Current museum exhibitions seem to be increasingly affected by the influence of mass media and their representation of the past. In particular as regards the Middle Ages, visitors approach...Show moreCurrent museum exhibitions seem to be increasingly affected by the influence of mass media and their representation of the past. In particular as regards the Middle Ages, visitors approach exhibitions dedicated to the medieval period with some stereotypes and misconceptions coming from a distorted presentation of the so called ‘Dark Age’ in popular culture. The influence of some post-modern concepts has a key role in offering a distorted representation of the past. By providing a theoretical background through which to highlight some of the main problems deriving from post-modern theories, the following research aims to explore their consequences on current museum exhibitions on the Middle Ages. In particular, the risk to fall into the trap of ‘Disneyfication’ represents one of the main concerns museums have to deal with. Hence, various research methods tries to investigate the possible increase of this tendency and its relation with misconceptions coming from popular culture and affecting the audience.Show less
This study explores folk art through Elisabeth Houtzager’s collection of Native American folk art at the National Museum of Ethnology (NME) in Leiden, Netherlands. The Houtzager collection at the...Show moreThis study explores folk art through Elisabeth Houtzager’s collection of Native American folk art at the National Museum of Ethnology (NME) in Leiden, Netherlands. The Houtzager collection at the NME is comprised of circa 4,000 objects of folk art from around the world, and was acquired from Houtzager by the NME in 1993. Research began as part of an internship project held at the NME. The objects of focus comprise a sample of Native American Pueblo pottery and its makers from the Southwestern United States. During initial research of the collection, it became apparent that folk art is a relatively complex matter and occupies a unique position in the world of material culture. This thesis expands on the results of the internship, and seeks to answer questions primarily including: What motivated Houtzager to collect folk art so extensively? Why did the NME accept Houtzager’s large collection of folk art in 1993? In order to broach these questions, one must investigate: What is folk art, and how does it relate to other objects such as ethnographic artefacts and art? The concept of folk art eludes a concrete definition, and can be best understood by recognizing a conglomeration of interpretations. An examination of the Native American art market in 20th century Southwest United States reveals a host of dynamics that may have influenced individuals and institutions to collect objects like folk art. Changes in the lives and careers of the makers of the Pueblo pottery in Houtzager’s collection led to innovations, individuality, and competition in the folk art community in the American Southwest, and created the setting in which Houtzager was traveling, socialising, and thus influencing her purchases of folk art. Individuals collect objects for various reasons, whether as an obsession, a pursuit for a complete collection, an expression of identity, or a memento from events or souvenir from travels. Given the environment in which Houtzager collected, it may be speculated that her travels and personal connections with the pottery makers represented in her collection lent to feelings of nostalgia through the objects. On an institutional level, museums of all types including ethnology, art, folk art, natural history, serve a certain purpose to the collections, staff, and public. Choices in museum collecting are influenced by the interplay between these actors. Today, folk art can be found in many different types of museums. In this study, interviews with three curators from the NME with varied disciplinary backgrounds, reflected a variety of opinions of folk art, and its situation within the institutional setting of museums. With the already discussed indefinable aspect of folk art in mind, these current movements in museums of all types to collect or display folk art contributes to the story of folk art as an issue in the contemporary museum world.Show less
MA thesis is based on a research done in the National Museum of Antiquities (RMO).The aim of this study was to explore how RMO’s contemporary art exhibition policy fits in the context of...Show moreMA thesis is based on a research done in the National Museum of Antiquities (RMO).The aim of this study was to explore how RMO’s contemporary art exhibition policy fits in the context of contemporary museum practices regarding contemporary art. The author traced the beginnings of displaying and juxtaposing contemporary art together with non- art objects. This approach was firstly used during the Primitivism, an art movement in the early 20th century. Therefore a framework of the most famous Primitivism exhibition "Primitivism" in 20th Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern (Museum of Modern Art, New York City, 1984) was chosen to analyze the exhibitions held in RMO. The outcome of the study shows that contemporary artists are engaged with themes that are archaeology- related. However, two of the Primitivism characteristics: aestheticism and juxtaposing contemporary and non- art objects are still present in the current exhibition practices in RMO. Contemporary art displayed in RMO partly fits in the art trend called historiographic turn. However it is mostly a visual inspiration instead of in- depth study of the past which is a main requirement for historiographic turn.Show less
The sixties were a time of social movements, public debates and changing perspectives. It was the time that in the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde new ideas about its collecting practice came up. But...Show moreThe sixties were a time of social movements, public debates and changing perspectives. It was the time that in the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde new ideas about its collecting practice came up. But only little is known about the collecting practice and collections policy of the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde in the 1960’s. This Master thesis was written to find out what these looked like. Research questions were: was there a collections policy in the sixties in the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde? What did it look like? And is this collections policy reflected in the actual acquisitions, especially from Middle- and South-America? Three methods were used for collecting data: the jaarverslagen (annual reports), correspondence between the museum and the collectors and TMS (The Museum System, the museum’s collections database). A database was set up to combine information from TMS with that of the jaarverslagen. This database showed the total amount of objects given to and collected for and by the museum per year. The jaarverslagen, written by director Pott, proved to useful in understanding the difficulties in forming a new collections policy. The jaarverslagen also show the need to collect but this was not always possible due to financial problems. The correspondence between the museum and the collectors gave a good insight in the collecting practice. It can be concluded that there was no actual collections policy present in the sixties. The collecting practice very much depended on personal preferences of the director and the curators. However, there were some common ideas about collecting in the museum. One of them was that objects from ‘unknown’ cultures should be collected but in a way that visitors could identify with them. This can be clearly seen in the Borys Malkin and Luis Laffer collections. Also the idea of ‘saving’ parts of cultures before they disappeared is part of these common ideas. Malkin was one of the collectors that worked with this so-called ‘salvage anthropology’. Pott’s ideas about the collections policy are not very different from the collecting practice. His ideas are clearly visible in the collecting practice and this can lead to the conclusion that Pott was well aware of the difficulties and possibilities of the collecting practice.Show less
