European Museums in the 21st Century: Setting the Framework
Vol. 3
Books
European Museums
in the 21st Century:
Setting the Framework
Volume 3
edited by Luca Basso Peressut, Francesca Lanz
and Gennaro Postiglione
Books
European Museums in the 21st Century: setting the framework (vol. 3) — v
iv — European Museums in the 21st Century: setting the framework (vol. 3)
mela book 07 – European Museums in the 21st Century: Setting the framework (vol. 3)
Published by Politecnico di Milano
© February 2013, The Authors
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isbn 9788895194332
European Museums in the 21st Century:
Setting the Framework
æ volume 1
1 – National History Museums
Museums as Agonistic Spaces
Clelia Pozzi
he Museum and Radical Democracy
Chantal Moufe
This Book ensued from the Research Project MeLa - European Museums in an age of migrations, funded within the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (SSH-20105.2.2) under Grant Agreement n° 266757.
Project Officer: Louisa Anastopoulou
2 – Natural History Museums
Museums of Natural History in Europe
Fabienne Galangau-Quérat, Sarah Gamaire and Laurence Isnard
Museums in France
Florence Baläen
Escape from Bureaucracy
Giovanni Pinna
mela consortium
Politecnico di Milano (Coordinator), Italy – Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design,
Denmark – Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche ITIA, Italy – University of Glasgow, United
Kingdom – Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Spain – Muséum National d’Histoire
Naturelle, France – The Royal College of Art, United Kingdom – Newcastle University,
United Kingdom – Università degli Studi di Napoli “L’ Orientale,” Italy.
www.mela-project.eu
Constructing a Highly Citizen-Oriented Relection
Interview with Judith Pargamin
3 – Ethnographic and World Culture(s) Museums
Ethnographic Museums: Towards a New Paradigm?
Camilla Pagani
english editing
Ilaria Parini, Tim Quinn, John Ekington
Exhibition-ism
Maria Camilla de Palma
graphic design
Zetalab — Milano
Cultural Diference and Cultural Diversity
Nélia Dias
layout
Francisco J. Rodríguez Pérez and Cristina F. Colombo
National Museum of World Culture
Interview with Klas Grinell
legal notice The views expressed here are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not
necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission.
[S]oggetti Migranti
Interview with Vito Lattanzi
European Museums in the 21st Century: setting the framework (vol. 3) — vii
vi — European Museums in the 21st Century: setting the framework (vol. 3)
æ volume 2
Acknowledgments
4 – Migration Museums
Migration Museums in Europe
Anna Chiara Cimoli
Museum and Nation
Joachim Baur
he German Emigration Center
Simone Eick
5 – City Museums
City Museums in Transition: a European Overview
Francesca Lanz
City Museums: Do We Have a Role in Shaping the Global Community?
Jack Lohman
International Networking Projects and the Web
Interview with Marie-Paule Jungblut
æ volume 3
6 – Local Museums
Local Museums as Strategic Cultural Forces for 21st Century Society
Elena Montanari
Local Museums of the Future
Hugues de Varine
7 – War Museums
Narratives of Conlicts: Architecture and Representation in European War Museums
Luca Basso Peressut
8 – Temporary Exhibitions
Forms of Collecting / Forms of Hearing
Marco Borsotti
Exhibiting History
Paolo Rosa, Studio Azzurro
Interviews with: Anna Seiderer, Galitt Kenan and Marc-Olivier Gonseth
hese books grew out of the work of the Research Field 6 “Envisioning 21st Century Museums,” led by Luca Basso Peressut and Gennaro
Postiglione, Politecnico di Milano, within the European project MeLa–
European Museums in an age of migrations. MeLa is a four-year interdisciplinary research project funded in 2011 by the European Commission under the Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities Programme
(Seventh Framework Programme). Adopting the notion of “migration”
as a paradigm of the contemporary global and multicultural world, MeLa
relects on the role of museums and heritage in the twenty-irst century.
he main objective of the MeLa project is to deine innovative museum
practices that relect the challenges of the contemporary processes of globalization, mobility and migration. As people, objects, knowledge and
information move at increasingly high rates, a sharper awareness of an
inclusive European identity is needed to facilitate mutual understanding
and social cohesion. MeLa aims at empowering museums spaces, practices and policies with the task of building this identity. MeLa involves
nine European partners—universities, museums, research institutes and
a company—who will lead six Research Fields (RF) with a collaborative
approach, and this book is meant to report about the preliminary indings
of the irst research phases.
he editors would like to thank all the scholars who enriched this book
with their suggestions and contributions as well as all the museums and
their staf, curators, directors, designer and architects who kindly provided information, images and drawings supporting our investigations.
Amention goes to the English editors and translators, and to Elena
Montanari, Cristina Colombo and the staf from POLIMI, who essentially contributed with their help to the editing of this book.
viii — European Museums in the 21st Century: setting the framework (vol. 3)
European Museums in the 21st Century: setting the framework (vol. 3) — ix
he project’s Research Field 6, Envisioning 21st Century Museums—
which is developed in parallel to and in consultation with the other ive
project research areas—is aimed at pinpointing innovative models, practices and tools to further the role of European museums in promoting
new democratic and inclusive forms of citizenship, contributing to foster
dialogue between the diferent ethnic, religious, social and generational
groups which characterise our societies, and furthering awareness and
education among new citizens and young generations.
