Our Museum 2017 Summit
Enlightenment and Experience: Conflict or Compatibility?
17 May 2017, 9:30 am – 17:00 pm
At Natural History Museum of Denmark,
Geological Museum Auditorium
Øster Voldgade 3-5, DK-1350 Copenhagen
(Admission by invitation only)
Programme
| 09:30-10:00 | Arrival, coffee and registration |
| 10:00-10:05 | Welcome, Kirsten Drotner, Professor, Programme Director of Our Museum |
| 10:05-10:15 | Welcome address, Peter C. Kjærgaard, Museum Director, Natural History Museum of Denmark |
| 10:15-10:25 | Conference introduction, Kirsten Drotner |
| 10:25-11:05 |
Keynote address, Dr Ross Parry, Associate Professor (Museum Studies) and Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Digital), University of Leicester Being Digitally Purposeful Abstract |
| 11:05-11:15 | Q&A |
| 11:15-11:55 | Keynote address, Jens F. Jensen, Professor in interactive digital media, Department of Communication & Psychology, Aalborg University MuseumVerse – To typologier for repræsentationsformer og oplevelsesformer i museums- og kulturarvsformidling Abstract |
| 11:55-12:05 | Q&A |
| 12:05-12:15 | Introduction to breakout session |
| 12:15-13:00 | Lunch break |
| 13:00-14:00 | Breakout session |
| 14:00-14:40 | Wrap-up breakout session |
| 14:40-15:20 | Keynote address, Anders Ekström, Professor of History of Science and Ideas, Uppsala University Seeing from above: Elevation and education at international exhibitions around 1900 Abstract |
| 15:20-15:30 | Q&A |
| 15:30-15:50 | Coffee break |
| 15:50-16:30 | Keynote address, Merete Sanderhoff, Curator and Senior Advisor, National Gallery of Denmark Bildung and Building. Can museums provide building blocks for Enlightenment in the 21st century? Abstract |
| 16:30-16:40 | Q&A |
| 16:40-17:00 | Closing remarks, Kirsten Drotner |
Summit theme
Museums have always engaged with society. But the modes and means, the purposes and perspectives of societal engagement shift through time and according to differences of governance, organization and practice. Key to understanding these differences are the concepts of enlightenment and experience.
Grand claims have been made that museums in many parts of the world have seen major transformations in societal engagement from being about enlightenment of all citizens to being about entertaining the individual.
This summit focuses on unraveling these grand claims with a view to advance nuanced understandings as a basis for action. You will meet high-profiled keynote speakers offering rich historical as well as current analyses of how the two concepts play out in museum work; and you will be engaged in dialogues with other participants on how to handle dimensions of enlightenment and entertainment in practical museum work.