Week 7 Wednesday 9 am Seminar by Georgina Walker https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem National Museums: the National Museum of Australia/Shanghai Museum/National Museum of China, Beijing en-us 2020-04-27 10:05:08 UTC 2020-05-21 04:49:52 UTC hello@padlet.com Imagine that you have international friends coming to visit you in your home country - your have planned to take them to your local national museum as a means of filling them in on your country's national history/identity - how would you do this in the museum? What things would you highlight? Is the museum helpful - or not - in informing your friends about your country's history/identity? https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/532970888 [Note - of course you may feel free to critique the basis of this question - e.g. whose 'country' are we speaking of? Who is speaking on whose behalf? Do you need to be 'Australian' or 'Chinese' to understand the essence of that country's national museum? etc....]]]> 2020-04-27 10:05:08 UTC https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/532970888 MacDonald, 2003: “A crucial question for museums today concerns their role in a world in which nation-statist identities are being challenged. Are they too inextricably entangled in ‘old’ forms of identity to to able to express ‘new’ ones?” https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/532970889 Can you think of any museums/exhibitions that are actually grappling with this question?]]> 2020-04-27 10:05:08 UTC https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/532970889 Porciani, 2015 argues that History Museums now increasingly need to address previously suppressed histories of “multiple voices of different witnesses, be they immigrants or survivors, colonized peoples, subaltern, minorities, natives or people once described as history-less because of their race, origins of social or gender inferiority, are now increasingly present in museums” https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/532970891 Can you think of any museums/exhibitions that are actually attempting to do this?]]> 2020-04-27 10:05:08 UTC https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/532970891 The readings highlight some critical problems faced by those developing national museum exhibitions - they include the following: https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/532970893 A tendency to 'essentialise' culture/identity

A tendency to 'depoliticise' culture/identity

A tendency to assume too much prior background/shared cultural knowledge on the part of the visitor

Can you see these issues at play in any of the museums you are looking at?]]> 2020-04-27 10:05:08 UTC https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/532970893 GROUP 4 walker_g https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/532970896
Analyse the architecture and installations of the National Museum of China and National Museum of Australia in Google Art Project and on their websites – are they effective/appealing? How do they compare with the Shanghai Museum?

National Museum of Australia
https://artsandculture.google.com/streetview/national-museum-of-australia-galleries/5wF161fenKUT5w?sv_h=0&sv_p=0&sv_pid=hjUXZlgZMgha7_LQ7II1tA&sv_lid=13174458512189543304&sv_lng=149.12097762781764&sv_lat=-35.29390114312458&sv_z=1.8364850016658516

National Museum of China, Beijing
http://en.chnmuseum.cn
https://artsandculture.google.com/entity/m047d5yv

Shanghai Museum
https://www.shanghaimuseum.net/museum/frontend/en/index.action]]> 2020-04-27 10:05:08 UTC https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/532970896 GROUP 3 walker_g https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/532970899
How can museums represent national ‘identity’? 

What is the best way to express this in a museum? And to what extent is it possible, for example, to tackle contentious or political issues?

]]> 2020-04-27 10:05:08 UTC https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/532970899 GROUP 2 walker_g https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/532970901 "The architectural appearance, role, functionality and display formats of national museums have all changed significantly in the past few decades. The ‘heavy handed’, ‘speaking from above’ tone of the traditional national museum has in many instances been replaced by a more pluralist and inclusive approach that stresses the role of the contemporary national museum as being more like an open-ended ‘forum for the people’ – for the construction of meaning/identity - rather than a fixed space for a linear, one-way narrative."
Can you find examples where this is happening? 

Is it possible to capture a sense of identity in a contemporary national museum? Can you think of any examples? 

What are the positive and negative aspects associated with both approaches? (i.e. traditional 'heavy handed' compared with a more open-ended inclusive approach)

]]> 2020-04-27 10:05:08 UTC https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/532970901 GROUP 1 walker_g https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/532970902
How do national museums differ/relate to other kinds of museums – e.g. state/regional/other national museums/galleries – and how have they changed over time?

How should these specific roles be reflected in the nature of its collections/programs? (e.g. specific programs/areas/exhibitions)




]]> 2020-04-27 10:05:08 UTC https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/532970902 Shanghai Museum walker_g https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/532970905 2020-04-27 10:05:08 UTC https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/532970905 National Museum of China, Beijing walker_g https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/532970906 MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR
http://en.chnmuseum.cn/about_the_nmc_593/message_from_nmc_director_595/201911/t20191122_173222.html]]> 2020-04-27 10:05:08 UTC https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/532970906 Google Arts & Culture - National Museum of China, Beijing walker_g https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/532970907 Virtual Tour]]> 2020-04-27 10:05:08 UTC https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/532970907 Google Arts & Culture - National Museum of Australia walker_g https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/532970909 Virtual Tour]]> 2020-04-27 10:05:08 UTC https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/532970909 National Museum of Australia walker_g https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/532970910 STRATEGY PLAN https://www.nma.gov.au/about/corporate/plans-policies/strategic-plan

http://www.nma.gov.au/history/aboriginal-torres-strait-islander-cultures-histories

http://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/eternity/home

http://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/journeys/home

]]> 2020-04-27 10:05:08 UTC https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/532970910 National Museum of China - not an official video - but at least helpful in a basic/linear way walker_g https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/534966563 2020-04-28 00:30:09 UTC https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/534966563 Intro video for National Museum of Australia walker_g https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/534969499 2020-04-28 00:32:44 UTC https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/534969499 STUDENT ATTENDANCE LIST walker_g https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/534970576 2020-04-28 00:33:44 UTC https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/534970576 Here are some examples of the 'original' NGV and its interior architecture.... bblacket https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/537875026 2020-04-29 01:13:34 UTC https://padlet.com/walker_g/AHIS90005_wk7_natmus_wed_9am_sem/wish/537875026