s

ICOM
International Council of Museums

ICOFOM
International Committee for Museology
Comit international pour la musologie

Museology and Presentation: Original or Virtual?

Museologie et prsentation : original ou virtuel ?
Museologa y presentacin: original o virtual?
Museologia e presentao: original ou virtual?
Museologie und Prsentation: original oder virtuell?

Edited by Hildegard K. Vieregg, Munich/Germany

Assisted by Ann Davis, Calgary/Canada

Preprints
ICOFOM Study Series ISS 33 b
Cuenca / Ecuador and Galpagos Islands
October 23-30, 2002

Museums-Pdagogisches Zentrum Mnchen

This version of ISS 33b was prepared in October 2010 from original electronic documents for
the purpose of creating a .pdf file that will be posted on the ICOFOM web site and distributed,
with other ICOFOM publications, by CD.
The pagination is slightly different from the original printed publication (a larger font was used)
and two papers were added: the analyzing summaries presented at the meeting in Cuenca.

Museums-Pdagogisches Zentrum 2002

Published on behalf of ICOFOM (ICOM International Committee for Museology)
By Museums-Pdagogisches Zentrum Mnchen
Production: Bayerisches Landesvermessungsamt, Mnchen
ISBN: 3-920862-06-4

2
Contents
Vorwort .............................................................................................................................................. 5
Preface ............................................................................................................................................... 7

Vieregg, Hldegard K. (Germany)

Museology in Progress :
Presentation and Education supported by New Media ................................................................. 9

Provocative Paper
Davis, Ann (Canada)
Museums Real and Virtual (English)............................................................................................. 21
Summary (English) ........................................................................................................................... 31
Resumen (Spanish) .......................................................................................................................... 31
Rsum (French) .............................................................................................................................. 31

Provocative Paper
Ventosa, Silvia (Spain)
Museums Real or Virtual? (English) ............................................................................................. 32

Bogoeski, Krste (Macedonia)

Presentional Communication Real or Virtuel (English) ........................................................... 34
Resum (French) .............................................................................................................................. 36

Decarolis, Nelly (Argentina)

Museology and Presentation A Joint Venture of Science and Arts (English) ...................... 37
Museologa y presentacin: Un emprendimiento conuto de ciencia y arte (Spanish) ............ 42

Deloche, Bernard (France)

Le multimedia va-t-il faire clater le muse ? (French) ............................................................... 49
Rsum (French) .............................................................................................................................. 55
Summary (English) ........................................................................................................................... 55

Desvalles, Andr (France)

Musologie et expologie : du rel au virtuel (French)................................................................. 56
Summary (English) ........................................................................................................................... 65

Mairesse, Franois
Musologie et presentation : o sont les varies choses ? ......................................................... 66

Maroevi, Ivo (Croatia)

What is it that we are presenting in a museum objects or ideas? .......................................... 74

Nash, Suzanne (Sweden)

Ceci nest pas une pipe The Virtual Museum (English)........................................................... 79
Rsum (French) .............................................................................................................................. 82

Rusconi, Norma (Argentina)

Los museos y las nuevas tecnologias :
inmersion, navegacion o interaccion ? (Spanish) ....................................................................... 83
Resumen (Spanish) ......................................................................................................................... 88

Les Muses et les nouvelles technologies :

Immersion, navigation ou interaction? (French) ......................................................................... 89
Rsum (French) .............................................................................................................................. 93

Scheiner, Tereza (Brazil)

The Exhibion as Presentation of Reality (English) ...................................................................... 94
Lexposition comme prsentation de la ralit (French) .......................................................... 103

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Seglie, Dario (Italy)
Art rupestre et archologie cognitive
du site au muse : parcours de musologie appliqu au territoire. ........................................ 113
Rsum (French) ........................................................................................................................... 121

Siqueira, Vera Lucia de Azevedo (Brazil)

A comunicao nos museus na era das novas tecnologias,
luz das metaforas de W. Barnett Pearce (Portuguese) ......................................................... 122

APPPENDIX

Xavier Cury, Marilia (Argentina)

The Search for Autonomy Mseology, Museums and Globalisation (English) ..................... 125
A abusca pela autonomia Museologia, Museus et Globalizao (Portuguese)................... 133

Shah, Anita B. (India)

Museology and presentation : Virtual or Real. Analyzing Summary (English)....................... 141

Gorgas, Monica Risnikoff de

Sumario analtico: Museologa y presentacin Original o virtual (Spanish)........................... 147

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Vorwort
Hinsichtlich des Omens der Digitalisierung findet ein struktureller Wandel kommunikativer
Prozesse hin zur Abstraktion statt. Es erffnet sich ein unbegrenzter Raum von
Mglichkeiten bezglich bertragbarer Daten und Ideen. Es ist eine Art eines neuen
platonischen Zeitalters, das die Realisierung dieser Daten und Ideen beeintrchtigt.
(Flusser, Vilem: Die Revolution der Bilder. Mannheim 1995)

Vor wenigen Monaten betonte der Prsident des deutschen Nationalkomitees von ICOM
erneut die einzigartige und prominente Position der Museen. Diese spielten im
gesellschaftlichen Leben hinsichtlich der Bewahrung der Erinnerung und ihres kulturellen
Bildungsauftrags eine bedeutende Rolle. Obwohl gerade Museen ihrem Publikum viel
Freude und neue Erfahrungen vermitteln, knnen sie nicht verglichen werden mit Freizeit-
und Vergngungsparks wie etwa Disneyland. Museumsbesucher gestalten ihre Besuche
oft individuell, sie wollen lernen und persnlichen Gewinn daraus ziehen. Deshalb stellt sich
die Frage wie das Museum mit Prsentation und Bildungsauftrag in einer Welt umgeht, die
von Freizeit, Konsum- und Geschftsinteressen geprgt ist. Diesbezglich verfasste der
Museologe Jan Sas 1993 einen interessanten Artikel zum Thema: Wie bedeutend sind
Events fr Ihr Museum?, der die Definition von Museum und die Grenzen von Events
aufzeigte.
Auch das ICOFOM-Board machte sich darber Gedanken, vor allem hinsichtlich seines
Programms 2002 bis 2004, erffnete ein Diskussionsforum und whlte fr seine
Jahrestagung 2002 schlielich fr das Thema: Museologie und Prsentation: Original/Real
oder Virtuell? als Rahmenthema.

Das ICOFOM-Board ist sich bewusst, dass es sich hierbei um ein spannendes Thema
handelt weil Museen ein unverzichtbarer Teil des Gedchtnisses der Menschheit sind.
Whrend einiger Jahrhunderte wurden sie zu grundlegenden Elementen kultureller Identitt
und Ergebnissen einer einzigartigen kulturellen Darstellung. Abgesehen davon sind Objekte
in Museen sowohl Metaphern als auch Beweis dafr, was sich im Laufe dieser Zeiten
ereignete.

Das Arrangement originaler Objekte in einer Prsentation ist museumseigenste Aufgabe.

Trotzdem muss das Ziel einer kreativen Diskussion verknpft werden mit den Interessen und
Erwartungen der Besucher, die an die Neuen Medien gewhnt sind. Museen sollten
deshalb berprfen, wie das Originale und Reale mit dem Virtuellen auf angemessene
Weise verbunden werden kann, sie sollten auch die Neugier des Besuchers untersttzen
und Impulse aussenden fr Denken und Verhalten in der Alltagswelt. Natrlich spielen in
diesem Zusammenhang insbesondere auch die Regeln der Museumsethik eine bedeutende
Rolle.

Zwei Mitglieder des ICOFOM Board drckten ihre Ansicht zu dem ausgewhlten Thema
folgendermaen aus: Fr unser nchstes ICOFOM-Meeting favorisiere ich das Thema
Museums-prsentation. Ich denke wir geraten hier auf den dornenreichen Weg der Definition
von Museum, und dies ist nicht das schlechteste. Ich denke auch, dass dieses Thema eine
Diskussion ber Reproduktionen voraussetzt. Ich sehe die Folge von
Original/Reproduktion/Virtualitt als Kontinuum, mit der Reproduktion als Objekt oder in
virtueller Erscheinungsform. (Ann Davis/Kanada)

Es wre gut, berlegungen ber das Objekt anzustellen, weil wir mit dem Problem des
realen Gegenstandes und den Grenzen seiner Prsentation konfrontiert sind. Wie es
Cameron mit kinetifacts usw. berlegte, kann eine Menge realer Dinge - definitiv -
immateriell sein und eine bessere Untersttzung des Ausstellungsstcks. Wir stehen diesem
Problem erneut gegenber mit der so genannten virtuellen Revolution. Deshalb wrde ich

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das Hauptaugenmerk legen auf Museologie und Prsentation: Was ist das wirkliche Ding?
(Francois Mairesse/Belgien)

Museologie als klassische Wissenschaft, befasst sich hier zum ersten Mal mit einem derart
progressiven Thema. Die Beitrge dieser Ausgabe der ICOFOM Study Series betrachten es
von verschiedenen Aspekten und korrespondierenden Gesichtspunkten.

Museologie und Prsentation in Vernderung:

- Berichte ber verschiedenartige Aspekte von Museologie und Prsentation
- Museen: Originalitt, Realitt, Reproduktion, Virtualitt
- Die Rolle kleiner Museen und Gemeinschaften: einheimische, lndliche, stdtische und
der Verlust von Identitt - der mgliche Einfluss der Museologie

Vom Originalen und Realen zum Virtuellen:

- Neue Technologien in Information und Kommunikation - Transfer auf museologische
Belange
- Technologie angewandt auf Museen unterschiedlicher Typologie
- Interaktivitt zwischen dem Realen, dem Virtuellen und dem Besucher

Ethische Verantwortlichkeit:
- Museologie und Grenzgebiete
- Aufgabe des klassischen Museums zu Gunsten einer Guggenheimisierung?
- Museum und Disneyland - die Verantwortung der Museologie

Vielen Dank allen Beitrgern, die auf diese Weise einerseits die Basis fr das ICOFOM
Meeting 2002 in Cuenca/Ecuador und auf den Galpagos-Inseln, andererseits die Grundlage
fr spannende Diskussionen und die Weiterentwicklung der Museologie geschaffen haben.

Mein besonderer Dank gilt Frau Dr. Brigitte Sgoff, der Lektorin dieses Bandes fr ihre
hervorragende Arbeit

Hildegard Vieregg
Mnchen, 17. September 2002

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Preface
With regard to the omen of digitalisation a structural change of communicative processes
concerning abstraction is taking place. It is the opening of an unlimited space of possibilities
concerning communicable data and ideas. Its a kind of a new platonic age that impairs the
realisation of those data and ideas. (Flusser, Vilem: Die Revolution der Bilder. Mannheim
1995)

Some months ago, the president of the National Committee of ICOM/Germany emphasised
on the unique and prominent position of museums. Those play an important role in society
concerning both the preservation of remembrance and the task of cultural education.
Although even the museums give the audience a lot of pleasure and experience, they cant
be compared with leisure-time and amusement In parks like Disneyland. Museum audience
design visits often individually, they want to learn a lot and intend increase in personal
shaping. Therefore the question arises how the museum can comply with presentation and
education in a world determined by leisure-time, consumption and business interests. In this
regard the museologist Jan Sas designed an interesting article to the topic How Important
Are Events for Your Museum? (1993 ), that reflected both definitions of the museum and the
tolerable limits of events.

In this concern also the ICOFOM Board made observations on the programme from 2001
2004, opened a discussion-forum and finally decided the theme Museology and
Presentation: Original/Real or Virtual? as the main topic for 2002.

The Board is conscious that this is a really exciting theme because museums are an
inseparable part of the memory of mankind. During centuries they became essential
elements of cultural identity and results of unique cultural performance. Beyond, museum
objects are both metaphors and attestation for what has happened in the course of the times.
Arrangement of genuine objects by presentation is the museums business and nobody
elses. Nevertheless, the aim of a creative discussion has to be connected with the interests
and expectations of the visitors used to New Media. Museums therefore should examine how
the Original/Real and the Virtual could become connected in an adequate way, support the
curiosity and give impulses for thinking and behaviour in the everyday world. Of course, in
this concern the rules of Museum-Ethic play a particularly important role.

Two members of the ICOFOM-Board expressed their view on the elected theme in this way:
For our next ICOFOM meeting I greatly favour the topic Museum Presentation. Here I think
we come, again, into the thorns of definition of museum, and that is not a bad thing. I think
this topic also assumes a discussion of reproductions. So I see it as
original/reproduction/virtual, on a continuum, with reproduction being an object or being
virtual. (Ann Davis/Canada)

It would be good to consider the object, of course, because we are confronted with the
problem of the "real thing" and its limits in presentation. As Cameron considered it with
kinetifacts etc., a lot of real things can be - definitely - immaterial and better support to
exhibit. We are again confronted to this problem with the so called "virtual revolution". So, I
would suggest to emphasise on "museology and presentation: were is the real thing?"
(Franois Mairesse/Belgium)

For the first time, Museology as a classical science deals with such a more progressive topic.
The contributions in this edition of the ICOFOM Study Series represent the theme from
different aspects and corresponding angles:

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Museology and Presentation in Change:
- Reports on various aspects of Museology and Presentation
- Museums: originality, reality, reproduction, virtuality
- The role of small museums and communities: indigenous, rural, urban toward the
loss of identity - the possible influence of Museology

From original and real to virtual?

- New technologies on information and communication - transfer to museological issues
- Technology applied to museums of different typology
- Interactivity between the real, the virtual and the visitors

Ethical responsibility
- Museology and bordering areas
- Surrender of the classical museum in favour of Guggenheimisation?
- Museum and Disneyland - the responsibility of Museology

Many thanks to all contributors who created in this way both the scientific basis for the
ICOFOM Meeting 2002 in Cuenca/Ecuador and on the Galpagos Islands, for exciting
discussions and further progress.

Particularly, my warmest thanks to Dr. Brigitte Sgoff, the editor of this volume.

Hildegard K. Vieregg
Munich, September 17, 2002

8
 Museology in Progress:
Presentation and Education
Supported by New Media
Hildegard K. Vieregg Germany

In regard to the omen of digitalisation a structural change of communicative processes

concerning abstraction is taking place. It is the opening of an unlimited space of possibilities
concerning communicable data and ideas. Its a kind of a new platonic age that impairs the
realisation of those data and ideas.1

Since about a decade New Media are coming to museums. They are used in a very different
way and offer a broad spectrum of possibilities for presentation, arrangement and education.
They also concern different types of museum and kinds of possible applications, as e.g.

- exhibitions completely based on presentation by media

- multimedia systems
- multimedia applications

Untill now the New Media are particularly used by Museums of Science and techniques,
museums of history and natural history. Those belong to the genre of context-museums. In
contrary, in art-museums New Media are used more restrained and often audio-guide-
systems is given the preference. Nevertheless, in several art museums multi-media-
information systems are going to be developed. In the ideal case the media-concept is
closely related to the museum-/exhibition - architecture and the objects. In general, a
successful use of New Media depends on the integration in the exhibition concept.

My contribution deals with different aspects:

I Original - Imaginary Virtual

II Dangers - Ethical Requirements
III Evaluation of Multi-Media for the Audience
IV Case Studies
V Future Prospects

I Original - Imaginary - Virtual

Original
First of all, original in regard to museums means an initial condition and state of exhibits.
Original characterises also an archetype or original version, genuineness, peculiarity and
independence. Usually, museums are collecting those objects. From the objects are taken
pictures, either to have documents about the existence of the original or to continue to work
with them. In this concern is also to take into account that those pictures may have another
status than documentary takings of objects. Beyond, in the stock of a museum also two-
dimensional exhibits are original objects as for example postcards, graphic reductions,
posters, maps, autographs, documents. Those objects, often characterised as flat-good,
are of specific importance because digitalisation seems particularly reasonable. In regard to
3D-objects its necessarily not only started out from one picture, rather many pictures with
various views and clipping paths which can be combined.

1
See: Flusser, Vilem: Die Revolution der Bilder. Mannheim 1995.

9
 In this concern all kinds of pictures taken from objects in the stock of a museum play an
important role, rather science and research have also to involve objects from the inventory of
other museums. As a matter of fact, this is a very good prerequisite to digitalise pictorial
material and to develop data concerning scientific research, publication-activity, restoration
and exhibition. Another observation refers to museums of the same type at other sites. For
example a museum for Ethnology has more contact-points to other national or international
museum of this type than to a museum for modern art or a museum of natural history.
Therefore the professional context is not only very important, but also easier managed than
to museums of other typology.
Although many museums are conscious that in many cases digitalisation could help to lead
the audience to better understanding, particularly museums of archaeology and pre-history
are open-minded in regard to digitalisation. This is connected with the fact that this type of
museum is more familiar with recent technologies since a long time. From the start an
electronic technique in those museums is more granted than elsewhere.
2
Beyond, there is also to be considered that relevant contents are more intensively
developed than other tools, as there are

- drafts or figures taken from locations (e.g. archaeological complex)

- drafts or figures from objects in a context (e.g. ethnological complex)
graphics from exhibitions which present the object as a stereoscopy
- figures that prove the progress of work (restoration)

imago
In contrast to the original the term imago means an Illusion - image, figure, idea and was
introduced by Descartes in regard to the language of mathematics. In Germany it became
familiar in the 18th century with an imaginary number and a complex number that doesnt
mean any real status. According to the French example the meaning not real and only
imaginary understood, was given attention in the common language in 19th century.
Imaginations clarifies both idea and illusion.

Multimedia Hypermedia
In the Western industrial society the existence of every individual is going to be moved
permanently from physical to virtual design-options. This movement is linked to two
prerequisites:
Firstly, to the interpretation of a specific philosophy of life that starts from the assumption that
each system as a part of the world can be described and communicated by parameters as a
message.
Secondly, to the precondition of an extent availability of the New Media and the
internalisation that is to be considered concerning working with those. The skills of human
beings in regard to cultural development appear to move in a similar way: The skill to use the
New Media and to design the individual time and leisure time is an advantage concerning
professional and private qualification. In regard to the profession the effective handling of the
tasks may be associated. Concerning private use the working with New Media is a sign of
individual knowledge.

Above that, the progress and development of cultural techniques causes the change of
perception of human beings by the New Media.3 As a matter of fact, in this concern the
problem is not the new kind of information- and communication-technology rather the fact
that each kind of technical aid used by human beings in the same time intrudes on the life

2
Schuck-Wersig, Petra/Wersig, Gernot: Bilder im Museum. In: Hennings, Ralf-Dirk/Schuck-Wersig, Petra/ Vlz,
Horst/ Wersig, Gernot: Digitalisierte Bilder im Museum. Technische Tendenzen und organisatorisches Umfeld.
Opladen 1996. pp. 9 - 54.
3
Wessely, Christian: Apokalypse Virtualitt. In: Wessely, Christian/Larcher, Gerhard (Eds.): Ritus, Kult, Virtualitt.
Regensburg/Graz/Wien 2000, pp. 11-13.

10
and is changing it in a certain way. The kind to perceive the world is going to be changed by
the New Media, particularly by the integration of virtuality in the everyday-life. In his
explanations to Multimedia Paul Klimsa summarizes various approaches in regard to
definitions. Multimedia in this concern describes several processes that take place at the
same time (Multitasking). Interactivity takes place between the individual and the medium
(Interactivity). There is also a close relationship from Multimedia to the terms Cyberspace
and Virtual Reality. Wohlfromm created the term Hypermedia4 concerning applications of
Multimedia. Hypermedia have to fulfil the following criteria
:- they have to function supported by computer
- they have to react in any kind to activities of a recipient
- they have to use various kinds of Media (text, picture, sound) and to connect one to
another.5

Cyberspace - virtual reality - virtual environment

The so-called virtuality is a pretence of reality because the visitor meets a media-portal.
The Internet concerning its structure is a net that satisfies completely the requirements of
both a single communication medium and a mass communication medium of many
receivers. Cyberspace6 is a computer-environment that includes several computers, user
and data bases. As far as virtual is considered, its much more than Cyberspace and
Internet. The term virtual existed already before the term Cyberspace. In general, virtual
means all suppositions and models that - for example in the physics and mathematics -
should describe and explain characteristics and matters in a hypothetic way. The
representation of those images enables virtual reality, while the actual task of visualisation
basis on the own ideas and understanding.7 Contrary to virtual reality and virtual
environment virtual reality and Cyberspace may not be used as synonyms.

Virtual Reality

Whats Virtual Reality? It a philosophy in the widest sense derived from science fiction. Its
a pretence of reality made by an initial setting of sensory impression. The term Virtual
Reality was created by Jaron Lanier in the early nineteen eightieth. It is an initial setting
made by sensory impressions (mostly by picture) activated by computer. Virtual reality is a
technology that tries to help the user concerning a complete immersion of an interactive
computer-generated environment (immersive projection, Cyberspace, Augmented Reality,
Tele-presentation). Following P. R. Pratt: A virtual world is an application that lets users
navigate and interact with a three dimensional, computer generated (and computer
maintained) environment in a real time. This type of system has three major elements:
interaction, 3 D-graphics, and immersion.8 In a virtual environment the user plays an active
part.

Above that, the aim of virtual reality is, to deceive the senses of the individual. Virtual in this
connotation is an attribute of the stimuli in a computer-designed world. The user who deals
with virtual reality exists at the same time in two or more worlds - the real and the virtual.
Apparently, the individual is able to experience more intensive in the virtual area. 9 The
desire for a technical and as closely as possible realistic simulation of the real world is not

4
Wohlfromm, Anja: Museum als Medium Neue Medien in Museen. p. 56.
5
Wohlfromm, Anja: Museum als Medium Neue Medien in Museen. Ibd.
6
The term Cyberspace was firstly used by the science-fiction-author William Gibson (1984).
7
Ekhart, Christian W.: Perspektiven der Kommunikation. nderungen in Technik und Verstndnis. Graham Bell
Generation-@ - danach? In: Wessely, Christian/Larcher, Gerhard (Hg.): Ritus, Kult, Virtualitt. pp. 160 173.
8
Pratt, D. R.: Virtual Reality in the Mind of the beholder. Zit. bei: Tjoa, A Min: Virtuelle Welten. In: Komarek,
Kurt/Magerl, Gottfried: Virtualitt und Realitt: Bild und Wirklichkeit in den Naturwissenschaften.
Wien/Kln/Weimar 1998. p. 180.
9
Tjoa, A Min: Virtuelle Welten. pp. 180 - 184.

11
new. Rather the wish after virtual reality exists since the invention of apparatus that create
reproductions by projections - in a non-traditional way. The actual annoyance for the
development of virtual reality became possible by the availability of the up-to-date computer-
technique.

How could virtual mediation look like arising from its contents? Virtual reality refers to both to
perception and eyesight (Hyper-images) and to written documents and communication
(Hyper-text). Above that, perception, writing and communication are the most important
characteristics of inter-subjectivity. Virtuality as virtual reality is connected with the problem
whether virtual reality is a kind of autonomy. On the one hand a theory of communication has
to clarify who or what is communication with whom or what. On the other hand the
philosophy of ideas has the spiritual basis of cultural heritage to make clear in regard to the
kind of language, communication and history.10

This characterises the ambivalent status between the original and the virtual and leads to
conclusions in regard to the real and virtual in the museums. This makes also clear that on
the one hand the original is undeniably the centre of each presentation and didactical effort,
and on the other hand, the process of an aesthetic virtualisation offers to step forward to
ethical significance.

As a fact, each living being is aware of the various environments with different senses: in a
visual or acoustic way, or by smell, sense of touch, taste. Therefore museological
considerations require appealing to the human senses as well as possible. Refrained from
the real objects the museum should also provide the immersion in the virtual reality. The
interaction includes as many as possible sense organs. The better the immersion and the
interaction the greater becomes the imagination to be a part of a world that doesnt exist in
reality.

II Dangers/Advantages - Ethical Requirements

If we consider the sense of Virtual Reality there are particularly four main points:
- pure fascination
- entertainment
- presentation of art, technology, history
- the creation of new worlds
- Learning (experimentation - inspiring confidence)

The discussion about social and moral/ethical decisions is permanently necessary.11

Fortunately, the fears of total control by New Media, as taken into account in the Orwell-
year 1984, moved to impartial analysis and theoretical reflections. But the critical and
sceptical voices concerning information collapse and the necessity of an ethical discourse
are not to be ignored. The tension between the critical culture-pessimism and a realistic faith
in the progress is permanently accompanying the debate. This seems to be typical
concerning the radical change ion the Western communication-culture that is characterised
by uncertainties and contradictions. If in principal the whole is subjected to simulation, the
senses become more and more unreliable

It is also to be considered that the communication technologies more and more influence

10
Friesen, Hans/Berr, Karsten e.a.: Philosophische Dimensionen des Problems der Virtualitt in einer globalen
Mediengesellschaft. pp. 32-33.
11
Lohmann, Mechthild: Interaktion per Bildschirm. Multimedia fr Bildung und Kultur. pp. 163 165.

12
existing practises of the everyday-life and above that, change them. Many signs point out
that the promotion of efficiency, the higher the speed, the circulation of information
endemically to the disadvantage of individual and context-related communication.

In this context dangers and possible misuse is also to be considered.

In contrary to previous processes of abstraction digitalisation is completely delegated to the

machine. Therefore the possibilities of realisation (a virtual reality) dont start out from the
phantasm of a human ratio but rather from the rules of mathematics that are closely
connected to the language of programming.

In this context the problem of manipulation is arising. Since the development of electronic
mass media the European states insisted on the direct control of those. The problem arises
in another case. When there is not only the control of this nice instrument (Albert Einstein)
on the part of a state rather political contents were used in order to control the mass as for
example in the period of National Socialism and other authoritarian systems. This misuse
triggered by gleichschaltung of mass media pursued to the distribution of messages to all
people. In addition the reception of non-conformal transmitters was threatened by criminal
prosecution. This is on the one hand a look back, on the other hand up-to date: Even today
in China the access to the Internet is restricted.12

Apart from that, we must take terms as image, truthfulness and fake into consideration. It is
alarming how few impressions that one is used in reality suffice in order to recognise matters
as authentic. As a matter of fact, according the perception-psychology the individual is able
to complete a lack of acoustic or visual information. He/she permanently uses this possibility.
The more alive and interactive impressions are the sooner are they considered as truth.13
This is also a problem in regard to virtual presentation in museums and is a great challenge
to the people responsible.

Principally, each exhibition in museums is problematical, particularly exhibitions representing

contemporary history and both the era of National Socialism in Germany and totalitarian
systems in other states world-wide.

In this context are also the advantages to be considered. There is a first and important point
that museological issues and media can be combined and therefore the audience is informed
in a multi-perspective way. Exhibitions may be looked at in the Internet. Details are often
more visible than in the exhibition itself. In addition, all the people who lives for example in
remote regions or is unable to visit a museum or exhibition from another reason, is of benefit
to participate in by the virtual environment and in spirit.

Many museums have problems with financing. The virtual arrangement is able to contact
attractive new groups. As a result of an official study about 85% of the citizens in Germany
dont visit a museum. Many of them judge it as less sociable, only being educational and
hardly communicative. For those people the virtual approach may be a chance to become
acquainted with museums and exhibitions and regain pleasure.

III Case Studies

The presentation of any objects and works of art is a very difficult task. It depends from
various points of view, and there are many ways of looking at objects and inner connections.

12
Ekhart, Christian: Perspektiven der Kommunikation. pp. 165.
13
Ekhart, Christian: Perspektiven der Kommunikation. pp. 171.

13
There are sensual and material aspects of consideration but often are particularly focussed
on the esthetical dimension. The real object represents an art or style period.

Museums and the New Media meet in different areas that can be delimited functionally, but
not as regards content. They are used as

- artificial exhibits in art museums

- information- and presentation-instruments
- instruments for public-relations
- metaphors (partially in the World Wide Web).

Media-works of art may on the one hand embody didactic functions; electronic information-
media on the other hand assume the character of an exhibit.14

There are different possibilities which show the interrelationship between the presentations of
real objects and the virtual approach in practice. In this concern the following concepts shall
be examined:

DISCUS, a digital information system and a producer of CD ROM-series

the Water-Tower-Museum in Mhlheim/Ruhr/Germany
the Media-Museum (Centre for Art and Media-Technology) in Karlsruhe /Germany
virtual tours in Museums of Contemporary History (the Mmorial in Caen/France,
the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington/USA,
the Muse de la Rsistance et de la Dportation in Grenoble/France,
the Centre Mondial de la Paix, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre with the Museum of
Tolerance
.

DISCUS a digital information system

DISKUS was developed as a digital information system closely connected with art- and
social history. In a very successful co-operation between museums, archives, institutions for
protection of historical monuments, research-centres and universities an art- and cultural
historian data base is going to be developed for the German speaking space. Each of the
institutions involved can dispose on the totality of all information. The iconographic opening-
up of picture information is done by ICONCLASS a classification system developed in the
Netherlands.

