New museology and the creative city

摘要

Commenting on the indifference of traditional museology towards the public at large and its needs, Francesco Antinucci (Musei Virtuali, Laterza 2007) used the example of the long series of flint spearheads in endless display cabinets seen in museums of prehistory. To researchers, they are fascinating collections of samples, but to visitors they are completely irrelevant. I have always been taken aback by the almost sadistic choice made by picture galleries to use the smallest possible labels and fonts for the captions, which force the visitor who is not a specialist into a grotesque forwards and backwards motion. So a few years ago I was thrilled to see captions that were like comic-strip balloons at the Castello Sforzesco in Milan and, more recently, the Galleria Nazionale in Parma placed large-print captions on the baseboard underneath each work of art.