Introduction
European Museums: Mapping an Ongoing Change
he MeLa Project, funded in march 2011 by the European Commission
under the Seventh Framework Programme (Social Science and Humanities) is a four years long reserch project, which aims to investigate the
efects of contemporary phenomena such as globalisation, demographic
movement, transformation of migration patterns, increased mobility of
people, as well as of objects, ideas and knowledge on the form, organisation, mission and status of museums, and to explore the likely potential
role of museums in the construction of an inclusive European identity by
facilitating mutual understanding and social cohesion.
Adopting the notion of “migration” as a paradigm of the contemporary
global and multicultural world, MeLa relects on the role of museums
and heritage in Europe in the 21st century. he project aims to investigate how, and to what extent, changes in population lows and demography, the impact of new media, the consequent layerisation, complexiication and fragmentation of societies and identities and, perhaps more
importantly, the recognition of the central focus of such changes to the
human experience of life and society in modernity, do, could and should,
afect European museums. Focusing on the transformation of museums,
seen as cultural spaces and processes as well as physical places, the main
objective of the MeLa project is to identify innovative museum practices that relect the challenges posed by what the project deines as “an
age of migrations”—an age characterised by intensive migration lows;
accelerated mobility and luid circulation of information, cultures, ideas
and goods; the political, economic and cultural process of creation and
consolidation of the European Union, and the consequent high degree of
cultural encounters and cross-fertilisation.
While the investigation and the consideration of the role of contemporary museums and heritage has nowadays become a relevant component
of the European agenda and lively debate on the subject is gaining prominence, nurtured also by several research projects and academic studies,
museums themselves are questioning their raison d’être and roles, and
undergoing a process of deep transformation of their missions, strategies,
practices, spaces and exhibitions.
he present books collect the work of MeLa Research Field 6, Envisioning 21st Century Museums, and are meant to illustrate the preliminary results of its earlier investigations aimed at mapping and exploring such a
transformation process and its features, particularly in terms of architecture renewal, museography and exhibition settings. he irst phase of this
research ield thus focused on the possibility of mapping current trends in
contemporary European museums in order to set up an overall picture of
the state of the art of museum development in relation with the abovementioned issues and questions. Its activity has been aimed at deining a
general framework for the development of subsequent research phases,
that are the identiication of strategies and practices to support a renewed
and increased role for museums, and the revision of their contribution inbuilding a democratic inclusive European citizenship through practicable
and efective intervention by EU policy-makers and the institutions working in cultural and educational ields. his research has been investigating
diferent categories of museums, individuated as those which better represent the current status of European museums, including: national history
museums, ethnographic museums and museums of cultures, migration
museums, city museums, local museums, and war museums. Because of
the relevance of some museographical practices in the representation of
the evolution of contemporary museums, the research activity has been
extended to the transversal topic of temporary exhibition design.
Due to the large quantity of gathered materials, the publication has been
divided into three volumes, each of which is organised into sections curated by a MeLa reseracher including a piece by the MeLa researchers
involved in the investigation, contributions from scholars and museum
practitioners, interviews and the presentation of signiicant examples of
museums which are new, have been renewed or are under renovation.
Particular attention has been paid to their architectural and exhibition
design, which is intended as concretisation of innovative and sometimes
highly experimental ideas of what we deine as “new museography,” new
models of representation and communication of knowledge.
x — European Museums in the 21st Century: setting the framework (vol. 3)
he irst volume opens with an overview on the evolution of contemporary national history museums, analysing how globalisation, migration
phenomena and their efects have challenged these places of stabilisation, where identities are formed and displayed, and their transformation fostered into inclusive arenas of multiculturalism. By considering
the representation of national identity as a political act in the sense outlined by political theorist Chantal Moufe—acknowledging the aim of
democracy in a pluralistic condition as the possibility of transforming
antagonism into agonism, and creating unity in a context of conlict and
diversity, as explained in the complementary text—Clelia Pozzi assumes
the so-called “agonistic pluralism model,” which Moufe had previously
coupled with art museums, and applies it to national history museums.
Her investigation of these institutions as “Agonistic Spaces” explores and
exempliies the museological, museographical and architectural translation of this model, illustrating the modalities in which migration and its
agonistic efects may enter the rationale of these museums, a category
which, more than others, seems to have been subjugated by coercive interpretations of states and regimes and, moreover, she redeines their role,
strategies and spaces from within.
he review of the role of museums as places for the presentation, stabilisation and construction of identities is also crucial in ethnographic
museums, which have been profoundly challenged by the mutation of
the contemporary political, social and cultural context. he beginning of
the 21st century represents a turning point for the role, objective and
strategies associated with these institutions, reacting to the evolution of
the colonial “west and the rest” model, as well as the efects of globalisation increasing cultural diversity and cosmopolitanism. Challenged by
the claim for identity recognition and, at the same time, the demand for
an egalitarian representation of cultural diferences, the transformation
of these institutions, aimed at displaying cultural pluralism, seems to aim
at erasing colonial roots by turning the ethnographic approach into an
aesthetic one, or by giving voice to minorities in the representation process. hrough the comparative analysis of the diferent progress of new,
re-established or refurbished institutions, Camilla Pagani and Mariella
Brenna investigate the reasons, the nature and the extent of the current
process of renovation, from institutional redeinitions to museological
approaches, and categorisation of museums of world culture(s). he interpretation is also bolstered by interviews with some museum workers
who are directly involved in this process. hese include Maria Camilla
de Palma, director of the Museo delle Culture del Mondo di Castello
D’Albertis in Genoa, Klas Grinell, curator at the Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg, and Vito Lattanzi, Director of the Educational Department at the Museo Nazionale Preistorico Etnograico “L. Pigorini,”
in Rome, and by the theory contribution of Nélia Dias, Associate Professor at the Department of Anthropology at ISCTE-IUL, in Lisbon.