This data base is an instrument to make research easier and to solve highly specialised
questions with the help of a thesaurus. Search criteria can be connected with terms, for
example the term Emigration with other criteria as there are: State, Nationality, Society and
lead to a full result.

Above that, the DISCUS CD-ROM-series enable to summarise the stocks of museums
according specific themes as there are: Italian Graphic from 14th to 18th Century in Berliner
Kupferstichkabinett, Political Posters created in DDR from 1945 to 1970.15

The Water-Tower-Museum Aquarius in Mhlheim/Ruhr/Germany

The Water-Tower-Museum is designed in an interdisciplinary way. It is a museum related to

14
Wohlfromm, Anja: Museum als Medium. p. 55.
15
Compania Media (Hg.): Neue Medien in Museen und Ausstellungen. Einsatz - Beratung - Produktion. Ein
Praxis-Handbuch. Bielefeld 1998. pp. 174 - 178./ Billmann, Hans-Joachim: Multimedia in Museen. Neue Formen
der Prsentation - neue Aufgaben der Museumspdagogik. Bremen 2000. pp. 72-74.

14
the history of techniques and industry, natural sciences and cultural history. It is also a
theme-related museum and is going to collect objects taken from everyday life. Already in the
Nineteenth it won some prices because of the best interactive solution in a museum. The
prerequisite was very difficult. On the one hand was required to design an exhibition in the
extremely narrow Water-tower on the other hand the theme water was to be presented
exceptionally by the means of electronic media.

The media in this case rank as exhibits. Therefore the exhibition- and the media-concept are
closely combined. On fourteen levels the audience can deal with twenty-one different
themes. The guideline of the topics lies in going downwards from the artificial analysis with
the element water to cultural and ecological aspects and to concrete themes of water-supply
and distribution. In this process the possibilities of electronic media are used in various ways
in order to bring the topics to the visitors in an entertaining way.

As a whole there are twenty-six interactive installations, several computer games and
simulations, moving-image transmission and acoustic-stations. Above that, each visitor
receives a chip card and can take part in interactive quizzes in order to check the purchased
knowledge. The multivision Aquasphre for example is characterised by typical sound
effects. In another department a big globe tells stories in regard to water-events from all
over the world. Further departments offer media-stations that present information about
various themes as there are waterworks or dam in a highly imaginative way. Shortly
spoken the playful access to the themes is the most important characteristic in the Water-
Tower-Museum. Concerning the exhibition- and media-concept it fulfils the high demand to
address particularly young people. The use of interactive media is considered as a chance to
avoid the classical confrontation with the exhibits, rather to stimulate the visitors to an
active behaviour.16

A particularly interesting Multimedia-installation relates to the meeting-place: fountain. Its

situated in the seventh floor of the water-tower. In order to see what is hidden inside one has
to decline over the edge of the fountain. The opening of the fountain is covered by a grating.
Behind that three monitors are prepared. The menu of the media installation is a drawn pond
with leaves of water-lilies and a small frog on top. The entrance-animation shows the frog
hopping around in the water-lilies-fountain. A chip-card enables to stop this game. The frog
explains the purpose of this fountain and relates to various themes each represented by a
leaf of a water-lily. The aim of the installation is to give an overview concerning water supply
in the antiquity, decorative fountains, fire and water, fountains and their importance, fountains
as reservoirs of a city, water-hygiene, and, as used at almost all departments: the visitor can
participate in a quiz. Above that shall be alluded to the former importance of a fountain as a
place of social meetings.17

The Media-Museum (Centre for Art and Media-Technology) in Karlsruhe/Germany

The Media-Museum in Karlsruhe is up to now the first and only museum for Interactive Art.
The thematic spectrum includes the interactive film to simulation-technology concerning
Cyberspace and to the use of software-applications in the Internet. The museum confronts
Media-art to popular game-culture. It also includes research projects and didactic work
stations, and has a critical look at the products of a commercial and global oriented culture. A
particular main-focus is the gallery of active Media-art. Installations and environments
demonstrate both different strategies of inclusion of the audience in the work of art and a
creative working with the new media. Particularly interesting are the exhibitions Orbis Pictus

16
Compania Media (Hg.): Neue Medien in Museen und Ausstellungen. pp. 33-42.
17
Compania Media (Hg.): Neue Medien in Museen und Ausstellungen. pp. 41-42.

15
Revised, Virtual World Machine, The Interactive Plant Growing, The Music Action
Concept Bubbles, Who are you? and The Rules are no Game
.
"Orbis Pictus Revised is based on the Orbis sensualium pictus created by Johannes Amos
Comenius (1658). He started from the assumption that the rules of things may be visibly
reconstructed in the visible world. This creation was the starting-point for an interactive
installation made by the contemporary artists Milos Vojtechowsky and Tjebbe van Tijen.
They tried to take visual manifestations of our environment in a plausible system. Therefore
they created a virtual bookshelf with information which is divided into touchable, visual and
acoustic elements. The overlay of the information-levels gives the user the possibility to
check the status of an object within a historical sequence of pictures. The arrangement is
combined with small talking sculptures which enable a project of comparative iconography.
This virtual installation is not only for experts but also for museum visitors. The qualities to
see, to hear, to touch, to feel are in this context demonstrated as the basis of world-
understanding.

The Virtual World Machine deals with playful aspects of the virtual space. The visitor
becomes an active user. Three topics are the basis and manifestation of the virtual space:
construction, imitation and simulation. The scenario of the three-dimensional virtual world is
connected with a model-railroad that is well-known to the visitor from everyday life and
museum presentation. In this world of simulation the user can ride on top of an engine
through a fantastic landscape with tunnels built from water and rainbows. Above that, a
steering-wheel enables the visitor to affect the sun and the weather.

The Interactive Plant Growing enables the audience in a similar way to influence the
steering apparatus. In this context are original plants and virtual nature compared. There is
also focussed on the discussion about high explosive themes as e.g. the use of research
results taken from natural science and techniques.

The Music Action Concept Bubbles is a multi-user installation. It enables the visitor to
interact with floating soap-bubbles. According the entrance in the light-beam of a projector,
the user throws a shadow to the projection surface. This surface is taken by a video-input-
system and retracted to the computer programme. The behaviour of the bubbles as
autonomous defined objects and the reaction of the user follow physical rules. Above that,
they build a small complex system in which musical structures are caused by the interaction.

Who are you? deals with the human face and is based on the persuasiveness of technical
picture-media and the interrelationship between presentation and representation - a
complicated question since photography was accepted as a central authority concerning a
realistic illustration. The technical media suggest that the picture reproduced on an optical
way represented the reality. The surprising interaction of two portraits of the same lady - a
real and a virtual leads to the result that the visitor becomes deceived. If she/he sees the
picture, she/he takes the video-picture for the real person and the computer-generated
pendant for the artificial. This leads to the question: Who is who? This apparently natural
distinction demonstrates that there is not only one reality. Finally, one could put the question:
what is the example, what the illustration and what the archetype?

The Rules are no Game is a very exciting Internet-installation. The floor consists in a
representation of Jackson Pollocks Nr. 32. The moving over the floor initiates a change of
text-pictures which are projected to a wall. Herewith the current position of the visitor
activates an Internet-mechanism that decides about the generated text. While the moving
through the room the visitor is given the opportunity to acquire Pollocks work of art. The
information consisting of text is on the one hand documentation and on the other hand a
comment of this appropriation-process.

16
Virtual Tours in Museums of Contemporary History

The museum-audience in general expects digital applications more in technical Museums

than in Museums of Contemporary History. Nevertheless, Museums of Contemporary History
depend in a particular way on the preparation of two-dimensional documents by the new
Media in order to make museum visits more attractive and to offer the historical context in
addition to the originals.

There are exciting virtual approaches created by virtual arrangements as e.g. the Mmorial -
a Museum for creating Peace - in Caen/Normandie, the United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum in Washington/USA, the Museum for Rsistance et de la Dportation in
Grenoble/France, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre with the Museum Tolerance in Los
Angeles/USA, the Bavarian Army Museum (a historic term) in Ingolstadt/Germany.

The Mmorial in Caen is neither a memorial site nor a museum in the usual sense, not at all
it is a military museum. Rather 1944 it became a city of martyrs. The City of Caen wanted to
keep the memory alive to the destiny of the Second World War. The Mmorial intends to
think about the fragility of the peace18. This is another kind of remembrance as usual which
is brought into consciousness by the Mmorial as Observatorium of Peace. 19

The entrance to the Mmorial leads through a gap of the 70 meters long limestone-wall.
One can visit the Mmorial in both a real and a virtual way and deriving from the facts and
events of Second World War - the so-called Total War the persecutors and the victims,
the people in Resistance etc., experience a lot by education to the peace in present and
future. The virtual arrangements consist mostly in video-installations that are combined in an
competent way with the museum-architecture, so that the audience seems to be involved in
the respective event.

The United states Holocaust Memorial Museum that is particularly aimed at the
remembrance to the terrible Genocide and inhuman acts under Nazi-dictatorship in a similar
way activates the audience to participate in the events by performing digital documents and
offers to interaction as well as by a Learning Centre which enables the visitor to ask
individual questions according the own need.

The Muse de la Rsistance et de la Dportation in Grenoble is aimed at the French

Rsistance against the Nazi-Regime and is characterised by a problem-oriented
performance. The arrangements and installations serve on the one hand to evoke the
memory on those situations and on the one hand authentic texts and presentation are
interrelated in a way that the visitor may experience in totality. There are interesting
simulations of diving under, flight, blacking out. A digital presented swastika-flag focuses on
the fact, that the Nazi-Regime would not continue to exist.

Another example concerning virtual approach is the Simon Wiesenthal Centre with the
Museum of Tolerance. In the presentation of this Museum is e.g. the Auschwitz Situation
involved and at the same time one of the most impressive installations. While the visitor
stays in this exhibition room he is at the same time confronted to authentic documents of the
former events in a digital way and by a lot of monitors that show the various inhuman acts in
a former concentration camp in this case an extermination camp.

18
Qutel, Claude: Der Aufbau eines Museums fr den Frieden in Caen. In: Museen der Stadt Nrnberg (Hg.):
Die Zukunft der Vergangenheit. Wie soll die Geschichte des Nationalsozialismus in Museen und Gedenksttten
im 21. Jahrhundert vermittelt werde? Nrnberg 2000. 127.
19
Ebenda.

17
The Centre Mondial de la Paix in Verdun/France is situated in the former bishops palace, on
a site that was the scene of immense sufferings in the First World War 1914 1918. It is
currently one of the most important sites in France which are dedicated to the relationship
between war and peace. It is also intended to demonstrate the war in both the imaginary and
real way, and is called: 14 18: Imaginaires et Ralits. The exhibition is focused on
sequences, the so-called Monoliths: The war in the history and today, to restrict the war,
The organisation of the United Nations, Europe and Dreams from peace. The round-trip
to the museum is characterised by a totality including the real exhibits and the virtual
arrangements, which appeal to sensibility, emotion and intuition. Supported by original
documents the visitor is becoming involved in the events of war.

IV Evaluation of Multi-Media for the Audience

Concerning the philosophy of exhibitions the up-to-date tendencies play an important role:
both interdisciplinary as well as popular-cultural approaches and references to the present.
The attention to the audience is often characterised by visitor-friendly museum displays, the
use of audiovisual elements, New Media, objects provided for grasping, machines for
simulations and demonstrations. Those approaches shall be the guarantee for an eventful
museum-visit.

As a matter of fact, new kinds of Media are a content-oriented challenge to the museums. On
the one hand purchasable Edutainment - books, videos, CD-ROMS, computer-games - can
be used at home. Television and radio inform also about cultural, potential themes of
museums. On the other hand the more important domain of medial development happens in
the museums. There are many facts that can be demonstrated more visible by films,
animation or computer-game than by texts or objects.

Although many people believe in the power of media and the linear effectiveness media are
not omnipotent. Rather is to be considered: What is the influence of people to the media?
How does people functionalise the media in regard to the own needs? Where hit various
interests of communication one to each other? Where become mechanisms of manipulation
in effectiveness? How do media consumers react in such a case? How is the
interrelationship between man and technology formed?20

Those questions are also addressed to museology and museums. How can the
achievements of the electronic age be used in a meaningful way. As a matter of fact,
concerning the predominant majority of museum-visitors there is a great difference to the so-
called screenagers, young people who use the variety of media in an extent way as part of
the everyday-life. Therefore the requirements concerning Museology and Presentation differ.

Museological points of view and the kind of presentation have therefore to be aimed at the
target groups. Adults as well as youngsters use the media according the purpose of
information. Various information is ascribed to various functions. While up-to-date information
from the point of screenagers primarily serve to general education, adults indicate
presentation and understanding sooner as prestige. Finally, media fulfil social functions.

Screenagers who have grown up with electronic media and digital information are severely
moulded by digital media. In Contrary, the older generation is more sceptic even pessimistic
and doesnt believe in positive effects of the media and the enrichment of private life which

20
Groegger, Beate: Jugend zwischen Multimedia & My Media. In: Wessely, Christian/Larcher, Gerhard (Hg.):
Ritus, Kult, Virtualitt. P. 175.

18
may become more convenient - while Screenagers usually react with an amazing New-
Media-optimism.21

As a matter of fact the development on the New-Media-Sector accelerated in a way that the
older generation was overtaxed. Nevertheless, the New Media developed rapidly as leading-
media concerning new cultural techniques. The generation of parents and grandparents was
challenged to learn new techniques. Contrary to each tradition the situation plays an
counterpart to earlier experiences: central cultural techniques are now mediated by the
screenagers to the adults
.

V Future Prospects

Both Museum staff and the visitors should at the same be open-minded and critically in
regard to recently developed techniques. In regard to science and research there will good
examples for co-operation: Participants at different locations will be able to co-operate in a
Virtual Reality. In this concern museology may profit from the new technologies.
Multi-Media applications shouldnt be in contrast to exhibits or turn visitors away from the
objects. They rather should offer deepened additional information that is otherwise not
accessible for visitors. In the case of computer-games visitors should be stimulated to an
unselfconscious analysis and discussion.

There is no problem of rivalry as long as museums reflect their actual competence according
to the presentation of exhibits (supported by media) and to information about the context.
One of the central challenges facing museums is to utilize information technology without
giving up our core identity: to embrace the virtual without abandoning the real.22
Nevertheless, museums are going to be changed by the New Media. They are also going to
be influenced by global cultural changes and the further development of the Media.

Without the reflection of the specific qualities and potentials of the museum as a medium -
collection, exhibition and museum-didactic - an innovative, communicative and competitive
use of its resources seems to be impossible.23 In this concern the museum is an ideal and
typical construct that is subject to a permanent process of alteration.

Bibliography:

Billmann, Hans-Joachim: Multimedia in Museen. Neue Formen der Prsentation neue

Aufgaben der Museumspdagogik. Bremen 2000.
Compania Media (Hg.): Neue Medien in Museen und Ausstellungen. Einsatz - Beratung -
Produktion. Ein Praxis-Handbuch. Bielefeld 1998.
Flessner, Bernd (Hg.): Die Welt im Bild. Wirklichkeit im Zeitalter der Virtualitt.
Freiburg/Breisgau 1997.
Flgel, Christof: Schne neue Welt? Neue Medien im Museum. In: Landesstelle fr die
nichtstaatlichen Museen beim Bayerischen Landesamt fr Denkmalpflege (Hg.):
Museum heute 23. Fakten - Tendenzen Hilfen. Mnchen im Juli 2002. p. 2528.

21
Groegger, Beate: Jugend zwischen Multimedia & My Media. P. 180.
22
Mintz, Ann: Media and Museums. A Museum Perspective. In: Thomas, Selma/Minz, Ann (Eds.): The virtual
and the real: Media in the Museum. Washington (American Association of Museums) 1998. p. 20.
23
Wohlfromm, Anja: Museum als Medium Neue Medien in Museen. berlegungen zu Strategien kultureller
Reprsentation und ihre Beeinflussung durch digitale Medien. Kln 2002. p.52.

19
Flusser-Reader zur Kommunikation, Medien, Design: Die Revolution der Bilder. Mannheim
1995.
Friesen, Hans/Berr, Karsten/Gerdes, Kevin/Lenk, Andreas/Sanders, Gnther: Philosophische
Dimensionen des Problems der Virtualitt in einer globalen Mediengesellschaft.
Oldenburg 2001.
Hennings, Ralf-Dirk/ Schuck-Wersig, Petra/ Vlz, Horst/ Wersig, Gernot: Digitalisierte Bilder
im Museum. Technische Tendenzen und organisatorisches Umfeld. Opladen 1996.
Jochum, Manfred: Wissenschaftswissen und Medienwissen oder: Die Virtualitt des
Wissens. Hg. vom Senatsarbeitskreis fr Wissenschaft und Verantwortlichkeit.
Innsbruck/Wien 1999.
Komarek, Kurt/Magerl, Gottfried/sterreichische Forschungsgemeinschaft (Hg.): Virtualitt
und Realitt. Bild und Wirklichkeit in den Naturwissenschaften.
Wien/Kln/Weimar/Bhlau 1998.
Maier-Solgk: Die neuen Museen. Kln 2002.
Schade, S./ Tholen, G. Ch (Hg.): Konfigurationen. Zwischen Kunst und Medien. Mnchen
1999.
Schulze, Claudia: Multimedia in Museen. Standpunkte und Aspekte interaktiver digitaler
Systeme im Ausstellungsbereich. Deutscher-Universitts-Verlag 2002.
Stbler, Wolfgang: Museen als Medium Medien im Museum. Symposion zu Perspektiven
der Museologie. Stuttgart 5./6. Juli 2002. In: Landesstelle fr die nichtstaatlichen
Museen (Hg.): Museum heute 23. Fakten - Tendenzen - Hilfen. Mnchen im Juli
2002. p. 5759.
Wessely Christian/Larcher, Gerhard (Hg.): Ritus, Kult, Virtualitt. Regensburg 2000.
Wohlfromm, Anja: Museum als Medium Neue Medien im Museum. berlegungen zu
Strategien kultureller Reprsentation und ihre Beeinflussung durch digitale Medien.
Kln 2002.
Zacharias, Wolfgang (Hg.): Interaktiv. Medienkologie zwischen sinnenreich und
Cyberspace. Neue multimediale Spiel- und Lernumwelten fr Kinder und Jugendliche.
Mnchen 2000.

20
 MUSEUMS REAL AND VIRTUAL

Ann Davis, The Nickle Arts Museum Canada

The famous Canadian communications theorist Marshall McLuhan contends that the medium
changes or effects the message. McLuhan holds that a message presented verbally is
different than a message presented typographically or electronically. Few disagree. How
then will the electronic media, and especially the web, effect museums? How is a virtual
museum, one presented through the web, different from a real museum, one presented to
the visitor in a physical form? Will the virtual museum affect the real museum and if so,
how? These are some of the difficult questions that will be tackled in this paper.
Two comments about the nature of this presentation are important. This paper is my
first attempt at analyzing a very big and difficult topic. Here I want to explore some of the
areas that I think need to be questioned rather than provide answers to superficial questions.
In particular I am interested in introducing the human and the qualitative, not simply the
mechanical and the quantitative. I see this paper very much as a preliminary piece, open to
discussion, correction and amplification. The second thing is that that paper owes a great
deal to Ursula Franklins wonderful series of Massey lectures and subsequent book, The
Real World of Technology. While Franklin is exploring communications, she is also revealing
the weaknesses of blind reliance on technology without a very clear recognition of human
value and potentially human cost. I have found Franklins ways of discussing technology
most helpful and have used a number of these to talk about museums. All mistakes and
gross generalizations are, of course, my own.
This paper is in four sections. The first, communications methods, discusses the
differences between oral, written and electronic communication. The second, learning
systems, looks at Immanual Kants general rules and Anthony Gregorcs learning styles. The
third, science and art, examines our western love affair with science at the expense of art.
The fourth and final section, museums real and virtual, uses the material presented in the
first three sections to discuss the difference between real and virtual museums in terms of
reciprocity, authenticity, synchronicity and experience.

Communication Methods

Communication is generally divided into three methods of transmission: oral, written and
electronic. Each has specific characteristics. It is in the differences of these methods of
transmission, McLuhans medium, that we find challenges. To understand the challenges, we
must understand the characteristic differences in method.
The oral tradition is the oldest and most universal. We all use it. At its simplest it is a
message spoken by one person and received by another person. How are you today? or
Have you been to the museum? More than one person can be involved as either receiver
or sender: a curator giving a tour or a crowd heckling a politician. Here the communication is
always direct, immediate and simultaneous. Everyone involved is at the same place at the
same time. And in case you thought the face-to-face, oral tradition has been downgraded in
importance as a method of communication, consider how many meetings you go to.
The first extension of this direct, oral communication method is the messenger: You
were out at the ICOFOM meeting when John came to speak to you so he asked me to give
you this message. Now the range of communication can be extended in both time and
space. You do not need to be present when John arrives for you to get the message. But the
validity of this message is less assured than if you had been present. Perhaps your
teenaged son is not very good at remembering messages and gets it wrong. The physical
presence of the messenger still links the sender with the receiver, but the integrity of the
message is less assured.

21
 Integrity, place and time all changed with the development of writing, and especially
printing technology. Writing extends the range of communication in both time and place. You
no longer need to be anywhere near the sender to get the message. Furthermore, and even
more importantly, writing changed the whole of society. As Walter Ong argues, building on
McLuhan, writing provoked a profound shift in human consciousness, giving us the linear,
abstract form of logic that we take for granted today.1
But with writing the question of integrity becomes more important. How do you know
that this is really the message that John wrote? Could some unscrupulous person who
wanted your recent discovery have intercepted the message and rewritten it to say that your
museum should not buy that fabulous pre-Columbian pot, rather than the original message
which said you absolutely must buy the pot? To address this, we created all sorts of ways to
assure authenticity, such as seals and signatures. With printing technology, authenticity
became even more important. Now there developed a whole new cadre of messengers, the
publisher. The reputation and standing of the publisher became an important way of
identifying and authenticating the message. This development also helped to identify the
nature or type of message: you would not go to Oxford University Press to find Harlequin
romances. With printing we can, more or less, identify the sender, but the receiver is much
less easily identified. So libraries and archives developed, along with catalogues and cross-
referencing, to aid the receiver to find the right book.
Sender and receiver, time, space and authenticity are all also most important in
electronic communication. The telegraph resulted in greater speed of transmission and
allowed for greater distances between sender and receiver, but sender and receiver
remained clearly identifiable. The telephone brought genuine exchange, the system the
closest to the face-to-face of the oral tradition in that each speaker, while separated in space,
is together at the same time in a conversation unmediated by a messenger of any sort. Here
both speakers can have what Ursula Franklin calls reciprocity, the back and forth of true
communication, listening and speaking and modifying a response according to what the
other person has said.2 Although the telephone does not accommodate the context of either
speaker, the specifics of place, nor does it permit the body language that a face-to-face
conversation includes, it does still allow true reciprocity. Other forms of electronic
communication, including sound recordings and fax, also extend the previous limits of time
and space communications. But it is the computer, and especially the Internet, that is most
germane.
The development of the computer is changing communications as much as did the
development of printing. We are only beginning to see and understand the magnitude and
nature of the societal changes that the computer is producing. Again time, place, sender,
receiver and authenticity are put into new circumstances with the computer. Electronic
technologies have increased the speed and range of transmission. These technologies have
separated sound and image, which includes writing, from its source, and recombined them
via bits, to create or recreate sounds and images. Computers allow the collection, storage
and retrieval of vast amounts of information, amounts now greater than the print collection in
any one library.
What are the effects of computers as a form of communication? Most often
mentioned is the democratization of information. To those with the keyboard and linguistic
skills, with the hardware and software and links, information and communication are now
available as never before. The decentralized design, which allows access from all sites to all
sites, is key to understanding the impact of the web. The great equalizing value of the open
structure, the non-hierarchical nature of access and the significance of vast amounts of
information are of very great consequence.
Are there less positive consequences? I fear so. Without dwelling on these to any
great extent, they include cultural and especially linguistic uniformity or homogeneity, a
harder line between the have and have-nots, a distancing between sender and receiver such

1
Walter Ong, Orality and Literacy, The technologizing of the word, (New York: Methuen, 1982)
2
Ursula M. Franklin, The Real World of Technology, revised edition, (Toronto: Anansi, 1999), p. 140.

22
that both are often unidentified, an increased problem with ownership and a lack of
connection with time, space and culture. The web favours the collection and dispersal of
knowledge in a few languages not many. Consider how much information you could find on
the web in Inuktitut or Catalan. The economic demarcation of technology is harsh. If your
village does not have running water and electricity, you will be cut off from information on the
web. Ownership of material is an interesting problem. Is the removal of Napster a sign of
copyright control on the web or is it an aberration? And perhaps the greatest concern is the
way the web disconnects users from real time and real space. This disconnection will be
explored further below under learning systems.
Will the web go away? No. Will typographical publishing on paper disappear? 3 No.
Do you have a paperless office? Just as newspapers did not disappear when radio became
important, nor radio when TV became ubiquitous, just as films are still watched even though
we have video, the prognosis for communications methods is cumulative not exclusionary.
That is not to say you will not have your own favourite methods, and that might change with
generations, with habit. Will our children and grandchildren read books as we do? Yes I
expect so. Will they read as many as we do or will they collect information in other ways? I
suspect the latter. While the medium of information exchange has expanded into the web
and will continue to expand, the collection and exchange and analysis of information will
continue to be most necessary. This is because humans are learning creatures. We need to
learn, although there are many different collective and individual ways of learning.

Learning Systems

Today museums around the world generally acknowledge a learning purpose. Museums feel
they have an important role to play in education, in the collective cultural well being of
individuals and communities. What are the methods museums use to further learning?
Traditionally this has been to collect, preserve, display and interpret. But, increasingly,
museums are seen as elitist organizations, distanced from their communities, having little or
no relevance to their actual and potential visitors. To begin to address this we must turn to
how people learn, to an examination of the fundamentals of learning. First I will consider
some general rules for learning as enunciated by Immanuel Kant and interpreted by Ursula
Franklin. Then I will examine some of the different ways people learn as diagramed by
Anthony F. Gregorc.
Kant was very interested in time and space as ordering devices. He felt that time and
space were not just external media in which we move, but that they were the way the human
mind makes order out of chaos, how the brain organizes itself.4 Nature is filled with
examples to support ordering by time and space. The positions of the moon and stars, the
rhythm of seasons, the pattern of birth, growth and death, are natures constant assertions of
time and space. It is when the norm is disrupted, that we notice the problem: will winter ever
end was the refrain in Alberta this May, after yet another unseasonably late snowfall.
Technology has often sought to extend the limits of time and space. We made lighting
devices to extend the time we can see; we made transportation devices to move beyond the
space we can travel by walking. Yet our days are still ordered by when we have to be where:
the children must be at school at 9 am and I must be at work at that time too.
This concept of sequence and pattern is called synchronicity, as used by Lewis
Mumford and Carl G. Jung. Mumford noted the changes clocks imposed on society. 5 Now,
with clocks, all children are expected to arrive at school at 9 am and not be late. This then
changed the structure of communities. Jung, on the other hand, emphasized the common

3
Although one might think that web-based scholarly journals would have considerable appeal, in Canada at.the
moment, there are only about 20 such web-based, non-print journals. University Affairs/Affaires universitaires,
May 2002, p. 26.
4
Franklin, p. 149.
5
Technics and Human Development, (New York: Harcourt Brace Janovich, 1966), p. 286.

23
patterns of individuals and communities, activities which foster meaning and connectedness.6
Synchronicity then evokes sequences and patterns, periodicity and coordination.
Technology, up to the development of the computer and the web, has been made up
of devices which imposed new patterns of time and space. To catch an airplane today you
must allow additional time to go through security after the events of September 11, 2001.
Computer networks have changed that. Synchronicity has been replaced by asynchronicity.
The pattern of time and space has been replaced by no pattern. Connected computers can
transmit messages at any time to or from any place, and the web, as a conduit, does not
impose a pattern on the transmission itself, asynchronicity.
Ursula Franklin is very concerned about the disconnection of the erstwhile patterns of
time and space that computers allow.7 Jungs commonality of synchronicity, the local
language, culture and community, is predicated on time and space. Humanity is embedded
in nature, and is governed by natures rules of cyclical patterning. No one can opt out of
nature. Will the displacement of people by devices and asynchronicity change the way we
learn? How much is learning or working based on the contributions made by people learning
and working together in the same space at the same time, reciprocity?
Anthony F. Gregorc has looked at this question. Gregorc is interested in how different
people learn and whether there are patterns to learning. He is not charting intelligence, who
learns more and better. Rather he is interested in charting different learning styles, how
people learn. After considerable study Gregorc isolated four learning styles, Concrete
Sequential, Abstract Sequential, Abstract Random and Concrete Random. Organized along
two poles, Concrete-Abstract and Sequential-Random, these four styles described every
learner, depending on his or her placement on these two axes.
Another way of describing Gregorcs axes is in terms of the time-space continuum. To
Concrete Sequential learners, time and space are of great importance. These learners
operate in the concrete world of the physical senses and order in a step-by-step progression.
To Abstract Random learners, on the other hand, time and space are of much less
consequence. These learners operate in the abstract world of feeling and emotion, and order
in a random, web-like manner. The other two learning styles fall between the poles of the
Concrete Sequential and the Abstract Random, such that Abstract Sequential learners are
interested in sequential time and Concrete Random learners are interested in specific space.
What is important for museums both real and virtual then is that three out of four learning
styles rely on synchronicity of time and space or both.

