The use of artistic techniques in education has been understudied, although various theories highlight their importance in learning. This research, conducted in 2023 with the collaboration of 19 museums in Porto, aims primarily to determine the perception and use of artistic techniques as educational resources in various museological contexts in Porto. Using the case study method, questionnaires and interviews, both qualitative and quantitative results were obtained. The main findings indicate that artistic techniques are used to enrich the educational experience and connect with the collection, prioritising the creative process over the final product. Traditional techniques predominate with a variety of materials, and the primary audience is children. In conclusion, it is highlighted that artistic techniques are a versatile educational resource, although their approach varies according to the audience and educational design. The data obtained are of interest as they show an overview of the situation of Porto museums in relation to the use of artistic techniques that was not available until now. Additionally, the methodological diversity shown by the results can be the starting point for a self-evaluative process by museums that leads to the enrichment of the educational experience, the coordination of training actions between museums and the development of more inclusive and experiential activities. Possible lines for advancing the research include staff training, adaptation to various types of audiences and innovation in the materials and techniques used.
Margherita Lasorella, Pasquale de-Dato, Elena Cantatore
Considering the variety of architectural Cultural Heritage typologies, systemic architectures require specific attention in the recovery process. The dimensions of "extension" and "recurrence" at geographic and technological levels affect the complexity of their knowledge process; they require systematic ways for their categorisation and comprehension to guarantee correct diagnosis and suitable rehabilitation. Recent applications involving Internet of Things (IoT) for the built Cultural Heritage have demonstrated the potentialities of three-dimensional (3D) geographic information system (GIS) models and structured databases in supporting complex degrees of knowledge for technicians, as well as management for administrators. Starting from such experiences, the work presents the setting up of a web-based platform to support the knowledge and management of systemic architectures, considering the geographical distribution of fabrics, natural and anthropic boundary conditions, and technical and administrative details. The platform takes advantage of digital models, machine and deep learning procedures and relational databases, in a GIS-based environment, for the recognition and categorisation of prevalent physical and qualitative features of systemic architectures, the recognition and qualification of dominant and recurrent decays and the management of recovery activities in a semi-automatic way. Specifically, the main digital objects used for testing the applied techniques and setting up the platform are based on Red-Green-Blue (RGB) and mapped point clouds of the historical Telegraphic Towers located along the Madrid-Valencia path, resulting from the on-site investigations. Their choice is motivated by the high level of knowledge about the cases reached in the last years by the authors, allowing them to test rules within the decision support systems and innovative techniques for their decay mapping. As the experience has demonstrated, the systematisation of technical details and operative pipeline of methods and tools allow the normalisation and standardisation of the intervention selection process; this offers policymakers an innovative tool based on traditional procedures for conservation plans, coherent with a priority-based practice.
ABSTRACT This article considers the relevance of the Society for American Archaeology's 2018 “Statement on Collaboration with Responsible and Responsive Stewards of the Past” for imported antiquities (specifically, “classical” ones—that is, from Mediterranean regions). Various practical, legal, and ethical differences between collecting imported versus domestic objects make it difficult to identify “responsive and responsible stewards” of the former. An obstacle to responsible stewardship of privately owned classical collections—and to collaboration between classical archaeologists and collectors—is the 2008 acquisition guidelines issued by the two leading professional organizations in the museum field. I argue that the best home for unprovenienced and poorly provenienced antiquities collections is in university museums, where their complicated object biographies can be fully researched, taught, and displayed.
The focus of this article is the historical context of the Finno-Ugric collection in the Estonian National Museum (ENM) and how it is positioned in relation to source communities. Some of the central issues in the museological discussions inspired by postcolonialist perspectives have been the controversy of non-local heritage in museums and the relationship between museums and source communities. These discussions have not only been limited to the collections with explicitly colonial contexts but have also provoked questions of the power dynamic between institutions/collectors and source communities more widely. This has inspired us to look critically at the history of collecting Finno-Ugric objects and to ask about the collection’s meaning to contemporary Finno-Ugrians. The ENM’s Finno-Ugric collection is the largest non-Estonian museum collection in Estonia. As Estonians belong to the Finno-Ugric language family, the collecting tradition of non-Estonian Finno-Ugric objects has been motivated by the notion of Finno-Ugric kinship and framed within nationalist ideology. To a certain extent, Estonian ethnic consciousness has included other Finno-Ugric peoples as ‘our own’, the idea of being culturally related allowed Estonians to conceptually amplify their nation. The Finno-Ugric cultural heritage has thus been conceptualised as a common legacy of all kindred peoples. Although such a view puts an emphasis on the idea of belonging together, at the same time, a certain othering discourse is also discernible in the gaze of Estonian scholars/collectors. Some aspects of cultural heritage of other Finno-Ugrians’ that do not correspond to the historical experience of Estonians have typically been interpreted as only recent, inauthentic and inherently alien to the ancient Finno-Ugric core. ‘Authenticity’, characterised by the age and cultural ‘purity’ of a tradition or an object has been in the focus of Estonian ethnographers, while contemporary developments and signs of modernity have been prone to be interpreted as signalling cultural decline. However, as we know from the fieldwork diaries, local Finno-Ugrians have sometimes resented the ethnographers’ attention to the “old and unseemly”, interpreting this as showing them being backward. Nevertheless, although the ethnographers’ appetite for the outdated objects perplexed the locals at times, the collecting activities were generally viewed benevolently and also very pragmatically – selling old stuff that people no longer needed was seen as a good opportunity to earn some extra money. The main part of the Finno-Ugric collection was formed during the Soviet period when Estonia was in common geopolitical space with most of the other Finno-Ugric peoples. The central museums in Eastern Finno-Ugric regions also engaged in ethnographic collecting but limited their efforts to the cultural heritage of local people(s). The ENM differed in its holistic approach to the Finno-Ugric peoples, aiming to obtain a collection that would represent the material culture of all kindred peoples. While the collecting efforts of the ENM could also be viewed being in a certain competition with the local museums, collaboration with regional museums and research institutions has been in the foreground. So far, the main users of the Finno-Ugric collections have been Estonians. In recent years, there has been a slight increase of interest from the FinnoUgric museums and researchers in Russia. Unfortunately, as the documentation in the archives is in Estonian, it has restrained their ability to delve into the materials. Our preliminary study among people of Eastern Finno-Ugric descent living in Estonia, which focused on their attitude towards ENM’s collecting tradition and Finno-Ugric collection, revealed modest interest in the latter. While this seems to suggest that the objects of material heritage kept at the museum have no particular personal or emotional meaning for the respondents, they did attribute the Finno-Ugric collection and permanent exhibition with certain symbolic value and importance. With a reference to the fragility of cultures of small peoples and ethnic groups, the Echo of the Urals exhibition is conceptualised as a possibility to introduce these peoples to a global audience. And even though one might not have an active interest in the collection or a need to personally relate to it just now, the knowledge that the heritage of their ancestors is being preserved and cared for in the museum, and that it is accessible in case there will be such need and interest in the future, was considered somehow reassuring. In addition to this, more practical expectations of the museum were expressed. For example, it was proposed that the museum might be the venue for a regular meeting place for the Finno-Ugric communities. Stronger emphasis on ethnic origin came to the fore in the case of families with children – living in Estonia. The potential of the museum as an aiding context for passing on the knowledge about traditional culture to the younger generation was noted. The museum is thus assigned the role of entrusted steward and the idea of Finno-Ugric kinship has played a certain role in shaping the communities’ positive attitude towards ENM. Keeping in mind the principles of cultural sensitivity and reciprocity as key concepts in contemporary museological practices, it is crucial that the museum acknowledges its responsibility and ethical duty to offer possibilities for the source communities to participate in decisions concerning the representations of their cultural heritage. The main challenges for the museum are finding ways to share the knowledge about the collections and making these accessible for the communities, but also creating channels to put forward their own ideas and desires in representing this heritage. Keywords: cultural heritage, museum collections, Finno-Ugric, ethnic identity, Estonian National Museum
Fabiana de Jesus Cerqueira, Theresinha Guimarães Miranda
A biblioteca universitária é um dos espaços em que as políticas educacionais inclusivas se materializam, as quais asseguram a educação como um direito. Desse modo, exige-se do bibliotecário uma postura proativa no tocante a acolher usuários na condição de deficiência com paridade e equidade e, assim, fornecer subsídio para a legitimação dessas políticas no âmbito da biblioteca. Diante deste cenário, o objetivo da pesquisa consiste em realizar um levantamento de quais bibliotecas universitárias federais da região do Nordeste apresentam serviços destinados às pessoas com deficiências, especialmente no tocante a oferta de acervo acessível e de tecnologia assistiva. A pesquisa, qualitativa e quantitativa, de caráter descritivo, teve como fundamento o método de abordagem dialético-materialista. Os dados foram coletados nos sites das instituições; referente aos procedimentos adotou-se a análise de conteúdo. Ao realizar tal investigação, identificou-se que do total das vinte bibliotecas das universidades federais da região Nordeste, apenas oito apresentam nos sites serviços destinados às pessoas com deficiência. Os resultados obtidos evidenciaram que a inclusão nas bibliotecas universitárias federais do Nordeste ainda se apresenta em estágio inicial na maioria das bibliotecas.
Diplomatics. Archives. Seals, Bibliography. Library science. Information resources
Ana Claudia Medeiros de Sousa, Dayane Patrícia Silva dos Reis, Gleice Pereira dos Santos
Esta pesquisa buscou analisar os atributos de descrição bibliográfica e de autoridade de documentos musicográficos, a partir do Código de Catalogação Anglo-Americano (AACR2) e da Resource Description Access (RDA). A partitura escolhida foi a de autoria de Chiquinha Gonzaga, intitulada ‘Ó abre alas’. Para tanto, a pesquisa se caracteriza como descritiva e documental. Na análise dos dados foi adotada a abordagem qualitativa, com o intuito de interpretar os aspectos inerentes às partituras e aos elementos de descrição. Os resultados apontaram que o processo de representação bibliográfica e de autoridade, tendo como base os códigos, normas e formatos, possibilitam que os documentos musicográficos sejam passíveis de descrição e, sobretudo, de recuperação. Observou-se que os atributos e atualizações sugeridos pela RDA, tais como o acréscimo do campo de descrição para tipo de conteúdo; os atributos relacionados à pessoa que incluem: campo de atividade, ocupação, dados biográficos, informações sobre a família, local associado, etc., são informações que contribuem para compreensão dos usuários do contexto em que o documento foi produzido, que no caso de partituras, essas informações colaboram na preparação da performance do músico que irá realizá-la o mais próximo possível da ideia do compositor.
Diplomatics. Archives. Seals, Bibliography. Library science. Information resources
Fabrizio Banfi, Raffaella Brumana, Angelo Giuseppe Landi
et al.
This paper describes the case study of the damaged church of St. Francesco in the hamlet of Arquata del Tronto (Italy) that was struck by the earthquake in 2016. The municipality commissioned the research to support the preliminary design of the preservation plan. The first digitisation level has been started from the richness of surveying data acquired from static and dynamic terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), and photogrammetry, overcoming challenging constraints due to the scaffolding covering the surfaces. The geometric survey allowed authors to acquire massively geometric and material information supporting the three-dimensional (3D) volume stratigraphic and the creation of the Heritage Building Information Modelling (HBIM). The paper proposes a shift from the Geographic Information System (GIS)-based analysis of the materials toward spatial HBIM management. Building Archaeology is turned into HBIM 3D volume stratigraphy, overcoming the bidimensional (2D) surface mapping, in favour of a 3D understanding of direct and indirect sources. Material mapping is added to HBIM 3D volume stratigraphy, and each stratigraphic unit (SU) has its proprieties. The 3D volume stratigraphic database has been designed to collect the data on the unit detection at three levels (direct sources data collection, indirect data documentation, the relation among the BIM object elements). A common data environment (CDE) has been set up to share the 3D volume informative models that can be accessed, and all the information gathered. The knowledge transfer using the eXtended reality (XR) has been devoted to the citizen and tourist fruition, enhancing the comprehension of difficult concepts like the SUs to support a better critical 3D reconstruction. It includes the phases of construction across time-lapse documentation that validates related information within the building archaeology informative models leaving spaces to the uncertainty and documenting the relationship established so far thanks to the direct and indirect sources. The result obtained is a live digital twin that can be continuously updated, which justifies the costs and time demanding of HBIM despite 2D drawings.
Highlights:
• 3D survey and scan-to-HBIM process for the creation of a digital twin were oriented to the preliminary design of the preservation plan of the church of St. Francesco in Arquata del Tronto (Italy).
• Stratigraphy is investigated and oriented towards a digitisation process to share different levels of knowledge through new forms of digital-sharing such as Common Data Environment (CDE) and cloud-based BIM platform.
• eXtended reality (XR) is the final tool to reach new levels of communication and a wider audience characterised by experts in the construction sector and virtual and non-expert tourists.
From the 1950’s onward, the myriad qualities of all plastic objects were praised without a second thought. This enthusiasm significantly delayed the awareness of their enormous impact and it took almost half a century to consider these objects a part of post-war culture. This essay aims to sketch the history of the appreciation of the relevance of plastics in the museum world, specifically as a part of design heritage, seen from the viewpoint of the collector and the conservator-restorer. The case of the Design Museum Brussels, established in 2015, shows how a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach on conservation can be developed to the benefit of our plastics heritage.
865 out the savage antipartisan war, is much sought after by collectors, despite rewarding atrocious behavior. Hughes concludes by asking how greater awareness of the nature of the artifacts might undermine the collecting mania or allow the artifacts to be displayed only in public collections and museums with contextual explanations, but it is difficult to see how this might be done, particularly with a lively online trade in fakes and replicas. This is a corner of the technology of the Third Reich that can still be appropriated, when the larger and more complex technology has for the most part disappeared into museums. Hughes has produced an intelligent and detailed account of a materiality that refuses to become merely a part of the past.
Abstract Precious palm leaf manuscripts are kept in public libraries, archives, museums, and temples in China. Recently, private collectors have gained interest in collecting such manuscripts as well. Different storage environments and preservation measures may have an impact on the overall condition and deterioration of manuscripts depending on the respective collecting entirety. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the storage situation of palm leaf manuscripts in different storage conditions, identify their state of deterioration and further analyze the underlying reasons. This research focuses on the palm leaf manuscripts stored at the Cultural Palace Library of Nationalities and in the Fandian Palace. Deterioration phenomena, such as acidification, staining, mold, tearing and blurred ink have occurred. The main problems could be identified as inadequate storage materials and acidification of the wrapping materials. Unfavorable storage conditions also affect aging and deterioration. By comparing palm leaf manuscripts of the two collections, we found that the manuscripts of The Cultural Palace Library of Nationalities are well preserved as a whole, with few signs of deterioration and slight damage, while the manuscripts of the Fandian Palace show more serious problems. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the storage conditions at the latter location and take some measures to prevent the palm leaf manuscripts from continuing to deteriorate.
Postage stamps are small works of art seen by people worldwide that can be used effectively in education. The first paleontological stamp was released by India in 1951. Since then, over 4000 stamps with fossils, paleontologists, museums, and collecting sites have been issued by almost 200 countries. Stamps that illustrate fossils or reconstructions are intrinsically interesting and popular with many of the millions of stamp collectors. All disciplines of paleontology are represented, but dinosaurs are by far the most common subject, although even bacteria appear on a few stamps. Most of the stamps were scientifically accurate at the time they were issued though some artists took artistic liberties to fashion unique stamps. Overall, the stamps are artistic and educational because their small sizes and low cost make them easily accessible for classroom activities, exhibits, and presentations. They cover topics such as biodiversity, geology, ecology, oceanography, and evolution, among others. Paleophilately has provided art, education, joy, and happiness to people worldwide.
The purpose of this communication is to present reflections on the practice of collecting Munduruku and Shuar heads from colonial contexts, their subsequent curation in global museum collections, and the importance of understanding the origins of this collecting practice considering both the existence of «forgeries» and the continued search for «authentic» examples by collectors today. Our research aims to contribute to the discussion on the importance of bioanthropological analysis of these Ancestral remains when allied to postcolonial criticism and provenance research regarding how and why they were collected, curated and kept in museums. Given that these heads are a sensitive reminder of the problematic circumstances of their collection, postcolonial criticism is paramount to rethinking their curation, display, and use as part of scientific investigations.
