European National Museums:
Making Communities
and Negotiating Conflicts
25 January 2012
13.00-18.00
The Royal Museums
of Art and History
Parc du
Cinquantenaire,
Brussels
This event brings together researchers, museum professionals and policy makers to discuss findings from two research areas in the project EuNaMus – European National Museums: Identity Politics, the Uses of the Past and the European Citizen.
The museum is one of Europe’s most enduring institutions. Today there is an increased interest among social elites as well as citizens to create new museums, especially history museums. All over Europe, the making of new history museums brings to the fore questions as to which stories and which objects should be put on display, for what audiences and with what results and future possibilities. This event includes a panel aiming at discussing the challenges and negotiations in terms of collections, communities and citizenship that arise when polities create new museums.
More information or late announcements of attendance: contact@eunamus.eu
13.00-13.45
Welcome addresses:
Professor Michel Draguet, General Director a.i. of the Royal Museums of Art and History
Professor Peter Aronsson, Linköping University
Octavio Quintana Trias, Director at the Directorate European Research Area, at the Directorate General Research and Innovation
Xavier Troussard, Head of Unit “Cultural policy and intercultural dialogue”, at the Directorate General Education and Culture
13.45-15.00
Panel: Exploring policy relevance - emerging findings from EuNaMus' research: The museum as a cultural constitution, great narratives and conflicts in museum spaces
Professor Peter Aronsson, Linköping University; Professor Dominique Poulot, Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne; Professor Dr Chrysoula Paliadeli, Member of the European Parliament; and Dr Martin Schaerer, museologist, former vice president of ICOM, president of the Ethics Committee of ICOM (Comité pour la déontologie).
Moderator: Dr Gabriella Elgenius, University of Oxford
Launch of EuNaMus’ wiki on heritage wars
Refreshments
15.30-17.30
Panel: Entering the mine-fields – the creation of new history museums in Europe
In recent decades, new museums of national history have been initiated in several European nation-states and even on a European level. Usually these initiatives are surrounded by populist debates of the pros and cons of using public funding for such large scale cultural projects or objections from intellectuals to the ideological nature of the projects. This panel brings together representatives from four initiatives to discuss how they handle the debates in the course of the projects as they develop and how they balance political and intellectual concerns.
Participants: Taja Vovk-van Gaal, Academic Project Leader, House of European History (European Parliament, Brussels); Professor Dr. Rosmarie Beier-de Haan, Head of Collection and Curator, Deutsches Historisches Museum (Berlin); Dr. Robert Kostro, Director of the National Museum for Polish History (Warsaw); Dr. Charles Personnaz, Director of the Maison de l'Histoire de France (Paris).
Moderator: Dr. Chantal Kesteloot, Centre for Historical Research and Documentation on War and Contemporary Society (Brussels)
17.30-18.00
Summary discussion: the integrative forces of conflicts and sharing
Please announce your attendance to contact@eunamus.eu no later than 18 January 2012.
Link to the Royal Museums of Art and History.
Click here for directions
The event is organised by EuNaMus and the House of European History.
Launched in 2007 by Dr. H.-G. Pöttering, then President of the European Parliament, the House of European History will host a modern exhibition and centre of resources on European history, offering permanent, temporary and travelling exhibitions, a collection of objects related to Europe, publications, a variety of different events and educational programmes for a large audience. The House will present different viewpoints on and interpretations of history and will be a forum for reflection and debate.
