Museums Galleries and Collections Institute Theses
https://hdl.handle.net/10023/44
2024-03-29T15:58:52ZA call to action : crafting inclusive digital museum objects, networks and ecologies
https://hdl.handle.net/10023/28148
In this thesis, I examine the omnipresent digital museum object, seeking to understand what it is, what it does, and what it could be. I explore the lack of consensus surrounding the definition of the digital museum object, offering a new conceptualisation of an object that exists and is valuable in its own right. In isolating the generative potential of the digital museum object, I suggest that it offers inclusive and polyvocal opportunities to museums. By placing the digital museum object in a complex relational network of interactions, analysed through nuanced application of actor-network theory (ANT), I expose the asymmetrical power structures embedded between museum and audience in the postdigital landscape.
Finally, this research places digital museum objects and networks within a dynamic, evolving transnational and transcultural digital ecology. This ecology is rooted in the colonial practices of physical environments, replicated in the digital sphere. Thus, I trouble general claims that the digital landscape has democratised access, stating that instead, many of the issues encountered in physical museum spaces are replicated (or even heightened) in the postdigital environment. The creation of inclusive polyvocal digital museum objects is one positive step in an effort that seeks to counter exclusive structures and to create digital spaces that are more welcoming to all. Moreover, based on my analysis, I suggest practical steps that might be taken in beginning a journey towards creating digital museum objects that speak with, and for many, people.
2023-11-29T00:00:00ZMeehan, Nicôle PaulaIn this thesis, I examine the omnipresent digital museum object, seeking to understand what it is, what it does, and what it could be. I explore the lack of consensus surrounding the definition of the digital museum object, offering a new conceptualisation of an object that exists and is valuable in its own right. In isolating the generative potential of the digital museum object, I suggest that it offers inclusive and polyvocal opportunities to museums. By placing the digital museum object in a complex relational network of interactions, analysed through nuanced application of actor-network theory (ANT), I expose the asymmetrical power structures embedded between museum and audience in the postdigital landscape.
Finally, this research places digital museum objects and networks within a dynamic, evolving transnational and transcultural digital ecology. This ecology is rooted in the colonial practices of physical environments, replicated in the digital sphere. Thus, I trouble general claims that the digital landscape has democratised access, stating that instead, many of the issues encountered in physical museum spaces are replicated (or even heightened) in the postdigital environment. The creation of inclusive polyvocal digital museum objects is one positive step in an effort that seeks to counter exclusive structures and to create digital spaces that are more welcoming to all. Moreover, based on my analysis, I suggest practical steps that might be taken in beginning a journey towards creating digital museum objects that speak with, and for many, people.Rousham, Oxfordshire - preserving its place in history
https://hdl.handle.net/10023/21995
The development of the English Landscape Garden was a direct result of the political, social and cultural climate of 18th c. Britain. Rousham, Oxfordshire, as created by Charles Bridgeman and William Kent, may be seen as a transitional garden, included in that short phase of natural wilderness landscapes which lies between French and Dutch influenced formality and 'Capability' Brown's ruthless clearance and 'improvements'. Rousham, as Kent's only unaltered work, is of unique importance; for it is often said that it was with the advent of Kent's informality that British landscape gardening began to lead the world. Charles Bridgeman was also an important figure in the move towards a less formal garden and it has not been fully established how great a part he played; therefore a detailed survey is made of the work at Rousham to assess his contribution. Bridgeman's Rousham was still relatively 'formal', with straight lines and geometric shapes. Kent created a small but varied and relaxed garden with major plays of light, shade and perspective. Much of Kent's construction is reminiscent of Italian garden theatre scenes; Rousham is evocative, with ethereal concepts. A wide range of influences were apparent in the design of Rousham; these, their representation and survival are discussed on the basis of fieldwork and contemporary sources which are listed at the beginning of Chapter Three. In conclusion; Rousham's importance within the field of garden history is established, and an examination made of protection and maintenance to ensure survival of the features and mood of this historic survival.
