The UNESCO Courier - Volume 2024, Issue 4, 2024

Interactive video installation Henry VIII Trifold (II) at the Deep Fakes: Art and Its Double exhibition (2021) at EPFL Pavilions, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland. Visitors can look closely at a portrait of King Henry VIII of England (1491-1547), via two monitors showing reproductions scanned at ultra-high resolution.

Historian and author of a monumental trilogy entitled Le Musée, une histoire mondiale [The Museum, a global history], Krzysztof Pomian traces the birth of museums back to late 15th-century Italy. Over the centuries, princely treasures and cabinets of curiosities became secular places, open to the public and whose collections form a link between past and future generations.

Whether they offer 3D visuals or fully immersive virtual reality, museums are revolutionizing the public’s experience through the use of new technologies. But not all institutions can afford them.

The trend of photographing oneself in front of the Mona Lisa or Van Gogh’s Starry Night took off with the advent of the digital age. This practice is so prevalent today that it sometimes seems to have become the main reason to visit a museum. A simple manifestation of contemporary vanity? Not only. The museum selfie can also serve as a way of appropriating art and creating more meaningful experiences.

In Ghana, Nana Oforiatta Ayim’s mobile museum brings art to places where everyday life happens, from fishing harbours to market squares. The testimonials and objects shared by the visitors feed into a wider project of mapping the African continent’s cultural landscape, while offering an alternative to the Western museum model. Interview with Nana Oforietta Ayim, Ghanaian writer, cultural historian, curator and filmmaker.

It’s been said that history is written by the victors. The American Museum of Natural History in New York City and other museums around the world are working to change that. Aware that their collections often reflect bygone attitudes of colonialism, they are rethinking their role and approach.

Long confined to the roles of copyist, patron or muse, women artists have been enjoying greater recognition in recent years, as demonstrated by museum acquisition policies and the space reserved for them at major exhibitions. But despite the efforts of many institutions to feminize their collections, parity is still a distant goal.

How to bring into view what is invisible: intangible cultural heritage? Inaugurated in 2023, a museum in Zhejiang is showing the way. Using an immersive and interactive approach, it introduces visitors to performing arts, rituals, and traditional skills.

The Australian Museum of Discovery in Adelaide, Australia, is preparing the next generation for the challenges of tomorrow. Young people are not only visitors to the museum but also key players in its programming.