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Performativity, Interactivity, Virtuality: the case of the Museum
CALL FOR PAPERS:
The terms "performativity," "virtuality," and "interactivity,"
capture the dynamic elements of a general shift over the last few
decades in the theory and practice of museology. Cultural
institutions, within a discourse of "democratization," have been
actively approaching wider audiences, focusing on understanding and
shaping visitors experiences, and promoting different forms of
participation and engagement of visitors in such spaces as museums
or libraries. A concomitant paradigmatic shift has formed within
museology regarding the ontology of the museum. From official
keeper of cultural knowledge and memory, or leading authority
imparting information about civilizations through cultural objects,
the museum is increasingly perceived as a space that facilitates
particular kinds of social practice, such that are able to create
different types of cultural knowledge, memory, and community. This
entails a shift of focus away from "objects" and "information,"
towards the museum "subjects" and their "practices." The "visitors"
of museums - their interactions with and interpretations of, museum
exhibits - as well as the museum "curators" - their construction
of the exhibits and their interpretations of reality, history and
culture - are becoming more and more prominent in shaping the
"museum" today.
Within this context, "performance" and "performativity" are key
concepts in perceiving the museum visit as an interactive process.
These terms can best address the different modes of visitor
"participation," and recognize the agency of both institution and
visitor in the process of constructing the realities of the museum,
as well as each other. Increasingly we are faced with the
recognition that museum exhibits always "perform particular
interpretations of reality and history," with the use of
"dramatization" as "animation" of objects, and with the focus of
museum exhibits on the subjective or even affective responses, as
well as the "multi-censorial experiences" of the visitor. As the
museum takes on its role of active agent in the construction of
realities, experiences and knowledge, it needs to consciously use
the practical and analytical tools that shape and evaluate its
activities. The category of "performance" thus becomes more and
more pertinent. "Virtuality," a concept above and beyond the mere
use of digital media and information technologies, is here
understood as the conceptual space that allows the museum to
rethink their normative approach to information. It also repeats
the "performative" gesture that focuses on the subject.
We are inviting papers that address any or all of the above issues,
aiming at originating a dialogue among museologists, cultural
theorists, artists, curators, educators, social theorists,
specialists on technological applications, etc. The articles will
form the October 2005 issue of the peer-reviewed e-journal
"Museology" (<http://www.aegean.gr/culturaltec/museology>)
published by the Department of Cultural Technology and
Communications of the University of the Aegean.
Please, send a summary of 300 words until 15. April. 2005. The
deadline for the submission of the final text is 15. June. 2005.
Contact: Eleni Myrivili
Department of Cultural Technology and Communications
University of the Aegean
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