Elisabeth MONAMY
(Archeomuse / University of Bern, Vienna, Austria)
Keywords: mediation, technologies, analogue systems, presentation
Abstract:
Our everyday life has become extremely digital. Wherever you go and travel, the first thing to check is the free WIFI! One can do everything online with his digital device. Accordingly, it is very obvious that the presentations in museums (permanent or special exhibitions) or archaeological sites are digitized. Museum applications or applications with historical or archaeological knowledge and background grow like mushrooms. Every day there are new, innovative and increasingly affordable digital ways to pass on knowledge and awareness for the past, let’s just name two of them: virtual and augmented reality. The question nevertheless arises whether this digitization makes sense and is accessible to everyone. Are not groups excluded by this massive digitization? Furthermore, digital presentations are mostly just a digital copy of a poster or statement in a museum, or worse, excerpts from web pages. On the other hand, have museums with exclusively analogous exhibitions become bland and unattractive? Already in the 1950ies and 1960ies, André Malraux, the French novelist and Minister of Cultural Affaires concluded that art allowed men to connect with past times and therefore worked hard to preserve France’s heritage. His ideas published in “The museum without walls” are surely out-dated nowadays or to be seen as a thought-provoking impulse. Interestingly, for him heritage is not transmitted but conquered! May be Malraux was a mastermind and with our technologies we should make heritage accessible for everyone. In this lecture, the author will present some advantages and disadvantages of digital and analogue presentation and cultural mediation through recently experienced examples in museums and archaeological sites in Europe and the Near East. Visually and interactively, the talk will show that only the combination of both variants (digital and analogue) gives any visitor or viewer the opportunity to get a complete, comprehensive and adequate overview of the museum, exhibition or site.
Relevance for the conference: This paper will show different aspects of cultural heritage mediation with digital technologies and analogue possibilities.
Relevance for the session: Brief summary of advantages and disadvantages and even problems with digital and analogue presentation methods
Innovation: Failures and successful mediation will be presented.