1991-01-01T00:00:00ZMason, ClaireThe development of the English Landscape Garden was a direct result of the political, social and cultural climate of 18th c. Britain. Rousham, Oxfordshire, as created by Charles Bridgeman and William Kent, may be seen as a transitional garden, included in that short phase of natural wilderness landscapes which lies between French and Dutch influenced formality and 'Capability' Brown's ruthless clearance and 'improvements'. Rousham, as Kent's only unaltered work, is of unique importance; for it is often said that it was with the advent of Kent's informality that British landscape gardening began to lead the world. Charles Bridgeman was also an important figure in the move towards a less formal garden and it has not been fully established how great a part he played; therefore a detailed survey is made of the work at Rousham to assess his contribution. Bridgeman's Rousham was still relatively 'formal', with straight lines and geometric shapes. Kent created a small but varied and relaxed garden with major plays of light, shade and perspective. Much of Kent's construction is reminiscent of Italian garden theatre scenes; Rousham is evocative, with ethereal concepts. A wide range of influences were apparent in the design of Rousham; these, their representation and survival are discussed on the basis of fieldwork and contemporary sources which are listed at the beginning of Chapter Three. In conclusion; Rousham's importance within the field of garden history is established, and an examination made of protection and maintenance to ensure survival of the features and mood of this historic survival.Museological criticism and museum practice : how far can museum practice be informed by museological criticism? : (with reference to the National Galleries of Scotland and the Royal Museums of Scotland)
https://hdl.handle.net/10023/21975
In this dissertation I will be looking at a selective range of museological criticism that has been applied to the educative purpose and functions of museums and more specifically to galleries from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. I will give an outline of these criticisms, their development, the basis of their arguments and the implications they have had for museum and gallery educational practice. This will, it is hoped, illustrate some of the social, cultural and economic developments which have affected both museological criticism and museum practice. In conclusion I will evaluate the extent to which museum and gallery practice can be informed by museological criticism by looking at the current educational practices of two institutions whose collections incorporate the subject areas of the museological criticisms that I have selected.
1992-01-01T00:00:00ZOkeke, ChidiIn this dissertation I will be looking at a selective range of museological criticism that has been applied to the educative purpose and functions of museums and more specifically to galleries from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. I will give an outline of these criticisms, their development, the basis of their arguments and the implications they have had for museum and gallery educational practice. This will, it is hoped, illustrate some of the social, cultural and economic developments which have affected both museological criticism and museum practice. In conclusion I will evaluate the extent to which museum and gallery practice can be informed by museological criticism by looking at the current educational practices of two institutions whose collections incorporate the subject areas of the museological criticisms that I have selected.A brief history of the North American ethnographic collections in six Scottish museums
https://hdl.handle.net/10023/21925
Starting in the late 18th century, when Captain Cook's crews numbered many Scots among them, and throughout the 19th century, when trade and exploration between the "Old" and" New" World particularly flourished, strong ties between Scotland and North America were formed. Scholars, explorers, fur-traders, surveyors and map-makers, artists, missionaries, adventurers and "tourists" were keen, when they returned home, to share the fascinating items and "artificial curiosities" which they had discovered amongst the Native American peoples. Most of the North American and Inuit objects collected, therefore, and which have been subsequently donated to museums, were acquired in a casual and unplanned way with a few notable exceptions. Most of this material derives from the whaling and fur trading activities in the 19th century and early 20th century. Now, over a hundred years later, a variety of interest, use, emphasis, and type of display, was discovered in the museums visited which seemed to reflect trends in historical and anthropological views and those of current "museology". This ranges from the "Cabinets of Curiosities", through Pitt Rivers typology to the modern thematic approach. The concerns of this dissertation are to investigate the collections of North American Ethnographic Material in Six Scottish Museums in the following categories: one national museum, one city corporation, two university museums, and two district councils and briefly to describe their history.
1993-01-01T00:00:00ZCraw-Eismont, Beverley J.Starting in the late 18th century, when Captain Cook's crews numbered many Scots among them, and throughout the 19th century, when trade and exploration between the "Old" and" New" World particularly flourished, strong ties between Scotland and North America were formed. Scholars, explorers, fur-traders, surveyors and map-makers, artists, missionaries, adventurers and "tourists" were keen, when they returned home, to share the fascinating items and "artificial curiosities" which they had discovered amongst the Native American peoples. Most of the North American and Inuit objects collected, therefore, and which have been subsequently donated to museums, were acquired in a casual and unplanned way with a few notable exceptions. Most of this material derives from the whaling and fur trading activities in the 19th century and early 20th century. Now, over a hundred years later, a variety of interest, use, emphasis, and type of display, was discovered in the museums visited which seemed to reflect trends in historical and anthropological views and those of current "museology". This ranges from the "Cabinets of Curiosities", through Pitt Rivers typology to the modern thematic approach. The concerns of this dissertation are to investigate the collections of North American Ethnographic Material in Six Scottish Museums in the following categories: one national museum, one city corporation, two university museums, and two district councils and briefly to describe their history.Into the past : nationalism and heritage in the neoliberal age
https://hdl.handle.net/10023/12114
This thesis examines the ideological nexus of nationalism and heritage under the social conditions of neoliberalism. The investigation aims to demonstrate how neoliberal economics stimulate the irrationalism manifest in nationalist idealisation of the past. The institutionalisation of national heritage was originally a rational function of the modern state, symbolic of its political and cultural authority. With neoliberal erosion of the productive economy and public institutions, heritage and nostalgia proliferate today in all areas of social life. It is argued that this represents a social pathology linked to the neoliberal state’s inability to construct a future-orientated national project. These conditions enhance the appeal of irrational nationalist and regionalist ideologies idealising the past as a source of cultural purity. Unable to achieve social cohesion, the neoliberal state promotes multiculturalism, encouraging minorities to embrace essentialist identity politics that parallel the nativism of right-wing nationalists and regionalists. This phenomenon is contextualised within the general crisis of progressive modernisation in Western societies that has accompanied neoliberalisation and globalisation.
