The Participatory Museum and Distributed Curatorial Expertise

摘要

The series of commentaries in this journal about university collections and museums raises a number of issues, which are otherwise rarely brought up in discussions about the historiography of science, technology, and medicine. Anke te Heesen points to the often forgotten fact that university collections are an integral part of many fields of university research and teaching (te Heesen 2008); this active role of the collections in the primary functions of the university is therefore an important parameter to take into account when developing acquisition and exhibition agendas for university museums. Christian Sichau warns against the rapidly deteriorating political, intellectual, and economic status of traditional curatorial work in collections (Sichau 2009); this is a serious long-term threat to museums because the current trend towards blockbuster exhibitions and event culture—even in science, technology, and medical museums—undermines the role of the museum as a space for the preservation of the heritage and the acquisition of new artefacts. Thomas Schnalke in this issue, finally, largely ignores the question of collections, artefact curating, and new acquisitions in favour of an inspiring discussion about the potentially great role of museum exhibitions in science communication, both internally in the university and externally for a larger general public.