[ecrea] CFP: Re‐imagining the Museum in the Global Contemporary

*Re‐imagining the Museum in the Global Contemporary *

ICOM‐ICME 51st Annual Conference 2018

October 9‐12.2018, Estonia National Museum, Tartu, Estonia

Keynotes confirmed: Wayne Modest, Pille Runnel, Philipp Schorch, Andrea 
Witcomb

CALL FOR PAPERS

ICOM ICME invites proposals for contributions to our 2018 annual 
conference, "Re‐ imagining the Museum in the Global Contemporary.” We 
invite you to join us in Estonia to reflect upon the complex context(s) 
in which museums exist today, and to creatively examine the range of new 
and future roles we might productively employ in our respective and 
interconnected institutions.

ICME is the international committee of the International Council of 
Museums (ICOM) devoted to ethnographic museums and collections from 
local, national, and/or global cultures and societies. Our annual 
conference brings together diverse museum scholars and practitioners 
from across the world.

It has now been fifteen years since Andrea Witcomb published 
Re‐imagining the Museum, but her text remains relevant today. Museums 
are situated in a world of rapidly changing global politics, contested 
digital technologies, and increasing socio‐economic inequalities. Within 
this ‘global contemporary,’ we recognize that various ideologies and 
ethical perspectives greatly influence and impact our work, in regard to 
understanding collections, designing exhibitions, and various other 
aspects of museum work.

As contemporary museum professionals, we may be asked to perform a range 
of roles that take us out of our traditional comfort zones, as we seek 
collaborative action across boundaries including: nation, ethnic 
identity, class, disability, gender and sexual preference. Museums have 
often ventured into difficult discussions and the engagement of diverse 
audiences. We might prioritise storytelling and sharing curatorial power 
so that myriad stories can be told in exhibition spaces, programmes and 
outreach to attract more diverse audiences. At the same time, such work 
can be seen as radical change threatening collections care, research and 
the place of the object in ‘new’ museums devoted to opening dialogue.

With our conference, we present the question: Are these various 
positions mutually exclusive? We offer a space to consider that a ‘both 
and’ rather than an ‘either/or’ perspective may be possible, moving us 
beyond binary positions that put ‘progress’ and ‘tradition’ in unhealthy 
tension.

We call for papers, panels and workshops (academic, practice‐based or 
any combination of the two) from colleagues who work on collections, 
exhibitions, and programming that aims to diversify audiences and 
reconsider interpretive practice, as well as from colleagues who wish to 
maintain, implement, and respect the legacies of more traditional 
practices. Together we hope to find new ways to express who we are to 
one another and those that visit museums, the actions we might take in 
the future, and the contributions we might make to the contemporary 
world of museology.

We are interested in work that addresses a range of questions that have 
long concerned ICME, which include but are certainly not limited to:

·How does/can the museum problematize and/or diversify knowledge 
production? 


·How do technology and multisensory activities raise/elevate (or 
curtail) new voices and participatory 
venues? 


·How can knowledge and power be productively shared in museums? 


·How have we questioned both ‘elite’ orthodoxies and new interpretive 
theories in productive ways?

ICME are delighted to announce four keynote speakers: Dr Wayne Modest 
(Netherlands), Dr Pille Runnel (Estonia), Dr Philipp Schorch (Germany) 
and Dr Andrea Witcomb (Australia). Details of their research interests 
can be found at 
http://network.icom.museum/icme/conferences/annual-conference/icme-2018-keynote-speakers/#c20732.

The conference is hosted by Estonian National Museum, in Tartu, Estonia 
(http://www.erm.ee).

Conference websites: http://enmconferences.ee/en; 
http://network.icom.museum/icme/conferences/annual-conference/

#ICME2018

FB: https://www.facebook.com/events/1993650297567207/

*Submitting an abstract*

We ask that papers (15 minutes) or panel discussion proposals would not 
exceed 400 words. In addition we also welcome proposals for shorter 
papers (10 minutes) about current work in the ethnographic museum on the 
main theme.

The following information should be included with the abstract:

Name(s) of Author(s) Affiliation(s) & full address(es) Title of 
submitted paper Support equipment required

All submissions must include a 100‐word bio for each presenter.

Please send proposals as soon as possible, but no later than 20.04.2018 
as a Word Document attachment to the e‐mail: (icme2018 /at/ erm.ee).

The abstracts will be evaluated by at least two members of the 
Conference Committee. 


*Conference Committee: **
*

Dr. Viv Golding (UK), ICOM ICME Chair / University of Leicester, Museum 
Studies


Dr. Ulf Dahre (Sweden), ICOM ICME Treasurer / Lund University, Social 
Anthropology


Dr. Pille Runnel (Estonia) / Estonian National Museum, Research Director

Sylvia Wackernagel (Germany), ICOM ICME Secretary / Silesian Museum

Mario Buletić (Croatia), ICOM ICME Webmaster / Ethnographic Museum of 
Istria


Brittany Lauren Wheeler (USA), ICOM ICME Conferences / PhD candidate, 
Clark University, Boston

Agnes Aljas (Estonia), ICOM ICME Board member / Estonian National 
Museum, Research Secretary

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