6
Synchronicity, an acausal conneting principle, in Carl Jung, Collected Works, Vol. 8, (London: Routledge and
Kegan Paul, 1954)
7
PP. 146 156.

24
25
Science and Art

In recent times, and especially in the twentieth century, science has been venerated
and elevated over art. We just have to look at the amount of grant money available for
scientific research as opposed to artistic research to have this dramatically confirmed. In
Canada last year, for example, the federal government gave out $1,092 million for science
and medicine and $273.5 million for art and the social sciences.8 Another indication of this is
in language. Even in our own discipline or study of museology, there is a tendency to label
museology scientific. What does this mean? What is the difference between science and
art? And where does technology fit into this?
What is the relationship between science and technology? There is often an
assumption that science and technology are hierarchically linked, with science being the
mother of or prerequisite for technology. Ursula M. Franklin, an engineer, questions whether
this has ever been strictly true.9 Are Leonardo Da Vincis technological inventions based on
science or on art? Science and technology are stimulated and supported by one another,
having a parallel or side-by-side relationship, without one being more important than the
other. Franklin concludes that science and technology should be seen as one enterprise
with interconnected activities, rather than two distinct fields. For the rest of this paper, I will
consider science and technology as one enterprise.
What is the nature of this enterprise of science and technology? Science is not only
knowledge but also practices and methods. These practices and methods are codified,
learned behaviour, understood by all practitioners in the west. (I suspect that one of the
effects of globalization is or soon will be that the whole world adopts western scientific
methodology.) The scientific method of the west is a way of separating knowledge from
experience, or discovering the general by removing the particular. One of the most basic
premises of science is that the experiment must be able to be replicated and that in
replicating the experiment, the results will be the same. The strength of the scientific
construct is that it provides a way of deriving the general from the particular and then, in turn,
allows general rules and laws to be applied to particular questions. In this way students can
go to university and learn to build a bridge from someone who has never built a bridge or to
learn to run a museum from someone who has never run a museum. The scientific method
works best when the system can be truly isolated from its general context.
The application of the general to the specific has not worked nearly as well in
situations where generalization was only achieved by omitting considerations of context. One
of the criticisms of the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao is that neither the building nor the
contents have any relationship to the city of Bilbao or the Basque culture. The context has
been removed. Visitors could well be in New York rather than northern Spain. It is this
omission of context, this reductionism and the elimination of cultural context that have been
cited by critics of the scientific method. What has been less often noted, but is the main
theme of Ursula Franklins and Marilyn Warings work, is the human and social effects of the
separation of knowledge from experience that are inherent in the scientific approach. This
separation of knowledge from experience and from cultural context has a great deal to do
with museums.
One of the effects of this separation of knowledge from experience has been the
glorification of technology and the expert. We tend to trust our senses less and trust the
expert, the scientist, more. We certainly see and have seen this tendency very strongly in
museums, where the curator, the scientist, was to give the word and the visitor was to
receive it unquestioningly. The personal experiences of ordinary people were consequently
downgraded and discounted, although these visitors were well equipped to interpret the
show for themselves. Glorification of expertise is a significant feature in the world of
technology.
8
2001 - 2 research grant amounts from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the
Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council of Canada as taken from their respective web sites, March 22, 2002.
9
p. 30.

26
 There is an additional effect of separating knowledge from experience: the
glorification of technology in and of itself. We have all been to exhibitions that advertized all
sorts of technological wizardry, most of it broken, just to find that the show concentrated
heavily on technology at the expense of content. Luckily, in North America, the novelty of
computers and the web in museums is wearing thin. Visitors are no longer attracted simply
to technology, but seek content. Furthermore, many technological systems, when considered
for context and design, are anti-people. The design of the keyboard is one example. When
keyboards were first created for typewriters, there were problems with the keys sticking and
jamming. After studying the problem a new layout was proposed where the keys which were
likely to be used sequentially during typing were physically separated as widely as possible
to prevent jamming and sticking together. This solved the technological problem of jammed
keys but made typing much more difficult. The mechanical design consideration rather than
the ease of typing prompted the computer keyboard layout we now use although there exists
much more convenient keyboard layouts. Here and frequently else where, people are seen
as the source of problems, while technology is seen as the source of solutions.10
Ursula Franklin is adamant that we must find new ways of evaluating technology so
that the human and social impacts of technology are considered. Like many feminists, she is
very critical of the glorification of the expert at the expense of the feeling and thinking person,
and at the glorification of technology at the expense of individual experience. She urges this
evaluation or reevaluation to be based on the experiences of the users rather than on the
aims and needs of the creators and manufacturers. This reevaluation then touches on the
realm of art rather than the practice of science.
If science is delineated by its rejection of experience, art is defined by its acceptance
of experience. While science seeks to separate knowledge from experience, art seeks to
join knowledge and experience. While science elevates knowledge over experience, art
favours experience over knowledge. In science the general is what is important; in art the
particular is often central. In science, technology can be of considerable importance; in art,
technology is frequently of little importance. While science eliminates context and the human,
in art context and the human are key. While scientific laws are deemed stable and
unchanging, art is forever mutable, shifting. In 1935 Pablo Picasso explained in an interview
with Christian Zervos: A picture is not thought out and settled before hand. While it is being
done, it changes as ones thoughts change. And when it is finished, it still goes on changing,
according to the state of mind of whoever is looking at it. A picture lives a life like a living
creature, undergoing the changes imposed on us by our life from day to day. This is natural
enough, as the picture lives only through the man who is looking at it.

Museums Real and Virtual

Communications methods, learning systems and ways of gathering knowledge in art

and science raise pressure points, areas that seem to be most difficult when technology is
added to face-to-face communication and learning. These pressure points are reciprocity,
authenticity, synchronicity and experience. These four problems are very germane to an
understanding of museums both real and virtual.
Reciprocity is increasingly recognized as being fundamental to meaningful
communication and learning. Perhaps one of the clearest examples is in the difference
between teaching in a classroom and teaching on the web. Just a few years ago educators
were very excited about the prospect of classes, and especially university classes, being
offered to many more people over the web. They argued that students would flock to web
courses because they could do the course at any place that had the technology and at any
time. A mother could take a course in the comfort of her house when the kids had gone to
bed. Penny-pinched administrators also hope that this technology would enable professors

10
Elaine Bernard, Science, technology and progress: Lessons from the history of the typewriter, Canadian
Womens Studies, Vol. 5, No. 4, 1984.

27
to teach vast numbers of students at reduced costs. These assumptions have not been
proven correct. The expected vast increase in distance education has simply not happened.
Students do not like it because it restricts or eliminates reciprocity. Students still prefer, if
possible, to attend class, where they can have reciprocity both with the professor and with
their fellow students. Professors do not like distance education because it has not proved to
be a time saver for them. They must spend many hours reworking their material to be
appropriate for computer presentation and answering student e-mails. The freedom of time
and place offered by web courses is offset by the restriction or elimination of reciprocity. This
suggests that reciprocity is considerably more important than hitherto recognized.
Museums should consider reciprocity. At the moment museums do moderately well
with two sorts of reciprocity, Picassos reciprocity between visitor and object, and reciprocity
among visitors experiencing the same show together. Reciprocity between object and visitor
is predicated to a certain extent on the knowledge the latter brings to the former. Ironically
museums, especially art museums, are still often rather mean spirited in sharing information.
The wonderful Sculptures show at the Louvre is distinguished by bare-bones labels and little
information beyond the catalogue.11 Museums are often even worse with reciprocity between
museum staff on the one hand and visitors on the other hand. Curators seldom engage
visitors in genuine, reciprocal discussion. Tours, if they are still offered in cash-strapped
institutions, are often given by educators or volunteers, who are not experts in the field of that
particular exhibition. When technology is added to the mix, when the physical museum
becomes the virtual museum, reciprocity is even less likely. Reciprocity with the object is
much less possible when the object has been reproduced. How often do you marvel at an
object pictured on the web? Reciprocity with fellow viewers seldom occurs as computer use
tends to be a solitary activity, and reciprocity with curators is also unlikely at the moment.
If reciprocity helps to identify what museums should do, so does authenticity. As
methods of communication move from the oral to the written to the electronic, authenticity
becomes more and more difficult to assure. Much of this is because both knowledge and
objects are reproduced when put in a written or electronic form. The question then becomes
How has reproduction changed the knowledge or object? The best known analysis of this
complex problem is Walter Benjamins seminal 1935 paper, The Work of Art in the Age of
Mechanical Reproduction.
Benjamin seems prescient in his analysis. Even though he was writing more than half
a century before the advent of the web, he identified many of its problems and benefits.
Benjamin starts by asserting that the presence of the original is the prerequisite to the
concept of authenticity. and he continues that even the most perfect reproduction lacks
presence in time and space (p. 2) For the art object, the authenticity of a thing is the
essence of all that is transmissible from its beginning, ranging from its substantive duration to
its testimony to the history which it has experienced. Since the historical testimony rests on
authenticity, the former, too, is jeopardized by reproduction. (p. 3) Perhaps Benjamins
most famous quotation, which furthers his discussion of authenticity, is that which withers in
the age of mechanical reproduction is the aura of the work of art. To the loss of aura he
also adds the loss of tradition. (ibid.) Having defined the essence of authenticity, this
important communist writer then proceeds to discuss why authenticity should not be valued.
Benjamin saw authenticity, aura and tradition as negatives which restrict or prevent the
attainment of true communism, therefore he was very willing to sacrifice them to mechanical
reproduction. The capitalist system, on the other hand, holds authenticity, aura and tradition
as paramount values which should be protected, which is a problem with reproduction.
Museums, then, must be seen as part of the political climate in which they are
operating. For example, Pierre Bourdieu, a French sociologist, has documented how the arts
function to reproduce the existing class structure in each succeeding generation.12 .A strictly
capitalist system favours, nay demands, authenticity, aura and tradition, all of which

11
Sculptures: Afrique Asie Ocanie Amrique, (Paris: Runion dew MusesNationaux, 2002).
12
Caroline Beattie and Nick Merriman, trans., The Love of Art: European Art Museums and Their Public,
(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990)

28
museums have historically provided. But today in many countries there are subtle or not so
subtle efforts to popularize or socialize museums, to open them to all people, not just those
with wealth or education or social stature. In Great Britain, for example, the recently
published book Museums for the People? attacks the British governments museum policy
which loads museums with social policy priorities, such as widened access to a broad cross-
section of the public. One writer exploded: Placing social policy ends first is a reversal of the
meaning and purpose of the museum and puts in question the existence of museums as
such.13 This socialistic climate then opens the door to the legitimization of reproductions in
museums and sanctions the reproduction process, which is the basis of virtual museums.
If authenticity is sacrificed with the web, so too is synchronicity, Benjamins
recognition that reproductions lack presence in time and space. Synchronicity seems to be
most crucial when we are seeking learning as opposed to seeking knowledge. The web, with
its incredible ability to store information, is excellent at collecting knowledge, although, as
discussed, both the veracity and the retrievability of that knowledge still need improvement.
What is less certain is how well we learn using the web. The Gregorc system would suggest
that concrete learners are less happy using a tool such as the asynchronous web as
opposed to acting and reacting in real time and place. Sequential learners also would prefer
synchronous learning. If this is so, and the conclusive research has yet to be done here, then
people with three out of the four Gregorc learning styles learn better in real time and place
than asynchronously. These rather sweeping generalizations must be carefully considered,
since we know that different learners have been able, to some extent, to adapt their learning
to writing, the second form of communication, an abstract and sequential system. But even
with writing, the jury is still out. I wonder whether concerns about literacy among much of the
most educated world might not have to do with the abstract nature of writing and the difficulty
one half the learners have with that style of learning.
Museums, both real and virtual, must determine whether they are interested in
promoting learning or transferring knowledge. Many museum web sites have concentrated
on transferring knowledge, be it collection based or market driven. For example the site of
the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, www.momat.go.jp/english_page/indee.html, is
really an on-line catalogue of works and artists, as is that of the Museum of Modern Art, New
York, www.moma.org, with the addition of an on-line store, which is more excitingly
presented than the works of art. The Louvres website, www.louvre.fr/anglais/fr.htm, tries to
go beyond the presentation of knowledge, information on the collection, which in this case is
uneven, to stimulation of learning with virtual QuickTime tours. Another museum website
which does this well is that of the Hermitage, www.hermitage.ru, which combines a
searchable database of high-resolution images with virtual tours of selected galleries. But
these high-resolution graphics require a cable or DSL hookup to work well, limiting use to
those technologically capable. This question of knowledge versus learning is no less
germane to real museums, where most learning has been not only self-directed but also
passive. This has prompted the current emphasis on interactive exhibitions, which has
resulted in numerous heavy-handed, technologically burdened shows.
With the virtual tours museums are attempting to address the fourth and last concern,
that of experience. Experience, as Ursula Franklin defines it, is outside science. With
experience we butt heads with those most human features such as love, tradition, and
creativity. Experience is that which makes people different from machines; it is those hard-
to-measure things that define us as individuals such as context, history and imagination.
Marilyn Waring, a New Zealand economist, is concerned that economics has excluded much
of what women do, much of womens work, and much of nature.14 This is because science
excludes experience. The scientific problem is in measuring or assigning a value,
something the Oxford English Dictionary defines first in purely economic terms. But Waring
argues, I know what I think is strong or worthy in my life. I know about the value of
13
Museums for the People?, (British museum 2001). Quoted http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/entertainmnet/arts,
November 13, 2001
14
Counting for Nothing: What Men Value and What Women Art Worth, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press,
nd
1999, 2 edition,)

29
friendship, fresh air, daily exercise. I frequently weigh the value of my time: how will I spend
it, in which activity? For me, value is a sense, a feeling not a tangible measure . 15 The
United Nations Human Development Report of 1996 probed this problem of the
immeasurable or unscientific as well: many elements of choice defy monetary
measurement, the enjoyment of an unspoiled wilderness, the satisfaction from our daily
work, the sense of community that grows out of engagement and social activities, and the
freedom, peace and sense of security that are common in a good society all these are
impossible to quantify yet they form part of the essence of human development.16 The
environmentalist David Suzuki lamented that in considering the worlds problems we are not
asking the right questions. Rather than ask how we reduce deficits or carve a niche in the
global economy, we should, Suzuki contents, be asking what things in life provide joy and
happiness, peace of mind and satisfaction and how can we ensure that those things are
available to all.17 These authors, like Franklin, want a new emphasis on experience.
This new emphasis on experience is also being seen in universities where inquiry
based learning is currently favoured and promoted. Inquiry based education is grounded in
John Deweys theories and work on experience, specifically his notions of time, place and
interaction. Dewey contended that inquiries have temporal dimensions and address
temporal matters, that they occur in specific places and that they incorporate the personal
and social.18 In his analysis, Dewey lauded synchronicity and reciprocity.
It seems to me that museums, including science museums, must address the
immeasurables of experience so prized by Dewey, Waring and Suzuki. Museums have
surely always tackled sections of experience, such as beauty, creativity and historical
tradition, Benjamins aura. Recently a few museums have taken also on the difficult task of
examining some other aspects, including peace, security and fresh air. How do real and
virtual museums differ in their ability to be experiential? I am not sure but I suspect that
depends to a certain extent on the type of learner involved. An abstract random learner
might well relish the freedom of web-based learning, while those with other learning styles
could find the lack of concrete, sequential methods troublesome.
To return to the beginning, it seems that virtual museums are quite different from real
museums. By examining and acknowledging these differences, both sorts of museums can
develop and prosper. Each has strengths and weaknesses. At the moment those aspects of
communication and learning that are affected by synchronicity are best treated by real
museums. The same holds for reciprocity, although there is potential for much greater
reciprocity on the web than is currently the norm, and the real museum would do well to
increase the amount of reciprocity it offers as well. Authenticity is a political matter. The
uniqueness of authentic objects precludes them from being experienced by vast numbers of
people. But once those objects are reproduced, in print or electronically, their authenticity is
greatly diminished. Experience seems hard to accommodate on the web, but perhaps it can
be done. Certainly the virtual museum will change the real museum, if only because the web
is so much better at storing, cataloguing and retrieving vast amounts of information. Certainly
the web will open the door to real museums and, with luck, increase interest therein. The
challenge will be to recreate real museums to live up to their potential.

15
Ibid., p. 17
16
United Nations Development Program, (New York: Oxford University Press), p. 57
17
Davis Suzuki with Amanda McConnell, The Sacred Balance - Rediscovering Our Place in Nature, (Vancouver:
Allen & Unwin, 1997)p. 209.
18
Rick Vanderlee, Inquiry Based Education, unpublished paper, Calgary Health Region, 2002.

30
Abstract

This paper looks at the differences between the real museum, one presented to the visitor in
a physical form, and the virtual museum, one presented through the web. The paper is in
four sections. The first, communication methods, discusses the difference between oral,
written and electronic communication. The second, learning systems, looks at Immanuel
Kants general rules and Anthony Gregorcs learning styles. The third, Science and Art,
examines our western love affair with science at the expense of art. The fourth and final
section, museums real and virtual, uses the material presented in the first three sections to
discuss the difference between real and virtual museums in terms of reciprocity, authenticity,
synchronicity and experience.

Resumen

En la presente ponencia se examinan las diferencias entre el museo real, el que se presenta
al visitante en forma fsica, y el museo virtual, el que se presenta en la pgina web. Esta
ponencia est dividida en cuatro secciones. En la primera seccin, medios de
comunicacin, se analiza la diferencia entre los medios de comunicacin orales, escritos y
electrnicos. En la segunda seccin, sistemas de aprendizaje, se analizan las reglas
generales de Emmanuel Kant y los estilos de aprendizaje de Anthony Gregorc. En la tercera
seccin, Ciencia y Arte, se analiza la pasin del mundo occidental por la ciencia a expensas
del arte. En la cuarta y ltima seccin, museos reales y virtuales, se utiliza el material
presentado en las primeras tres secciones para analizar la diferencia entre los museos
reales y los virtuales en trminos de la reciprocidad, autenticidad, sincronicidad y
experiencia.

Rsum

Cet article se penche sur les diffrences entre le muse rel, celui qui se prsente au visiteur
sous une forme concrte, et le muse virtuel, celui offert par le biais du Web. Larticle
comporte quatre sections. La premire portant sur les mthodes de communication dbat de
la diffrence entre la communication orale, crite et lectronique. La seconde qui traite des
systmes dapprentissage examine les rgles gnrales dImmanuel Kant et les styles
dapprentissage dAnthony Gregorc. La troisime, intitule Science et Art, analyse notre
fascination occidentale pour la science aux dpens de lart. La quatrime et dernire section,
muses rels et virtuels, fait appel au matriau prsent dans les trois premires parties
pour discuter de la diffrence entre les muses rels et les muses virtuels en termes de
rciprocit, dauthenticit, de synchronicit et dexprience.

31
 Provocative Statement : Museums Real or Virtual?

Silvia Ventosa

English Version

New technologies in information and communication are in many museums still used in a
small degree. Causes
Small economic resources for good computer tools
Lack of knowledge of new languages of interaction design
Fear or doubts about on-line communication as competition to traditional systems of
communication
Mistrust on immaterial supports

Comparison original/virtual (some ideas)

ORIGINAL
Slow methods of communication of museum
productions
Sensual and emotional approach to real,
material objects
Original is only in museum
Restoring is hard and slow
Exhibitions are usually concentrated in urban
spaces. Original needs physical transport to the
museum.
Museums give an unique message from
institution to audience in presentations.
VIRTUAL
Quick, simultaneous, contemporary
communication
Only visual approach in screen. Opening of new
cultural fields. Change of relationship
objects/spaces/subjects
Virtual is in museum and on-line
Virtual allows reconstruction of objects in primary
or remote contexts.
Access to virtual museum products can be done
anywhere. Change of museum real and potential
audience
Virtual means share of information,
documentation and research in and out (but less
specialised)

Virtual museums dont need to substitute real museums, but be an attractive tool to interest
new publics (specially young people) to visit museums, with horizontal interaction between
museums and society in a fresh, participative way.

32
Spanish Version

Las nuevas tecnologas de la informacin an estn infrautilizadas en muchos museos.

Causas:
Recursos econmicos escasos para los sistemas informticos
Desconocimiento de los nuevos lenguajes y del diseo interactivo
Recelo hacia la comunicacin en red como competidor del sistema tradicional de
comunicacin
Desconfianza hacia los soportes inmateriales.

Comparacin original/virtual (algunas ideas)

ORIGINAL
Mtodos lentos de comunicacin de las
producciones de museos
Contacto sensorial y emotivo con los objetos
reales, materiales
El original se encuentra slo en el museo
Las restauraciones son complicadas y lentas
Las exposiciones se concentran en espacios
urbanos. Contemplar el original requiere
transporte fsico al museo
En las exposiciones, el museo transmite un
mensaje unidireccional desde la institucin al
pblico
VIRTUAL
Comunicacin, simultnea, rpida,
contempornea
Slo contacto visual a travs de la pantalla.
Apertura de nuevos campos culturales.
Cambio de relacin objetos/espacios/sujetos
Virtual est en el museo y en la red
La presentacin virtual permite la reconstruccin
de objetos en su primer contexto o en lugares
remotos
El acceso a los productos virtuales se hace
desde cualquier lugar. Cambio de pblicos
reales y potenciales
Virtual significa intercambio de informacin,
documentacin e investigacin en todos los
sentidos (pero menos especializada)

El museo virtual no debe sustituir al museo real, sino ser un instrumento atractivo para
despertar el inters de nuevos pblicos (especialmente los jvenes) para visitar museos, con
un intercambio horizontal, fresco y participativo, entre museos y sociedad.

33
 Presentational Communication
Real Or Virtual

Krste Bogoeski Macedonia

___________________________________________________________________________

Museum communication, according to Zbynek Stransky, is "the peak of the knowledge

process" which, as a rule, takes place in the museuman institution through which the
accumulated knowledge becomes available to the public. This way the museum becomes a
medium that helps in communicating the museality.An exhibition is the main form of a
museum presentational communication where messages between past and present are
being communicated between the museum and real world thus offering a visitor a possibility
of acquiring knowledge. The visitor, however, should want to visit the exhibition, to come to
the space where it is presented and to have an interest in the exhibited materials.

The exhibition joins the messages of the museum objects of the accumulated fund and the
abstract scientific findings structured in the thesaurus thus composing a system exhibition.
This system is called 'a concretization of the cultural message' and circulates from reality
through the objects to the user. The museum exhibition is an affirmation of the way the basic
human knowledge is contextualized. That knowledge is communicated by means of the
objects of heritage as information bearers and sources of knowledge. The aim of exhibiting
museum objects is the process of objectivization of accumulated funds in the real world and
in real time. During the objectivization there is a possibility of reducing the domain of
museum indeterminability while increasing the field of museum determinability of the object
thereby expressing and presenting the knowledge.
The exhibition is one of the forms of emitting the information borne by the objects.It is this
way that the museum exhibition acquires the role of a medium whereas the museum object
has a role of sub-medium that transmits its individual message and participates in the
transmission of the message as a whole.
Museum exhibition is one of the forms of transmitting contextual and condensed knowledge
where the communication takes place in the museum reality, where documents of true reality
are to be found. The museum exhibition performs a transmission of fixed knowledge and at
the same time forms new knowledge. Knowledge, as physical substance, does not have the
same characteristics of appearance in the exhibition. The exhibition lasts until its closing. So
the real time of communication is the actual duration of the exhibition.If some other
communication or information media however transmits it, its duration continues. One of
such media is the digital form, which as a medium, has become widely applied even in the
domain of presentational museum communication since the last decade of the 20th
centuryMajor changes in the presentational communication have started with the virtual
exhibitions, which change the way museums in the world think and act. This change, like
many others in the past in the domain of museum acting, will not be stopped and it will find
its place in museum circles.If we look back on the historic development in the museum
domain, we shall see that in different periods their appearance was also different. The
changes are evident beginning from the antique when the criterion for collecting was the
power, through the Middle Ages when the basis for collecting was the Christian religion. In
the Renaissance the art represented by material objects enters the museums.Changes in the
acting of museums also occur in the so-called period of Enlightenment with a reminiscence
of Alexandria museum when the idea, not the object, was important. Further on in the 19th
century, with the specialization of certain scientific disciplines, a specialization of museums
also occurs. The changes are most obvious in the 20th century. Namely, since the Madrid
Conference of Museum Experts in 1934, the museum becomes a tool for transmitting
messages from the past into present and future. It is then that the phenomenon of

34
ideologization of the exhibition, and the museum as well, appears. Since then, the museum
object is interpreted both as object and subject of knowledge. Since then, the method of
exhibiting in strings exists. The occurrence of the diorama assumes a special place in the
museums of natural sciences, ethnology and anthropology.

After this period, especially in the fifties of the 20th century, apart from the originals, additional
museographic tools (photographs, models, copies, texts, etc.) are also applied. They are
used to strengthen the message conveyed by the original museum objects.In the following
decades, the film and sound are in mass application and the object is linked to the idea or
the theme. In the last decade of the 20th century the phenomenon of a virtual exhibition
appears as a medium for conveying messages. It means that this change in the way of
thinking and acting of the museums and museum experts will not be hindered. On the
contrary, it advances with major steps so that today, on the Internet, we can see many virtual
museums in the world that enable "contextual and condensed" knowledge from certain
sciences to be accessible to the public without time and space limitations.A virtual or non-
material exhibition with pictures and sounds in digital form enables transmission of
information from the past into present and future. This way virtuality replaces material
museum objects thus changing the concept of museum. The non-material communication
however is tightly linked to the material nature of objects of heritage, which speaks for their
parallel existence in the real world. To put it as IvoMarojevic did: 'The classical museum will
remain a source of new knowledge for every virtual museum. The physical presence of the
visitor is excluded in case of virtual exhibition, so he/she will receive ready-made information
without having the opportunity of creating new knowledge that will contribute to the
enhancement of the museum determinability both of the objects used in the exhibition and
the exhibition itself. In order to increase the field of the museum determinability one needs a
physical presence in the real world, in the real exhibition, where the visitor can take part in
the expression of the knowledge in that exhibition. One virtual exhibition is expected to
convey only the true identity of the objects of heritage in the shape that they are in the
moment of their transfer into digital format. It is also expected that such an exhibition should
be able to convey a ready-made, shaped knowledge, that will be disseminated to the most
distant places of the world that have access to the Internet. Millions of visitors on the Internet
all over the world are in position to view such an exhibition at the same time.

One of the advantages of virtual museums is the fact that it is easier to store objects in a
digital form compared to providing conditions for storage of real objects. On the other hand,
the feeling of the visitor of a real exhibition is different, especially when facing the real
objects. The real objects are surrounded by an aura that involves a sensual and emotional
approach towards the material and the real. Virtual objects cannot replace this.
The virtual exhibition produces a change in the potential audience as well. It is expected to
comprise of young people that have mastered computer technology faster and easier. On the
other hand, the number of the older audience will decrease. One has to emphasize that new
information and communication technologies are less likely to find a mass application in the
smaller and poorer countries and museums of the world

35
Bibliography

Maroevic, I., Uvod u Muzeologiju (Introduction to Museology), Zagreb, 1993

Maroevic, I., Virtual Museums: The Challenge of Globalisation, in Museology and
Globalisation / Musologie et mondialisation, Melbourne, 1998, p. 66-71
Stransky, Z.Z., Temelji opce muzeologije (The Foundations of General Museology), in
Muzeologija 8, Zagreb, 1970

Rsum: Communication reprsentative - rel ou virtuel

Krste Bogoeski Macdonie

La communication representative come "point de la connaissance", s'exerce dans le mdium

parmi des objets de l'hritage et du public - le muse. Une place particuliremente prenne
l'importance de l'exposition classique des objets rels. Il est considrable que l'exposition est
mdium et les objets sont submedium. Paralllement avec les changements de la
communaut, tels ont t et encore s'arrive dans les muses du monde. Ce procs ne peu
pas empcher personne. Parmi des plus importants changements dans le domaine du
muse de la dernire dcennie du 20. sicle est le phnomne de muse virtuel. On
considre que la prsentation virtuelle a avantage que la relle, en sens de possibilit pour
non physiquement visite La cette exposition. En tout cas, l'exposition relle a spcialit, et
les sentiments qui l'veilles la ralit sont plus forts. Rponse du dilemme - rel ou virtuel,
est dans l'existence parrallle tous les deux.

