25.09.2024

"Challenging Museums: Rethinking Institutional Norms and Practices"

A summary of three CIVIS Universities' Blended Intensive Programs

The project titled "Challenging Museums: Rethinking Institutional Norms and Practices," consisted of three Blended Intensive Programs (BIPs) organized by the museum, heritage and cultural studies departments at CIVIS universities in Marseille, Athens, and Tübingen, with Stockholm University joining the third edition in 2024. Each BIP, hosted in a different city – Marseille in 2022, Athens and Elefsina (Cultural Capital of Europe 2023) in 2023, and Tübingen and Stuttgart in 2024 – centered on distinct themes related to museum practices, offering international and local students opportunities for hands-on learning, networking, and the development of interpersonal and professional skills. Our BIPs centered on the following themes:

2022, Marseille – "Colonial Legacies & Post-Colonial Challenges"

This BIP examined the political role of heritage collections in shaping "legitimate" knowledge and collective memory, and how these collections are currently being re-evaluated and questioned.

2023, Athens and Elefsina – "Refugee Legacies in Museum and Heritage Sites"

This BIP addressed several key topics, including the representation of refugee biographies in museums, the legacies of refugees in both museums and urban settings, the empowerment of refugee communities through culture, and the roles of museums in social inclusion and community engagement.

2024, Tübingen – "Shifting Societies, Changing Museums"

This BIP explored new approaches to museum work and the evolving roles of museums and museum professionals, with a particular focus on the concept of "diversity" as a newly introduced term in the “museum” definition by the International Council of Museums and how museums can adapt to societal changes.

The basic idea of all three BIPs was to combine theoretical input (lectures) with on-site visits to museums and heritage sites, along with practical training in exhibition design. The five days of in-person meetings focused on creating small exhibitions within museum spaces or one of its departments. This allowed students to apply the theoretical knowledge they had gained during the initial days and the online lectures to produce tangible, physical results. The last day of each BIP was dedicated to the presentation and discussion of the exhibitions, providing an opportunity for the group to consolidate their shared knowledge through concrete examples. This was crucial for directing the discussion toward specific aspects and understanding what the students had taken from the inputs.

The three-year span of the BIPs allowed for refining a specific trajectory to achieve optimal learning outcomes. The steps were structured as follows:

Online component:

• 1)    Deliver online lectures and host discussions with invited museum practitioners to provide a foundational understanding of the theme the BIP focuses on. All online lectures are recorded and uploaded to the CIVIS Moodle platform, along with suggested literature.
• 2)    Divide students into 4-5 groups, ensuring a balance of cultural backgrounds, fields of study, and academic levels in each group.
• 3)    Ask students to select a personal object linked to the BIP's theme, which they will bring to the in-person part of the program.
• 4)    Have students upload their objects to the Miro Wall, accompanied by a story explaining the connection between their object and the BIP’s theme.
• 5)    Local organizers also upload objects from local collections to the same Miro Wall, allowing students to familiarize themselves with all the objects beforehand.
• 6)    Each of the 4-5 student groups holds an online meeting one week before traveling to the in-person part to get to know each other and to start brainstorming initial ideas for their group exhibition project based on the objects from the Miro Wall. They also add new tags to unite separate objects under more concrete topics (e.g., #Community, #CulturalDiversity, #Stereotypes).

Physical component:

• 7)    At the beginning of the in-person meetings, students receive additional theoretical input, followed by group discussions to deepen their understanding of the topic.
• 8)    Students visit local museums and civic organizations. In 2023, this included engagement with one of the European Capitals of Culture, Elefsina, where they collaborated with the Cultural Organisation leading the project. These visits are followed by group discussions about what they have learned and consideration of how to incorporate these insights into their exhibition projects.
• 9)    In collaboration with teachers, students hold brainstorming sessions to finalize the specific topic for their exhibition and decide which exhibition ideas they could adapt from the visited sites.
• 10)    On the fourth day of the in-person meetings, students set up their exhibitions and prepare to present them on the final day.
• 11)    The final stage involves students presenting their projects, receiving feedback, and answering questions from teachers and fellow students.

All the "Challenging Museums: Rethinking Institutional Norms and Practices" BIPs were centered on an object- and project-oriented learning approach, which allowed students to apply theoretical knowledge in practical settings. According to participants, this method fostered a deeper understanding and skill development. The three BIPs were organized by the same four colleagues – Judith Dehail from the Aix-Marseille Université, Marlen Mouliou from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Thomas Thiemeyer and Anna Leshchenko from the University of Tübingen – creating a stronger professional network, as well as continuity among recurring participants, some of whom progressed from Master's to PhD level in the past three years. 

The inclusion of Stockholm as a partner university in the third BIP expanded the existing network, opening possibilities for future programs to be held in Stockholm. The use of Moodle platform supplied by CIVIS allowed keeping an archive of all the BIPs, and integration of Miro, an online collaborative platform, enabled real-time sharing and discussion of objects and ideas, facilitating a seamless transition from virtual to physical components of the program.

The practical application of concepts learned during the BIPs was evident in the students' exhibition projects. The BIPs also emphasized engagement with local civic communities, particularly in Marseille and Athens, helping students understand the societal impact expected from their work with heritage. These community-engaged and field-based interactions provided real-world contexts for their theoretical knowledge, further enhancing the educational experience.

The interdisciplinary approach, with contributions from diverse disciplines such as history, art, anthropology, visitor studies, cultural mediation, and museology, allowed students to tackle complex issues from multiple angles. The success of the BIPs was strengthened by CIVIS funding, which supported daily catering (lunch boxes and snack corner) and enabled students to remain undistracted during intensive days of exhibition mounting.

Overall, the BIPs have not only deepened relationships between partner universities and local museums but also led to new collaborative projects and research initiatives, contributing significantly to the connections between universities and museums in the involved cities.

Overall, the "Challenging Museums: Rethinking Institutional Norms and Practices" project, through its three BIPs, provided a unique and enriching learning experience for all the participants. This ongoing collaboration not only reinforced professional connections but also significantly strengthened ties between universities and museums, promoting international collaboration and the exchange of ideas. The feedback from students underscores the importance of such initiatives in developing professional skills, fostering networks, and addressing contemporary museum challenges. The continued collaboration among the universities of Tübingen, Marseille, Athens, and Stockholm, supported by CIVIS, promises to advance the field of critical museum and heritage studies and contribute to the evolution of museums as dynamic, inclusive institutions. This successful format serves as a model for future educational programs, highlighting the value of international and interdisciplinary approaches in university education.

A. Leshchenko, M. Mouliou, Th. Thiemeyer, J. Dehail