Scenographic Museum Exhibitions. History, Prejudices and Judgments, Potential

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Thomas Thiemeyer
• Subject Area: Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology ; Empirical Social Research
• Term: from 2015 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 275404265

The museum of the 21st century is facing an identity crisis: tight budgets and pressure for high visitor counts as well as competition from television, the Internet and multimedia spectacles at science centers and amusement parks have caused many museums to try alternative exhibition approaches to maintain social relevance. The question arises as to what role the old European cultural institution of museums can still play in their traditional form in the 21st century and how we can set new standards to avoid judging museums with out-dated 19th century views. The project "Szenographische Museumsausstellungen - Geschichte, (Vor)Urteile, Potenziale" [Scenographic Museum Exhibitions - History, Prejudices and Judgments, Potential] addresses these issues. With the multimedia and scenographic exhibitions, it wants to take a closer look at a prominent new approach for exhibitions and find out what the shift from real objects to multimedia experiences means for the museum as an institution. What are the risks and opportunities for this new multimedia exhibition culture that transcends the genre boundaries and is based more on the dramaturgy of film and theater. It recreates a historic stage set and/or makes the once static exhibition more dynamic with fast-moving images, audio-visual media or interactive offerings. These exhibition rooms are no longer exclusively reserved for the objects of the collection, but rather blend different media, things and design elements into a synthesis of the arts with a high degree of experiential content. A systematic study on the strengths and weaknesses of this approach has been lacking so far, as well as the historical background of our prejudices and judgments towards it. This project should close this gap. It wants to systematically analyze the appropriation practices of visitors in multimedia scenographic historical exhibitions and collect the arguments from the proponents and opponents, as well as to look at the historical roots of our understanding of legitimate and illegitimate exhibition forms (dependent on age, nationality, social background and the specialized context). The potential of this approach will be gaged in two sub-projects (SB) of contemporary (SB1) and historical (SB2) museum analysis - archive studies, visitor observations, exhibit analysis, questionnaires. They will also examine the discussions that it triggers in the general and professional public. The underlying thesis is that in Germany (only here?) a bourgeois affect holds back multimedia and scenographic exhibitions within museums, as well as the cultural criticism which sees entertainment for the masses as taking away from the quality. The historical roots of this anxiety can be traced back to the 19th century and can be found in the cultural ideals of the bourgeois. This project plans to systematically analyze three scenographic exhibitions in Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom to distinguish, inter alia, national characteristics.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants