Authenticiteit en functionele integriteit

De autonomie van de erfgoedprofessional is het begin en einde van de inhoud van de klassieke gedragscodes. In de Gedragslijn voor Museale Beroepsethiek van de Nederlandse Museumvereniging (1991) wordt weliswaar gesteld dat musea een verantwoordelijkheid hebben tegenover de samenleving, maar gelijkertijd wordt duidelijk gemaakt dat de waarde van musea voor de samenleving direct verband houdt met de kwaliteit van de geleverde diensten (artikel 5.1). Die kwaliteit wordt vooral gedefinieerd vanuit de standaardisering van procedures. Met de Ethische Code voor Musea uit 2007 (een vertaling van de Code of Ethics for Museums van de International Council of Museums uit 2004) wordt daar een nieuw perspectief aan toegevoegd: "Museaal gebruik van collecties afkomstig van contemporaine gemeenschappen vereist respect voor menselijke waardigheid alsmede voor de tradities en culturen van de gemeenschap van herkomst" (artikel 6.7). Dat zet, weliswaar nog voorzichtig, de stap naar een vorm van "co-stewardship", het delen van de verantwoordelijk voor het behoud en het gebruik van objecten met degenen die moreel eigendom kunnen claimen vanuit het gegeven dat zij deel uitmaken van de gemeenschap waar het object uit afkomstig is. "Co-stewardship" impliceert een andere benadering van de kernbegrippen integriteit en authenticiteit. Het zou zelfs kunnen inhouden dat de objecten niet binnen de muren van het museum worden beheerd, maar ìn de gemeenschap. Dit impliceert een verschuiving van statisch behoud met nadruk op de fysieke integriteit naar dynamisch behoud met nadruk op de functionele integriteit. Deze verschuiving vormt een van de spannendste uitdagingen voor de theorie en praktijk van conservering en restauratie in de toekomst.

The first use of "museology"

Recently André Desvallées and François Mairesse published their "Sur la Muséologie" in Culture et Musées (no. 6, 2005). It is an interesting analysis of the history of museology, unfortunately looking backwards rather than ahead.
Desvallées and Mairesse show that the term "museology" has been used much earlier than we knew, or at least much earlier than I knew.
They found the term in a text written by Georg Rathgeber, "Aufbau der Niederländischen Kunstgeschichte und Museologie [Structure of Dutch art history and museology]". This text was published as introduction to a catalogue of the numismatic collection of the ducal museum at Gotha, compiled by J.J. Leizmann (published at Weissensee, 1839). The text was used again as introduction to Rathgeber's Annalen der Niederländischen Malerei, Formschneide- und Kupferstecherkunst [Annals of Dutch painting, sculpture and engraving] (Gotha 1839-1844). It was published in four volumes. In 1844 the first volume was published in Dutch by M.H.Binger at Amsterdam as Beredeneerde geschiedenis der Nederlandse Schilder-, Houtsnij- en Graveerkunst, which included aforementioned introduction.

It appears that the first (?) use of the term museology in German language was followed very soon by the first use in Dutch. The Dutch translation is "Kabinetbeschrijving" which term relates to "inventory", i.e. the inventory of cabinets = museums. Rathgeber defines museology as "the presentation of the order according to which works of art should be kept, and should be described in catalogues".

Georg Rathgeber (born in 1800) was director of the ducal collections at Gotha. In 1824 collections from several castles of the duchy of Sachsen-Gotha and Altenburg were brought together, requiring a scientific programme. In 1875 the ducal collections were transformed into a public museum in its own purpose built building. In 1948-1951 the collections were relocated in the former ducal palace Schloss Friedenstein, where the collections still can be visited.

