Collective practices of collecting, that was the title of the ICOM Talk given by Bruno Brulon Soares and Lisa Heinis on 30 November 2023. They talked about issues such as: How do you embed accessibility in a museum's collecting practices? And what is the role of communities in ‘social sustainability’? They also discussed how to let communities help determine the value of a museum collection. For instance, by giving them a voice in acquisition policy. With this ‘soft knowledge’, the beacons of expertise can be recalibrated and this is also in line with the new ICOM museum definition, in which participation and education are more prominently embedded than before.
Among other things, Lisa talked about how the public Depot of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam manages to broaden the definition of a collection and what the role of education is in this. But there are also other (grassroot) museums that stretch the boundaries of the museum definition, for example by being a museum without a permanent collection.
Speakers
Bruno Brulon Soares is from Brazil but works at the University of St Andrews in Scotland where he teaches Museology. This summer, his publication 'The Anticolonial Museum: Reclaiming Our Colonial Heritage' was released by Routledge. Bruno also co-chaired the working group responsible for the new museum definition (ICOM Define).
Lisa Heinis is curator of education at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. Bruno and Lisa were both part of the International Museum Day symposium 2023 in Singapore earlier this year, where both spoke about the importance of social sustainability within museums. They are now continuing this conversation here and Bruno will briefly present the work of ICOM Define.
Lessons Learned
- The new ICOM Museum Definition is a good conversation starter for museum professionals. The former 'acquiring' was replaced by 'collecting'. This important nuance invites museum professionals to view their collections as collective practice and a tool to connect more and more people to your museum.
- In co-creation with visitors, people and communities, your museum can set new values to make the collection of increasing meaning to a growing number of people. What is worth collecting and who decides that? Together you can continuously shape our material cultures.
- Keep on re-evaluating the 5 P's of collecting: People (who is the collection for), Purpose (the why of a collection), Politics (what political influences and interests are at play), Participation (who do we work with) and Positionality (where do we stand as museum professionals).