he evolving socio-cultural context also poses a challenge to museums of
natural history. hese museums have radically changed over recent decades in their relationship with what is at stake in society. Laurence Isnard,
European Museums in the 21st Century: setting the framework (vol. 3) — xi
Sarah Gamaire and Fabienne Galangau illustrate the transformations of
these institutions, triggered by a powerful increase in the awareness of environmental issues along with their social consequences, the biodiversity
crisis, and the development of new interdisciplinary research approaches.
he piece explores how these phenomena have questioned the role of natural history museums and exhibitions as sources of knowledge and players in the conservation and validation of scientiic and natural heritage,
and investigates its evolution, beneiting from technological progress and
communication techniques, as well as from growing knowledge on visitor
expectations. By reporting the results of a recent survey developed by the
authors, the text sheds light on the dynamism of these institutions and
their commitment to renovation projects, especially those aimed at including diversity in cultural representations of nature. hese considerations are
supported by Giovanni Pinna, who questions the role of bureaucracy in
the evolution of natural history museums, and of Judith Pargamin, director of the Musée d’Histoire Naturelle de Lille, who ofers a highly citizen
oriented relection on the renovation project of the museum.
In the second volume, the investigation begins by focusing on more local facts, bonded and rooted in speciic communities, their stories and
identities. Anna Chiara Cimoli attempts to map out and analyse the rise
of a huge constellation of migration museums and temporary exhibitions
that focus on the relationship between migration and identity. By investigating museological strategies, museographic tools and exhibition design
trends that characterise this museum typology, the piece investigates the
speciicities, implications, diiculties and risks of displaying present and
past mobility. By investigating how museology and museography choices
can reveal, explain or, in some cases, gloss over the cultural policies and
the more general local, national or international political attitudes towards migration, the piece aims to verify whether these institutions act
as history museums, or whether they are evolving into vehicles to orient,
educate, and participate in political debate. his exploration is complemented by the positions of Joachim Baur, highlighting the ability of migration museums in building a master narrative as a choral epic and a socially unifying experience, promoting a sense of community, representing
the diversiication of cultural identities, and fostering societal integration.
he rise of migration lows discloses a profound transformation of the
current socio-cultural context which museums purport to represent, cooperating with other phenomena to enhance the role of certain locations,
especially cities. While updated demographic forecasts envision that in
the next 30 years the growth of the world’s population will mostly be
concentrated in urban areas, the new economic and cultural opportunities ofered by globalisation, the luid mobility occurring at the European
and world-wide level, together with the ongoing political, economic and
cultural processes of creation of the European Union, are deeply inluencing the development of contemporary cities posing both new changes
and challenges. It is widely believed that, within this complex scenario,
xii — European Museums in the 21st Century: setting the framework (vol. 3)
glocity museums, as institutions historically responsible for representing
the city, recording its transformations and conserving its memory and
history, could and should, contribute to these transformations in several
ways. Francesca Lanz investigates how city museums are reacting to these
stimuli, questioning themselves, rethinking their mission, acquiring new
roles and experimenting with new tools and strategies. he piece aims
to outline this transformation process in order to interpret it, deine its
features, identify commonalities, challenges and possible criticalities, and
analyse the museographical aspects related to such changes. hese considerations are endorsed by the contribution of Jack Lohman who, as
former director of the Museum of London, argues for the role of city
museums as the endogenous development of communities in their diversity and shaping of the global community. he interview with historian
Marie-Paule Jungblut, former deputy-director of the Musée d’histoire
de la Ville de Luxembourg, adds relections on the crucial role of international networking projects and the web for the advanced role of
contemporary city museums, while diferent examples of a “new generation” of city museums presented by curators and directors, supports the
relections outlined in the opening piece.
City museums focus their mission on the past and present history of
the described urban environments. Nevertheless, a large number of other
museums drawing on the distinctive nature of speciic locations are likely
to play a signiicant role in the contemporary context.
he third volume focuses, on the one hand on very local museums and,
on the other hand, on war museums and temporary exhibitions in national museums and it somehow comes full circle in this publication. As
explained by Elena Montanari, the diferent institutions who aim to conserve, validate and “matrialise” the memory, heritage and culture related to
speciic places, are characterised by the employment of speciic tools and
strategies, which may turn out as particularly efective means to foster the
role of museums as inclusive social agents in this “age of migrations.” Allowing for their status, forms and means, and variation according to their
diverse backgrounds, management structures and conceptions of heritage
and identity across diferent countries and cultures, local museums seem
to share a common mission in preserving, interpreting, celebrating and
presenting the visible symbols produced by human history in a speciic
environment. In addition, they also perpetuate the origins and sources
of cultural heritage, opposing resistance to the efects of globalisation
and the increased migrations of people, objects and knowledge, which
include impoverishment and distortion of habitats and cultures, standardisation of space, homogenisation of material culture, dispersion of
collective memory, etc. as well as assert continuity and stability through
secure and rooted values, contrasting the disorientation of self-awareness
and enabling societies to deine and anchor their identity. he potential,
challenges and risks currently pertaining to these institutions are further
depicted through the words of Hugues De Varine, who outlines their
European Museums in the 21st Century: setting the framework (vol. 3) — xiii
speciicities, raises pivotal questions and proposes paradigmatic models
and practices for their future.