In 1835 Rathgeber published a catalogue Beschreibung der Herzoglichen Gemälde-Gallerie zu Gotha und vieler im Chinesischen Kabinet, in der Sammlung der Abgüsse von Bildwerken, im Münzkabinet Gotha befindlichen Gegenstände: beim Studium der Geschichte der neueren Kunst als Leitfaden anwendbar [Description of the ducal gallery of paintings at Gotha and many of the objects in the Chinese cabinet, the collection of casts, and the numismatic cabinet; to be used as guidance for the study of art] (Gotha 1835). Working on this catalogue Rathgeber felt the need of a broader art historical framework. So he visited many museums and started to develop a theory of arranging museum collections. As such he followed the footsteps of "museologists" like Winckelmann, Mechel, Thomsen and Linnaeus.

Rathgeber's approach is chronological. He proposes to present works of art according to the period of their manufacture. Art history should be based on the chronology of works of art rather than on the biography of artists.

Museology and movies

During the holiday period I had the opportunity to read Museum und Film (Museum zum Quadrat 4, Verlag Turia + Kant, Wien 2004) again. It is the product of a workshop of the Arbeitsgruppe für theoretische und angewandte Museologie at Vienna. I have always been interested in the work of this group. Leading force is Gottfried Fliedl, one of the most creative museologists in Europe. In the project Museum und Film 124 movies are analysed from a museological point of view. They are all movies in which museums (and theme parks) play a role. Very often the museum is the site of a crime (43 x theft, 33 x murder); unfortunately very seldom a place of love (8 x).

On the Museum Discussion List "museums and movies" is a recurrent theme. Search the archives (http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/museum-l.html), especially August 1995 ("Museums and movies"), October 2003 ("Novels and films set in museums"), and April 2005 ("Books and movies that take place in museums"). Rebecca Anne Rushfield and Patricia Griffin compiled an interesting list of movies and novels in which restoration plays a role. See: http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byauth/rushfield/conservation-fiction/).
Craig Eliason created an "Art Historian Guide to the Movies" (http://personal1.stthomas.edu/cdeliason/ahgttmsupport.htm).
The most useful general website is, of course, the Internet Movie Database (http://www.imdb.com). Looking for museums where movies have been filmed might be facilitated by the "Where did they film that" website (http://www.wheredidtheyfilmthat.co.uk/index.php).

It seems to me that museums and theme parks are much more popular as settings than other heritage institutions. The only example of a movie in which an archive plays an important role is National Treasure (Jon Turteltaub, 2004). In The Librarian (Peter Winther, 2004) it is a library. It would be an interesting research project to analyse how professionals are portrayed. Compare, for example the directors of The Relic (Peter Hyams, 1997), National Treasure, and The Librarian! As introduction to the profession Rowan Atkinson's Bean (Mel Smith, 1998) is unsurpassed.

A few days ago I saw The Librarian. I didn't like the film as film, but it has interesting museological connotations. The building filmed it the old Palacio de las Comunicaciones (1904) in the centre of Mexico City. The building was used as national archive and houses now the Museo Nacional de Arte "Munal". As such an accumulation of heritage references: historic preservation, archive, museum and library. The library contains also a collection of objects. It is one of the most fascinating collections ever filmed: Tesla's Death Ray, the Holy Grail, Little Boy (Atomic bomb), the Ark of the Covenant, the Golden Fleece, Excalibur, Adam and Eve's Apple, the Goose that laid the golden apple, Pandora's Box, real Mona Lisa (in the Louvre only a copy is shown, of course), a Unicorn, and the Spear Longinus (Spear of Destiny). The last artefact is stolen and the new librarian sets out to ensure its safe return.
One of the nice scenes is the interview. The main character, Flynn Carson (Noah Wyle, better known as Dr John Carter in ER) applies for the job as librarian. The director asks him why he considers himself eligble. Trying to be funny, Flynn Carson says that he read a lot of books. The director is not amused and asks the same question again. Carson then wants to show off by giving an overview of his knowledge of classification theory. This again is not the right answer. "What makes you think you could be the librarian?", asks the director for the third time. Carson remembers what his mother told him: "The things that make life worth living cannot be thought here [in the head], but must be felt her [in the heart]". This is a nice concept of professionalism!