and most <strong>of</strong> the regional art museums ran out <strong>of</strong> resources to run<br />

regional activities . Now the museums are questioned by the state<br />

authorities if they can still afford their regional subsidice.<br />

<strong>The</strong> regional museums system with strong but undefined community<br />

orientation was a product <strong>of</strong> economical boom. As long as we<br />

could afford the system, hardly anybody questionned it either in<br />

terms <strong>of</strong> cultural policy or heritage action. All that figured<br />

was numbers. Number <strong>of</strong> displays, visitors ect. <strong>The</strong> real<br />

communication with- the community and its members was an<br />

unexsisting problem and even the concept community could be<br />

·defined only as an area on a map or as an administrative unit,<br />

with no guiding topographical or demographical signs.<br />

Is there a community for a regional art museum?<br />

If we consider the concept <strong>of</strong> community in relation to the<br />

system <strong>of</strong> regional museums, community in this context can only<br />

be defined either geographically with unviolated boarders or<br />

administratively with municipal units dictating the scope <strong>of</strong><br />

available resources. <strong>The</strong>re has been available the region<br />

(province), the state or the owner <strong>of</strong> the museum (mostly<br />

munipalicity) as possible community in the framework <strong>of</strong> our<br />

regional museum system. Althoug, one <strong>of</strong> the ideas <strong>of</strong> the new<br />

system was to find new audiences, new communities or target<br />

groups for cultural consumption - these were never conceived as<br />

communities in the sense given for example by the new museology.<br />

Neither the population or inhabitants were ever conceived as<br />

producers or interactors but receivers. And to decide what was<br />

culture or art wasn't a concern <strong>of</strong> a common man but that <strong>of</strong> an<br />

specialist mostly committed to a public institution.<br />

One definition I could find for community reminded me about the<br />

90

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