A new theory of activist heritage is advanced to describe autonomous, politicised heritage that appropriates forms and practices from the state heritage sector. Using this concept, the politics of irrational nationalism and regionalism are explored through fieldwork, including participant observation, interviews and photography.
The interaction of state and activist heritage is considered at the Wewelsburg 1933-1945 Memorial Museum in Germany wherein neofascists have re-signified Nazi material culture, reactivating it within contemporary political narratives. The activist heritage of Israeli Zionism, Irish Republicanism and Ulster Loyalism is analysed through studies of museums, heritage centres, archaeological sites, exhibitions, monuments and historical re-enactments. These illustrate how activist heritage represents a political strategy within irrational ideologies that interpret the past as the ethical model for the future. This work contends that irrational nationalism fundamentally challenges the Enlightenment’s assertion of reason over faith, and culture over nature, by superimposing pre-modern ideas upon the structure of modernity. An ideological product of the Enlightenment, the nation state remains the only political unit within which a rational command of time and space is possible, and thus the only viable basis for progressive modernity.
2017-12-08T00:00:00ZGledhill, JamesThis thesis examines the ideological nexus of nationalism and heritage under the social conditions of neoliberalism. The investigation aims to demonstrate how neoliberal economics stimulate the irrationalism manifest in nationalist idealisation of the past. The institutionalisation of national heritage was originally a rational function of the modern state, symbolic of its political and cultural authority. With neoliberal erosion of the productive economy and public institutions, heritage and nostalgia proliferate today in all areas of social life. It is argued that this represents a social pathology linked to the neoliberal state’s inability to construct a future-orientated national project. These conditions enhance the appeal of irrational nationalist and regionalist ideologies idealising the past as a source of cultural purity. Unable to achieve social cohesion, the neoliberal state promotes multiculturalism, encouraging minorities to embrace essentialist identity politics that parallel the nativism of right-wing nationalists and regionalists. This phenomenon is contextualised within the general crisis of progressive modernisation in Western societies that has accompanied neoliberalisation and globalisation.
A new theory of activist heritage is advanced to describe autonomous, politicised heritage that appropriates forms and practices from the state heritage sector. Using this concept, the politics of irrational nationalism and regionalism are explored through fieldwork, including participant observation, interviews and photography.
The interaction of state and activist heritage is considered at the Wewelsburg 1933-1945 Memorial Museum in Germany wherein neofascists have re-signified Nazi material culture, reactivating it within contemporary political narratives. The activist heritage of Israeli Zionism, Irish Republicanism and Ulster Loyalism is analysed through studies of museums, heritage centres, archaeological sites, exhibitions, monuments and historical re-enactments. These illustrate how activist heritage represents a political strategy within irrational ideologies that interpret the past as the ethical model for the future. This work contends that irrational nationalism fundamentally challenges the Enlightenment’s assertion of reason over faith, and culture over nature, by superimposing pre-modern ideas upon the structure of modernity. An ideological product of the Enlightenment, the nation state remains the only political unit within which a rational command of time and space is possible, and thus the only viable basis for progressive modernity.Memorials of endurance and adventure : exhibiting British polar exploration, 1819 – c.1939
https://hdl.handle.net/10023/11087
Over eighty polar-themed exhibitions were held in Britain between 1819 and the 1930s, a time of intense exploration of both the Arctic and Antarctic. These varied from panoramas and human exhibits to displays of ‘relics’, equipment, photographs and artwork, waxworks and displays shown as part of a Great Exhibition. This period also saw the creation of the first dedicated polar museums. These displays were visited by thousands of people throughout the country, helping to mediate the subject of exploration for a public audience.
Despite this, the role exhibitions played in forming popular views of the polar regions has not been fully assessed. This thesis addresses this gap. It is the first to consider all the polar exhibitions held during this period as a collective body, making it possible to study how they developed over time and in response to changing circumstances.
The thesis uses a variety of archival sources to both reconstruct the displays and place them in their historical and museological contexts. The study shows that exhibitions evolved in response to changes both in the museum sector and in exploration culture. It demonstrates that, while they were originally identified with the shows of the entertainment industry, polar exhibitions began to take on more of the characteristics of museum displays. At the same time their dominant themes changed; the natural world was relegated in favour of ideas relating to the human experience of the regions such as heroism, adventure and everyday life in an exotic environment. While other media may have been more effective in disseminating ideas about exploration, visitors could find the experience of visiting an exhibition more compelling. This thesis contributes to our understanding of this distinct role that exhibitions played in presenting the polar regions to the British public.