36
 Museology And Presentation
A Joint Venture of Science And Arts

Nelly Decarolis Argentina

No age has ever known so many things as the present one,

none has had so many means to learn and inculcate anything
so quickly and skillfully. However, no age has ever had such a
scarce knowledge of the essential as ours.
Martin Heidegger

1. Introduction

Museums are part of the complex communication network of each age, linking emitters and
receivers, following a circuit which includes the decoding of information previously coded. All
the objects there conserved and exhibited have once been part of daily life within a specific
time and space. This fact transforms museums into the depositaries of clues and codes,
which allow the understanding of our insertion within the world as well as the access to our
own identity.

Taking into account that the most essential and effective means of communication in the
museum is the exhibit itself, when it turns towards the visitor and pronounces its cultural
discourse, at the advent of this third millennium, it is essential to trigger new conceptions of
presentation techniques for museum collections, by using global strategies that summarize
theoretical conceptualizations and specific modes of action.

In a world where consumer expectations are high and competition for their leisure time is
strong, museums of all kinds are increasingly having to confront the problems and
opportunities of integrating the new information technology into their galleries, forced to
present and redefine themselves as visitor attractions to the highest possible standards.

Initially, computer displays within museums were seen as a convenient means for
cataloguing and offering research tools to a wider public. The opening of multimedia rooms
intruded technology into the museums collections as a new form of communication
combining the visual dynamism of television with users choices of books and the
involvement of computer games and simulations.

Nowadays, a great number of innovative permanent and temporary museum exhibitions,

where new display techniques are developed, prove that the presentation of museum
exhibits is becoming an interesting combination of arts and science.

Therefore, this scientific and academic meeting that will discuss the issue of Museology and
presentation, original / real or virtual? provides the opportunity for museum professionals
from all over the world to carry out a joint exercise of reflection and debate where the results
of research work and studies will be analyzed and assessed, together with the specific
experiences on the issue, all of these based on museology theory postulates, which are the
basic grounding for museal practice.

2. The real and the virtual

37
The exhibition is a privileged social means of communication that makes use of a language
adapted to each circumstance in particular. Thus, the presentation must regard a permanent
search for valid methods to allow people to make use of the museum for the benefit of their
own cultural growth. Through exhibitions it is possible to assess the past, present and future
significances. In the vast complex of active communicating relationships, the meanings that
emerge are much more than a body of relayed information. They allow us to identify and
define ourselves in our various roles, as individuals and as members of a group.

In Josef Benes words ...an exhibition visit is a progressive and perceptive process within
time and space, directed towards a specific predetermined objective, in which the visitor
encounters a system of visual, symbolic and significant object stimuli that establish a
participating interaction.

The exhibit is the means to destroy the non-shared choices, replacing them by social
dialectics, which associate all aspects of the existence of human beings. Social
operativeness for presenting the real object in an exhibition is mainly language-related
operativeness. Learning the language of museum exhibitions is not only learning the non-
verbal language of real things. It also entails learning to see, to appraise those real things in
the light of research and additional information in varied cognitive frameworks of scientific
and historical knowledge.1
.
Although the concepts of structuring and presentation of museum contents are implicit in
exhibition language, it is permanently conditioned by several subjective and objective
factors.Among the subjective factors, we can find the enhancement of knowledge offered to
the public, which confronts its cognitive structure with the reality model created and proposed
by the exhibition, targeted to specific aims. The effectiveness of the message, cornerstone of
the presentation, will determine the quality of the perception through the response of the
visitor.

Every exhibition must display the different levels of text interpretation needed within the
subject-object relationship: a visual level which may raise the interest of the visitor, an
interactive level which may satisfy participation needs of visitors and a conceptual level
directed to those receivers willing to extend and deepen their knowledge within specific fields
of study.

When preparing a display, the museum professional chooses the object, isolating it from the
outside world. The object chosen is real but has been deprived of its functionality and
forwarded to an exhibition environment where rules are quite different from real life. It has
been selected, graded, ordered and added following pre-established goals of communication
strategies. It has become an element within a set of objects that operates as a code
component of the exhibition language. The space where it is exhibited is located at the
convergence of three domains: the real world it comes from; the environment created by the
exhibit itself and the imaginary sphere on which it acts.

It is almost impossible to offer definite formulas for presentation since each case in particular
requires an exhaustive analysis and a consequent solution. Nevertheless, the theoretical
preparation, the ability, the talent, the creative imagination, the knowledge and a correct
assessment of reality will always be determinant factors. Management, scripting, acquiring
and selecting objects; conservation, education and marketing; combining information and
communication with entertainment make the presentation interesting and accessible to
people of all ages and backgrounds. Moreover, the definition of space is one of the main
narrative resources of the montage because of the relationship existing between the

1
Deloche, Bernard. Museologica.Contradictions et logiques du muse. Ed. Librairie Philosophique. J.Vrin. Paris.
1985.

38
presentation and the architectonic features of the building, which may take on variable
characteristics and intensity, to the extent of blurring the limit with the collections.

2. Authenticity of the real object

Human beings have developed complex systems of language to interpret the signals
received from the senses, enabling them to recognize the objects they see, understand their
messages and comprehend the signs as elements of communication and carriers of
meanings.

Conceptual and symbolic thought is always projected in the cultural product. Visual
communication is a central aspect of our lives. Images are needed to make philosophical
abstractions and visual experiences are tied to intellectual and emotional ones. The bond
between symbols and objects is something non-conventional and natural. A tangible object is
enveloped in linguistic forms, artistic images, mythical symbols and religious rites in such a
way that the only possibility to get to know it is through these intangible values.

The museum object acquires a meaning through interpretation processes that involve its
visual and mental apprehension in direct connection to the values assigned by specific
selection criteria. Each object has its own meaning and the job of the museum is to create an
expositive language which may reveal its complexity.

Where does that tenacious motivation towards the antique, the old piece
of furniture, the authentic, the style object, the rustic, the crafts, the
handmade, the indigenous pottery, the folkloric, come from... asks
Baudrillard, ...where does that phenomenon of adopting another culture -
which leads the civilized towards eccentric signs of time and space within
their own cultural system, the signs which are always previous- come from?
[] The immemorialization of a previous being held in the specific shape of
an object.[] is what is missing in functional objects which only exist at the
present time within a practical imperative and extinguish in their use without
having taken place long ago. Although they might ensure the surrounding in
terms of space, they do not ensure it in terms of time".2

Following his line of thought it can be understood that the singular, baroque, folkloric, exotic
and antique objects are strictly mythological in connection to their past. There is no longer
any practical incidence, they are exclusively there to signify. They accomplish a very specific
function within the system: they signify time. There is no doubt that this crucial dimension of
time does not involve the real time, but rather the signs or cultural traces of time recovered in
the antique object. Everything is consummated in signs.

Two aspects characterize the mythology surrounding the antique: the nostalgia of its origins
and the obsession for authenticity, as an involution towards the sources. The older the
objects, the closer they bring us to a prior era, to divinity, to nature, as a real myth of origin.
[...] On the other hand, Baudrillard says that ...the authenticity requirement translates into
an obsession for certainty: that of the origin of the work of art, its date, its author, its sign.
The simple fact that the object has belonged to some renowned, powerful person makes it
valuable....3

A craft produces the attraction of having been through somebodys hands whose work is still
engraved on it. It is the fascination of what has been created and is unique since the time of

2
Baudrillard, Jean. El Sistema de los Objetos. Siglo XXI Editores. Madrid 1997. pp.86-87
3
Id. Ibid.

39
its creation is irreversible. The taste for coming into contact with antiques and the authentic
must be linked to the passion for museum collections where exhibitions are addressed to a
public which -to a greater or lesser extent- perceives the strength that is established through
direct contact with reality by presenting the real object with the added value of authenticity.

It can be said that an object communicates by being what it is: potentially accessible to all
senses, offering both a multiple sensual experience with a sense of immediacy and an
immaterial transfer of symbolic information that codifies the meaning of cultural objects. But
no matter the support media used in the display, the exhibited object will always be included
within the vital continuity of mankinds activity.

4. Conclusion

Although new technologies are bringing about a revolution in the wide horizon of 21 st century
museums, they are no threat but instead a challenge that offers several alternatives, such as
empowering the interaction of the visitor and getting the public ready without replacing a real
visit to the museum.

The introduction of modern interactive displays, tactile exhibits and audio-visual aids
generate new interest in presentations, attracting visitors to museum exhibitions in an
environment where tradition and innovation meet. The possibilities are endless and only
limited by the imagination of the museum programmer. Although technology is no substitute
for imagination, it is impossible to deny that the emerging technologies can offer us multiple
alternatives...

Virtual collections -which can be seen from any PC anywhere- are

supposed to encourage the visit to the real thing.[...] The opportunities for
integration and cross referencing and the multimedia capabilities of touch
screens -which are seen as an invitation to do something rather than
merely to view something- are highlighted by important projects [...] The
real value of computer displays [...] indicates that the public has keen
expectations on computer interactivity. 4

Anyhow, even nowadays a projected museum web site entails a certain degree of
complexity. Museums on the Internet are referred to as virtual museums. Alfredo Calosci
prefers to call them digital museums so as to define the digital services of real museums,
keeping the name virtual museums for those that only exist on the Internet.

Digital montage is only part of a web site project. Its aim is to place contents and experiences
that can be recalled and produced through an orderly presentation of one or more selected
objects or testimonies. The multiplicity of preserved objects and support material in museums
is as varied as the museal typologies themselves. It is practically impossible to systematize a
methodology for digital montage with such a wide variety of collections.

A digital montage can present different contents depending on external factors. It generally
offers images or representations of the exhibits. Very seldom can digital montage show
original contents, save in the case of exceptional works of art especially intended for the
web. The impossibility of having direct contact with the original is something that marks an
essential difference in relation to the traditional visit to an exhibition. Vis--vis the lack of
direct observation, other variables are at stake for determining a representation: the
observers point of view, the chromatic range, the scale, the projection plan and many other

4
Mark Leslie: Linking computer interactives and objectives in Museums in Britain Magazine. Issue 2. A Mc
Millan-Scott PLC Publication. London 1997, p. 13.

40
things. In digital montage these factors are usually presented to the visitor in an interactive
manner, as some sort of a trade-off for the lack of a referral, without forgetting that the limited
space on a screen determines boundaries that the real exhibition space does not set forth.

Although the efficiency of wisely using the new technologies to obtain spectacular results
when faced with dissemination objectives is undeniable, in order to make scientific strictness
compatible with efficacy in public dissemination, it is not necessary to turn the museum into a
thematic park. Such is the case of other kind of attractions which aspire to look like museums
giving birth to a new generation of leisure parks, where Multiplex cinemas -presenting 3D
motion versions of the feature films on show at the main cinemas- coexist with themed
shopping malls and fast food catering. And it is then when the public, overloaded with the
audio-visual experience, rediscovers the things museums were created for, and finally
remembers what makes them different and what their unique selling point really is: the
presentation, conservation and transmission of the worlds tangible and intangible cultural
and natural heritage.

Although technological progress facilitates new, more efficient forms of conserving,

documenting, researching and disseminating cultural and natural heritage, a thorough
analysis of the issue currently reveals that, among the most obvious reasons for an outlook
that is not as promising as could be expected, it is worth highlighting the difficulties brought
about by the use of technology vis--vis certain circumstances that are regretfully quite
widespread nowadays in museums throughout the world. Among them, is the lack of
qualified staff for supervising its proper functioning and the lack of preparedness of the users,
the high acquisition and maintenance prices, the lack of appropriate facilities and spaces for
keeping equipment, the need to apply didactic methodologies for its use and, especially, the
lack of cultural policies -particularly referred to museology- that are accountable and
consistent for assessing in each situation the possibilities of media performance in relation to
the contents of each and every museum.

Is the vision of museums for the future a virtual reality reduced to binary
facsimiles with instant access for all, regardless of ability, language or
understanding? asks Jon Hall. Well, probably not. In spite of media
assertions, although the basis of the technology really exists and is being
used already, such undertakings would demand enormous computing
resources and the cost of programming software would take the gross
national product of a small independent state.[...] Virtual reality can already
simulate interaction between small groups of people, but is still at the level
of arcade games with low quality graphic images and even the industry
forecasts another twenty years before it makes the leap into museum
interpretation. [...]5

Hall has also discovered that the actual reality will always be better than the virtual..

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Baudrillard, Jean: El sistema de los objetos. Siglo XXI Editores.Mxico. 1997.

Comisin Mundial de Cultura y Desarrollo: Informe. Nuestra Diversidad Creativa. Ediciones
UNESCO/Correo de la UNESCO. Mxico 1997
Bougnoux, Daniel: Introduction aux Sciences de la Comunication. ditions La Decouverte &
Syros, Paris, 1998.

5
Jon Hall. Actually its real. In Museums in Britain. Spring 1994. Mc Millan-Scott PCL Publication.London 19

41
Calosci, Alfredo: Un sitio para el montaje digital en Revista de Museologa. Museos,
museografa, conservacin y exposiciones. N 18. Ed. Asociacin Espaola de
Muselogos y Grficas Summa. S.A. Espaa 1999. pp.41-47.
Davallon, Jean, direction: Claquemurer, pour ainsi dire. La mise en exposition. ditions du
Centre Georges-Pompidou. Pars 1986.
Decarolis, Nelly: Object-Document? in Symposium Object-Document?. Beijing. China,
September 1994 . ISS 23 ICOFOM Study Series. Ed. Martin R. Schrer.
Alimentarium Food Museum. Vevey, Suiza.1994.pp.83-88.
Deloche, Bernard: Museologica. Contradictions et Logiques du Muse. Publication de
lInstitut Interdisciplinaire dtudes Epistmologiques. Librairie Philosophique. J.Vrin.
Lyon. 1985.
Asociacin de Profesores de la Universidad de Oriente (APUDONS). Ncleo de Sucre:
Fontus. Revista arbitrada de Humanidades, Artes y Ciencias.N 5. Diciembre de
1999. Ed. Pedro Plaza Ramrez.Venezuela.
Garca Canclini, Nstor: La produccin simblica. Teora y mtodo en sociologa del
arte.Siglo Veintiuno Editores. Mxico 1993.
ISS 32 - ICOFOM STUDY SERIES: Preprints Museology and Intangible Heritage.Munich/
Germany and Brno/Czech Republic. Editor Hildegarde Vieregg. Munich, Germany.
Co-editor Ann Davis, Calgary, Canada. Museums Pdagogisches Zentrum, Mnchen,
2000
Linares, Jos:.Museo, Arquitectura y Museografa. Fondo de Desarrollo de la Cultura.
Direccin de Patrimonio Cultural. Coordinacin Ediciones JF. La Habana. Cuba.
Impreso en Espaa. 1994.
Moreno Guzmn, Mara O.: Encanto y Desencanto. El Pblico ante las Reproducciones en
los Museos. Instituto Nacional de Antropologa e Historia.Coleccin Obra Diversa.Ed.
CONACULTA - INAH. Mxico 2001.
Yearbook: Museums in Britain. Spring Edition. Ed. Michael Wade. A McMillan Group PLC
Publication. Cheshire 1995.
Magazine: Museums in Britain. Issue Two. Ed. Michael Wade. A McMillan Group PLC
Publication. Cheshire. 1997.
Revista de Museologa. Dossier Museos del Siglo XXI: N 21. Ed. Asociacin Espaola de
Muselogos y Grficas Summa. S.A. Espaa 2001.

42
 Museologa y Presentacin:
Un Emprendimiento Conjunto de Ciencia y Arte
Nelly Decarolis - Argentina

Ninguna poca supo nunca tantas cosas como la actual, ninguna

como la nuestra dispuso de tantos medios para aprender e inculcar
cualquier cosa con rapidez y habilidad. Sin embargo, ninguna poca
ha tenido jams un conocimiento tan escaso sobre lo esencial como
la nuestra.

Martin Heidegger

1. Introduccin

Los museos forman parte de la compleja red de comunicaciones de cada poca,

relacionando emisores y receptores a travs de un circuito que decodifica informacin
previamente codificada. Todos los objetos que conservan y exhiben han formado parte de la
vida cotidiana en un tiempo y un espacio dado s. Este hecho los convierte en depositarios
de claves y cdigos que permiten al individuo comprender su insercin en el mundo y
acceder a su propia identidad.
La forma de comunicacin esencial y ms efectiva del museo es la exhibicin en el
momento puntual en que se vuelve hacia el visitante y pronuncia su discurso cultural. Por lo
tanto, ya comenzado el tercer milenio, se hace imprescindible poner en marcha nuevas
concepciones en los modos y tcnicas de presentacin de las colecciones, utilizando
estrategias globales que resuman conceptualizaciones tericas y modos concretos de
accin.
En un mundo donde las expectativas de los consumidores son altas y hay una fuerte
competencia en el ofrecimiento de oportunidades para su tiempo libre, los museos se ven
obligados a confrontar los problemas y las ventajas que conlleva integrar las nuevas
tecnologas de la informacin a sus espacios de comunicacin, forzados a presentar y
redefinir los ms altos niveles de atraccin para los visitantes.

En un principio, las computadoras eran consideradas en los museos como un medio

apropiado para la catalogacin o como una herramienta de investigacin destinada a un
limitado sector de pblico. Ms tarde, la apertura de espacios multimediales introdujo la
tecnologa en las colecciones como una nueva forma de comunicacin, combinando el
dinamismo visual de la televisin con las preferencias de los usuarios por los libros y la
intrincacin de los juegos y simulaciones de la computadora. En la actualidad, un creciente
nmero de museos desarrolla y aplica las tcnicas ms avanzadas en sus exposiciones
permanentes y temporarias, demostrando que la presentacin se est transformando
paulatinamente en una interesante combinacin de ciencia y arte.
Por lo tanto, este encuentro cientfico y acadmico donde se debatir el tema Museologa y
presentacin: original /real o virtual? ofrece a los profesionales de museos de todo el
mundo la oportunidad de realizar un ejercicio conjunto de reflexin y debate, donde los
resultados de los trabajos de investigacin y estudio sobre el tema sern analizados y
evaluados junto a experiencias especficas, basndose siempre en los postulados de la
teora museolgica como fundamento de la praxis museal.

2. Lo real

43
La exhibicin es un medio de comunicacin social privilegiado que utiliza un lenguaje que se
adapta a cada circunstancia en particular. Por lo tanto, la presentacin debe tener en cuenta
la bsqueda permanente de mtodos vlidos que permitan a la gente hacer uso del museo
en beneficio de su propio crecimiento cultural. A travs de la exhibicin es posible valorar el
pasado y el presente en proyeccin de futuro. En el vasto complejo de las relaciones
comunicacionales activas, los significados que emergen constituyen mucho ms que la
simple retransmisin de un cuerpo de informacin: nos permiten identificarnos y definir
nuestros mltiples roles como individuos y como miembros de un grupo.

Recordando las palabras de Josef Benes: ...la visita a una exposicin es un proceso
perceptivo progresivo en el espacio y en el tiempo, orientado hacia un objetivo especfico
predeterminado, donde el visitante encuentra un sistema de estmulos fundamentalmente
visuales, simblicos y significantes que establecen una interaccin participativa con los
objetos.
La exposicin es el medio que permite destruir opciones no compartidas,
reemplazndolas por una dialctica social que asocia todos los aspectos
de la existencia humana. La operatividad social de la presentacin del
objeto real es fundamentalmente una operatividad ligada al lenguaje.
Aprender el lenguaje de las exposiciones no slo es aprender el lenguaje
no-verbal de la cosa real. Implica tambin aprender a ver, a apreciar esas
cosas reales a la luz de la investigacin y de la informacin adicional,
dentro de los marcos cognitivos del conocimiento cientfico e histrico.1

Aunque los conceptos de ordenamiento y presentacin de los contenidos del museo estn
implcitos en el lenguaje de la exposicin, ste se ve condicionado permanentemente por
diversos factores subjetivos y objetivos. Entre los factores subjetivos se cuenta el
acrecentamiento de conocimientos que se ofrece al pblico, quien confronta su estructura
cognitiva con un modelo de la realidad creado y propuesto por la exhibicin con propsitos
especficos. La efectividad lograda por el mensaje, piedra angular de la exhibicin, quedar
demostrada por la respuesta del visitante ante la mayor o menor calidad de su percepcin.

Los museos, grandes generadores de informacin visual, deben tener tambin presente la
importancia que reviste la informacin textual que les confiere contenido, buscando un
delicado equilibrio entre ambas. Es as como toda exhibicin debe desplegar diferentes
niveles de intepretacin textual, necesarios en la relacin sujeto-objeto: un nivel visual que
despierte el inters del visitante, un nivel interactivo que satisfaga sus necesidades de
participacin y un nivel conceptual dirigido a aquellos receptores que deseen extender y
profundizar sus conocimientos dentro de un campo especfico de estudio.

Al preparar una presentacin, el profesional de museos elige el objeto, aislndolo del mundo
exterior. El objeto elegido es real, pero ha sido despojado de su funcionalidad y remitido al
contexto de la exhibicin, donde las reglas son muy diferentes de las de la vida. Ha sido
seleccionado, clasificado, ordenado y agregado siguiendo objetivos pre-establecidos por las
estrategias de la comunicacin. Se ha convertido en un elemento ms dentro de un conjunto
de objetos y opera como pieza de un cdigo del lenguaje expositivo. El espacio donde se
exhibe est situado en la convergencia de tres dominios: el mundo real de donde procede, el
contexto creado por la exhibicin misma y la esfera imaginaria en la que acta.

Es prcticamente imposible ofrecer determinadas frmulas para lograr una correcta

presentacin, ya que cada caso en particular requiere un exhaustivo anlisis y su
consecuente solucin. No obstante, la preparacin terica, la habilidad, el talento, la
imaginacin creativa, el conocimiento y una correcta valoracin de la realidad sern siempre

1
Deloche, Bernard. Museologica. Contradictions et logiques du muse. Ed. Librairie Philosophique. J.Vrin. Paris.
1985.

44
factores determinantes en relacin con el resultado final. La habilidad directiva, la calidad del
guin, la acertada adquisicin y seleccin de objetos y la combinacin de la informacin y la
comunicacin con el entretenimiento, hacen a la presentacin interesante y accesible para
gente de todas las edades y antecedentes.
Por otra parte, la definicin de los espacios es un importante recurso narrativo del montaje
debido a la relacin existente entre la presentacin y las caractersticas arquitectnicas del
edificio, que puede adoptar las ms variadas particularidades, incluyendo una intensidad y
fuerza capaces de borrar el lmite entre continente y contenido.

3. Lo autntico

Los seres humanos han desarrollado complejos sistemas de lenguaje a fin de interpretar las
seales recibidas de los sentidos, lo que les permite reconocer los objetos que ven,
comprender sus mensajes y aprehender los signos como elementos de comunicacin y
portadores de significados.
El pensamiento conceptual y simblico siempre se proyecta en el producto cultural. La
comunicacin visual constituye un aspecto central de nuestras vidas. Las imgenes son
necesarias para realizar abstracciones filosficas y las experiencias visuales estn ligadas a
las experiencias intelectuales y emocionales. El lazo entre smbolos y objetos es algo
natural, no-convencional. El objeto tangible est envuelto en formas lingsticas, en
imgenes, en smbolos mticos, ritos religiosos de tal manera que la nica posibilidad de
reconocerlos es a travs de esos valores intangibles.2

El objeto museal adquiere significado a travs de los procesos de interpretacin que

involucran su aprehensin visual y mental, en conexin directa con los valores que le han
sido asignados por criterios especficos de seleccin. Cada objeto tiene su propio significado
y la tarea del museo es crear un lenguaje expositivo que sea capaz de revelar su
complejidad. Se pregunta Baudrillard:

De dnde surge la motivacin tenaz hacia lo antiguo, hacia el mueble

viejo, hacia lo autntico, hacia el objeto de estilo, rstico, artesanal, hecho
a mano; hacia la cermica indgena, hacia lo folklrico...? De dnde esa
suerte de fenmeno de aculturacin que lleva a los civilizados hacia los
signos excntricos en el tiempo y el espacio, dentro de su propio sistema
cultural, hacia los signos que son siempre anteriores? [...] La
inmemorializacin de un ser precedente se lleva a cabo a travs de la
forma concreta de un objeto [...] es eso lo que les falta a los objetos
funcionales, que slo existen en el tiempo presente dentro de un
imperativo prctico y se agotan en su uso sin haber tenido lugar en el
tiempo. Si bien pueden asegurar el medio circundante en trminos
espaciales, no pueden hacerlo en el tiempo.3

Siguiendo la lnea de pensamiento de Baudrillard, se puede entender que los objetos

singulares, barrocos, folclricos, exticos y antiguos se encuentran conectados a su pasado
en forma estrictamente mitolgica. Ya no existe ms una incidencia prctica, estn
exclusivamente para significar. Cumplen una funcin muy especfica dentro del sistema:
significan el tiempo. No hay duda que esta crucial dimensin del tiempo no involucra al
tiempo real sino ms bien a los signos o a las huellas culturales del tiempo recobrado en el
objeto antiguo. Todo se consuma en los signos...

2
Decarolis, Nelly : The Tangible and the Intangible in Museology and the Intangible Heritage. ICOFOM Study
Series. (ISS). Ed. Dr. Hildegarde Vieregg. Mnchen, Germany. December 2000.
3
Baudrillard, Jean: El Sistema de los Objetos. Siglo XXI editores. Madrid. 1997. pp.86/87.

45
Es necesario distinguir en la mitologa que rodea al objeto antiguo, dos aspectos que lo
caracterizan: la nostalgia de sus orgenes y la obsesin de autenticidad, como una
involucin hacia las fuentes. Cuanto ms viejos sean los objetos, tanto ms nos acercan a
una era anterior, a la divinidad, a la naturaleza, como verdadero mito de origen. [...] Por otra
parte, la exigencia de autenticidad se traduce en una obsesin de certidumbre: la del origen
de la obra de arte, su fecha, su autor, su signo. El simple hecho que el objeto haya
pertenecido a alguien clebre y poderoso, le confiere valor... 5

La atraccin que produce un objeto artesanal proviene de su paso por la mano de alguien
cuyo trabajo est todava inscripto en l. Es la fascinacin de lo creado, que es nico puesto
que el momento de la creacin es irreversible. No se puede menos que ligar el gusto por el
contacto con lo antiguo y lo autntico a la pasin por las colecciones de los museos, donde
las exposiciones estn destinadas a un pblico que -en mayor o menor grado- percibe la
fuerza que se establece en el contacto directo con la realidad, realizado a travs de la
presentacin del objeto real con el valor agregado de su autenticidad.

Puede decirse que un objeto comunica por ser lo que es: potencialmente accesible a todos
los sentidos, ofreciendo a la vez una experiencia sensual mltiple, un sentido de inmediatez
y una transferencia inmaterial de informacin simblica que codifica su significado. Pero
baste recordar que sea cual sea el soporte que se utiliza en la presentacin, el objeto
exhibido estar siempre inmerso en la continuidad vital de la humanidad.

4. Lo virtual

Si bien las nuevas tecnologas estn revolucionando el amplio horizonte de los museos del
siglo XXI, no constituyen una amenaza sino un reto que ofrece variadas alternativas, tales
como potenciar la interaccin del visitante y preparar al pblico sin sustituir por ello la visita
real al museo.
La introduccin de presentaciones interactivas, pantallas tctiles y apoyos audiovisuales
genera un nuevo inters por el museo, atrayendo a los visitantes hacia un entorno donde se
entrecruzan tradicin e innovacin. Las posibilidades no tienen fin y estn limtadas
solamente por la imaginacin del programador de museos. Aunque las tecnologas
emergentes no constituyen un sustituto de la imaginacin, es imposible negar que pueden
ofrecer mltiples alternativas.

La colecciones virtuales -que pueden ser vistas desde cualquier PC en

cualquier parte del mundo- se supone que estimulan la visita al objeto
real.[...] Las oportunidades de integracin y referencias cruzadas y las
posibilidades multimediales de las pantallas tctiles -consideradas como
una invitacin para hacer algo ms que observar- estn relacionadas con
importantes proyectos [...] El valor de las presentaciones en computadora
[...] indica que el pblico tiene grandes expectativas con la interactividad .
6

Sin embargo, an hoy, proyectar un sitio web de museos supone un cierto grado de
complejidad. Los museos en Internet se suelen llamar museos virtuales. Alfredo Calosci,
experto en la materia, prefiere llamarlos museos digitales como una manera de diferenciar
los servicios digitales de los museos reales, guardando el nombre de museos virtuales
para aquellos que existen solamente en Internet. El montaje digital constituye slo una parte
del proyecto de un sitio web. Su propsito es colocar contenidos y experiencias que puedan
ser recuperados a travs de la ordenada presentacin de uno o ms objetos o testimonios

5
Baudrillard, Jean:El sistema de los objetos. Siglo XXI Editores. Madrid 1997. pp.86-87.
6
Leslie, Mark: Linking computer interactives and objectives in Museums in Britain Magazine. Issue 2. A. Mc.
Millan-Scott PLC Publication. London.1997.p.13.

