Journée d'étude Museum Artefacts in the Digital Age: Reimagining Display, Mediation and Spectator Experience
Le 17 sept. 2024
Symposium Overview:
In an era increasingly dominated by digital culture and new technologies, the study and presentation of objects within museums are undergoing significant transformations. The traditional object display and visitor engagement paradigms are being challenged and expanded by incorporating digital tools, social media, and innovative technological interfaces.
In recent years, there have been increasing efforts to understand the social significance of objects and the way in which the organization of things reflects the epistemologies and classificatory principles through which we interpret the world. While museum studies emphasize the visitor’s visual appreciation, neglecting other modes of engagement, more innovative approaches attempt to recapture the intimacy of touch, smell and other types of physical connection with objects. Interaction with the viewer thus provides another way into collections that differs from the usual focus on text and visual narrative. At the same time, digital practices engage with preexisting museum practices of collecting, curating and exhibiting objects. A modern counterpart to traditional displays, screens both replicate the boundaries of glass cases and enable new kinds of visitor experience.
The symposium “Museum Artefacts in the Digital Age” aims to share research work in progress in the field of cultural heritage by bringing together early career researchers from various fields of History and Theory of Art, Museology, Anthropology, Communication studies and any other museum-related studies and senior researchers working at the crossroads of several fields whose investigations focus on tangible or intangible cultural artefacts.
Themes and Questions:
- Digital Mediation: How have digital technologies transformed the traditional practices of collecting, curating, and exhibiting objects? How do digital interfaces replicate or deviate from the physical constraints of glass cases and display cabinets?
- Social Networks and Museum Practices: How do social networks and online platforms influence museum practices? How do these digital spaces facilitate or hinder new forms of community engagement with collections?
- Evolving Visitor Experience: What new visitor experiences are made possible through digital technologies? How do these experiences differ from those provided by traditional text and visual narratives? What roles do augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), immersive scenographies and interactive screens play in enhancing or altering our engagement with museum objects?
- Inclusion and Exclusion in Digital Spaces: Are digital technologies creating new opportunities for inclusivity within museums, or do they reinforce existing exclusions? What new communities are emerging around digital museum practices, and what traditional practices or audiences might be marginalized?
- Digital Narratives and Object History: How do digital tools and social media allow us to revisit and potentially rewrite the historical narratives associated with museum objects? Do they challenge conventional relationships between material form and knowledge, objects and information, language and things?
Submission details:
We invite proposals for presentations in English, French, Italian or Spanish that engage with the themes outlined above. Contributions may include case studies, theoretical reflections, or explorations of practical implementations within museum contexts. Proposals should include a title, an abstract of up to 300 words, and a short biography.
Deadline for submissions: July 26
Notification of acceptance: August 10
Please submit proposals to laurence.roussillon-constanty @ univ-pau.fr and marie.domenges @ etud.univ-pau.fr
Organizing Committee:
Marie DOMENGES, Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour
Prof. Sabine FORERO-MENDOZA, Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour
Prof. Jesús Pedro LORENTE, Universidad de Zaragoza
Prof. Silvia PIREDDU, Università degli Studi di Torino
Prof. Laurence ROUSSILLON-CONSTANTY, Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour
Contact Information:
For questions or additional information, please contact laurence.roussillon-constanty @ univ-pau.fr
