Module Directory

This module focuses on the museum and its changing modes of display. It charts the history of the public museum from the middle of the eighteenth century to the present.

We will explore classic types of museums and their respective display rhetorics. The broader, underlying questions concern narrative and memory. What stories does the museum tell, what does it remember and how?

The aims of this module are:

• To gain knowledge of the history of curatorial labour, galleries and museums.


• To develop understanding of critical theoretical approaches to curatorial labour, the public sphere and cultural policy.


• To gain knowledge of specific historical forms of curatorial display.

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Be able to make informed historical arguments about the history of museums and curating.


2. Have knowledge of broad and specific history of display, curatorial labour, and their institutions.


3. Understand and engage with debates about the museum as an aspect of the public sphere.

We are used to being presented with a history of art history when we go to the art museum. But rarely do we pay attention to the rhetoric of that narrative or to the political ends it may serve. In addition to looking at the art museum, the series will also consider the representation of nature and other cultures and of larger and different histories such as emigration, war, slavery or the holocaust. How well is the museum equipped to present these? And how does it do that? And finally we will ask: what is the museum's future in the virtual age?

You will be expected to attend all seminars having read all the titles in `seminar reading` on the above lists. It is also expected that you will have read around the subject by looking at other related material. You should come to seminars prepared to speak about the reading and engage in discussion. It may help to make notes beforehand about questions you have, or ideas you wish to discuss.

It is essential that you be prepared to describe and discuss at least one example of your own choosing that relates to the specific subject of each seminar.

The readings listed here as `seminar reading` can all be found on Moodle. They will be uploaded well in advance of the seminar. You may also be asked to prepare texts other than the ones listed under 'seminar reading'. If that occurs your class teacher will alert you to additional reading well in advance of the seminar.

This module will be delivered via:

• One 2-hour seminar per week.
• One reading week with no seminars.

Discussion will be encouraged throughout.