Electronic version excludes material for which permission has not been granted by the rights holder
2017-06-22T00:00:00ZMurray, KatieOver eighty polar-themed exhibitions were held in Britain between 1819 and the 1930s, a time of intense exploration of both the Arctic and Antarctic. These varied from panoramas and human exhibits to displays of ‘relics’, equipment, photographs and artwork, waxworks and displays shown as part of a Great Exhibition. This period also saw the creation of the first dedicated polar museums. These displays were visited by thousands of people throughout the country, helping to mediate the subject of exploration for a public audience.
Despite this, the role exhibitions played in forming popular views of the polar regions has not been fully assessed. This thesis addresses this gap. It is the first to consider all the polar exhibitions held during this period as a collective body, making it possible to study how they developed over time and in response to changing circumstances.
The thesis uses a variety of archival sources to both reconstruct the displays and place them in their historical and museological contexts. The study shows that exhibitions evolved in response to changes both in the museum sector and in exploration culture. It demonstrates that, while they were originally identified with the shows of the entertainment industry, polar exhibitions began to take on more of the characteristics of museum displays. At the same time their dominant themes changed; the natural world was relegated in favour of ideas relating to the human experience of the regions such as heroism, adventure and everyday life in an exotic environment. While other media may have been more effective in disseminating ideas about exploration, visitors could find the experience of visiting an exhibition more compelling. This thesis contributes to our understanding of this distinct role that exhibitions played in presenting the polar regions to the British public.The Ring Net : ring net herring fishing on the west coast of Scotland ; a documentary exhibition by Will Maclean
https://hdl.handle.net/10023/7071
This dissertation focuses
on
The Ring Net,
a
documentary
exhibition by the
artist Will Maclean. The Ring Net is
a collection of drawings,
photographs and printed plans numbering more
than three hundred and forty
items,
which was originally shown at
the 'Third Eye Centre, Glasgow in
1978. It
subsequently
toured to
various venues, mostly
in Scotland, and
was later bought by The Scottish National Gallery of
Modern Art, Edinburgh
where
it is presently
held.
The
project
is based
on a particular method of sea
fishing which used
to
be
practised on
the West Coast
of
Scotland. The
subject of
fishing is a
consistent
feature in the
work of
Maclean,
although
this
particular
undertaking is
somewhat unusual as
the
artist
has
chosen a
documentary
approach.
The initial
period of research
for the
project was enabled
by
an
Edinburgh-based
charitable organisation,
the Scottish International
Education Trust. The
artist continued
to
work on
the
project
for
some
time
afterwards, and
the
eventual exhibition was not shown until
four
and
a half years
later.
The aim of
this dissertation is to look
at
The Ring Net in its
context.
The period of
its making
is
explored in some depth, as
is the showing of
the
project at the Third Eye Centre and the
various venues
included in its
tour. Though the methods and media used in The Ring Net
are
discussed,
they do
not constitute
the
main objective of
the
work.
More
space has
been devoted to the documentary
aspect of
the
project and
the
effect this
had on the finished result.
Unpublished sources such as a series of
letters from the artist
to
a collaborator
in Kintyre have been used to
some extent.
1991-01-01T00:00:00ZAllerston, PatriciaThis dissertation focuses
on
The Ring Net,
a
documentary
exhibition by the
artist Will Maclean. The Ring Net is
a collection of drawings,
photographs and printed plans numbering more
than three hundred and forty
items,
which was originally shown at
the 'Third Eye Centre, Glasgow in
1978. It
subsequently
toured to
various venues, mostly
in Scotland, and
was later bought by The Scottish National Gallery of
Modern Art, Edinburgh
where
it is presently
held.
The
project
is based
on a particular method of sea
fishing which used
to
be
practised on
the West Coast
of
Scotland. The
subject of
fishing is a
consistent
feature in the
work of
Maclean,
although
this
particular
undertaking is
somewhat unusual as
the
artist
has
chosen a
documentary
approach.
The initial
period of research
for the
project was enabled
by
an
Edinburgh-based
charitable organisation,
the Scottish International
Education Trust. The
artist continued
to
work on
the
project
for
some
time
afterwards, and
the
eventual exhibition was not shown until
four
and
a half years
later.
The aim of
this dissertation is to look
at
The Ring Net in its
context.
The period of
its making
is
explored in some depth, as
is the showing of
the
project at the Third Eye Centre and the
various venues
included in its
tour. Though the methods and media used in The Ring Net
are
discussed,
they do
not constitute
the
main objective of
the
work.
More
space has
been devoted to the documentary
aspect of
the
project and
the
effect this
had on the finished result.
Unpublished sources such as a series of
letters from the artist
to
a collaborator
in Kintyre have been used to
some extent.