The Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Museological Perspective

The Smithsonian Folklife Festival began as a four‐day event held over the Fourth of July holiday in 1967, outdoors on the Mall. The impulse for it came from Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley. The form of it came from Ralph Rinzler, field research director for the Newport Folk Festival and a documentarian who sought out authentic, grassroots American musicians. The Festival was conceived as giving voice to the less known and under‐represented, a philosophy that quickly expanded to encompass the world of what is now called intangible cultural heritage. The Festival's museology has as its core the foregrounding of the cultural exemplars and the primacy of their voices in the presentations. It has energized new possibilities for what can be done in the Smithsonian and on the National Mall, and in the lives of people, communities, and institutions well beyond.     

The Smithsonian Folklife Festival and Cultural Heritage Policy in Colombia: A Case Study

As Colombia began to develop its Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) policy, it signed an agreement with the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage to collaborate on a Smithsonian Folklife Festival of Colombia's national living traditions, to be shown on the National Mall in 2011. This essay addresses the role of the Smithsonian Folklife Center in advocating for a cultural heritage policy grounded in cultural democracy and intercultural dialogue, as well as its collaboration with UNESCO in crafting the 2003 convention for the protection of intangible cultural heritage. We focus on the Center's signature collaborative program, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, and on our experience with the 2011 Festival program, Colombia: The Nature of Culture. We examine the relationship between the Festival and Colombia's intangible cultural heritage communities, policies, and practices, through intercultural dialogues that contribute to shaping Intangible Cultural Heritage policy from the bottom up.     

Measuring Infinity: José de Rivera's Smithsonian Sculpture on the National Mall

Abstract Large works of public sculpture outside our museum doors reveal aspects of a museum's self‐image. They beckon, reassure, or confront visitors with new ideas about what might lurk inside. Whether off‐the‐shelf or commissions by well‐known sculptors, these pieces matter. They are the noses on our museum faces. In this essay, one museum curator reflects on the layered meanings of his museum's entry art — meanings that, he argues, have the potential to evolve over time.     

博物馆陈列的核心特性：意义沟通

博物馆陈列作为具有确定独立性和完整性的客观存在,在体现博物馆组织性质和实现组织目标的活动中发挥重要作用。陈列是博物馆工作者主动创造活动的结果,博物馆工作者对陈列性质、特性和功能的认识,籽深刻影响陈列的内容结构和表达样式,影响陈列与观众的关系。当前,中国博物馆工作的社会环境发生了显著变化,观众的素质和需求也发生了明显变化,     

Museums,Meaning Making,and Memories: The Need for Museum Programs for People with Dementia and Their Caregivers

Abstract At times considered an unreachable audience, people with dementia have found a wealth of positive and meaningful experiences in museum settings. Making a case for the creation of museum programs for people with dementia and their caregivers, this article describes the experience of dementia both for those diagnosed with the disease and for those providing care; highlights several existing museum programs for people with dementia; and offers suggestions for future programming options.     

Strategies against Architecture: Interactive Media and Transformative Technology at the Cooper Hewitt,Smithsonian Design Museum

After being closed for three years, the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum reopened at the end of 2014 a transformed museum in a renovated heritage building: Andrew Carnegie's former home on the Upper East Side of New York City. New galleries, a collection that was being rapidly digitized, a new brand, and a desire for new audiences drove the museum to rethink and reposition its role as a design museum. At the core of the new museum is a digital platform, built in‐house, that connects collection‐ and patron‐management systems to in‐gallery and online experiences. These have allowed the museum to redesign everything from object labels and vitrines to the fundamentals of the “visitor experience.” This paper explores in detail the process, the decisions made—and resulting tradeoffs—during each stage of the process. In so doing, it reveals the challenges of collaborating with internal and external capacities, operating internationally with online collaboration tools, and rapid prototyping.     

历史博物馆陈列主题的内涵与解读

博物馆学界对陈列主题的研究出来已久,大略可概括为“内容抽象说”,“中心思想说”、“题材定位说”等有代表的理论。笔者基于系统、联系、反映和建构的认识,认为“陈列主题”是陈列的内容及表现形态所反映的中心思想。笔者认为陈列是在博物馆的特殊背景中构成的一个动态系统。陈列主题是内容设计人员的智力活动和创造能力的体现,是对陈列中的事实和知识更为深刻的哲理层面的思考和认识,是复杂的认识复合体,包含着观念、信念、价值、态度和审美等思维活动。陈列主题贯穿在陈列的内容、展品和陈列的表现形态中,需要通过解读才能被现众认知。陈列设计者和参观陈列的观众都会基于各自需求、知识背景和对陈列题材的态度对主题进行解读,这可能会影响解读的结果。     

个人意义映射与跟踪观察法在博物馆学习研究中的应用

跟踪观察法和个人意义映射是目前西方博物馆学习研究者常用的调查方法。前者侧重记录观众的参观行为,后者记录观众在博物馆参观前后的智识变化。本文在分析两种方法的内容、目的、特点以及在博物馆学习研究中的应用范式的同时,依据山东大学博物馆学习项目组在山东博物馆展厅实施的调查,介绍这两种方法的操作流程、数据整理和分析方法。     

The Museum Maturity Framework: A Path to Purpose,Meaning, and Values

Abstract In this paper we synthesize elements of the modern philosophy and practice of organization management and leadership and illustrate their application to museums. The elements of our synthetic theory are a museum's inventory of processes (system of work), the role of its leader/director, and the social structures of the museum. These theoretical elements are placed in a conceptual context called the museum maturity framework, a five‐level developmental sequence in which are organized the paradigms and behaviors of a museum as it matures. The museum maturity framework can help the internal and external analysis and assessment of museums.     

试析建造国际友谊博物馆的重要意义

本文试图就建设一座代表国家形象的标志性博物馆——国际友谊博物馆的重要性、必要性和紧迫性进行探讨,以便求教于高明。一、建造一座展示外交成就的国家标志性博物馆的重要性新中国成立半个世纪以来,我国外交同旧中国的屈辱外交彻底决裂,以独立自主的鲜明特点,为维护国家主权、民族尊严,为维护世界和平作出了巨大贡献,而改革开放20年来,中国外交取得更为喜人的成果,前景也更为宽广。在日益频繁的中外友好往来中,积淀下大量来自世界各国的外交礼品,是新中国、新时期中外交往历史的实物见证,体现了我国独立自主外交政策在实践中结…     

The Museum and Its Relationships as a Loosely Coupled System

Abstract Currently dominant ideas about the social accountability of museums demand that museums produce “intended outcomes”: positive changes to visitors. Proponents commonly depict this process as a “logic model,” a tightly controlled sequence of events that moves from goal to intended outcome. A tightly coupled system obliges all elements to work toward a common goal. But studies in a variety of fields have shown that tightly coupled systems are achievable only under specific environmental conditions, which are not met within the network of relationships in which museums work. Instead, this article views the museum and its relationships as a loosely coupled system. Each element has its own purposes, and strives to maintain its own autonomy. Interests overlap, but are not identical. In the loosely coupled system, encounters generate a wide and unpredictable range of events. This approach offers advantages for the long‐term sustainability of museums.