Among the most signiicant national and local museums, the institutions
ensuing from war memories and places are becoming crucial elements in
heritage discourse. Luca Basso Peressut considers the many European
museums that focus on war and its various representations, identifying two distinct situations. On the one hand, there are still in existence
representative models typical of museums of weapons, of armies, and of
military history, which were set up between the second half of the 19th
century and the beginning of the 20th century. On the other hand, he observes that in recent decades there has been an increase in museums that
are committed to emphasising how Europe needs to critically reinterpret
its past and the conlicts that have marked it, both in a tangible and an
intangible way, overcoming the “divided memories” that have dramatically marked the populations of the European continent as an essential
requirement to build the political and cultural identity of Europe. With
their tools and representation devices, museums dedicated to the history of European wars are committed to the raising of such awareness
through a “policy of memory” that, with no sacralisation or vulgarisation, must involve all cultural institutions, including those devoted to the
education of younger generations. hus, Basso Peressut suggests the role
of war museums is crucial in the process of building and consolidating a
shared European memory and identity. Moreover, war museums convey
the transnational value of those events that are part of a common history
that transcends any geographical border, contributing to a better understanding of the importance (and fragility) of peace and freedom, and of
the establishment of the European Union based on mutual respect and
on the rejection of war as a solution to controversies.
he inal chapter by Marco Borsotti analyses the role of temporary exhibitions in the dynamics of approaches of museums to innovative topics.
Temporary exhibitions can be identiied as signiicant strategies in the
promotion of new approaches to the portrayal of museums, as well as in
the search for public interest in media, and in the possibility of generating income, image and prestige. Today, temporary exhibitions are also
visible manifestations of an educational, informative or celebratory discourse, which is characteristic of the rapid changeover in the communication rhetoric of contemporary society. Furthermore, temporary exhibition
models can also be expressed in dazzling experiences of cultural innovation, leaving permanent displays with the more accustomed role of keeping continuity with historical portrayals and settings. his can be considered a strategy for the renewal of the representational assets of museums.
he overall aim of this investigation was to detect how, and whether,
European museums in their diverse range of interests are reacting to the
topics and issues of our “age of migrations” and to the changing conditions of production and fruition of culture, memory and identity. As Appadurai already noted almost twenty years ago, it is increasingly evident
xiv — European Museums in the 21st Century: setting the framework (vol. 3)
that globalisation is not the story of cultural homogenisation, and that
contemporaneity is more and more characterised by a high degree of
cultural encounters and cross-fertilisations. We are in agreement with
the philosopher Wolfgang Welsch that the traditional description of cultures based on the ideas of ‘inner homogenisation’ and ‘outer separation’
is nowadays both descriptively and, in terms of legislation, inappropriate.
Our analysis of new exhibition spaces and arrangements in museums of
national and local relevance (a distinction which currently proves to be
very blurred and perhaps to be overlooked), seems to suggest that the rise
and the inclusion of new stances and approaches toward the role of museums and the narratives it puts on display are starting to foster not only a
revision of the curatorial practices of museums and approaches but also of
those consolidated exhibition design practices and museum organisation
that relected a premise of objectivity and reality and a traditional conception of identity as unique, homogeneous, and geo-politically deined,
that is today brought into question by the shifting nature of contemporary cultural conditions in our contemporary “age of migrations.”
LBP, FL, GP
Volume 3
European Museums in the 21st Century: setting the framework (vol. 3) — 531
530 — European Museums in the 21st Century: setting the framework (vol. 3)
Table of Contents, Volume 3
765
7bO–he 7 Billion Others Project
Interview with Galitt Kenan
771
“Fetish Modernity,” Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, Belgium
Interview with Anna Seiderer
777
MEN-Musée d’Ethnographie de Neuchâtel
Interview with Marc-Olivier Gonseth
viii
Introduction
Case Studies
“7 billion Others Project”
533
Local Museums
“Fare gli Italiani 1861–2011”
535
Local Museums as Strategic Cultural Forces for 21st Century Society
“Fetish Modernity”
Elena Montanari
“Helvetia Park”
Local Museums of the Future
“Destination X”
Hugues de Varine
“Figures de l’artiice”
575
Case Studies
Écomusée du Val de Bièvre, Fresnes, France
Musée Dauphinois, Grenoble, France
Fondazione Museo Storico del Trentino, Trento, Italy
Museo Storico della Resistenza di Sant’Anna di Stazzema, Italy
Knowledge Centre of the Castle of Sagunto, Spain
637
War Museums
639
Narratives of Conlicts: Architecture and Representation in European War Museums
Luca Basso Peressut
739
Temporary Exhibitions
741
Forms of Collecting/Forms of Hearing
Marco Borsotti
759
Exhibiting History
Studio Azzurro, Paolo Rosa
823
Index of Authors and Editors, Volume 3
European Museums in the 21st Century: setting the framework (vol. 3) — 599
598 — European Museums in the 21st Century: setting the framework (vol. 3)
Musée Dauphinois
Grenoble, France
he Musée Dauphinois is a regional museum
based in Grenoble, aimed at preserving and
presenting the testimonies of the collective
memory of the ancient Dauphiné Province,
a south-eastern French region situated in the
Alps, along the Italian border, which was reorganised into three diferent Departments
(Drôme, Hautes-Alpes and Isère) after the
1789 Revolution. Its innovative museological
programme, focused on an inclusive relationship with the locals, adopted inhabitants and
guests of the territory, marks it out as a paradigmatic “Musée de Société”—or Musée Regional
de l’Homme. hrough an engaging programme
of temporary exhibitions (two/three every year),
conferences, publications and research activities, it promotes archaeological, historical, ethnographic and ethnological investigations of
the territory, presenting its physical and sociocultural development from rural and industrial
past to contemporaneity, in order to depict the
local identity, its roots, present features and
questions for the future.
