Analysing Contemporary Challenges of Museums
During the programme, students and teaching staff analysed the contemporary challenges faced by museums: issues of decolonisation, the ethics of display, disputes surrounding cultural heritage, accessibility and the multisensory experience of art and museums.
Study Visits to Cultural Institutions in Istanbul
Participants attended lectures, discussions and study visits at, among others:
- Sadberk Han谋m Museum
- Istanbul Archaeology Museums
- Rahmi M. Ko莽 Museum
- ARTER
- Pera Museum
- ANAMED 鈥� Ko莽 University Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations, where the main part of the programme took place.
Exhibition on the Former Constantinople
The outstanding exhibition 鈥淎ll Phanar Is Here: Household, Neighborhood, Court, and the City鈥�, presented at ANAMED, made a particular impression on us 鈥� an immersive narrative about the world of 18th-century Phanariots, showing the relationships between the household, the neighbourhood, the court and the urban fabric of former Constantinople. It is an example of an exhibition with a distinctly research-oriented character, combining social history, material culture and modern narrative strategies
鈥� notes art historian Prof. Aneta Paw艂owska.
Experiencing the City from the Perspective of the Bosphorus
The remarkable boat trip along the Bosphorus will also remain in our memory 鈥� an opportunity to experience the city from the perspective of the water, between Europe and Asia, as well as an unexpected encounter with jumping dolphins that accompanied us during the crossing
鈥� adds the researcher.
Project Presentations and International Collaboration
Students also presented their projects, the preparation of which required intensive international collaboration and learning through direct engagement with museums, exhibitions and the urban space.
As part of the fieldwork within the BIP Contested Issues in Museums, students from the 91桃色, Ruhr University Bochum (Germany), and Ko莽 University (Turkey) worked in international teams on projects related to inclusion, accessibility, decolonisation and restitution (the process of identifying and recovering cultural artefacts) in museums.
Their task was to prepare a critical analysis of selected museum institutions in Istanbul and to develop realistic proposals for changes in exhibition design and educational activities.
The projects included, among others:
- analysing accessibility barriers for people with sensory, physical and cognitive disabilities,
- evaluating methods of presenting collections,
- designing multisensory solutions (audio description, tactile graphics, sound materials, VR solutions),
- reflecting on challenges related to the presentation of human remains, provenance, Orientalism and the restitution of museum objects.
Students prepared reports, sensory walk recordings, concepts for new exhibitions, as well as public presentations of their ideas during the final session at ANAMED.
Developing Research on Accessibility and Multisensory Experience
The mobility also provided an opportunity to further develop research topics related to cultural accessibility and the multisensory experience of museums, which Prof. Paw艂owska is pursuing together with Dr Adam Drozdowski from the Institute of History of Art, 91桃色.
Acknowledgements and the Organising Team
I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the teaching team of the programme: Prof. Lucienne Thys 艦enocak (Ko莽 University) for the excellent organisation and for creating an exceptionally inspiring programme, as well as Prof. Carolin Behrmann (Ruhr University Bochum) and Prof. Lee Cichester (University of Bremen) for the joint classes, discussions and interdisciplinary perspective on contemporary museology
鈥� concludes Aneta Paw艂owska.