46
previamente seleccionados. La multiplicidad de objetos museales preservados es tan
variada como las tipologas de los museos mismos. Es prcticamente imposible sistematizar
una metodologa para el montaje digital con tan amplia variedad de colecciones.

El montaje digital puede presentar diferentes contenidos que dependen de factores

externos. Generalmente ofrece imgenes o representaciones de las exhibiciones. Rara vez
muestra contenidos originales, salvo en el caso de obras de arte excepcionales,
especialmente destinadas a la web. La imposibilidad del usuario de entrar en contacto
directo con el original es algo que marca una diferencia esencial en relacin con la visita
tradicional a la exposicin.
Frente a la falta de observacin directa, se apuesta a otras variables a efectos de determinar
la representacin: el punto de vista del observador, el registro cromtico, la escala, la
planificacin y muchas otras cosas. En el montaje digital estos factores son presentados
generalmente al usuario de manera interactiva, como una especie de trueque por la falta de
referencia, sin olvidar que el limitado espacio de la pantalla determina lmites que no existen
en el espacio de la exhibicin real.
Si bien es innegable la eficiencia del uso inteligente de las nuevas tecnologas para obtener
resultados espectaculares cuando se enfrentan propsitos de divulgacin, si se desea
compatibilizar el rigor cientfico con la eficacia en la difusin pblica, no es necesario
convertir al museo en un parque temtico. Tal es el caso de ese tipo de atracciones, que
aspiran a parecer museos, dando nacimiento a una nueva generacin de parques temticos
donde las salas de Multiplex -que presentan versiones 3D de los largometrajes en exhibicin
en los principales salas cinematogrficas- coexisten con galeras comerciales y
autoservicios de expendio de comidas rpidas. Es entonces cuando el pblico,
sobrecargado de experiencias audiovisuales, recuerda las cosas para las cuales fueron
creados los museos y redescubre que su nico punto de venta es la presentacin, la
conservacin y la transmisin del patrimonio de la humanidad.

El progreso tecnolgico facilita nuevas formas, mucho ms eficaces, de conservar,

documentar, investigar y difundir el patrimonio cultural y natural. Sin embargo, un minucioso
anlisis del tema revela que entre las razones ms evidentes de un panorama que no
resulta todo lo prometedor que sera de esperar, cabe destacar las dificultades que
ocasionan al uso de la tecnologa ciertas circunstancias lamentablemente bastante
extendidas en los museos de todo el mundo. Entre ellas se cuenta la escasez de personal
calificado que supervise el correcto funcionamiento de los equipos y la falta de preparacin
de los usuarios, los altos costos de adquisicin y mantenimiento, la falta de instalaciones y
espacios apropiados para el cuidado del equipamiento, la necesidad de aplicar
metodologas didcticas para su uso y, especialmente, la carencia de polticas culturales -y
especficamente museolgicas- responsables y coherentes que contemplen las
posibilidades del rendimiento meditico en relacin con los contenidos de cada museo.

Finalmente, nos preguntamos con Jon Hall si

...es la visin de los museos del futuro una realidad virtual reducida a
facsmiles binarios con acceso instantneo para todos, sin tener en cuenta
el talento, la capacidad, el lenguaje o el entendimiento. Probablemente,
no. A pesar de las afirmaciones de los medios y aunque las bases de la
tecnologa existan realmente y se encuentren en uso, tales
emprendimientos demandan enormes recursos computarizados y el costo
de programar el software necesario insumira el equivalente del producto
bruto nacional de un pequeo estado independiente [...] La realidad virtual
ya es capaz de simular interaccin entre grupos reducidos de personas,
pero an se encuentra en el nivel de series de juegos con imgenes de

47
 baja calidad grfica y la industria pronostica otros veinte aos antes de dar
el salto dentro de la interpretacin de los museos.... 7

El autor de este pensamiento ha llegado a la conclusin que la realidad actual siempre ser
mejor que la virtual.

BIBLIOGRAFA

1. Baudrillard, Jean: El sistema de los objetos. Siglo XXI Editores. Mxico. 1997.
2. Comisin Mundial de Cultura y Desarrollo: Informe. Nuestra Diversidad Creativa. Ediciones
UNESCO/Correo de la UNESCO. Mxico 1997
3. Bougnoux, Daniel: Introduction aux Sciences de la Communication. ditions La Dcouverte &
Syros, Paris, 1998.
4. Calosci, Alfredo: Un sitio para el montaje digital en Revista de Museologa. Museos, Museografa,
Conservacin y Exposiciones. N 18. Ed. Asociacin Espaola de Muselogos y Grfica
Summa. S.A. Espaa 1999. pp.41-47.
5. Davallon, Jean, direction: Claquemurer, pour ainsi dire. La mise en exposition. ditions du Centre
Georges-Pompidou. Pars 1986.
6. Decarolis, Nelly: Object-Document? in Symposium Object-Document?. Beijing. China, September
1994 . ISS 23 ICOFOM Study Series. Ed. Martin R. Schrer. Alimentarium Food Museum.
Vevey, Suiza.1994.pp.83-88.
7. Deloche, Bernard: Museologica. Contradictions et Logiques du Muse. Publication de lInstitut
Interdisciplinaire dtudes Epistmologiques. Librairie Philosophique. J.Vrin. Lyon. 1985.
8. Asociacin de Profesores de la Universidad de Oriente (APUDONS). Ncleo de Sucre: Fontus.
Revista arbitrada de Humanidades, Artes y Ciencias.N 5. Diciembre de 1999. Ed. Pedro
Plaza Ramrez. Venezuela.
9. Garca Canclini, Nstor: La produccin simblica. Teora y mtodo en sociologa del arte.Siglo XXI
Editores. Mxico. 1993.
10. ISS 30 - ICOFOM STUDY SERIES: Preprints Museology and Intangible
Heritage.Munich/Germany and Brno/Czech Republic. Editor Hildegarde Vieregg. Munich,
Germany. Co-editor Ann Davis, Calgary, Canada. Museums Pdagogisches Zentrum,
Mnchen, 2000
11. Linares, Jos: Museo, Arquitectura y Museografa. Fondo de Desarrollo de la Cultura. Direccin
de Patrimonio Cultural. Coordinacin Ediciones JF. La Habana. Cuba. Impreso en Espaa.
1994.
12. Moreno Guzmn, Mara O.: Encanto y Desencanto. El pblico ante las reproducciones en los
museos. Instituto Nacional de Antropologa e Historia.Coleccin Obra Diversa.Ed.
CONACULTA - INAH. Mxico 2001.
13. Yearbook: Museums in Britain. Spring Edition. Ed. Michael Wade. A McMillan Group PLC
Publication. Cheshire 1995.
14. Magazine: Museums in Britain. Issue Two. Ed. Michael Wade. A McMillan Group PLC Publication.
Cheshire. 1997.
15. Revista de Museologa. Dossier Museos del Siglo XXI: N 21. Ed. Asociacin Espaola de
Muselogos y Grfica Summa. S.A. Espaa 2001.

7
Jon Hall: Actually its real in Museums in Britain. Spring 1994. Mc. Millan-Scott PCLPublication. London.1994.

48
 Le multimdia va-t-il faire clater le muse ?

Bernard Deloche France

Le texte qui suit a t rdig en collaboration avec Audrey Casella, Ludovic Guillier et Cline
Rosset, dans le cadre du groupe de travail ICOFOM lUniversit Lyon 3.

Le thme de rflexion, musologie et prsentation, original/rel ou virtuel , prsente une

formulation doublement paradoxale.

1) Le rapprochement des termes de musologie et de prsentation signale une

premire difficult. En effet, la prsentation (lacte de montrer des objets dans un muse),
relve davantage de la pratique musographique que de la musologie proprement dite, que
lon pourrait dfinir comme la philosophie du champ musal car elle tente danalyser et de
comprendre cette relation spcifique de lhomme avec la ralit quoprent les fonctions du
muse (Z. Z. Strnsk). Cependant, le musologue ne peut manquer de sinterroger sur les
enjeux et les modalits de la prsentation, qui nest jamais une opration neutre, dans la
mesure o elle comporte toujours un impact sur le public et engage avec elle une conception
des missions du muse et mme de son statut institutionnel.

2) La confrontation entre original/rel et virtuel pose galement des problmes, car il

nest pas sr quon puisse au sens strict les opposer lun lautre. Loriginal, cest
lauthentique considr comme rel, lobjet de muse qui sert de rfrence pour diverses
sortes de reproductions comme la photographie, la copie picturale, le faux, et mme limage
numrique. Tandis que le virtuel, dans son sens usuel et journalistique, est gnralement
assimil au monde du multimdia et prend une connotation de fiction au point que le virtuel
est frquemment assimil lirrel. Or, le mot virtuel revt dabord une acception
philosophique qui le dfinit comme un champ problmatique entirement rel, cest--dire
comme une question charge denjeux et riche de solutions qui demandent tre
actualises. Le virtuel, cest ce qui est en puissance , pour reprendre lexpression
dAristote. Cest ainsi quun original contient en puissance toutes les autres formes de
prsentation, comme le sont la copie papier ou limage numrique, la fois virtuels et
pleinement rels. Sopposant lirrel, le virtuel philosophique tend donc contredire le sens
usuel du terme, qui assimile le multimdia une sorte de prsentation fantmatique. Cest
pourquoi, dun strict point de vue philosophique, lopposition du virtuel loriginal na pas
vraiment de sens. Cependant, pour le musologue, les deux acceptions se rejoignent
souvent de fait, car le virtuel renvoie alors lensemble des moyens de substitution qui
permettent de remplir autrement les fonctions du muse, par exemple partir de supports
non tangibles. A ce titre, le substitut multimdia, cest--dire le virtuel au sens usuel, nest
quun cas particulier parmi les diffrentes manires de prsenter loriginal, les diverses
virtualisations de la prsentation.

Le musologue tentera dapprhender le fonctionnement de ce nouveau type de substituts

afin den saisir les enjeux. Il cherchera en quoi limage numrique ou virtuelle peut enrichir la
prsentation ou au contraire parasiter le rapport du public avec les originaux. Entreprise
qui engage avec elle le sens de la relation musale spcifique de lhomme avec la ralit. Ce
qui revient dire plus concrtement, que le rle et la valeur des substituts numriques sont
suspendus au choix quil faut bien faire entre les deux principales fonctions assignes au
muse que sont le culte et lexposition, pour reprendre les termes que Walter Benjamin

49
appliquait luvre dart 1. La premire fonction est assimile la cration dun espace
cultuel qui confre une valeur sacre lobjet, tandis que la deuxime renvoie la mission
de prsentation du muse qui consiste montrer des objets sous leur aspect sensible.

I. Les raisons habituelles de privilgier loriginal

La fonction cultuelle du muse, lie aux principes de contemplation et de sacralit, privilgie

loriginal, que rien ne semble pouvoir remplacer. On conoit bien quil soit permis de
substituer une copie un objet disparu ou qui ne peut pas entrer dans un muse (un temple,
par exemple, une sculpture aux dimensions gigantesques, etc.), mais il est difficile de penser
quun substitut numrique puisse de propos dlibr remplacer loriginal, et ce pour plusieurs
raisons que voici :

1) Dabord, avec la perte de loriginal ou sa mise entre parenthses , on dplore la perte

de la valeur danciennet (A. Riegl). Car ce que lon vnre avant tout dans loriginal, cest
son refus de disparatre, la force qui lui a permis de rsister aux ravages du temps et dtre
l, devant nous, dans une sorte de quasi-ternit. Le passage des sicles qui laisse ses
traces sur loriginal permet au visiteur de projeter dans lobjet sa propre finitude et de se
reprsenter le cycle qui fait merger le singulier du gnral et qui impose au singulier le
retour au gnral. Lanciennet apparat alors comme un vestige dauthenticit et dhumanit
dans une socit tout entire normalise. Or, le numrique tend gommer les traces du
temps sur lobjet, quil prive ainsi de sa dimension symbolique.

2) Mais galement par la perte irrmdiable de laura quentrane le recours au substitut. A

la plus parfaite reproduction, disait Walter Benjamin, il manque toujours quelque chose : lici
et le maintenant de luvre dart, lunicit de sa prsence au lieu o elle se trouve 2.
Laura est cette force mystrieuse de la prsence, qui saisit et subjugue le visiteur lorsquil
entre en contact avec une uvre originale. Cest une influence tonnante et dailleurs mal
analyse qui semble maner de lobjet. Peut-tre est-elle due la complexit qui rsulte des
diffrentes strates de lobjet : son histoire, son parcours dans le temps et lespace, et la
valeur de culte qui lui tait jadis associe (A. Malraux). Or, il est bien vident quen
interposant limage et son support technique entre lobjet et le public, le substitut numrique,
sil peut plus ou moins bien reproduire lapparence de lobjet, ne restituera jamais son aura.
Voil pourquoi on est en droit de se demander comment apprhender cette force, cet impact
autant sensible que spirituel, sans se trouver face face avec luvre elle-mme. Peut-on
rellement se passer de lintime rencontre avec loriginal ? Il semble donc bien difficile
dimaginer la suppression de loriginal au profit du multimdia du point de vue de la fonction
cultuelle du muse.

3) Et mme sur le plan de la recherche, qui tente souvent de se librer du rituel et du culte,
la conservation de lobjet initial savre indispensable. Certes, le substitut numrique peut-il
nous apporter des informations utiles sur le plan de la connaissance historique. Il permet par
exemple de procder des reconstitutions de temples partiellement dtruits (cf. larchologie
dite virtuelle) et par l de renouveler les connaissances sur une civilisation ou sur une
poque. Or, les premires analyses partent toujours de loriginal, aussi ncessaire pour
procder aux prlvements de matire que pour examiner la structure externe et interne de
lobjet par radiographie, endoscopie ou par dosage du carbone 14, comme en tmoignent,
par exemple, les travaux qui tentent aujourdhui de comprendre les processus de la
momification. Aucune des oprations de collecte dADN sur des momies ne peut seffectuer
sans loriginal, or ce sont elles qui permettront sans doute un jour de dresser la gnalogie
des pharaons. Une restitution numrique de lembaumement permettra peut-tre de mieux

1
W. Benjamin, Luvre dart lre de sa reproductibilit technique , Essais 2, p. 98.
2
Ibid., p. 90.

50
connatre les gestes du prtre mais, sans laide des analyses effectues sur la momie elle-
mme, aucune reconstitution satisfaisante ne saurait voir le jour. Enfin, on sera toujours
tent de conserver loriginal comme objet de rfrence ultime et comme support pour les
futures expriences que laisse pressentir le progrs incessant des techniques de
connaissance.

Ainsi, non seulement au regard du culte et de la sacralit, mais mme du point de vue de la
connaissance scientifique, il semble indispensable de conserver et de pouvoir montrer
loriginal. Aussi le substitut numrique apparat-il seulement comme un complment
didactique ou heuristique qui ne peut jamais prtendre srieusement rivaliser avec son
rfrent. Voil pourquoi le statut du substitut dans les muses oscille gnralement entre
une utilisation par dfaut et un rle sacralisant dimage pieuse, cette image qui jadis
permettait dans les sanctuaires de matrialiser une divinit invisible et qui ne tient dailleurs
sa valeur que de la valeur propre de loriginal. Cependant, si lon revient la conception
philosophique du mot virtuel savoir ce qui est en puissance , puisque loriginal
contient en puissance ses divers modes de prsentation ou de reprsentation, le multimdia
et le substitut numrique ne peuvent-ils pas leur tour offrir des expriences spcifiques et
pourquoi pas ? dlibrment dtaches de loriginal ? Cest alors que lautre fonction du
muse, la fonction dexposition ou de prsentation, rvlera peut-tre de nouvelles virtualits
du substitut.

II. La fonction dexposition relativise loriginal et rvle la valeur positive des

substituts

1) La musologie de la prsentation ne prend tout son sens qu la lumire des thories de

la rception et de leffet esthtique, nes au XVIIIe sicle avec Johann Georg Sulzer 3 et
dveloppes plus rcemment par lEcole de Constance dans les annes 1960-1970 par des
auteurs comme Hans Robert Jauss et Wolfgang Iser. Ces derniers travaux, principalement
consacrs la littrature, placent le lecteur au centre dun rseau complexe de relations
entre les diffrents postes (luvre, lauteur, le narrateur et le lecteur lui-mme), qui
provoque en lui une production spontane dimages, partir desquelles vont slaborer les
concepts et les ferments de la culture, car il nest pas indiffrent, disait Michel Foucault,
que telle image donne corps telle signification 4. Si lon transpose cela en substituant la
relation sensible (ou esthtique) lacte de lecture, on observe un effet comparable des
expts sur le visiteur du muse.

Cet effet est dabord sensori-moteur : le visiteur parcourt des yeux lobjet dont il suit la
dynamique interne, la tension entre verticalit et horizontalit, le jeu des obliques, etc. Ainsi,
face la Victoire de Samothrace (Muse du Louvre), le regard du visiteur slve depuis le
bas de la sculpture pour suivre le mouvement de torsion qui slance jusquaux ailes ; cette
exprience suggre et induit le dplacement physique du visiteur dans lespace du muse.
Mais lexprience esthtique ne sarrte pas l, car elle suscite tout un foisonnement
dimages, un vritable dlire dans la conscience du visiteur. Ainsi, le spectateur de la Victoire
de Samothrace peut parfaitement imaginer la sculpture sur la proue dun navire ou dans un
jardin, ou encore en train de natre sous les doigts de lartiste. Ces images simposent
delles-mmes, de faon purement sensible, avant tout raisonnement. On dplorera donc
lhabitude culturelle didentification et de reconnaissance des objets (le besoin de raccrocher
ce que lon voit ce quon connat), qui pousse infailliblement le visiteur vers le cartel
(informations sur la date, le titre, le nom de lauteur, etc.) et entrave leffet sensible de lexpt.
La thorie de leffet esthtique renouvelle donc la musologie de la prsentation en
privilgiant le pouvoir de stimulation de toute rencontre sensible avec lobjet, ce qui suggre

3
J.-G. Sulzer, AllgemeineTheorie der Schnen Knste in einzeln, Leipzig, 1771-1774.
4
M. Foucault, Introduction la traduction de louvrage de L. Binswanger, Le rve et lexistence, p. 20.

51
naturellement des applications musographiques inattendues, fondes sur le souci
doptimiser la relation sensible.

Toutefois, si lart prsente un terrain de choix pour cette exprience esthtique, celle-ci ne
saurait se retreindre exclusivement aux uvres dart proprement dites. Les muses
scientifiques et techniques, ou encore les muses danthropologie, sont des lieux de
prsentation : avant dtre un instrument scientifique ou un outil aratoire, lobjet est un expt,
cest--dire quil est destin tre expos la vue ; sa dynamique est alors comparable
celle dune sculpture. Par exemple, si nous savons que le Pendule de Foucault pourrait nous
fournir la preuve de la rotation de la Terre sous un ciel constamment obscurci par les
nuages, ce qui saute aux yeux demble cest la hauteur impressionnante de la vote
laquelle il est suspendu et la lenteur obstinment rgulire de son mouvement. Ce nest
quensuite que le visiteur tablira la relation entre le pendule et la rotation de la Terre.

Dans cette perspective, qui privilgie lexprience sensible et ses effets, il apparat vident
que la prsentation inconditionnelle de loriginal perd une grande partie de son intrt au
profit des objets originaux ou substituts qui exerceront le meilleur impact sur le visiteur.
Voil qui tend restreindre limportance de loriginal.

2) Sous peine damputer lexprience esthtique, il simpose donc de relativiser loriginal au

profit des substituts. Si loriginal est encombr par son aura, qui tend gommer tous les
autres aspects de lobjet, on doit bien noter que le statut doriginal est une invention tardive
et trs relative, au point quon est parfois tent de considrer loriginal comme un produit de
pure convention, comme le fruit dun consensus culturel valid par le plus grand nombre 5,
un rfrent circonstanci, qui on prterait sans doute tort le privilge exclusif de pouvoir
montrer . Au contraire, la diffrence de loriginal, le substitut chappe en grande partie
au phnomne de surdtermination axiologique et culturelle qui paralyse lexprience
esthtique. Alors pourquoi se scandaliser de lintroduction de copies dans les muses ?
Platon ne disait-il pas que ce que nous prenons pour des ralits nest que ple reproduction
dautre chose ? Toute image (mais aussi le tableau, la sculpture, etc.), galement tout objet
culturel est plus ou moins le substitut dautre chose (ex. loutil est un substitut de la main).
Ainsi, les originaux tombent-ils eux aussi sous la critique que lon peut adresser aux copies :
ils re-prsentent tous autre chose et de faon plus ou moins imparfaite. Inutile donc de
continuer ftichiser les originaux !

3) Il faut au contraire insister sur la relle positivit des substituts. On objectera sans doute
ce qui prcde que les substituts, dans la mesure o ils ne sont pas des clones et o ils
slectionnent certains aspects seulement de loriginal, rduisent la complexit perceptive et
appauvrissent lobjet. Voil qui est faux, car on sait que toute slection quivaut
lamplification de certains traits. Anticipant sur notre utilisation actuelle du multimdia,
Malraux a fort bien montr comment le substitut photographique jouait un rle de filtre par les
effets dclairage, de contraste, de trame, de mise lchelle, etc. Cest ainsi
quapparaissent, comme fruits de filtrage, ce quil appelle les arts fictifs 6, qui sont les
purs produits dune manipulation par image interpose. Voil qui contribue renouveler et
enrichir lexprience sensible, tout en rvlant des aspects inattendus ou passs inaperus
dans la perception des originaux.

En permettant dliminer des lments parasites dans lexprience perceptive (aura, valeur
de culte, dimension smantique, etc.), le substitut a donc suscit chez le visiteur une
conversion du regard. Reste savoir maintenant si le substitut numrique accentue ou, au
contraire, altre cette positivit.
5
Ce dont tmoigent par exemple les leurres de Van Meegeren ou de Ral Lessard, qui ont tromp le public
cultiv pendant fort longtemps. On sait que Van Meegeren a eu beaucoup de peine faire reconnatre, lors de
son procs, la paternit des faux Vermeer quil avait excuts lui-mme.
6
Le muse imaginaire, p. 84.

52
III. Lexprience du multimdia la source dun nouveau statut du muse

1) Manipuler lobjet, non pas en rve mais bien en images, voil ce quapporte le multimdia.
On a vu que limpact physique dun objet sur le spectateur est dordre psychophysique et
mme physiologique ; or une image est aussi un objet, mme si elle renvoie elle-mme un
autre objet. Si la reproduction signe la perte de laura, il est vrai que lobjet reproduit na pas
tout fait le mme impact sur le spectateur, et cet cart est essentiel. Comment nen irait-il
pas de mme avec limage numrique ? Bien que la diffrence entre lobjet matriel et
limage numrique se traduise galement par une rduction de lexprience polysensorielle,
limage numrique nen a pas moins sa spcificit propre.

(a) Dabord par la nature de sa matrialit, car si lobjet concret est matriel, avec tous les
problmes de conservation que pose cette matrialit, en contrepartie limage numrique est
la fois sensible et impalpable. Et, mme si cette diffrence semble se rsumer la seule
prsence ou absence physique, il faut insister sur le fait que limage numrique a, quant
elle, une ralit physique paradoxale : elle est tout la fois sensible, immatrielle et
matrielle. Sensible, car je la perois ; immatrielle, car je ne puis toucher lobjet ; matrielle
enfin parce quil faut bien un appareillage matriel, un ordinateur, un cran, etc., pour
produire cette image.

(b) Mais cette spcificit lui vient surtout de sa souplesse, car limage numrique nest pas
une image comme les autres du fait quelle se prte une infinit de manipulations.
Manipulations impossibles et interdites au muse quand il sagit de lobjet lui-mme, on ne le
sait que trop. Ne pas toucher, S.V.P. , tel est depuis les origines la consigne qui rgne au
muse, car on craint la fois la dtrioration physique et la profanation morale. Lavantage
du traitement dimage est de permettre un renouvellement illimit des manipulations. A
travers limage, cest en quelque sorte lobjet mme quon manipule mtaphoriquement et
donc sans danger. Mais alors quapporte le multimdia au visiteur du muse ?

(c) De l dcoule sa dimension dinteractivit. Sil est vrai que tout objet agit 7 sur le
spectateur en le faisant bouger (cest limpact perceptif), en retour ce mme spectateur
pourra aussi agir sur limage numrique de lobjet (cest lchange ou laction sur lobjet). Le
multimdia permet ainsi de dvelopper linteractivit et, comme dans une conversation, il
provoque un vritable change sensible : Je transforme l'image de l'objet et, en
contrepartie, je reois une nouvelle image . Cest une rappropriation de l'objet travers les
actions possibles sur son image ; une rappropriation technique par le geste et non plus
seulement symbolique (comme la fameuse rappropriation patrimoniale dj clbre
par les penseurs de la Rvolution franaise). Cette nouvelle pratique de la rception a la
particularit de renvoyer au spectateur ce qu'il a lui-mme cr ; il n'est donc plus
exclusivement spectateur, il devient galement acteur. Mais cette manipulation de limage
peut-elle nous apprendre quelque chose sur lobjet lui-mme, en particulier sur son aura ?

2) Et si limage numrique ntait que lobjet dpouill de son aura ? La manipulation

numrique permet par exemple de changer les couleurs, les formes, les contours, le grain de
limage, etc. Ainsi dans Les poux Arnoldfini de Jean Van Eyck, le regard joue avec le
contraste quoffrent le rouge du lit et le vert de lhabit de Giovanna Canari : les couleurs
complmentaires se renforcent tour de rle. En offrant la possibilit de faire varier les
couleurs, le multimdia change le regard et nous engage dans une vritable exprimentation
sensible qui contribue largir et renouveler les modes dapproche traditionnels de
lhistoire de lart. Aux trs classiques analyses smantiques ou symboliques, la manipulation
numrique du tableau permettra de substituer cette valuation de la dynamique de limage

7
W. Iser, Lacte de lecture. Thorie de leffet esthtique, tr. fr., p. 8.

53
que proposait dj Kandinsky en 1926, lorsquil suggrait de calculer la formule numrique
du tableau 8. Au-del des changements smantiques et symboliques, la modification
exprimentale des couleurs a pour effet daltrer toute la dynamique du tableau. Le
multimdia, grce la puissance de calcul de linformatique, permettra sans doute de mettre
au jour dventuelles contradictions entre le sens ouvert et avou dune uvre et le pouvoir
dynamique rsultant de son taux dhorizontalit et de verticalit (H. Van Lier) ; de nous
expliquer pourquoi une tableau dcrivant un sujet gai peut, simultanment, nous emplir le
cur de tristesse et de nostalgie.

Ce type danalyses peut conduire terme rendre compte de laura elle-mme et mettre
en vidence les donnes objectives qui dclenchent chez le spectateur cette impression de
mystre qui sy trouve attache. On a encore de la peine imaginer aujourdhui quil sera
sans doute un jour possible dexpliquer objectivement lindicible terrassement que provoque
la perception directe de luvre d'art et qui sefface avec la reproduction numrique. Tel est
un des enjeux majeurs de lintroduction au muse du multimdia : tester exprimentalement
les conditionnements sensibles qui gnrent laura.

3) Mais le multimdia nest pas un privilge exclusif du muse, car il est prsent partout,
dans les bibliothques, dans les gares, dans les salles de jeu vido, etc. ; et, l aussi, il
propose des expriences sensibles. Le geste musal ne semble donc nullement
indissociable du muse. Alors, peut-on penser le musal sans le muse, cest--dire la
fonction dexposition sans le btiment, sans linstitution, et mme sans les collections ? Par
lui-mme le muse se contente de montrer, et cest tout ; le reste (donner du sens,
sauvegarder, etc), cest le conservateur qui le fait, gauchissant ainsi la fonction lmentaire
dexposition. Le multimdia, lui aussi, nous propose des expriences sensibles, au mme
titre que le muse, mais, en permettant de varier ces expriences au gr du spectateur, il le
fait autrement et sans doute mieux que ne le fait le muse sous sa figure habituelle. Le
visage du muse se trouve donc boulevers par lirruption des nouvelles technologies de
linformation et de la communication (NTIC), aussi se demandera-t-on si le geste musal de
montrer a encore besoin du muse tel que nous le connaissons. En effet, puisqu'on peut se
contenter de l'image d'un objet prsente par multimdia interpos, il ne sert plus rien de
se dplacer pour dcouvrir de nouveaux objets. De chez soi, via Internet ou un CD-Rom, ces
mmes contacts sont possibles. Voil qui devrait conduire sinterroger sur la distinction
entre le spectateur dobjets et le visiteur du muse, pour savoir ce qui motive rellement le
second.