img. 6.40 — Musée Dauphinois, Grenoble,
France. A panel of the exhibition “Un air
d’Italie,” 2012. © Musée Dauphinois.
he institution was founded in 1906 by the anthropologist Hipollyte Müller, who conceived
it as a people’s museum, mirroring the material
and immaterial culture ensuing from the relationship between man and this particular environment. Originally, his ethnographic research
was displayed in the Chapelle Sainte-Maried’en-Bas, a 17th century chapel that was rapidly
over-illed by the constantly growing collection.
In 1968 the institution was therefore moved to
the Couvent Sainte-Marie-d’en-Haut, a renovated 17th century monastery situated on the
slope of the Rabot-Bastille hill overlooking
Grenoble’s historic centre, and characterised
by a traditional typological framework. hough
its mission remained unaltered, this move coincided with an important revision of the institution, following the interdisciplinary and
progressive museum programme that was being
theorised by George Henri Rivière. In particular, in order to revitalise the decreasing interest
of the public, the director Jean-Pierre Laurent
(1971–1986) gradually started to dismantle the
permanent display and to promote new temporary exhibitions, which soon occupied all 5000
sq.m available. his museological renovation,
which was meant to react to the evolving social, cultural and technical needs, triggered an
expansion of the archives through the addition
of a 2000 sq.m recovered military building; this
choice also responded to the need to expand
collection activities (previously focused on objects only) to further material, such as photos,
recordings and videos, to add ateliers as well as
new image and sound archives to the museum
services, and to digitalise the heritage collected.
In 1992, the management of the institution,
previously the responsibility of the Municipality, was taken over by the Isère General Council. his shift not only modiied the use of funds
but also strengthened the relationship with the
local area. By potentiating its role as a catalyst
for interdisciplinary research and educative
activities, and coordinator of a network of cultural institutions and heritage sites, the Musée
Dauphinois has become the pivotal element of
a departmental service dedicated to the “Conservation du Patrimoine de l’Isère” (CPI), and
promoting the value of the local heritage.
he history of this institution demonstrates
that the Musée Dauphinois has been able to
evolve in parallel to the transformation of the
society it serves, and to adapt its scientiic and
cultural project to the changing socio-cultural
circumstances without deviating from its original mission and tasks. he current programme
of the museum is still mainly based on temporary exhibitions, investigating various historical
or contemporary issues. However, since 1998 it
600 — European Museums in the 21st Century: setting the framework (vol. 3)
img. 6.41 — Couvent
Sainte-Marie-d’en-Haut,
plan of the ground floor in
1905. © Musée Dauphinois.
img. 6.42 — Couvent SainteMarie-d’en-Haut. © Musée
Dauphinois.
img. 6.43 —View of
the Chapel. © Musée
Dauphinois.
European Museums in the 21st Century: setting the framework (vol. 3) — 601
has also re-integrated some permanent settings
aimed at presenting local cultural roots, in order to commmorate and increase appreciation
of some of the aspects to which the identity of
the Alpine area is anchored. he upper loor
of the building is dedicated to the “People of
the Alps,” an interactive and multi-sensorial
display (renovated in 2006) which presents objects, sounds and images depicting the life of
the ancestral mountain-dwellers, illustrating
their daily domestic and working activities, and
celebrating their skills and ingenuity. his exhibition is accompanied by another installation
exploring “he Great History of Skiing,” which
focuses on this characteristic means of Alpine
transport, where it was used to move, hunt and
ight. he lower loor, where it is possible to visit
the Chapel and the display illustrating the history of the monastery and the building itself as
classiied “place of memory,” also participate in
the general presentation of the territory.
tion of the history of the territory. he Musée
Dauphinois is a bridge between past and present, near and far, local and global.