The consequences of the coronavirus and the physical limitations it imposes on museums and their visitors force museums to rethink cultural identity and to approach the exhibition of material artworks differently. Only a limited number of people are allowed to visit the museum at one time, booking time slots is mandatory, making it difficult to welcome visitors. As most Dutch museums are largely self-funded, the lack of tourists, visitors, educational programmes that generate income, together with the insufficient financial support of the Dutch government, have greatly impacted their policies. This report analyses the coronavirus’ effects on the role of museums within the Dutch ‘'anderhalvemetersamenleving'’ (one and a half meter society). This report offers an overview of the changes that have taken place in Dutch society due to the limitations of physical interaction with artworks and the museum space as well as the way Dutch museums have reacted to these consequences. Lastly, this report offers an analysis of the success of these new developments and the challenges that still need to be overcome. Thus, ways will be proposed in which Dutch museums can learn from these actions in maintaining their critical function in society.
The IPCC Report on the Future of Climate Change, published in August 2021, leaves no doubt that everyone must work to reverse deadly trends. Museum institutions also share responsibility for the future of the planet, and their raison d'être also depends on it. Only a fragment of museum activities that are or may be undertaken in order to participate in saving the Earth is mentioned in the text. They concern the last and seemingly the least important link in museum activities - the shops and souvenirs offered there. The ways of thinking and organizing the sales of souvenirs were indicated, as well as arguments to counteract excessive consumerism, which was treated as the implementation of the mission and essence of museology.
Among the collections of artefacts owned by German collectors and transferred to Polish museums after the Second World War, the set of objects created by Wrocław-based architect and antiquities collector Eduard Schaubert (1804– 1860) clearly stands out. The collection was created over the period of twenty years that he spent in Greece and was brought to Wrocław by Schaubert in 1850. After his death, in 1861, the objects, along with a collection of drawings and handwritten accounts documenting them, were partly sold and partly donated by his heirs to the Royal Museum of Art and Antiquity at the University of Wrocław (then the University of Breslau). The collection, which at the time it was handed over to the Wrocław museum numbered more than 300 objects, fits into the collecting culture of the era in which it was created, and Schaubert himself is a representative of the international community of philhellenic collectors dominating the landscape of European collecting in the first half of the 19th century. The vast majority of objects that were once in Schaubert’s collection have not survived to this day due to the Second World War and the post-war turmoil. These preserved are scattered in two museums today. The preliminary reading of the published inventory lists of the antiquities’ collection owned by Schaubert, prepared by August Rossbach who recorded the original state of the collected set, and a brief analysis of the preserved objects reveal the collection’s heterogeneity. Diversity was probably part of the original idea, from the moment Schaubert started his collection. It is also significant that the artefacts included in the collection were usually mass produced in series and either purchased or discovered privately, that is, acquired without precise archeological data. These are the main features that distinguish a typical philhellenic collection of antiquities, that is, a collection created from the philhellenes’ need to contact the ancient original as “touching the past” and to preserve the material remains of the glorified “cradle of art and knowledge” – ancient Greece.
In the second half of the 19th century, Buddhist bells from Japan began to arrive in Switzerland. The fact that these were objects listed in the so-called ethnographic collections is not surprising and the history of collecting has been a subject of postcolonial research. However, remarkably, the travel route of these bells, some of which weighed over a ton, could not be documented. Until now, the way how the bells were imported into Switzerland as unknown, and the problem of their provenance unsolved. This article argues that a global history approach provides new insights in two respects: The consideration of materiality allows a new nderstanding of the objects, while the activities of local collectors, seen from a micro-global point of view, reveal the local imprints of the global. Within this rationale, a history of individual bells in the possession of individual art lovers and museums translates into a history of scrap metal trade, allows to consider the disposal of disliked objects at their place of origin, and opens up a global framing of local history. Using global history as a concept, the historicity of the global gains visibility as we look at the intersection of materiality and the local involvement of global networks. Ultimately, as we follow the journey of the bells, reinterpreting scrap metal into art has formed a striking way in which local history assimilates the global.