This document discusses contemporary and participatory collecting practices in museums. It provides an overview of strategies for documenting the present, including collecting objects that reflect current times and issues. Contemporary collecting faces challenges in selecting objects that maintain cultural value over time. The document also describes examples of participatory collecting projects that engage the public in helping museums document current events and culture.

1. Eigentijds en Participatief Verzamelen
Léontine Meijer-van Mensch

2. Sensual Turn

4. Weil 2005, 2006
ends versus means

5. A museum is a non-profit, permanent
institution in the service of society and
its development, open to the public,
which acquires, conserves, researches,
communicates and exhibits the
tangible and intangible heritage of
humanity and its environment for the
purposes of education, study and
enjoyment.
International Council of Museums

6. A museum is a non-profit, permanent
institution in the service of society and
its development, open to the public,
which acquires, conserves, researches,
communicates and exhibits the
tangible and intangible heritage of
humanity and its environment for the
purposes of education, study and
enjoyment.
means

7. A museum is a non-profit, permanent
institution in the service of society and
its development, open to the public,
which acquires, conserves, researches,
communicates and exhibits the
tangible and intangible heritage of
humanity and its environment for the
purposes of education, study and
enjoyment.
ends

8. social inclusion
• Access
• Representation
• Participation
Richard Sandell

9. social inclusion
• Inclusive museums
• Museums as agents of social regeneration
• Museums as vehicles of broad social change
• The activist museum

10. example: AIDS
personal
histories
industry
and politics
David Kolb
Bernice McCarthy
medical
knowledge
social
impact
Rita Mukherjee Hoffstadt

15. Retrospective collecting
Contemporary collecting

16. “Incubation Period”
Archives: 50 (20, 30) years
Monuments: 50 years
Louvre – Musée de Luxembourg
Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam) - Museum van
Levende Nederlandsche Meesters (Haarlem,
1828-1885)

17. Michael Thompson, Rubbish theory (1979)
utilitarian value
trans-historic
cultural value
transient
rubbish
durable
region of fixed
assumptions
region of
indeterminacy
region of fixed
assumptions

18. utilitarian value
primaire context
transient
rubbish

19. (after Thompson 1979)
utilitarian value
trans-historic
cultural value
museologische context
transient
rubbish
durable

20. Michael Thompson, Rubbish theory (1979)
trans-historic
cultural value
utilitarian value
forced musealisation
transient
durable
region of fixed
assumptions
region of fixed
assumptions

21. • Contemporary collecting
• Documenting the present
• Documenting the present by collecting objects

22. Documenting the present
•
•
•
•
•
Natural history museums
Art museums
Ethnographical museums
Cultural history museums
Science and technology museums

23. Documenting the present
•
•
•
•
•
Natural history museums
Art museums
Ethnographical museums
Cultural history museums
Science and technology museums
City museums

26. Collecting strategies
Retrospective collecting
- Selecting from incomplete cohesive ensembles
(archives, archaeological heritage)
- Assembling decontextualised (and
recontextualised) individual objects
Contemporary collecting
- Selecting from antropological perspective of a
not-involved outsider
- Self-documentation/participatory collecting

27. Projecten 1
• Bewaarplannen
• Foto-opdrachten (Rijksmuseum)
• War artists

32. Projecten 2
•
•
•
•
Brieven aan de toekomst (15 mei 1998)
FotoMonument 2000 (7-13 december 2000)
Sound scape 9-9-99
De tien van 2012

35. www.detienvan2012.nl

36. 1920
1960
1970

39. Pim Fortuyn (1948-2002)
Theo van Gogh (1957-2004)
6 May 2002
2 November 2004

43. Nordiska Museet (Stockholm) 1873, 1907

45. • 1977
• 82 members (museums, archives, academic
institutions)

46. Samdok
Network, created in 1977
Primary mission: supporting cultural history
museums in collecting contemporary objects
Network to organise collecting and to distribute
responsibilities

47. Homes pool 1978

48. Homes pool
Public administration Pool
Service Pool
Communication Pool
Trade Pool
Construction Pool
Textiles Pool
Food Pool
Timber and Paper Pool
Metal Pool
Agricultural and Forestry Pool

49. Homes Pool
Public administration Pool
Service Pool
Communication Pool
Trade Pool
Construction Pool
Textiles Pool
Food Pool
Timber and Paper Pool
Metal Pool
Agricultural and Forestry Pool
Group for Cultural Encounters 1993

50. Domestic Life
Local and Regional Spheres
Society and Politics
Leisure
Services
Nature and Natural resources
Manufacture
Saami Life
Group for Cultural Encounters
1997

52. Selection criteria
•
•
•
•
•
•
Frequency criterion
Step-ladder criterion
Representativity criterion
Appeal criterion
Domain criterion
Form criterion

53. Documenting the present
• Documenting what disappears
• Documenting continuity/tradition
• Documenting change/the new

54. http://www.museumvaals.nl/MUSEUM_VAALS_WIL_JEZUS_REDDEN.html

57. Contemporary, but …..
• presented to the museum at the moment that
the gay community itself was losing interest

58. Relevant, but …..
• the musealisation process prohibits the active
use as
- personal remembrance of partners/relatives
- educational/activist tool outside the
museum space

59. Possible solutions …..
• Exploring the potential of intermediate forms
of case (“musealisation light”)
• Exploring the potential of shared ownership
(“dynamic collections”)