æ an authority of recognition for local diversity
From November 2011 to December 2012, on
the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Italian
Unity, the museum promoted a series of events
aimed at investigating, debating and celebrating
the presence of Italian immigrants in the Isère
territory and their contribution to its historic
and contemporary development. his rich programme, enhanced through cooperation with
several administrative and cultural institutions,
included conferences (e.g. “Présence de l’Italie
an Dauphiné,” “L’Italianité Aujourd’hui,” “Résistance et Identité Démocratique France/
Italie,” “Histoire et Mémoire des Migrants
Italiens”), musical, theatrical and dance performances, ilm, eno-gastronomic events and
various exhibitions (“Les Émigrés Italiens en
Isère: 150 Ans de Fidélité à Leur Patrie Depuis l’Unité,” “L’Abécédaire Voyageur d’Italie,”
“Mon Voisin est Italien”). In particular, the irst
loor of the Musée Dauphinois was dedicated
to “Un Air d’Italie,” a display designed to illustrate the history of the connections between the
Dauphinoise and the various Italian cultures.
he analysis of the articulation of the exhibition spaces in the Musée Dauphinois highlights
the fact that the architectural conception of the
museum follows the layout of a monastic typology. All the rooms are gathered around a central
courtyard, avoiding the relationship with the
surrounding environment; most of the windows
are screened and contact with the exterior is
mainly limited to the entrance and panoramic
terrace, which is the only place where is it possible to enjoy the privileged, elevated view of
the city. Nevertheless, the introverted spatial
character of the institution does not correspond
to the open and dynamic cultural relationships
it establishes with the city, the surrounding area,
as well as the global context. he research and
exhibition activities promoted by the museum
are designed to ofer a thorough, multi-layered
and inclusive exploration of the local identity,
combining an analysis of embedded ancestral
roots with an investigation of the connections
with the world and the contributions of diferent cultures (through the migrations of people,
know-how, ideas and objects) to the construc-
he intensive programme of temporary exhibitions, publications and conferences explore
a variety of themes, focusing on diferent, distinctive features of the area, including archaeological inds, heritage sites, rural and industrial
know-how, speciic events or characters and
ethnological indings. Among the activities
promoted, a main focus is dedicated to both
historical and contemporary societal questions
and, speciically, to the analysis of the diverse
components that have contributed to shaping the local population. Since the 1980s, the
Musée Dauphinois has regularly promoted signiicant research into the cultural diversity that
characterises the territory, highlighting the economic and social role of the various immigrant
groups that have settled locally over the centuries (although the most signiicant migrations
took place in the 20th century).
he museographical articulation of the exhibition arose out of the structure of the narration,
602 — European Museums in the 21st Century: setting the framework (vol. 3)
European Museums in the 21st Century: setting the framework (vol. 3) — 603
img. 6.44 — Setting of
the exhibition “D’Isère et
d’Armenie,” 1997. © Musée
Dauphinois.
img. 6.46 — A glimpse
on the exhibition “Un air
d’Italie,” 2012.© Musée
Dauphinois.
img. 6.45 — Poster of
the exhibition “D’Isère et
d’Armenie,” 1997. © Musée
Dauphinois.
img. 6.47 — A view of the
exhibition “Des Grecs,”
1993. © Musée Dauphinois.
img. 6.48 —One of the
display cases in the settings
illustrating “Des Grecs,”
1993. © Musée Dauphinois.
604 — European Museums in the 21st Century: setting the framework (vol. 3)
organised into three main themes. he irst room
reports on the traces of Italian representatives
in the history of the Dauphiné area, who contributed to the original development of the
civilisation (mixing the Allobroges population,
even before the expansion of the Roman Empire) and were later integrated into the economic and administrative system (through the
transfer of professional skills and know-how,
such as the Lombard merchants and bankers
during the 13th century, and the masons in
the 16th century). hey contributed to urban
growth and fostered architectural and artistic
production. hese connections are explained,
documented through data and igures, and illustrated via signiicant objects, works of art
(ancestors’ portraits and urban scenes) and
maps, geographically and temporally depicting
the migration lows. he next spatial sequence
is dedicated to immigration stories, whose narration is supported by personal memories: after
an initial glimpse at the emigration experiences,
presented through “testimonial objects” (tools,
luggage and passports, associated with pictures
of their owners and accompanied by a popular song), the display explores the phenomenon
of immigration, presenting the gradual positioning within the work structure, illustrating
the increasingly active involvement in the political and social life of the area, reporting on
the specialisation and contemporary mobility
of qualiied professionals and researchers, and
inally highlighting the efects of the integration process; his is not presented as mere assimilation of the French culture; the exhibition demonstrates the preservation of original
roots (through the persistence of family bonds
and the survival of particular traditions, such as
linguistic and culinary habits) and exempliies
current Italian inluences on the local identity,
rather like the interaction between diferent
cultures, arising from the possibility to balance
the conservation of some distinctive features
and the implementation of new bonds. he
deinition of the inter-cultural identity of the
new generations, characterised by the coexistence of the Italian roots and the French culture,
is depicted in the space dedicated to the third
theme, through a photographic installation and
the video “Un Air d’Italo-Isérois.”
he main focus is on the successful stories of
immigration and inter-cultural integration—
as emphasised also by the contextualisation of
the Italian stories into a chromatic Frenchconnoted environment: the central sequence
of exhibition spaces is in fact characterised by
the dominant use of red, white and blue lights
and panels—and the very limited references to
social frictions and racial incidents, lends an
exceedingly “positive” slant to the presentation.