On peut rencontrer des objets, physiquement ou mtaphoriquement, autrement que par le

muse. On peut ainsi accder de faon sensible et non simplement smantique la
culture en dehors des institutions culturelles classiques, car une culture sexpose dans les
circonstances les plus diverses travers tous les objets quelle montre. Le spectacle dune
noce campagnarde, une table dorientation en montagne, un panneau publicitaire, eux aussi
vhiculent une culture, soit locale soit plus standardise. Ils remplissent ainsi une des
fonctions majeures du muse. Alors, pourquoi nen irait-il pas de mme de la prsentation
par le multimdia ? Car on est en situation de muse chaque fois quon assiste une
opration de prsentation dlibre. On dcouvrira peut-tre un jour que surfer sur le Net
sapparente dune certaine manire la visite dun muse. Mais ne sera-t-il pas trop tard
alors pour apprendre contrler ce muse dlocalis dun nouveau genre ? Reste savoir
maintenant quel type de relations va entretenir la vieille institution que nous connaissons
avec ce nouveau pan de la culture que nous ont rvl brutalement les nouvelles
technologies de linformation et de la communication.

Bibliographie

8
W. Kandinsky, Point, ligne, plan, tr. fr., p. 102.

54
Benjamin (W.), Luvre dart lre de sa reproductibilit technique , tr. fr., Essais 2,
Paris, Denol/Gonthier, 1983.
Deloche (B.), Le muse virtuel. Vers une thique des nouvelles images, Paris, PUF, 2001 ;
traduction espagnole : ditions Trea, Gijn ( paratre).
Iser (W.), Lacte de lecture. Thorie de leffet esthtique, tr. fr., Bruxelles, Mardaga, 1985.
Jauss (H. R.), Pour une esthtique de la rception, tr. fr., Paris, Tel/Gallimard, 1978.
Kandinsky (W.), Point, ligne, plan, tr. fr. Paris, Denol/Gonthier, 1970.
Lvy (P.), Quest-ce que le virtuel ? Paris, La Dcouverte, 1998.
Malraux (A.), Le muse imaginaire, Paris, Gallimard, 1965.
Riegl (A.), Le culte moderne des monuments, tr. fr., Paris, Seuil, 1984.

Rsum

Si on accepte de prendre le mot virtuel dans son sens usuel et non philosophique, on
demandera quelles sont les consquences de lirruption du multimdia dans le muse ? Tout
dpend de la fonction quon assigne au muse : le culte ou lexposition. Si la fonction de
culte tend privilgier loriginal (laura), en revanche la fonction dexposition, attentive
leffet exerc sur le public par lobjet peru, valorise lexprience sensible, relativise loriginal
au profit des substituts. Or, le substitut numrique ( virtuel ) cre une nouvelle relation
dinteractivit avec les objets, qui deviennent indfiniment manipulables et appropriables par
image interpose. Il nest donc pas interdit de penser que la puissance de calcul de loutil
informatique permettra un jour de rendre compte objectivement du mystre de laura. Cest
alors que lon dcouvrira que le muse na pas lexclusivit de lexprience sensible et que le
multimdia remplit souvent hors du muse des fonctions essentielles du muse. Quel est
donc lavenir de la vieille institution la lumire de cette rvolution technologique ?

Summary

If one accepts to take the word virtual in its usual and non philosophical senses, one will
ask what are consequences of the irruption of the multimedia in the museum ? All depends
on the function that one appoints to the museum : is it the cult or the exhibition ? If the
function of cult tends to privilege the original (the aura ), on the other hand the function of
exhibition, attentive to the effect of the object perceived on the public, develops the sensitive
experience, relativizes the original in relation to the substitutes. However, the numerical
substitute ( virtual ) creates a new interactivity with the objects, which become indefinitely
easy to handle and to appropriate by interposed image. It is not therefore forbidden to think
that the power of calculation of the computer tool will allow a day to objectively give an
account of the mystery of the aura . On discovers that the museum has the monopoly of
the sensitive experience and that the multimedia one often carry out of the museum some of
the essential functions of the museum. What is therefore the future of the old institution in the
light of this technological revolution ?

55
 Musologie et expologie : du rel au virtuel
Andr Desvalles France

Par certains cts, la question de lusage de la virtualit dans lexposition peut paratre
toucher celle de limmatrialit du patrimoine, dans la mesure o limmatriel pouvant
difficilement se matrialiser, les moyens techniques apports par la virtualit peuvent aider
le traduire et donc lexprimer en langage dexposition. Je ne reviens pas sur les questions
que jai dveloppes, dans ISSOM 32, sur la diffrence entre immatriel et intangible et sur
le peu de distance qui parfois spare ces qualits de celles du virtuel. Par contre je devrai
revenir sur la question des substituts, quoiquelle ait t dj longuement traite par ICOFOM
en 1985, loccasion du symposium de Zagreb (ISS n8).

Si le virtuel est ce qui existe rellement mais est un driv qui, sans tre abstrait, revt une
matrialit particulire, nous devons tudier ses rapports avec la vraie chose. Et nous
entendrons, pour linstant, la vraie chose musalise (musalie) au sens large, comprenant
la fois objet de muse, geste et processus. Mais nous dlaisserons, du moins en un premier
temps, la question de loriginal, laquelle nous ramnerait, pour les uvres dart, la question
rebattue des gravures et des bronzes mouls (originaux) et des reproductions
photographiques ou des moulages doriginaux (copies, pour lhistorien dart, substituts pour
le musologue), avec tous les intermdiaires constitus par les uvres datelier et les
multiples reconnus par les auteurs. ventuellement nous pouvons parler de document
premier, second, tiers, ou de document primaire, secondaire, tertiaire). Car la question qui
est ici pose nest pas tant celle du matriau constitutif de base que celle du support de
lide, du support du sens.

En premier lieu il faut prciser quil y a virtuel et virtuel : et que la virtualit qui suppose tout
ce qui est possible au del du rel visible et tangible na pas grand chose voir avec celle
que lon nous offre chaque jour dans les magasins de multimdia ou sur notre site Internet.
En effet lusage quotidien, dorigine commerciale, du terme virtuel, dans le sens o il est
utilis est loin de recouvrir le sens philosophique qui tait aussi celui des musologues avant
lapparition des nouvelles technologies de linformation et de la communication (NTIC). Pour
le commun des mortels le virtuel concerne, dsormais, en effet quasiment tout ce qui est
lectroniquement numris et qui saffiche sur un cran. Alors que le sens premier, driv du
latin scolastique virtualis (de virtus, virtutis, force) quivaut ce qui nest quen
puissance, ce qui est possible.

I. RALIT ET VIRTUALIT. Sans remonter Platon et au rapport de lide au rel, ni Leibniz

et aux vertus quil a attribues ses monades (Chaque monade est un miroir de lunivers,
mais il y a autant de miroirs que de monades) ainsi qu sa dfinition de la perception et de
lapptition 1, nous pouvons nous appuyer sur le philosophe franais Gilbert Deleuze, tel que
le rsume Bernard Deloche. Ce dernier prcise que, rapport la musologie, le terme
philosophique de virtuel sapplique ltablissement de liens entre des objets ou des
processus en apparence trangers les uns aux autres ; le virtuel est entirement rel, mme
si tout en lui nest pas actualis. (Deloche, 2001 : 254).

Ayant traiter de la conservation et de la communication du patrimoine, et plus

gnralement de lexposition musale, il importe donc de savoir de quoi nous devons parler.
1
Laction du principe interne qui fait le changement ou le passage dune perception une autre peut tre appel
Apptition : il est vrai que lapptit ne saurait toujours parvenir entirement toute la perception, o il tend, mais il
en obtient toujours quelque chose, et parvient des perceptions nouvelles (Leibnitz, La Monadologie (1714),
Introduction et notes dmile Boutroux, Paris, Delagrave, 1880 : 15 : 148-149).

56
A priori nous ne saurions donc limiter notre approche du virtuel ce quen ont fait les NTIC et
telle quelle est communment envisage. Nous aborderons ce point de vue en seconde
partie ; mais nous devons dabord envisager tout ce que peut gnrer le plus largement le
terme. Et den revenir aux diffrents niveaux de signification de lexpt (le sens).

1. RELATIVIT DES POINTS DE VUE. On peut rappeler que le sens de toute uvre, tout autant
que celui de tout objet nest pas absolu et quil dpend la fois du contexte qui lui a t
donn que de la lecture quen fait son regardeur, en fonction de son propre bagage culturel.
Pour le philosophe franais, Grard Genette, selon les lieux, les poques, les individus, les
circonstances : on ne regarde jamais deux fois le mme tableau, on ne lit jamais deux fois le
mme livre. (GENETTE, 1974 : 4 de couverture). Ds 1963, Roland Barthes avait aussi
soulign la relativit des points de vue (des regards) selon les lecteurs et selon les poques
crire, cest branler le sens du monde, y disposer une interrogation indirecte, laquelle
lcrivain, par un dernier suspens, sabstient de rpondre. La rponse, cest chacun de nous
qui la donne, en y apportant son histoire, son langage sa libert ; mais comme histoire,
langage, libert changent infiniment, la rponse du monde lcrivain est infinie : on ne
cesse jamais de rpondre ce qui a t crit hors de toute rponse : affirms, puis mis en
rivalit, puis remplacs, les sens passent, la question demeure. (BARTHES ,1963 : 11). On
peut appliquer aux Beaux-arts et aussi lexposition, en tant que cration, ce que nombre
dauteurs contemporains ont crit sur la cration littraire. Et le scientifique va mme plus
loin lorsquil rappelle, dans la bouche du physicien allemand Werner Heisenberg :
Lobservation de la ralit transforme la ralit observe .

Cest donc seulement la participation du lecteur (ou du regardeur, tant visiteur dexposition
que spectateur devant son cran) qui permet la constitution du sens (Marcel Duchamp nait-il
pas assur que : Ce sont les regardeurs qui font le tableau ?). Commentant Barthes, en
1974, Hans Robert Jauss prcisait : La rponse ou le sens que le lecteur cherche
ultrieurement dans luvre peut y avoir t laisse lorigine ambigu ou mme tout fait
indtermine. Cest mme au degr de cette indtermination prcisment que se mesure
lefficacit esthtique de luvre, et donc sa qualit artistique, ainsi que la montr Wolfgang
Iser. (JAUSS, 1978 : 112-113 ; ISER, 1976). Il y a donc dans lexpt un potentiel (un virtuel)
qui nest pas forcment perceptible du premier coup dil mais doit tre dcel pour ne pas
passer ct de lessentiel.

2. SENS ET CONTEXTE. Mais Jauss ajoute que lopration de relecture est rendue possible
par la structure ouverte, indtermine, qui permet des interprtations toujours nouvelles, et
celles-ci sont protges contre un excs darbitraire par les limites et les conditions de
lhorizon historique et social o sinscrit la dialectique de la question et de la
rponse. (ibid :113) . Il sagit bien l du contexte que lon se doit de donner aux expts pour
aider les faire comprendre. Et lon ne peut que rappeler ici comme toujours valable le
clbre apophtegme de Jacques Hainard selon lequel Lobjet nest la vrit de rien du tout.
Polyfonctionnel dabord, polysmique ensuite, il ne prend de sens que mis dans un contexte
[]. (HAINARD, 1984). Mme si la forme dun objet (ou dune uvre dart) est constante, la
fonction peut en tre variable. Aprs bien des anthropologues, prenant lexemple dun
marteau, Genette souligne que, en dehors de sa fonction spcifique (que seule notre culture
propre permet didentifier), il peut aussi servir de simple presse-papiers (GENETTE, 1994 :
13). Et, de mme, une sculpture ou une peinture, ralises pour servir de support la pit
de croyants ou la gloire dun souverain, prendront un autre sens ds lors quelles auront
t acquises par un collectionneur ou se retrouveront dans un muse : leur valeur
marchande, leur qualit plastique et une approche diffrente de leur contenu (ralisme
dobjets, beaut ou laideur de corps perdant les uns et les autres leur sens symbolique). Il
ny a donc rien de scandaleux rappeler tout objet est par nature polysmique et quaucune
exposition, aprs toute collection, ne peut faire limpasse sur cette qualit et quil est donc
capital de bien prciser le sens que revt lobjet que lon veut montrer, ou celui que lon veut
lui prter. Ce qui entrane pour lexpographe lobligation ou bien de jouer sur cette polysmie

57
(cest le cas le plus souvent des expositions duvres dart), ou bien, sil veut rendre la
lecture univoque, dclairer le sens par le contexte (cest le cas des expositions culturelles
contenu prhistorique, historique ou anthropologique). Cependant une uvre ancienne
ne survit dans la tradition de lexprience esthtique ni par des questions ternelles ni par
des rponses permanentes, mais en raison dune tension plus ou moins ouverte entre
question et rponse, problme et solution, qui peut appeler une comprhension nouvelle et
relancer le dialogue du prsent avec le pass. (JAUSS, 1974-78 : 113-114). Un expt est
donc en mme temps toujours disponible pour tre questionn et pour recevoir le contexte
que voudra bien lui prter lexpositeur. La virtualit se situe dans cette tension qui peut
gnrer un sens nouveau.

3. IMMANENCE ET TRANSCENDANCE. Reprenant et compltant la distinction de Nelson

Goodman entre rgime autographique ( sappliquant des objets matriels ou des
vnements perceptibles, uniques ou multiples, immanence physique, comme un tableau,
une sculpture, une performance) et rgime allographique (sappliquant des uvres
immanence idale, cest dire consistant en un type commun plusieurs occurrences
correctes), Grard Genette (op.cit. : 23 et passim) souligne que, sagissant de la seconde
catgorie, une uvre littraire, une pice de musique, une pice de thtre ou un plan
darchitecture sont un objet idal, conu par rduction, partir de ses manifestations
physiques : livres, partitions, excutions . Pour exister vraiment, ils doivent tre formaliss
par un mdia : lecture, reprsentation, concert, construction. Il nest donc pas de lecture (de
vision) sans mdiation. Ce qui, pour cette catgorie, nous conduit la fois une ralit
secondaire (virtuelle ?) et lex-position.

Mais Genette oppose aussi ces deux rgimes, quil rattache au mode dexistence de
limmanence, ce qui dborde ce mode dexistence : celui de la transcendance (mode
second, driv, un complment, parfois un supplment palliatif limmanence ibid. : 185).
Et dy placer les objets fragmentaires, les uvres plusieurs versions, les copies, les
reproductions, les descriptions et sans doute tout ce que la musologie situe parmi les
substituts ( un difice ras, un tableau calcin dont il ne reste que des descriptions, devient
sa manire, en transcendance, une uvre idale, car la transcendance, on la compris, est
elle-mme une forme didalit. (1994 : 32) ce qui nous repousse vers la virtualit
numrique.

4. DU SENS VIRTUEL DE LEXPT CELUI DE LEXPOSITION. Depuis prs dun sicle, non
seulement ce que lon expose a chang progressivement de nature, mais aussi, depuis deux
dcennies, une tape rvolutionnaire a t franchie dans les modes dexposition. Dune part
luvre dart a emprunt des formes nouvelles et rejoignait en cela la varit des objets
culturels (artefacts) concerns par les muses dautres disciplines, en intgrant dans les
vraies choses ce que les premiers considraient jusque nagure comme de simples
documents. Il est donc ncessaire de dpasser lapproche matrielle, quelle soit celle de
loriginal ou celle du document secondaire, pour accder au sens. Le philosophe Michel
Foucault a montr que, chez Ren Magritte, la dnomination textuelle de Ceci nest pas une
pipe najoute rien une prsence relle inexistante dans la reprsentation : Nulle part, il
ny a de pipe. (FOUCAULT, 1973 : 35). partir de l, on peut faire un parallle entre
lanalyse esthtique et une approche musologique (expologique) de ce qui est expos.
Dans toute exposition, quelle offre des expts ordinaires, des uvres dart classique ou
contemporain, la rception nest jamais directe. Il faut toujours aller chercher les choses qui
sont derrire les choses (paroles prtes par Jacques Prvert au pote interprt par
lacteur Robert Le Vigan dans le film de Marcel Carn, Quai des Brumes), il faut toujours
tenter de voir au-del, car il ny a jamais ni de sens premier, ni de sens unique. Et les sens
qui ne sont que latents sont les sens virtuels que dautres situent dans lordre de la
transcendance.

58
Cest en partant de ce constat, selon lequel le sens nest pas dans ce qui se voit mais se
trouve dans le virtuel, que lon peut amorcer une approche de luvre et entrevoir la
question de lexposition et donc de la communication et de la mdiation laquelle a t
rendue plus complexe partir du moment o le seul acte dexposer a pu lui-mme devenir
art pour certains qui se contentent de reproduire ou de dtourner des objets du quotidien,
non pas tellement pour les dsigner comme leurs en les donnant voir, mais en les
instrumentalisant pour crer lexposition en tant quuvre (depuis les ready-made` jusquau
pop art` et des installations aux performances de fluxus et autres). Cest ainsi que,
sappuyant sur lexemple des ready-made` de Marcel Duchamp, Grard Genette propose
comme dfinition : Dans un ready-made, luvre nest pas lobjet expos, mais le fait de
lexposer. (op.cit., 1994 : 157), autre manire de formuler, propos de Marcel Duchamp,
ce quaffirmera Marshall Mcluhan en 1964 : le message, cest le mdium . Ainsi, aprs
avoir vu se modifier le regard port sur lart (virtualisation de sa lecture), puis ce dernier se
donner voir diffremment (par une volution de sa mise en exposition qui tendait utiliser
des moyens utiliss pour les autres disciplines), on a fini par voir lobjet se dissoudre dans
lacte dexposer, avant que lacte dexposer lui-mme ne se fit art (lobjet expose le lieu).

En rsum : pour la cration artistique, la re-prsentation (= nouvelle prsentation), laquelle

ne peut tre que substitut dune ralit primaire (Magritte), tmoigne de la mme dmarche
que lex-position (= dis-position pour que dautres voient). Et, dans cette opration (uvre
qui est action), il ny a que du virtuel et un sujet (Duchamp) imaginant le tableau (re-
prsentation de vraies choses dans une installation ou ex-position de vraies choses). Avec le
dveloppement de llectronique, de la numrisation et des tlcommunications ( la bombe
numrique, 1980 de Rgis Debray, 1998 : 387), lacte et le produit vont pouvoir devenir
une seule et mme uvre.

II. VIRTUALIT NUMRIQUE. Considrons prsent le virtuel ordinaire, celui que nous ont
apport les multimdia et toutes les NTIC. Dans la photo et le cin, limage existe
physiquement. Un film est une succession de photogrammes visibles lil nu, en instance
de dfilement. Dans la vido, matriellement, il ny a plus dimage. Mais un signal lectrique
en lui-mme invisible, balayant vingt-cinq fois par seconde les lignes dun moniteur. Cest
nous qui recomposons limage.[] Limage vido nest plus une matire mais un signal. Pour
tre vue, elle doit tre lue par une tte enregistreuse. (DEBRAY, 1992 :377-378) Et ce qui
tait vrai pour lenregistrement magntique (vido) lest toujours avec limage numrique. Le
virtuel nest pas abstrait, puisque tout ce quil montre est bien du sensible. Et il nest certes
pas immatriel, puisque llectricit qui lagit est bien de nature physique. Si ce qui le
constitue a t dnomm virtuel, cest sans doute parce quon ne peut le toucher et quil
nexiste que potentiellement (virtuellement) dans les dispositions des lments constituant
lordinateur en attendant quils soient traverss par un courant lectrique. Nous prfrerions
toutefois, pour moins dambiguts smantiques, nous en tenir aux termes de numrisation
et de numrique.

1. POSITION MORPHOLOGIQUE. Mais les nouvelles technologies dans leur rapport la

musologie ne s'apprhendent pas de la mme faon selon qu'on les considre comme les
simples complments dun monde monolithique ou comme faisant partie intgrante d'un
mme monde musologique en volution permanente. Si les muses et la musologie se
sont, depuis toujours, enrichis en adoptant de nouvelles techniques, ils l'ont toujours fait en
s'interrogeant sur l'incidence de ces apports. Ds qu'il s'est agi d'introduire par exemple les
copies et les moulages, la question s'est pose de savoir s'ils pouvaient tre introduits
comme chanons manquants l'intrieur d'une systmatique, ou s'ils devaient tre traits
part. De mme les maquettes de machines gnrant du mouvement n'taient pas mises sur
le mme plan que les riches instruments scientifiques sommeillant dans des vitrines. Et, bien
plus tard, les audiovisuels ont connu la mme sgrgation par rapport aux objets prsents
statiquement.

59
Cependant, il faut distinguer l'information de la reproduction : il faut distinguer ce que pouvait
dj faire l'informatique documentaire pour la classification et le reprage l'intrieur des
collections d'un mme muse, et plus tard de tous les muses, dans le cadre d'une mise en
rseau, puis l'enrichissement qu'a donn cette recherche documentaire l'apport de la
numrisation de l'image : avec ces avances, nous nous situions encore, malgr tout, au
niveau musologique du complment. Par contre, un grand saut a t fait ds lors que les
mmes matriaux et les mmes techniques ont t utiliss destination d'un large public,
mettant pratiquement sa disposition sans qu'il ait se dplacer un muse virtuel mondial -
et pas seulement une collection, mais une exposition, par le complment d'environnements
(contextualisations historiques et topographiques) et d'interrelations (liaisons hypertextes
permettant des recherches prprogrammes la fois par des scientifiques et des
mdiateurs).

On peut considrer que tout ce qui s'inscrit dans la premire tape s'est seulement ajout
progressivement au simple talage et au simple accrochage des objets et uvres visuelles
depuis qu'existent cabinets et muses et s'inscrit comme un plus ou un moins la
musologie traditionnelle (mais ce n'est pas si simple si l'on considre le foss qui a toujours
spar la conception musologique de la galerie d'art et celle du cabinet de curiosits ou du
muse scientifique ou technique, la premire tant jusque nagure compltement statique,
alors que les seconds ont t conus ds leur origine dans l'esprit d'une conservation et
d'une expographie dynamiques).

Rappelons quels sont les principaux avantages que peut offrir l'image substitutive :
a. Les premiers avantages de la substitution se situent dans l'archivage documentaire
(microfilm, bases de donnes).
b. Les seconds avantages se situent dans la conservation et dans l'exposition d'units
patrimoniales (notamment industrielles) de trop grandes dimensions pour tre dplaces, ou
bien des uvres de nature phmre (comme les installations d'artistes) ou constitues de
matriaux non conservables.
c. Mais la substitution permet aussi de traquer l'essence mme des objets de muse:
a) lorsque l'objet est d'une chelle sur- ou sous-dimensionne pour en permettre une
vision globale (cartes, plans et maquettes de paysages ou d'urbanisme, maquettes
d'difices, modles ou photographies d'agrandissements de l'infiniment petit);
b) lorsque la matrialit n'existe pas au premier degr (phnomne scientifique - ou
spirituel);
c) lorsque le phnomne scientifique est complexe et inexprimable par des objets
simples (scnographies de faits techniques ou sociaux, films et vidos).
d. Il en est ainsi lorsque la collection est entreprise directement, sans passer par l'objet et
vise un muse virtuel a) analogique; b) structurel (2).
e. Est enfin permise une cration scientifique et esthtique exportable et suscitant une
gnration de formes (notamment par la reconstruction de sites, de btiments ou de parties
d'objets manquantes).
Sagissant ici de lexposition, nous nous en tiendrons aux points b. e.

vrai dire, tout peut tre considr comme analogique. Et tout autant la ralit visible (les
monades de Leibniz), et les uvres dart (qui sont des mtaphores du monde, ainsi que le
muse lui-mme), que les images - et aussi bien les numriques que les analogiques). Une

2
Rappelons la distinction faite par Bernard Deloche entre ces deux catgories : "Le substitut analogique est, du
point de vue qui nous intresse, peu de chose prs, une simple doublure de l'original, bref un original qui
s'ignore. Quant lui, le substitut structurel s'inscrit dans un projet de connaissance, il n'est rien d'autre qu'une
trace contrlable de l'objet ; en outre il est dlibrment conu comme tant diffrent de l'original qu'il est charg
de reprsenter. A titre de comparaison, on peut remarquer que le clbre tableau de la classification priodique
des lments labor par Dimitri Mendliev a remplac d'un manire gnrale tous les chantillons minraux
dans un laboratoire de sciences physiques." (1996)

60
carte, telle quon a pu en excuter pendant des sicles, nest pas la terre, mais sa
reproduction imagine, et pourtant, lorsquelle est manuscrite, elle est considre comme un
objet original. Une image numrique de la terre photographie par satellite, avec des
conventions de couleur, est plus vraie quun carte gologique ou une carte dmographique
excute dans un atelier spcialis. Un processus physique ou biologique reproduit partir
de lun des innombrables appareils scientifiques existant pour le visualiser sont
dauthentiques pices, mme si elles ne sont pas des choses palpables au sens o on
lentendait autrefois, mais des images virtuelles. Et pourtant elles sont bien relles. Cest
pourquoi on ne peut, encore une fois, que rejoindre Cameron, lorsquil dnommait ces
phnomnes des kinetifact, tout en les considrant non pas comme des phnomnes
virtuels, mais comme de vraies choses.( CAMERON (1968), 1992 : 261-262) Notons aussi
quun muse scientifique considre depuis longtemps comme objets scientifiques, pouvant
valoir comme vraies choses, les modles thoriques ainsi que toute limagerie qui a t
constitue depuis quexistent les appareils de reproduction photographique, chimique et
lectronique, quil sagisse de substituts analogiques ou de substituts structurels. Sagit-il
alors de virtualit ou de vraies choses ?

2. POSITION MUSOLOGIQUE. Ne reprenons pas ici les propos prophtiques tenus par Paul
Valry et Walter Benjamin, entre 1934 et 1936, sur les transformations que les nouvelles
inventions techniques allaient entraner dans les Beaux-Arts au cours des annes suivantes3
et tenons-nous en nos contemporains immdiats. Thierry GAUDIN remarquait il n'y a pas si
longtemps : "Ce qui se profile avec le multimdia va tre radicalement diffrent de ce que
nous connaissons. L'image, qui permet de transmettre les techniques, sera au cur de ces
bouleversements. Nos connaissances concernant les sciences vont bnficier d'une
impulsion nouvelle. Mais le multimdia, ce n'est pas seulement la transmission de l'image:
c'est aussi celle du texte, des chiffres, du son, des images animes, du mouvement - donc
de l'motion. Et puis toute une ralit `furtive' qui jusqu' prsent chappait la sensibilit et
n'tait pas mmorisable intgre dsormais le domaine de l'criture." (Thierry GAUDIN, 1994).

Mais la modification de la technique a conduit un changement de forme. Une nouvelle

question se pose donc : Le rgime de reproductibilit franchit-il un simple degr
supplmentaire ou bien se trouve-t-il profondment modifi par les nouveaux outils ?
(WELGER-BARBOZA, 2001 : 7). Autrement dit : y a-t-il eu changement de nature en passant de
la rvlation photographique la numrisation lectronique, cest dire en passant du
chimique l'lectronique ? La photographie (premire ne l're de la reproductibilit
technique ), l'enregistrement du son et de l'image anime (le cinma), que le support en
soit optique (comme celui des disques compacts) ou magntique (comme celui des bandes
audio et vido, ainsi que des disquettes et disques durs) et quelle quen soit la technique de
transcription, analogique ou numrique (digital) : tous ne sont-ils pas de mme nature, mme
si la forme en est diffrente ? et lorsque ces mmes vhicules sont eux-mmes transports
par tlcommunication sur un rseau en ligne (Internet), quy a-t-il de chang, sinon la
possibilit de voir ou/et entendre simultanment distance, et aussi bien individuellement
que collectivement, ce quune mme personne pouvait dj voir ou/et entendre en plusieurs
endroits successivement ou que plusieurs pouvaient voir ou/et entendre ensemble
simultanment ?

Pour Rgis Debray la rponse est claire : Dans lhistoire de limage, le passage de
lanalogique au numrique instaure une rupture quivalente dans son principe larme
atomique dans lhistoire des armements ou la manipulation gntique dans la biologie. De
voie daccs limmatriel, limage informatise devient elle-mme immatrielle, information
quantifie, algorithme, matrice de nombres modifiable volont et linfini par une opration
de calcul. (DEBRAY, 1992 :386).