This thesis is based on a survey conducted in the visitors of the Delphi museum, in Greece, in January 2013. The research was successfully carried out through the use of questionnaires, which were...Show moreThis thesis is based on a survey conducted in the visitors of the Delphi museum, in Greece, in January 2013. The research was successfully carried out through the use of questionnaires, which were distributed to a random sample of people. Moreover, it attempted to explore the levels of visitors’ satisfaction after their visit as well as the deficiencies of the museum according to the comments made by visitors and their additional expectations from such an important museum. An additional help in this effort was the study of the impression books that the Delphi museum holds as well as the fruitful interview with the curator. Through the interview useful information is provided concerning the improvements made on the museum space and the new plans and projects were established or planned to install in order to better serve the visitors. The aim of this thesis is to explore the policies pursued by the Delphi museum and in what extent it takes into consideration visitors' opinion to these policies it establishes.Show less
The post-modernist preoccupation with representation has not eluded modern museological debate. How and why museum’s choose to represent knowledge in certain ways has catalyzed much discussion. In...Show moreThe post-modernist preoccupation with representation has not eluded modern museological debate. How and why museum’s choose to represent knowledge in certain ways has catalyzed much discussion. In recent years there have been calls to move away from a didactic to a more dialogic model of presentation, one that transcends the mold of the curator as the authoritative voice to a more democratized experience that incorporates the indigenous voice, and facilitates visitor interaction and participation. Within this field of discussion exists the notion of narrative and story within exhibitions. This thesis will explore how narratives are created and then applied to ethnographic exhibitions within the modern museum setting.Show less
This thesis is based on primary field work that has been conducted on the Island of Saba in the Lesser Antilles. The physical construction of the first modern exhibition on Saba’s history was...Show moreThis thesis is based on primary field work that has been conducted on the Island of Saba in the Lesser Antilles. The physical construction of the first modern exhibition on Saba’s history was carried out on the island in January 2013. This exhibition has been brought into fruition through co-operation between the author and a team from the Archaeology Faculty at Leiden University. The exhibition attempted to raise an awareness of the history of the island and recent archaeological research within the local community and tourists alike. The outcome of the field work has resulted in documentation of the project and the process of putting the exhibition together within this study. Further primary research took an interview-based approach in an attempt to understand the local community’s connection with the exhibition’s content, their interest in the island’s past and if they feel a need for it to be displayed on the island. It forms an initial analysis of the community’s opinion on these issues and an understanding of present community identity and their identification with the island’s history. This author’s research is supported and built upon through secondary sources that explore the concepts of identity and the community within the museum world. The aim of this study is to form an understanding of the past and present museum work on Saba, the need for further museum projects on the island and the community’s interest, involvement and identification with the history and archaeology of their island.Show less
Educating visitors and sharing knowledge are some of the major goals of museums and leading factors in the decisions that museums make regarding their policies. Communicating with visitors and...Show moreEducating visitors and sharing knowledge are some of the major goals of museums and leading factors in the decisions that museums make regarding their policies. Communicating with visitors and making sure that multiple audiences are successfully reached asks for a careful approach that requires a museum to understand their visitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the chosen educational methods and presentation. The field of visitor studies offers the tools museums need to assess their educational efforts and exhibition not only in regards to overall visitor experience but also in their perceived educational value. This research deals with the question how visitor studies play a role in the evaluation of museum education, and through interviews, survey research and questionnaires attempts to show how visitor surveys are used by museums to study educational programs and methods, which alternatives there are, and advocates a more intensive and detailed approach that could lead to both a better understanding of a museum visitor’s educational needs as well as the strengths and weaknesses of a museum’s educational approach.Show less
In the early twentieth century Luristan bronzes started to appear on the European art markets. In 1931-1932 the Rijksmuseum of Oudheden acquired fifty-five objects. In this thesis the provenance of...Show moreIn the early twentieth century Luristan bronzes started to appear on the European art markets. In 1931-1932 the Rijksmuseum of Oudheden acquired fifty-five objects. In this thesis the provenance of these objects is retraced. By focussing on museum objects with no known provenance it becomes evident that official archaeological excavations are important to understand these objects that are part of archaeological collections but were not acquired through legal excavations.Show less
This study investigates the task of the Museum of Antiquities in the nineteenth century. The aim of this research was to see if the Netherlands would fit into the international museological...Show moreThis study investigates the task of the Museum of Antiquities in the nineteenth century. The aim of this research was to see if the Netherlands would fit into the international museological developments as presented by Tony Bennett in his book The Birth of the Museum. Several publications have been reviewed on this subject in order to explore how this relatively new branch within the museum studies is researched. A theoretical framework has been outlined with two main theorists on which this historical visitor-research usually rests: Michel Foucault’s work on power relations and Pierre Bourdieu’s work on class distinction. The work of Eric Hobsbawm on nationalism and nation-states has been added as a third main theoretical thread. The empirical research has been carried out on several different types of archival documents of the Museum of Antiquities to answer the main research question. This is embedded in a short history of the Museum of Antiquities. As a comparison a short history is added of the British Museum and their interaction with the public. The outcome of this study indicates that the Dutch museological development in the nineteenth century was not the same as described by Bennett in his book. In order to account for this deviant outcome a chapter on the political and social situations of the Netherlands in general and of the city of Leiden in particular has been added.Show less