Nevertheless, the Musée Dauphinois stands
out as a relevant authority of recognition for
minority communities. he sequence of initiatives presenting the various cultural identities
that contributed to the shaping of Isére society,
analysing their encounters and validating mutual contributions—e.g. “Les Grecs de Grenoble” (March 1993–January 1994); “Pour que la
vie continue… D’Isère au Maghreb: Mémoires
d’immigrés” (October 1999–December 2000);
“Français d’Isère et d’Algèrie” (May 2003–September 2004); “Face au Génocide. Du Cambodge à l’Isère” (April–October 2009); “Ce que
nous devons à l’Afrique” (October 2010–January 2012)—shows that the museum operates
as an inclusive societal agent. By triggering
an acknowledgement of cultural diversity as a
distinctive feature of the historic and contemporary development of the territory—and thus
promoting the idea of a particular “Dauphinoisity” (a speciic local identity constructed
through the interactions among the diverse
components who gathered and mixed in the
region)—this institution fosters inter-cultural
understanding and social cohesion.
Cultural diversity is, in general, a peculiar and
recurrent focus of the activities promoted by
the Musée Dauphinois, and is transversally
mentioned in several exhibitions. his approach is paradigmatically exempliied by
the inal part of the display concerning the
international traditions of hat design, “Voyage dans ma Tête” (March–September 2012).
his journey through Africa, the Americas,
Oceania and Asia, via a rich private collection,
concludes with a inal showcase of Alpine hats,
European Museums in the 21st Century: setting the framework (vol. 3) — 605
img. 6.49 — A view of the
exhibition “Un air d’Italie,”
2012. © Musée Dauphinois.
img. 6.50 —One of the
thresholds separating
the different parts of the
exhibition “Un air d’Italie,”
2012. © Musée Dauphinois.
img. 6.51 — The panel
closing the exhibition
“Un air d’Italie,” 2012,
fostering a reflection
on the contemporary
migration issues. © Musée
Dauphinois.
606 — European Museums in the 21st Century: setting the framework (vol. 3)
img. 6.52 — The cloister
of the monastery is often
used as an exhibition space.
© Musée Dauphinois.
European Museums in the 21st Century: setting the framework (vol. 3) — 607
illustrating the distinctiveness of local products; this display becomes the opportunity to
highlight the dispersion of diferences and
speciicities in the contemporary material culture, and to envision the consequences of the
dilution of the identity roots, as emphasised
by a quotation from Claude Lévi-Strauss. he
mission of the Musée Dauphinois may therefore be characterised as the acknowledgment
and preservation of cultural diversity as a distinctive feature of identity.
Elena Montanari
img. 6.53 — The panel
closing the exhibition
“Voyage dans ma
tête,” 2012, inviting a
consideration about the
deleterious effects of
globalisation on cultural
diversity. © Musée
Dauphinois.
img. 6.54 — The starting
setting of the permanent
exhibition “Gens de l’Alpe.”
© Musée Dauphinois.
æ references
Blowen, Sarah. 2011. “Images of Exile and the
Greeks of Grenoble: A Museum Experience.”
New Readings 4 (1): 55–66.
Bosso, Annie. 1988. Sainte-Marie-d’en-Haut:
Du couvent au musée. Grenoble: Musée Dauphinois.
Duclos, Jean-Claude. 2001. “Croiser les mémoires?” Ecarts d’identité 95 (6): 97.
———. 2006a. Cent ans. Grenoble: Musée
Dauphinois.
———. 2006b. “L’immigration au Musée Dauphinois.” Ecarts d’identité 108: 16–26.
Laurent, Jean-Pierre. 2008. … et l’homme se retrouve!. Grenoble: Département de l’Isère.
Spillemaecker, Chantal. 2010. Sainte-Marie
d’en-Haut à Grenoble: Quatre siècles d’histoire.
Grenoble: Musée Dauphinois.
Stevens, Mary. 2007. “Museums, Minorities
and Recognition: Memories of North Africa
in Contemporary France.” Museum and Society
5 (1): 29–43.
Index of Authors
and Editors
European Museums in the 21st Century: setting the framework (vol. 3) — 823
Index of Authors and Editors, Volume 3
Luca Basso Peressut
Luca Basso Peressut, Architect, PhD in Architectural Composition (IUAV, Istituto Universitario di Architettura, Venezia), is Full Professor
of Interior Architecture, Exhibition Design and
Museography at the Politecnico di Milano, and
coordinator of the PhD in “Architecture of Interiors.” He is co-founder and director of the
Level II Master course “IDEA in Exhibition
Design.” He is Director of the International
Workshop of Museography and Archaeology
“Villa Adriana-Premio Piranesi” held in Tivoli
and Rome since 2003. He is member of the Scientiic Committee for the National Conference
of Interiors 2005, 2007 and 2010, and member of the Scientiic Board and co-organizer of
the international conferences IFW-Interiors
Forum World. He is member of the Scientiic
Board of Museography of Ediir Publisher and
consultant for the architectural magazine Area
since 1997. He has carried out several researches and projects in the museums ield.