3
Cf. ISSOM n8.

61
 vrai dire, toutes ces substitutions indispensables formaient dj un bon champs pour la
virtualisation. Mais, de qui ne nous aide pas porter notre jugement, cest que le nouveau
support est lui-mme devenu instrument de cration : La numrisation des images des
uvres tend brouiller les frontires qui dlimitaient luvre de sa reproduction. [] Mais
au-del, le fait que la rplique numrique dune uvre ne se distingue en rien dune uvre
gnre par lordinateur concourt prodigieusement lautonomisation de limage
lectronique, quelle quen soit lorigine. (WELGER-BARBOZA, 2001 : 7) Et Rgis Debray va
plus loin, assurant que non seulement limage nest plus copie, mais quelle-mme est
devenue loriginal de lobjet quelle peut gnrer : Avec la conception assiste par
ordinateur, limage produite nest plus copie seconde dun objet antrieur, cest linverse.
Contournant lopposition de ltre et du paratre, du semblant et du rel, limage
infographique na plus mimer un rel extrieur, puisque cest le produit rel qui devra
limiter, elle, pour exister. Toute la relation ontologique qui dvaluait et dramatisait la fois
notre dialogue avec les apparences depuis les Grecs sen trouve renvers. (DEBRAY,
1992 :387).

Mais, en schappant progressivement de la vraie chose matrielle, on peut remarquer que

la fois nous sortons du cadre traditionnel de la conservation et que, en mme temps, nous
retournons aux sources de la musologie, non obligatoirement attache l'objet rel, la
vraie chose.

En ralit, c'est un retournement du concept de muse que nous sommes en train

d'assister. Le village global dans le muse global, et non pas l'inverse : non pas le muse
dans le village. Non plus un lieu o l'on va pour voir des chantillons provenant de la terre
entire, un lieu qui offre "sur le mme point de vue ce qui peut instruire des murs et des
usages des peuples loigns par les temps et par les lieux", comme le souhaitait, en 1796,
Paris, Millin de Grandmaison, en projetant son muse universel. Non plus un btiment o
l'on se rend qui a reu la destination prcise d'abriter tous les tmoins qui ont t arrachs
leur milieu, mais tout cela qui vient vous, chez vous, et que vous parcourez selon la mme
dmarche que celle qui vous fait vous dplacer d'un lieu un autre pour regarder et
examiner ce qui vous intresse.

Ce qui rend difficile le diagnostic, c'est que le changement ne saute pas aux yeux car il est
intrinsque. L'apport majeur que constitue l'ajout du contexte ne fait que combler un manque
dans la mesure o les techniques ne le permettaient pas au temps des cabinets de
curiosits et des premiers muses. Si l'on ne prlevait que des spcimens, c'est que, n'ayant
pas encore pens aux comuses, on ne pouvait tout faire entrer dans le cabinet ou le
muse ; si les uvres d'art taient arraches leur contexte, c'est qu'on ne pouvait faire
entrer dans la galerie tous les palais et toutes les glises ; et surtout, c'est qu'on ne pouvait
se dplacer sur la terre entire pour collecter - encore qu'on ait multipli les voyages cet
effet!

On peut rver (mais cela n'est sans doute pas si loin puisque des technologies semblables
existent dj sur les satellites). Les camras de Big Brother rparties un peu partout, et
compltes non seulement de zooms mais aussi de microscopes lectroniques et
tlcommandes partir de votre console, pourront vous apporter domicile ce que
d'aucuns ont eu le plus grand mal tudier, chantillonner, classer, recueillir, pendant
cinq ou six sicles. Une annexion qui se fait sans heurts, dans la globalit du patrimoine,
aussi bien vivant que mort. C'est bien l, dans le cyberespace, l'Encyclopdie universelle
rve par les inventeurs du concept de muse et de tous les premiers musologues avant la
lettre, de Giulio CAMILLO en 1550 et de Samuel QUICCHEBERG en 1565 NEICKEL, en 1727,
en passant par LEIBNIZ et BACON. Tous souhaitaient une collection encyclopdique, classe
systmatiquement, et offrant l'exprience du visible en un lieu ferm. Mais, comme l'a
rcemment rappel Franois MAIRESSE propos de QUICCHEBERG, la prservation de la
mmoire passe (ici) par l'crit. L'objet n'est pas encore interrog comme fonds, comme

62
porteur d'information, mais il est incontestablement porteur de signification (smiophore) et
li au pouvoir que le collectionneur en retire. Quiccheberg, cheval entre deux priodes,
prserve l'ide et non le sensible. (MAIRESSE et RAGNI, 1997.

Notre nouveau monde, le cyberespace, ne se prsente-t-il pas comme le prolongement

oblig du mouvement d'extension et de retour aux sources qui a vu natre les comuses il y
a trente ans? N'est-il pas dans le droit fil de la dfinition du muse conu comme un simple
instrument de la musologie, elle mme entendue comme le moyen d'tudier les rapports de
l'homme avec le rel, tout le rel, ce que certains prfrent appeler une patrimonologie, du
fait de son imprialisme, mais qui n'est aprs tout que ce que le muse n'aurait jamais d
cesser d'tre. Car, comme le dclare le Maori Ross HIMONA, qui a fond un site l'usage
des aborignes de Nouvelle Zlande et d'ailleurs : La terre mythique de mes anctres se
trouve dsormais sur Internet. (Supplment TRM du Monde des 15-16 nov.1998).

2. POSITION XPOLOGIQUE.. Mais le changement ne touche pas seulement la matire. Il

touche aussi la forme de la transmission et celle de la perception. Nous navons plus
dsormais affaire un visiteur qui se dplace devant des expts, un spectateur devant un
spectacle. Dsormais, tout se passe en temps rel et dans une ralit enveloppante.
Comme la remarqu Paul Virilio : Le paradoxe logique, cest finalement celui de cette
image en temps rel qui domine la chose reprsente, ce temps qui lemporte dsormais sur
lespace rel. Cette virtualit qui domine lactualit, bouleversant la notion mme de ralit.
(VIRILIO, 1988 : 134). Et Virilio de citer la remarque de Paul Klee : maintenant les objets
maperoivent . Dans la mme synchronie, le spectateur est dedans il est mme derrire.
Le show est dans le rel, et le tlspectateur quasiment derrire son petit cran, non pour
regarder mais pour participer au happening []. Le re de re-prsentation saute, au point
daboutissement de la longue mtamorphose o les choses dj apparaissaient de plus en
plus comme les ples copies des images. Dleste de tout rfrent, limage autorfrente
des ordinateurs permet de visiter un btiment qui nest pas encore construit, de rouler dans
une voiture qui nexiste encore que sur du papier, de piloter un faux avion dans un vrai
cockpit, par exemple pour rpter au sol une mission de bombardement. Voil le visuel. Tel
quen lui-mme enfin. Une entit virtuelle est enfin perue (et ventuellement manipule) par
un sujet mais sans ralit physique correspondante.[]. (DEBRAY, 1992 :385 et 387). Et,
pour conclure sur ce point : Le paradoxe est quImage et Ralit, alors, deviennent
indiscernables : un tel espace est explorable et impalpable, la fois non illusoire et
irrel. ibid. : 388, soulign par moi). Le virtuel nest plus un substitut qui sajoute au rel et
que lon contemple comme tel, en sachant quil nest quune ombre, immatrielle. Dsormais
le visiteur est bien dedans. Lex-position nest plus devant lui ; cest lui qui a pris position
dedans.

EN GUISE DE CONCLUSION, je dirai simplement que, peut-tre comme en tout domaine, le

positif et le ngatif s'quilibrent : en positif, tous les avantages attachs la reproduction et
aux interrelations ; en ngatif, l'absence de contact, pas tellement matriel, mais du moins
charnel avec la ralit. Encore que lapproche du virtuel soit pleine de contradictions ! En
1992, Rgis Debray faisait deux critiques fondamentales la virtualisation. La premire : le
fait quelle ne virtualise que les objets concrets et dlaisse compltement tout ce qui est
invisible : aussi bien les tres et les faits religieux que les concepts (tels que lUniversel, le
Progrs, la Loi ou la Justice). Ce qui le conduit conclure ainsi son ouvrage : Une simple
question au prochain millnaire : comment bien voir autour de soi sans admettre, ct, en
dessous ou au dessus, des choses invisibles ? (op.cit. :506). La seconde critique tient
dans ce que le rapport au virtuel manque daffect du fait de sa dmatrialisation : On ne
simplique pas motionnellement dans des oprations de calcul, des combinatoires de
paramtres qui, excluent le hasard et neutralisent limpulsif. Jusqu quel seuil
dimmatrialit et dabstraction physique peut aller linvention plastique ? (op.cit. : 391-392)
Et de citer Pierre Lvy : Notre temps prfre les modles aux objets, parce que limmatriel
est dpourvu dinertie. (LVY, 1987 : 57). Mais le mme Debray nen remarquait pas moins,

63
deux ans plus tard : Dans les expriences virtuelles, il faut toucher. Nous sommes passs
du voir l'intervention et la participation. C'est jubilatoire et rgressif. Nous sommes la
pointe de la technique, mis au tout dbut de nos origines - l'embryon - cet tat archaque qui
privilgie le toucher et la caresse. (1994).

moins que, comme lassurait Andy Warhol, si vous voulez tout savoir sur Andy
Warhol, vous navez qu regarder la surface de mes peintures, de mes films, de moi. Il ny a
rien dessous. [] Plus de style, plus de touche, plus de prsence physique de lartiste, mais
seulement les alas de la reproduction mcanique dun objet. Des images simples. Pas de
mtaphore, pas de message. (In Alain JAUBERT, Andy Warhol, Palettes, ditions
Montparnasse, 2000).

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BENJAMIN (Walter). 1936 "Zeischrift fr Zozialforschung", V :40-66. Trad. fr. Maurice de
Gandillac, Paris, Denol, 1971-83 : 87-126.
CAMERON (Duncan F.). 1968, "A view point : the museum as a communication system and
implications for museum education" in Curator, 1, pp.33-40. Trad. de l'anglais
(Amrique du nord) in Vagues, 1, Mcon, W / Mnes, 1992, pp.249-270.
DEBRAY, Rgis (1993) Vie et mort d limage., une histoire du regard en Occident. Paris,
Gallimard.
DEBRAY, Rgis (1994). "Communication la XII dition d'Imagina". Monte-Carlo, 16-18
fvrier 1994.
DELOCHE, Bernard (1996). "Vers le muse virtuel et les collections de substituts". Brno, 25
septembre 1996 Cours l'cole internationale d't de Musologie (indit).
DELOCHE, Bernard (2001) Le muse virtuel. Paris, PUF. (Prface de Rgis DEBRAY)
FOUCAULT, Michel (1973) Ceci nest pas une pipe. Paris, Fata Morgana.
GAUDIN, Thierry (1994). "La rvolution du multimdia", Le Nouvel Observateur, supplment
au n1568, 24-30 novembre 1994, p.24-30.
GENETTE, Grard (1994) Luvre de lart. Immanence et transcendance. Paris, Seuil.
GOODMAN, Nelson (1968) Langages de lart, trad. Fr. de J.Morizot. Nmes, Jacqueline
Chambon, 1990.
HAINARD, Jacques (1984) "La revanche du conservateur", in Objets prtextes, objets
manipuls. Muse dEthnographie de Neuchtel,; repris dans Vagues, Une
anthologie de la nouvelle musologie, 2, 1994 : 393-404.
ISER, Wolfgang (1976) Lacte de lecture, thorie de leffet esthtique, tr.fr. 1985. Bruxelles, Mardaga.
Jauss, Hans Robert (1974) Pour une thorie de la rception, tr. fr. Paris, Tel/Gallimard, 1978.
LVY, Pierre (1987) La Machine univers, Paris, La Dcouverte.
MAIRESSE, Franois, RAGNI, Fabrizio (1997). "Prservation ou mmoire ?", Icom, Icofom
Study Series, n27, (Actes du symposium du Comit international pour la musologie,
19-29 juin 1997, Paris-Grenoble-Annecy)
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VIRILIO, Paul (1988) La machine de vision. Paris, Galile.
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muse virtuel au muse mdiathque). Paris, LHarmattan.

English summary

Virtual has not to be confused with intangible (cf. ISSOM 32) : it is not abstract and it really
exists even if it has a special materiality. We have to study the relation between virtual and
real thing. But the word virtual has two meanings : the philosophical meaning which was
previously used by museum people is different of the meaning that the multimedia people
have introduced to name the object of the new technologies.

The reading of a book, like the vision of a thing or a work of art - is different according the
reader (the onlooker), according the place and according the time. The meaning is out of
the thing matter : it depend of the context the exhibitor gave to it in the exhibition. Since
Marcel Duchamps ready-made, for a lot of piece of contemporary art the object is not the
piece but the virtual meaning or the fact of exhibiting.

For the new technologies of electronic image and digitalization, virtual is not abstract since
electricity has a real physical nature. But it is not sensory since you cant touch it
(intangible?). Any transposition and any work of art is analogical. Further a scientific process,
moving of an animal or motion inferred by a machine (the kinetifact of Cameron) is real
although we cant see it. Are they virtual or real things ? Is it a nature changing when we had
gone from chemical to electronic or from photographic developing to electronic
digitalization ? It seems so because the technical virtualisation of the reality created the
global village and both introduced the man himself inside this virtual world as if he was in a
real world. Moreover in a way this changing is like the virtualization of the utopian
ecomuseum in which the man was the core and the heritage of whole a was the object, and
both like a comeback to the origin of the museum when they were cataloguing the whole
world without collecting objects.

65
 Musologie et prsentation :
o sont les vraies choses ?
Franois Mairesse - Muse de Mariemont, Belgium

Un tigre empaill dans un muse est un tigre empaill dans un muse, pas un tigre.
(Hudson, cit par Sola)

Poser la question de la place de loriginal/rel ou du virtuel au sein des muses conduit

presque implicitement un certain type de rponses. Deux sicles de discours musaux
plus ou moins dirigistes nous amnent en effet prendre immdiatement parti pour les
objets, soit ce que nous dfinissons comme les tmoins matriels de lhomme et de son
environnement et qui constituent pour la plupart le principe moteur de nos muses.

On observe en effet, depuis lapparition de ce que lon appelle virtuel dans le monde
musal, que la rponse de la plupart des conservateurs est conditionne par leur confiance
totale dans la puissance laura de lobjet. Les muses collectionnent des objets rels
dont la prsence mdiatique est nettement plus forte que les images virtuelles dcoulant du
multimdia. Au mieux, on laissera au virtuel le mme espace plus ou moins ludique que
celui que lon rservait aux illustrations, textes ou graphiques lors de la mise en espace des
expositions Il en dcoule que le virtuel ne joue quun rle secondaire au niveau
musographique et que les muses virtuels , qui ne sont pas des objets originaux, ne
constituent pas des muses en soi.

La question du virtuel telle quelle se prsente dans la presse spcialise ou non est
entirement conditionne par la question de limage numrise, stocke sur support
informatique dans des bases de donnes et facilement reproductible. Partons de cette
premire acceptation qui nous amne insensiblement une question plus ancienne, celle
des substituts utiliss depuis longtemps dans les muses : dessins, photos, moulages, etc.

1. Premire acceptation du virtuel et dbat sur les substituts

La question de la prsentation des substituts dans les muses a dj t aborde plusieurs

fois par lICOFOM. Les ractions de ses membres ont t publies dans deux volumes, les
8e et 9e numros des ISS sur les originaux et objets substitutifs dans les muses (Congrs
de Zagreb, 19851). On peut tenter de synthtiser les rponses apportes lors de ces
rencontres en plusieurs catgories :

a. la primaut de lobjet sur les substituts, ces derniers utiliss faute de mieux.
Loriginal est toujours considr comme la matrice originelle dont peuvent dcouler les
substituts ou les multiples. Il y a donc primaut de lun sur lautre. Dans cette acception,
peut-tre la plus frquente, les substituts jouent un rle auxiliaire, principalement
dillustration, lors de la mise en exposition. Les muses travaillent principalement avec
des documents originaux mais ils peuvent donc avoir recours certains substituts
(Benes, ISS 8, p. 81). Les conservateurs lacceptent dautant plus facilement lorsquils
sont incapables de prsenter loriginal ou que loriginal nexiste plus (Gluzinski, ISS 9, p.
33). Comme le rsume Pontus Hellstrm : concernant les objets et les collections du

1
Jai dj abord cette question dans lISS 31, p. 60-68.

66
 muse, le travail le plus important du conservateur est de montrer son respect pour
lobjet original (ISS 8, p. 56).

b. Le concept de lobjet de muse plutt que celui de loriginal

Pour un certain nombre de musologues (Stransky, Suler, Schreiner). La question de
loriginal et du substitut doit plutt tre envisage partir de lobjet de muse qui joue un
rle prdominant. Une collection de muse est un groupe dobjets de muse (musalia)
spcifiques un certain champ, chaque objet tant accompagn de sa documentation
(Schreiner, ISS 8, 67 ; ISS 9, 59). Lobjet de muse peut tre ou non original, mais il doit
tre tmoignage authentique de la ralit quil prtend documenter (Stransky, ISS 9, p.
108). Cette perspective, si elle place lenjeu du dbat sur la conception dauthenticit
plutt que doriginalit, cre cependant encore une double catgorie entre lobjet de
muse, quel quil soit, et la documentation qui laccompagne (qui est souvent compose
des substituts).

c. La mise en perspective de la question original vs substituts

Bon nombre de considrations sur loriginal proviennent dune rfrence trop explicite au
muse des beaux-arts. Ds que lon sort de ce domaine, les choses se complexifient
davantage (quel est loriginal dune porcelaine ou dun outil ?). Lorsque lon se positionne
sur le terrain des collections techniques, dcoratives ou scientifiques, on peroit parfois
plus difficilement la limite entre un original par rapport un substitut. Ce qui est original
pour les uns est parfois considr comme substitut pour les autres et vice-versa
(Desvalles, ISS 8, p. 92). Contrairement ce qui a t dit plus haut, un certain nombre
de muses spcifiques utilisent galement de nombreux substituts avec grand profit et
sans gne , quil sagisse des muses de copies anciennes ou de collections de
palontologie. Ceci parce que les substituts permettent une tude parfois plus aise,
mais galement quils favorisent lexprimentation (Maranda, ISS 8, 186). En fait, les
substituts ne jouent pas seulement un rle au niveau de la prsentation, mais galement
au niveau de la recherche ou de la prservation (Van Mensch, 1SS 9, p. 46). La question
essentielle qui prvaut, dans ce contexte, nest pas celle de loriginal ou de lobjet
authentique, mais de linformation essentielle que nous souhaitons prserver/
tudier/communiquer dans lobjet.

d. La question de la finalit de lobjet original et du substitut

Quelques rares contributions rompent radicalement avec le rapport traditionnel
loriginal, pour prner les vertus du substitut. La perspective non-europenne savre
instructive cet gard. Konar, parlant de lvolution de la copie en Afrique, dcrit une
volution loccidentale qui privilgie lobjet, qui fait de lobjet une finalit (ISS, 8, p.
58). Il est rejoint par Sydney Moko Mead (cit par Van Mensch) : le fait de prserver
mticuleusement le pass est une proccupation essentiellement occidentale, qui
soppose la prservation dune tradition artistique vivante, entretenue par la
communaut tout entire (ISS 9, p. 46).

A contre-courant, Bernard Deloche, dveloppe le thme quil approfondira plus tard

(notamment dans musologica, dans lintroduction de lISS 31 et dans le muse virtuel),
du recours systmatique aux substituts, dsacralisant lobjet et permettant la neutralit
objective de lapproche scientifique. Remarque de Bernard Deloche en 1985 : ce qui
me parat le plus grave, cest que, au moment o la plupart des muses du monde sont
en train dadopter linformatique, la question pose par ce nouveau type de substitut et
les perspectives thoriques quil ouvre nait pas t prsente ouvertement .

Dix-sept ans plus tard, pouvons-nous aborder rellement cette question ?

Trois points, prolongeant ces dbats, mritent une attention particulire :

67
- Le continuum objet - substitut. La dichotomie entre original et substitut, voire celle de
lobjet de muse et de sa documentation, est loin dtre aussi prcise que lon pourrait le
souhaiter. Les passages de catgories peuvent se produire dans un sens comme dans
un autre. Peut-tre conviendrait-il de voir plutt ce rapport comme un continuum passant
insensiblement de loriginal au substitut ou de lobjet de muse sa documentation. Ceci
est dautant plus facile percevoir avec le temps : un objet achet comme substitut
(copie, moulage) peut savrer tre soit loriginal (et loriginal pressenti devient alors le
substitut), soit, du fait de la destruction de loriginal (incendie, etc.), un nouvel original .
Un objet acquis comme support de documentation (uvre de mauvaise qualit, mais
permettant dapporter des informations une autre) peut devenir, quelques annes plus
tard, nettement plus intressant comme objet de muse que celui quil cherchait
documenter.

O sarrte en effet la frontire ? Une uvre dart est considre comme originale .
Un moulage comme un substitut. Certaines uvres originales demandent moins de
technique, deffort ou de sens artistique que la confection des substituts (moulage, par
exemple). Un substitut fabriqu par un grand artiste pourrait trs bien ne plus tre
considre comme substitut, mais comme uvre originale (imaginons Rodin moulant
des antiques). La difficult sagrandit laune des productions artistiques
contemporaines, demandant de moins en moins de technique (au sens tymologique du
terme).

- La question de la finalit. Konar soulignait que loccident fait de lobjet une finalit. Dans
le contexte de la thorie de lobjet porteur dinformation dveloppe par van Mensch, la
question essentielle qui prvaut est : quel type dinformation souhaite-t-on conserver,
tudier ou communiquer partir dun objet ? On peut largir la question au niveau de la
finalit : que souhaite-t-on faire et destination de qui ? De l dcoule le possible choix
de lobjet, quil soit original ou substitut. Pour des raisons partiellement scientifiques et de
conservation, mais surtout dexposition, nous ne conservons la plupart du temps dun
animal que sa structure (squelette) et ses caractristiques extrieures (peau, ongles,
etc.). Difficile de dire quil sagit dun original ; en tout cas, il ne sagit plus dun animal. Si
nous souhaitons tudier le transit intestinal dun poisson, nous avons besoin de loriginal ;
si nous souhaitons lexposer et montrer la richesse des couleurs de la peau du mme
poisson, nous aurons principalement recours des substituts. Si nous souhaitons
expliquer le mouvement de la terre, un pendule suffit ; si nous dsirons expliquer
lhistoire du pendule de Foucault, un substitut (comme celui qui existe au Panthon) fait
bien laffaire ; si nous voulons confronter le visiteur au pendule utilis par le savant (qui,
pour des raisons de conservation, est conserv dans une vitrine), nous ne pourrons pas
lui expliquer aussi bien le mouvement de la terre. Il est parfois beaucoup plus facile pour
un scientifique de travailler sur un modle ou un substitut que sur un original ; Thor
Heyerdahl naurait pu traverser le Pacifique sur le Kon-Ti-Ki si celui-ci avait t un tmoin
original de la culture que le savant norvgien souhaitait tudier (bien quaprs, le fameux
radeau ait t musalis comme original). Autant dobjectifs diffrents, autant de choix
dobjets diffrents.

- Loriginalit de loriginal. Poursuivant lide de la finalit, dans certains cas, il est plus
intressant de montrer un original quun substitut. Mais pourquoi ? Pour quelles
finalits ? Jen reconnatrais essentiellement deux qui se situent sur un plan non-
scientifique, celui des motions lies lauthenticit et au temps. Pour la plupart des
utilisateurs de lobjet (visiteurs de muses, chercheurs), ces deux caractristiques
constituent mon sens les principaux attraits de loriginal. Ce qui signifie que ces
visiteurs de muses ne viennent pas au muse pour des raisons scientifiques ou de

68
 recherche de connaissances, mais pour partager des motions2. Ce qui signifie
galement quen dehors de ces deux finalits, le muse gagnerait parfois exposer des
substituts.

Lauthenticit est le leitmotiv utilis par la plupart des conservateurs ou musologues pour
donner prdominance loriginal : tout objet de muse est porteur dun message
authentique ; le visiteur est en droit dattendre que les tmoignages qui lui sont proposs
sont authentiques. En fait, cette conception de lauthenticit est base sur une certaine ide
de la science productrice de certitudes ; ide largement battue en brche depuis ces
dernires annes3. La vrit du tmoignage les avocats et les rhtoriciens en savent
quelque chose est une valeur trs fluctuante, y compris dans les muses. Songeons aux
attributions en histoire de lart. Ce concept dauthenticit du tmoin nalimente pas vraiment
le champ des connaissances, mais surtout celui des motions : les yeux du visiteur brillent
devant le portrait de Titus, car cest un authentique Rembrandt ; ils se sont teints devant
lhomme au casque dor depuis que lon croit savoir que ce chef duvre nest pas attribu
au grand matre. Ils se sont teints devant la dfense de narval qui a cess dapparatre
comme une corne de licorne, tout comme la plupart des merveilles que lon trouvait dans les
cabinets, dfinies comme authentiques ou vraies puisquelles taient prsentes.
Lauthenticit du tmoin rvle sa ralit : il ne sagit plus du portrait de Titus, mais de
Rembrandt qui tait prsent (comme Van Eyck lcrit dans son portrait des Arnolfini : il tait
ici) et devant lequel nous nous inclinons avec dfrence et motion comme devant un grand
matre, un personnage important ou un spcimen rare et curieux. Le substitut peut apporter
toutes les informations possibles sur le tableau de Rembrandt ; si lon sait quil ne sagit pas
du tableau authentique, il ne peut crer cet effet de prsence aux yeux du visiteur. Il existe,
cependant, une catgorie dobjets authentiques qui ne sont pas des originaux ; jy reviendrai
plus bas.

Le temps est probablement une donne plus stable (bien que lon ne puisse pas toujours la
dterminer avec certitude et quelle soit aussi soumise aux fluctuations, songeons lge de
la terre ou aux grottes de Lascaux). Voir, en face de soi, un objet cr voici quatre sicles ou
cinq millnaires (un vase, une momie), mais toujours prsent, dfie nos propres structures
mentales sur la mort et la disparition. Un substitut, quil soit en pltre, en rsine ou virtuel,
napporte pas cette dimension. Mais un vieux moulage, apportant avec lui ses deux ou trois
sicles de vie dans les muses ou les acadmies, possde une valeur temporelle qui nest
dj plus ngligeable. Cette dernire remarque illustre nouveau le continuum original-
substitut dont les diffrences sestompent avec le temps.

2. Les vraies choses (the real things) et les substituts

Plutt que daborder la question de loriginal/rel/substitut (on ne parlait pas encore de

Virtuel) Duncan Cameron a prfr, ds 1968, parler du concept de real thing, dabord
traduit par Rivire par chose relle, puis par Desvalles4 par vraie chose.

Trs souvent, les muses sont dcrits comme tant des lieux o lon peut voir des vraies
choses. Cest cette prsentation de la ralit, bien quelle soit chantillonne et structure
selon des modles arbitraires de ralit, qui distingue le systme de communication musal
de tous les autres systmes de communication. [] Les vraies choses (real things) sont des
choses que nous prsentons telles quelles sont et non comme des modles, des images ou
des reprsentations de quelque chose dautre. Ce sont, quelles que soient leur nature et
2
Songeons par exemple lmerveillement, dont parle Bettelheim dans lun de ses rares textes sur les muses
(voir Le poids dune vie, Paris, Robert Laffont, 1991).
3
Notamment par le biais des crits de Bruno Latour.
4
Voir DESVALLEES A., Cent quarante termes musologiques ou petit glossaire de lexposition, in DE BARY
M.O., TOBELEM J.M., Manuel de Musographie, Paris, Sguier Option culture, 1998, p. 205-251.

69
leurs dimensions, les uvres dart et les objets de fabrication humaine (artefacts) des
muses danthropologie, dart ou dhistoire. Ce sont aussi les spcimens des muses
dhistoire naturelle et les dmonstrations de phnomnes dans les muses de sciences
physiques 5.

Ces vraies choses sont des artefacts ou des productions naturelles (naturfacts). Cameron,
la suite du biologiste Julian Huxley, utilise galement les termes de sociofacts et de
mentifacts pour dcrire des faits de socits ou des conceptions mentales. Il conoit le terme
de kintifacts pour dsigner les phnomnes scientifiques (tel le mouvement de la terre et le
pendule de Foucault). Dans ce cadre, un objet de muse (ou musalia) est une vraie chose
prleve de son milieu dorigine et conserve en un lieu appropri fonction musale.

