Museums of Ideas: Commitment and Conflict


Traditionally, museums have been established on the basis of collections. However, some of today’s most challenging and dynamic museums are those founded on the basis of ideas. Their themes may span human rights, social inclusion, peace, war, health, gender, climate change... Their size, budget, scope and ambitions may differ, but they are all driven and committed in a way which tends to set them apart. Museums of Ideas: Commitment and Conflict provides a unique insight into the operation of these committed, often pioneering, sometimes challenging, institutions, and highlights what can be learned from their experiences - and applied to benefit the broader museum community and its users.

Museums of Ideas is written by leading museum specialists and focuses on pioneering and innovative institutions in many different countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, UK, and USA. 

The contents of this richly illustrated, 620-page book include:

Freedom: The Ongoing Need for Courage, Cooperation and Perseverance as the Struggle Continues
Dina Bailey, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Cincinnati, USA

The Value of Risk
Sheri Bernstein, Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, USA & Marni Gittleman, Interactive Learning Specialist

The Victims Museum, Afghanistan: Dealing with the Recent Past
Sophia Milosevic Bijleveld, Leicester, UK

Politics in the Museum: The Jihad Museum, Afghanistan
Sophia Milosevic Bijleveld, Leicester, UK

The Happy Museum Project
Tony Butler, Museum of East Anglian Life, Stowmarket, UK

Giving Corto Maltese a House: Engaging Visitors Beyond the Original versus Copy Debate
Silvia Casini, Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, Italy

Education Syndicates: A New Model for Museum Learning
Tim Desmond, National Centre for Citizenship and the Law, Nottingham, UK

Dealing with the Past, Not Just Recording It
Adrian Kerr, Museum of Free Derry, UK

Memory as a Muse for Morality: The Museum of Memory and Tolerance, Mexico City
L Sasha Gora, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Conflict, Peace and Reconciliation
Natalie Heidaripour, Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry, UK

Staying True to Innovation
Lydia Johnson, InternActive.org

National Stadium, National Memorial
Wally Kunstmann, Regional Metropolitano de ex Presas y Presos Politicos, Chile

Amoroteket: The Museum of Sexology
Stine Cathrine Kühle-Hansen, Oslo, Norway

Museum as Creativity: Building the Universal Through the Individual
Darko Babić and Zeljka Miklosevic, University of Zagreb, Croatia

Japanese Peace Museums and the Challenges of the Kyoto Museum for World Peace
Junko Kanekiyo, Kyoto Museum for World Peace, Ritsumeikan University, Japan

Changing Places: From Black-and-White to Technicolor 
Tom Hanchett, Levine Museum of the New South, Charlotte, NC, USA

A New Model of Historic House Interpretation
Erin C Mast, President Lincoln’s Cottage, Washington DC, USA

Mechanisms of Violence: A Historical Tool for Human Rights Education
Marzia Gigli, Elena Monicelli and Mattia Seligardi, Peace School Foundation of Monte Sole, Bologna, Italy

An Ideal Museum of the English Language
Christopher Mulvey, The English project

Migration and the Red Star Line Museum
Luc Verheyen & Bram Beelaert, Musea en Erfgoed Antwerpen, Belgium

Diversity, Democracy and the Modern Museum: Conflicting Goals in the 21st Century?
Hamish Robertson & Jeffrey Cohen, University of NSW, Sydney, Australia

Good ideas shine through... a useful management handbook for living your institutional values... thoughtful and probing... [filled with] intelligence and stark precision.
ICOM News

Title: Museums of Ideas: Commitment and Conflict
Pages: 620
Illustrations: 125
Size: 216 x 140mm
Date: 2011
Editions: £60 (paperback) | £45 (eBook) 

ISBN: 978-1-907697-21-0 [paperback]

Problem ordering online? Please email orders@museumsetc.com
Question? Email us: hello@museumsetc.com
Guarantee: We offer all our readers an unconditional guarantee: if, at any time, you decide this book’s not for you, simply return it to us for a full and prompt refund.  



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