Francesca Lanz
Francesca Lanz holds a PhD in Interior Architecture and Exhibition Design and a MS in
Architecture. Since 2006 she has been collaborating to several research projects and teaching
activities, teaming up with diferent departments of the Politecnico di Milano. Since 2009
she teaches interior design at the School of Ar-
chitecture and Society of Politecnico di Milano
and collaborates as post-doc researcher with the
Department of Architecture and Urban Studies. She’s currently involved in the EU-funded
project “MeLa,” serving as Assistant Project
Coordinator, Dissemination Manager and appointed researcher.
Gennaro Postiglione
Gennaro Postiglione is Associate Professor
of Interior Architecture at the Politecnico di
Milano. Researches focus mainly on domestic
interiors (questioning relations among culture
of dwelling, domestic architecture and modernity), on museography and on preserving and
difusing collective memory and cultural identity (connecting the museographic issues with
the domestic ambit). In this ield he carried out
several research projects amongst wich: “he
Atlantic Wall Linear Museum,” “Abarchive –
archivio borghi abbandonati,” “One-hundred
houses for one-hundred architects of the XX
century.” Besides, he has a speciic interest in the
architecture of Nordic countries. From 2004, he
is promoter of PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE
@ POLIMI, an interdisciplinary research &
operative group that puts the resources of Architecture in the service of the Public Interest
and from 2006 is promoter of IFW-Interior
Forum World, an academic network and a web
platform for research edited by the PhD in Interiors at POLIMI.
824 — European Museums in the 21st Century: setting the framework (vol. 3)
Michela Bassanelli
Michela Bassanelli is Ph.D. Candidate in Interior Architecture and Exhibition Design at
Department of Architecture and Urban Studies
(DAStU), Politecnico di Milano. She graduated
in Architecture from Politecnico di Milano in
2010, she currently collaborates with diferent
research project at the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies and is developing
her PhD thesis on war archaeologies, diicult
heritage and the musealization of memory.
Marco Borsotti
Marco Borsotti, is architect, Ph.D., and Assistant Professor of Interior Architecture at
Politecnico di Milano, Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU). His
main research topics are interior design and
exhibition design for valorisation of the cultural
heritage: in these speciic ield he has national
and international experiences. Articles, essays
and projects have been published by specialized review. He is Frate Sole Foundation–International Sacred and European Architecture
Award guest referee and Editorial staf board
member of Italian architectural and arts review
Anione e Zeto.
Carolina Martinelli
She is architect and Ph.D. candidate in Interior Architecture and Exhibition Design at the
Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU) of Politecnico di Milano. Her
research investigates the role of contemporary
museography in the preservation, arrangement,
enhancement, communication and management of the archaeological heritage. She graduated in architecture from Politecnico di Milano
and, in 2009, she received a diploma of Master
in “Architecture, Archaeology and Exhibition”
at the Accademia Adrianea di Architettura e
Archeologia. Since 2008 she has worked as an
assistant to the courses of Interior Architecture and Museum Design and, since 2011, she
has participated as a tutor at the International
Seminar of “Villa Adriana Premio Piranesi Prix
de Rome.” She is also contributing to the research project Prin 2008, “he Archaeological
Musealization: Multidisciplinary Intervention
in Archaeological Sites for the Conservation,
Communication and Culture.”
Elena Montanari
Elena Montanari is architect and Ph.D. in Interior Architecture and Exhibition Design. She
graduated from Politecnico di Milano, where
she is currently Temporary Professor of Interior
Design at the School of Architecture and Society, and Research Fellow at the Department
of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU).
Since 2005, she has been collaborating to didactic activities and contributing to various
national and international research projects,
developing a versatile, multi-scaled and interdisciplinary approach to the investigation of
diferent ields.
MeLa* - European Museums in an age of migrations
Research Fields:
RF01: Museums & Identity in History and Contemporaneity
examines the historical and contemporary relationships between museums, places and identities
in Europe and the efects of migrations on museum practices.
RF02: Cultural Memory, Migrating Modernity and Museum Practices
transforms the question of memory into an unfolding cultural and historical problematic, in
order to promote new critical and practical perspectives.
RF03: Network of Museums, Libraries and Public Cultural Institutions
investigates coordination strategies between museums, libraries and public cultural institutions in
relation to European cultural and scientiic heritage, migration and integration.
RF04: Curatorial and Artistic Research
explores the work of artists and curators on and with issues of migration, as well as the role of
museums and galleries exhibiting this work and disseminating knowledge.
RF05: Exhibition Design, Technology of Representation and Experimental Actions
investigates and experiments innovative communication tools, ICT potentialities, user centred
approaches, and the role of architecture and design for the contemporary museum.
RF06: Envisioning 21st Century Museums
fosters theoretical, methodological and operative contributions to the interpretation of diversities
and commonalities within European cultural heritage, and proposes enhanced practices for the
mission and design of museums in the contemporary multicultural society.
Partners and principal investigators:
Luca Basso Peressut (Project Coordinator), Gennaro Postiglione, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Marco Sacco, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy
Bartomeu Mari, MACBA - Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Spain
Fabienne Galangau, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, France
Ruth Noack, he Royal College of Art, United Kingdom
Perla Innocenti, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
Jamie Allen, Jacob Back, Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design, Denmark
Christopher Whitehead, Rhiannon Mason, Newcastle University, United Kingdom
Iain Chambers, l’Orientale, University of Naples, Italy
European Museums in the 21st Century: setting the framework (vol 3)
Published by Politecnico di Milano
© February 2013, The Authors