Le concept de vraie chose a t choisi par Cameron parce quutilis de manire courante
outre-atlantique, il possde plusieurs connotations diffrentes :

- il englobe, dans son qualificatif real ou vraie , la notion dauthenticit et

doriginalit de lobjet original, sans pour autant trop le dlimiter ;
- il englobe galement dautres concepts immatriels , tels la dmonstration de
lattraction terrestre, le mouvement de la terre (soit les kintifacts), etc.
- mais il possde aussi, du moins dans sa dfinition anglaise real thing , une
connotation motive trs importante, que lon pourrait traduire par ce qui vaut la peine
dtre vcu (comme un moment amoureux intense, une vasion avec du LSD, un saut
en benji, etc.), mais aussi ce qui compte le plus (y compris en terme financier) ou le
meilleur, le plus grand : La Venus de Milo est the real thing , Coca-cola est the
real thing ; Zinedine Zidane, dont le transfert tait trs lev, est the real thing .

En dfinissant le concept de vraie chose , Cameron englobe, par-del laspect

scientifique, lmotion procure par lobjet dit authentique et positionne son concept sur
le plan du visiteur et du muse comme systme de communication. Pour ce qui est de la
question de la finalit, avance plus haut, cest la communication (ou la prsentation) qui
dtermine le choix des objets.

Dans ce contexte, la vraie chose constitue, pour Cameron, le mdia principal du muse. Des
mdias secondaires ou subsidiaires (photos, films, diagrammes) sont utiliss de manire
faciliter la rception. Un peu la manire de la documentation accompagnant lobjet de
muse.

Cameron parle de la raison profonde pour laquelle les gens viennent au muse : non pas
apprendre des connaissances ou obtenir des informations mais voir des objets agissant sur
les motions : momies, dinosaures, lphants, ftiches, mouvement de la terre,
dcomposition dun faisceau lumineux, vnus romaine ou aurignacienne, Joconde, navette
spatiale, avions, etc. : plusieurs de ceux-ci fonctionnent parce quils sont dots dun statut
doriginal ou dune valeur temporelle, telle que mentionne plus haut. Dautres, par contre et
cest le cas des expriences physiques, ne peuvent prtendre ce statut doriginal, mais
sont des tmoins authentiques. Il en va de mme pour la voix de la Calas ou dun film de
cinma qui nont pas de statut doriginal. Ceci parce que la manifestation originale (la Calas
ou le mouvement de la terre) ne peut passer par dautre support que celui de copies ou de
substituts. Ces objets sont par contre, pour Desvalles comme pour Cameron, des tmoins
authentiques ou de vraies choses part entire.

5
CAMERON D., The Museum as a communication system and implications for museum education, in Curator,
11, 1968, p. 33-40; repris sous le titre : Un point de vue: le muse considr comme systme de
communication et les implications de ce systme dans les programmes ducatifs musaux , in DESVALLEES
A., Vagues. Une anthologie de la nouvelle musologie, Mcon, Ed. W. et M.N.E.S., 2 vol, 1992 et 1994. t.1, p.
261.

70
Le concept de vraie chose dpasse celui doriginal. Comment envisager la relation vraie
chose / substitut ? Desvalles les oppose6. Jaurais nouveau tendance envisager vraie
chose et substitut (tout comme vraie chose et mdias secondaires) comme un continuum
dobjet plus ou moins performants quant leur pouvoir de communication au sein de
lespace musal.

La vraie chose se dfinit en fonction de son potentiel communicatif. Une communication par
le biais de vraies choses se produit plusieurs niveaux 7, soit au moins :

- La communication factuelle scientifique : cest le discours didactique classique sur

lvolution des espces, le mouvement des plantes ou des galaxies, les grandes
priodes en histoire de lart, etc. Ce discours peut fonctionner avec des objets, mais
galement avec dautres supports, parfois plus efficacement : livre, documentaire,
multimdia, etc. A ce niveau, un substitut peut savrer plus efficace quune vraie chose.
- La communication a-scientifique : ce discours vient sadjoindre la premire
spcificit des vraies choses, soit une valeur de tmoignage authentique qui dclenche
lmotion : soit quil sagisse dun tmoignage merveilleux (corne de licorne, bzoard :
cela existe !), soit dune page dhistoire mythique (un peron de la bataille dAzincourt,
une veste dofficier Waterloo : ils ont vcu lvnement !), etc. Ce type de message ne
fonctionne quavec un objet original ou une vraie chose.
- La communication spatio-temporelle : par son seul statut de prsence, la vraie chose
apporte immdiatement des informations sur ses dimensions spatiales (grand comme
une baleine, petit comme un puceron) et temporelles (vieux, trs vieux), qui dclenche
galement une rflexion dordre plus sensible quintellectuel. Une copie 1/1 en pltre du
David de Michel-Ange donne une ide parfaite de la dimension spatiale de luvre. Par
contre, la dimension temporelle ne fonctionne pas avec un substitut.
- La communication mditative : par sa prsence, la vraie chose rappelle galement des
valeurs ou des notions fondamentales de la culture humaine : la mort (une momie), la vie
(des bactries), largent (un trsor), lamour (un cur), lhorreur (une bote de Zyklon B)
etc. Un substitut peut produire, avec au moins autant de force sinon celle de
lauthenticit, de tels messages.

Ceci nous amne considrer la place de lobjet au sein du muse8 avec beaucoup de
souplesse, non pas en fonction de son potentiel doriginalit ou dauthenticit mais surtout en
fonction de ses possibilits de communication, quelles soient factuelles, a-scientifiques,
spatio-temporelles ou mditatives.

Ainsi, de nombreux objets authentiques peuvent navoir quun trs faible potentiel de vraie
chose et de nombreux substituts (qui sont parfois des vraies choses) peuvent avoir un
potentiel communicationnel nettement plus important que des objets authentiques ou
originaux.

Ainsi, le studiolo de Federico de Montefeltre, Duc dUrbino, construit pour le Palais de

Gubbio9 nest constitu que dune simple chambre aux dimensions modestes et dont les
murs bnficient dun dcor marquet. Ce dcor en trompe lil, figurant des armoires
entrouvertes recelant livres, instruments de musique, instruments de mesure, animaux, etc.,
peut tre actuellement considr comme une vraie chose, du fait de son anciennet (15me

6
Op. Cit., p. 209.
7
Tout, dans le muse, est communication : voir FALK J.H., DIERKING L.D., The Museum Experience,
Washington, Whalesback Books, 1992.
8
Cameron a analys le muse et la vraie chose dans une optique essentiellement communicative, ce qui nest
quune fonction du muse. On peut cependant dmontrer que le concept de vraie chose fonctionne de manire
identique au niveau des fonctions de prservation et de recherche.
9
Il est maintenant au Metropolitan Museum, voir RAGGIO O., WILMERING A. M., The Liberal Arts Studiolo from
the Ducal Palace at Gubbio, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996.

71
sicle) et de son statut duvre dart. Mais lpoque de sa construction, cet espace qui se
profile comme lun des anctres du muse moderne fonctionne sur le principe du substitut.
Son pouvoir de communication sexerce plusieurs niveaux : non pas celui du temps, mais
bien celui de lespace et surtout celui de la mditation.

Le studiolo, peu aprs sa construction, acquiert immdiatement un statut duvre dart

exceptionnelle. Ne pourrait-on imaginer des substituts virtuels procdant du mme esprit ?
Quel serait leur statut ?

3. La question du virtuel dans la prsentation

Des deux premiers points, on peut dduire assez facilement que le traitement du virtuel,
dans sa premire acception (la plus commune, soit la restitution de documents tels
quimages, photos, etc. conditionne sous forme de site Internet ou de bornes interactives de
documents numriss et stocks dans une base de donne), ne diffre pas spcialement de
celui des autres substituts.

La place des substituts au sein des muses gagne tre envisage non pas dans loptique
dune dichotomie objets originaux/autres objets, les premiers ayant la prpondrance sur les
autres, mais en fonction dun continuum de moyens, dont notamment des objets originaux
mais aussi des substituts comme des images numriques, dont les capacits de
communication sont parfois nettement plus efficaces que celles des objets rels ou
originaux. Tout dpend de linformation qui doit tre mise en avant et du type de
communication qui est sollicit.

Le virtuel ne se restreint cependant pas au numrique et son support multimdia.

Lart nest quun cas particulier du monde des images, et le muse lui-mme nest quune
solution possible au problme de lexposition 10. Suivant Deleuze pour qui le virtuel ne
soppose pas au rel mais bien lactuel et possde une ralit en tant que virtuel (un tigre
empaill est un tigre empaill et pas un tigre, signalait Hudson), Bernard Deloche envisage
le virtuel en fonction dune perspective plus vaste : celle de lart. Lart, comme virtualisation
du sensible, gnre de nouveaux espaces exprimentaux, propose de nouvelles solutions
de ralit. Premire virtualisation. Le muse, comme lieu de prsentation du sensible
notamment de lart redouble cette fonction et constitue par excellence le lieu
dexprimentation de la mise en espace de ces nouveaux espaces.

Deuxime virtualisation, celle des substituts de luvre dart, permettant la construction de

nouveaux espaces exprimentaux. Par le biais dimages, de photographies, de gravures, il
est possible de prsenter autrement lart, de lui donner un autre classement spatial. Le
muse virtuel est un muse de substituts, mais pas seulement de substituts numriques. Il
en existe depuis bien avant lre informatique dont certains ont acquis une notorit bien
relle, par exemple le muse imaginaire de Malraux, le muse de Cassiano dal Pozzo, le
muse des familles, le projet Mnmosyne de Warburg ou le Mundaneum dOtlet11. Dans
cette acception, le studiolo de Federico de Montefeltre constitue galement un muse virtuel,
tout comme le Thtre de la mmoire de Camillo12.

10
DELOCHE B., Le muse virtuel, Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 2001, p. 147.
11
Tous ces exemples sont dtaills dans le livre de Deloche, sauf les deux derniers (voir MICHAUD P-A., Aby
Warburg et limage en mouvement, Paris, Macula, 1998 ; Le Mundaneum, un internet de papier, cd rom,
Mons/Bruxelles, Editions Mundaneum/infodoc, s.d.).
12
Sur ce dernier muse, voir MAIRESSE F., RAGNI F., Prservation ou mmoire ? in Icofom Study Series, 27,
1997, p. 72-76.

72
Ces muses virtuels sont tout aussi rels que les autres. Leur mode de prsentation (livre,
rassemblement de photographies, voire emblmes) diffre de celui des muses classiques,
mais ils provoquent galement une exprience musale par les rapprochements et les mises
en perspective suggres. En tant quensembles et en tant quartefacts, ces muses
constituent des vraies choses montrant, au mme titre que les kinetifacts le font pour le
monde physique, la prsence de nouveaux mondes exprimentaux.

La rvolution du numrique permet un dveloppement extraordinaire de ce type de

mcanismes. Le potentiel du numrique, au niveau des muses, ne rside pas dans le
rassemblement dimages, ce que ce qui formait dj le principe des autres muses de
substituts, mais dans la diffrence de support : de lanalogique, on passe au numrique, soit
un systme de points sur un tableau, un jeu de formules mathmatiques. Bien sr, le
numrique donne la possibilit de constituer et de grer de gigantesques bases de donnes,
mais il permet aussi et surtout de transformer ces donnes. Ce qui veut dire transformer des
images, donc produire de nouvelles solutions despace et de mise en espace.

Dans ce contexte, le muse virtuel , comme crateur de nouvelle virtualit conduit vers de
nouveaux espaces dexprimentation. Le virtuel est vrai chose part entire, et de manire
trs significative.

On imagine sans peine les consquences de la rflexion de Deloche sur la place du virtuel
au sein du muse.

Quadvient-il des stratgies de communication liant la vraie chose et le muse au visiteur ?

Si lon sen tient la conception restreinte du muse classique sanctifiant loriginal, on court
le risque de perdre de nombreuses possibilits mdiatiques tout aussi musales et parfois
plus efficaces. Si lon envisage une conception plus large de lobjet base sur le concept de
vraie chose et une relation de continuit entre vraie chose et substitut, on obtient une palette
de possibilits autrement plus riche pour le visiteur, dans lequel le virtuel joue un rle de
premier plan.

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 What is it that we are presenting in a museum
objects or ideas?

Ivo Maroevi Croatia

The presentation of objects in a museum is as old as the museum itself. Very rarely in the
history of collecting can we discover a collector without an ambition to present his or her
collection people or, in other words, just to keep them to himself. There have been various
levels of public access to the collection, which has changed with modifications in social
orders and rules of conduct among people. At all levels, however, the manner of presentation
has been important as a form of communicating the messages that have been concealed
and revealed in the selected things of material world and in their mutual relationships. It is
enough to recall the cabinets of curiosity and the memory theatres that appeared in 17 th
century Europe. The museum, typically a European model of attitude towards the material
culture with those characteristics that were required to grace its collections, such as
authenticity, originality, rareness or age, experienced its full European and world expansion
during the 19th century. It became a public institution, accessible to everyone, one of the
foundations of growing national awareness and inescapable follower of the natural and a
number of social sciences. The rubbish bins of history became the sources for new
interpretations of history. The objects were not changed, but piled up in the collections. Their
meaning changed, as did the interpretations of them, the messages they gave off. The
processes of globalisation starting in the 20th century did not bypass museum practice.
Europeanised models of the museum started to appear throughout the world, and form the
1930s onwards, after the Madrid Conference [1935], the concept of the idealising of the
museum and the division into objects in storage and objects on show brought models of
presentation to a level that often became more important than the museum material. The
museum began, in principle, to be identified according to what could be seen in it, not
according to what it had. Large and complex world exhibitions, with materials from various
museums and from the inventories of other areas of the cultural heritage became
recognisable points in the chronological sequence of affaires in the media culture heavens.
The museum became increasingly frequently identified with the museum building in which
objects related to a topic area that was presented were put on show, while the traditional
unity of fundamental museum functions collecting and preserving, research and exhibition,
through a dynamic permanent display, gradually crept into the shadows of media unconcern.

This condensed and hence imprecise general line of development of museum

communication with the public, from the exclusive right of the individual or social group, via
national shrine, to selected, ideological display which was very soon to ignore its origins has
only just been indicated so as to be able to give indirect reasons for the question put in the
title. If we present objects, then the virtual world cannot replace the world of objects for us,
but it can help it by enabling us to explain it better. If we present ideas, then the virtual world
can replace the world of objects and the actual presentation does not necessarily have to
take place in the museum any longer. Technology has today enabled us to do this in our own
room, in front of the computer display. The fundamental question is whether there can be a
tolerant coexistence between the world of objects and the world of ideas, with ideas not
leading us to neglect the objects, or the objects not limiting us with respect to the creation o
ideas. My answer to this fundamental question would still be positive. I think that coexistence
between objects and ideas is possible, that it is even essential, so that on the one hand the
material evidence that binds them to earth, to history and an, should not wander off into the
virtual world of absolute imagination.

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Contemporary philosophy has started up many questions concerning the relation of the
material world and science. The recently deceased German philosopher Hans-Georg
Gadamer in his book Truth and Method has shown convincingly that the experience and
understanding of truth in the human sciences is essentially different from the method of the
natural and technical sciences. He is of the opinion that past and present permanently
mediate each other and that the process of understanding is an event in which we listen to
the quite speech of the tradition to which we belong. If we attempt to apply his ideas to the
interpretation (i.e. presentation) of the heritage in museums, then we will have to agree that
every new interpretation is an individual contribution to understanding, encouraging new
creativity. Gadamer says that every new attempt at understanding a text, every new dialogue
with the work of art (and why not with every other object of the heritage) reflects something of
the spirit of the time in which the interpreter lives (Zovko). If we translate Gadamer\s speech
into the language of the world of objects, then there will be still more intelligibility in that
thesis once adduced by Peter van Mensch about the identities of the museum object (1989:
90), in which its actual identity is a reflection of the spirit in which the object lives which is not
the primary or living context, not even the archaeological context of socially rejected things,
but the context of incessant interpretation, then the concept of the contemporary museum will
be a foundation for the determination of the right step aside from virtual reality and the
interpretation of ideas primarily with the aid of images of or ideas about objects, not with the
objects themselves.

In consequence of change of context, the every act of collecting objects has in a way brought
to life the insertion of the object into some new, artificial reality from which it has been
transmitted (1970:35). Every new exhibition context in which an object temporarily lives from
tht time on represents some new reality in which the process of its new comprehension goes
on, in line with the parameters of the changing time of the present and its life together with
some other object of the material world to which it has never been juxtaposed before. The
constantly new contextualisation of many museum objects within the museological context is
part of their new life. They are at once a source of information and the medium for its
transmission (van Mensch, 1992:125-8). In the case of exhibition presentation, they transmit
to people (visitors who come to the exhibition) the ideas and knowledge of people (the
creators of the exhibition; experts and specialists) who have chosen them to be the medium
for their vision of the problem, of their ideas, during the limited time span of the duration of
the exhibition. Put metaphorically, the objects play the roles of actors in performances in
which the director (the author of the exhibition) gives an interpretation of a world different
from the one in which we live. This world is not the real world, although we interpret it with
objects that are a material part of its phenomenality or documents of some time and space. It
is a world, with a series of elements of a limited creative imagination in which the real world
of objects of a material culture or a natural environment firmly reflects the balance between
the real and the imaginary. There is a relatively clearly marked border between the
representation of knowledge and the potential presentation of knowledge (Maroevi,
1998:277-284) to which it can come in the interpretative sequence. Accordingly every form of
presentation of objects in museum exhibition is in a certain sense a process of the
actualisation of their messages in the virtual ambience of the current memory theatre. These
objects are embodied memories, and the manner (deliberately slanted by the author of the
exhibition) in which the visitors experience them is always a new reflection of the spirit of the
time and a new attempt at understanding them. This relativity of the spirit, in relation to its
integration with the material, is a fundamental challenge in the combined semiotic trinity of
the material, form and meaning of the museum object.

Presentation thus becomes a creative, spiritual category in the interpretation of the world of
objects, it being impossible the while to eliminate the subjectivity of the author or group of
authors and the social context of the time in which the procedure of the presentation occurs. I
mentioned earlier only the exhibition as one of the possible models within which presentation
as an act is manifested. The exhibition is just the most widespread form of the concept of

75
presentation, during which as a rule at least two levels of experiencing the object of the
cultural heritage are presented. One is the level of the individual object, which is fairly often
presented as subject at the exhibition, the exhibition becoming just the sum of separately
presented individuals. The other level is the interrelation of several objects, with them playing
the role of objects that take part in a story told, in the creation of a mood and the
contextualisation of the contents. Diversities in presentation are fairly clear, as they are in the
messages that are transmitted by given forms of presentation.

If we keep to the presentation of individual object or more complex set that can beaer the
attribute of object of the heritage, historic buildings in space or archaeological locality in situ,
we shall see that the presentation of such an object can vary from case to case. Their
common denominator is the endeavour to point to the current valuation of the objects and for
all the elements that contribute to this to be foregrounded. The subjectivity of the authors
presentation and the spirit of the time in which the process goes on are necessarily built into
the processes of evaluation. Quite recently several conceptual possibilities for presenting the
value and the historical layers of some objects were opened up from the presentation of the
original or oldest layer, via the presentation of the most valuable (preserved) layer, to the
presentation of the last living monument layer or the last integral stage in the life of the
monument, with the proviso that there was always the possibility f presenting the multi-
layered quality of the object as its fundamental value (Maroevi, 1983:316). To opt for one of
the possible solutions required detailed research, often impinging physically on the material
of the object, removing subsequently added parts or often impinging physically on the
material of the object, removing subsequently added parts of those that reduced the integrity
of the object, or restoring missing parts that contributed to a better or more intelligible
comprehension of the object as a whole. It was not possible to avoid procedures that,
particularly when it was a matter of objects with major damage to them which still needed to
carry out certain use functions or live sub divo, in the open air, were drastic and often
bordered on the interpretative precedent, so that the presentation was in accordance with the
limits of the theoretical thinking of the time and cognitions reached in the representation of
the knowledge that were contemporary at the time when the process of protection and
presentation started. Although the whole process of renovation, protection and presentation
has to be done within the framework of the rigorous rules of the ethical code of the
restoration or museum profession, and although it had to be accompanied by regulation and
exhaustive documentation, some operations, particularly interpretations of the historical
complexity, in which a certain part of the material structure of the object was removed or
replaced by a new part or was made to comply with the conceptual achievements of the
times in which the procedure was carried out, would lead to the irreplaceable disappearance
of some of the evidence from the life of the object, which had been imprinted into the
material of the object and lived in the memory as a element of the traditional knowledge.

The current advances of information technology and the real possibilities of visualising many
of the assumptions about the earlier appearance of the object, according to data that are
noted and documented, without the physical destruction of any of the evidence preserved in
the material of the object, have necessarily given rise to new methods in thinking about the
presentation of the object of heritage. The new possibilities arising in the sphere of the virtual
world reduce the need physically to remove one historical layer for the formal integrity of the
object to be presented. The great technical possibilities for non-destructive research into the
complexity of the object (from paintings and sculpture to buildings and architectural
localities), the results of which can be recorded in various media, reduce the dimension of
destructive interventions into the tissue of the object in a desire for the earlier levels or the
hidden appearance to be revealed, or the material or the colour of the surface treatment of
the object. A the same time the object can preserve its structure as found, worked on and
restored to the extent that its security, function and fundamental presentation require, with
the proviso that the presentation of all the other data that are covert in the object, identified in
some of the other ways, can be achieved in the medium of the virtual world, where all

76
potential hypotheses are reduced to a level that is different from the original, that are neutral
from the point of view of any future research, any future conclusions. The data that are
recorded and transmitted into some visualised simulation of one of the possible appearances
of the object can serve as the current interpretation, with the proviso that every one reserves
the right, in contact with the preserved real object, to make his own conclusions, in line with
the limits of his or her own knowledge that has been put to work in setting up a dialogue with
the object. Understanding of the object thus becomes a stimulated intellectual process in
which the virtual world does not replace the thingness of the real world, but rather enriches it,
through the presentation of some achievements of general or specialised knowledge about
the object, which were at an earlier time impossible to visualise, not concealing the points of
departure or forestalling any possible individual testing of the credibility of the conclusions.

The presentation of individual objects or complexes of the heritage in the manner we have
just described can partially be achieved in the information centres of a given locality or in
media collections and documentation centres of the individual museum institutions in which
the exhibition projects are put on. At exhibitions were there are interactive processes at work
between the object and the museum exhibition context, it is hard to achieve this kind of
individualisation of approach to a given single exhibit, unless at the place where this can be
assumed to need some possibility of interaction as provided in specially placed information
posts or kiosks, providing the capacity for some deeper investigation of the object on the
basis of insights obtained in the broader documentation base of the knowledge about it.

The preservation of exhibition projects in which a large amount of museum material is

integrated, particularly in complex projects, where independently of the museum material that
the given museum has, objects transferred from other museums or borrowed from other
owners of these parts of cultural heritage are included, the concepts of presentation are not
unambiguously determined. Often the theme of the exhibition is so demanding as to outstrip
the exhibition material available or perhaps the sheer numerousness of the museum material
will seek a stringent selection process that will affect the quality of the interpretation of the
theme. It also happens that the exhibition premises in which a certain exhibition is planned
bring in excessively limiting elements, or are not in accordance with the character of most of
the exhibits foreseen. Sometimes the harmonising of the conception, choice of materials,
premises in which to put the exhibition and the technical capacities of the organisers do not
result in a consensus of sufficient quality to guarantee the proper presentation of the
material. The input data of every object that is a potential exhibit should be within the set
framework of precision required for the interpretation not to be excessively hypothetical
which is hard to achieve if the material is derived from various museums and has various
provenances. Only after the unification of all the input parameters and after setting up a
completely clear image of the objective of the exhibition can one address the elaboration of
the manner of presentation of the basic idea of the exhibition through the selected objects.
The presentation has to be ain accordance with the concept and contents of the exhibition, it
has to be scientifically credible, and there has to be a completely clear vision of the
representation of knowledge that ait is wished to emit, and only then can the detailed
solutions provide the ability to place the emphasis on those places and those objects that will
be the most stimulating to the visitors. These so-called key objects, on which the concept of
the exhibition message depends, will take on a great breadth of possible interactions than
those that will serve to create the general picture or mood for the understanding of the
fundamental contents of the exhibition.

Only at this place, with respect to the museum project of the exhibition, will we start to think
about virtual support for the exhibition project. This will show up as support in interpretation,
as a means for the creation of an atmosphere and for the transmission of the feeling of the
real world into the ambience of the exhibition premises. It will open up possibilities for a
retrospective penetration into the centre of the time from which the object exhibition has
come down. It will enable the individual to have an analytical personal approach to the

77
structure of data relating to they key objects and to an understanding of the interactions
between an object and the realities in which it lived during its life. The virtual world of
integrated image, moving images and sounds, imaginary ideas or reconstructions of
individual ambiences, even of spatial events, will serve as a kind of diorama of the cultural,
historical or real natural landscape, in which the story that is presented by the exhibition
might have occurred. Real objects, in this exhibition world, will retain the roleof key fixed
points that reduce virtuality to reality. The integration of the virtual and the real will occur at
two different levels, with the virtual world being a backdrop, and the real objects the
protagonists of the exhibition events on stage.

The virtual exhibition itself, which does not seek any space, or the commitment of actually
coming in to the memory theatre, or any participation in a real confrontation with things,
irrespective of whether they are surrounded by real or virtual backdrops, is not, in my
opinion, a museological phenomenon. It is at the level of a reflection of reality, like film, video
games and publications of all possible non-standard, non-literary kinds. It is not
uninteresting, and not museologically unusable, but it dos stay at the level of representation
and manipulates previously formatted knowledge about the material culture. It cannot result
in a presentation of new knowledge, not needing to be subject to check against the world of
real objects and relations to reality. Metaphorically it is a sirens song, behind which there is
no real world of truthfulness or of verifying the conclusions, rather a world of fine and
excellent things in which a check on the authenticity of the beauty or an evaluation of the
truthfulness is not factored in. A world to be believed in, not checked out. Too tempting and
too subjective to be able to rank very highly on the scale of universal values. Potential
museological cooking, if I can use the phrase.

However, the virtual presentation of museum material can, like virtual information networks,
contribute to better knowledge and the understanding of things (Maroevi, 2002:18), can
contribute to learning which will result in a better understanding of the world and the
phenomena of which it is composed, can encourage coming into the real world of the
museum, so as to make the experience initiated by image and multi-media more real, more
complete. All this of course depends on the nature of the dimensions and the intentions of
the virtual exhibitions or the virtual presentation of museum phenomena. This is a special
world of communications in which one has to make special efforts fo make it completely clear
why the real world is being transformed into a virtual world, and how to retain the character of
the virtual all the same time as stimulating an appropriate encounter with the real. In this kind
of context the content of the message, the place and time of its emission, and the author who
transmits it are only executors of the intention that is mapped out and planned ahead as part
of the museum mission.

At the end, the answer to the question: what is it that we are presenting in the museum
objects or ideas will remain partially open. Most people will be satisfied with the answer
that we are presenting ideas with the help of objects or that we are presenting objects in
order to mediate ideas. We will no easily be satisfied with the answer that we are presenting
either mainly ideas or mainly objects. The idea of the coexistence of the material and the
non-material in objects of the cultural and natural heritage that have their life in the
museological context has already been worked out and has become one of the axioms of
museology. Let us attempt to keep it within limits so that we should not be seduced by the
siren song of virtual reality that would seem to open up all the possibilities of interpretation,
giving people wings for further journeys into undreamed of heights of the imagination It is not
out of the way to recall Icarus and his fall. Museology is here to cushion the plummet from
the anticipated heights to the inconstant ambivalence of virtual reality. A balance is now the
only solution.

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 "Ceci nest pas une pipe": The Virtual Museum
Suzanne Nash Stockholm, Sweden

Virtuality - the existence in computer code of words and images that can reach us wherever
we have a phone outlet, a computer and a monitor - is an extension of our minds that has the
incomparable virtue of bringing together people who are at a great physical distance.
Virtuality is electronic production, created on earth, and a living in cyberspace. My own
personal experience with virtuality is that of the virtual office where a group of people with
the same objectives, in this case running a project on oceanic research, created a common
ground via the world of electronic communications to move their project from concept to
realization. The realization was nevertheless a physical one, boats on a sea with esoteric
machines measuring carbon dioxide in the depths and in the atmosphere, part of the physical
world we cannot pretend to ignore or replace.

The virtual museum takes us as far from the principle of museums based on the original
object which we may see in a specific place as it is possible to go. Virtuality is not, however,
removed from museology. No more than the carbon dioxide measurements gathered at the
oceans surface are removed from the core findings of scientific research, whilst the
measurements are not the air we breathe. Here, however, I will essentially deal with
tvirtuality as related to our perception of museums, rather than the philosophical
considerations of our perception of reality, which I will leave to those in ICOFOM who are
incomparably more knowledgeable.

The great Belgian artist, Ren Magritte, contemporary of Salvador Dali and surrealist like
him, painted a portrait of a pipe with the words underneath Ceci nest pas une pipe" - "This
is not a pipe". Of course it was not a pipe, it was a picture of a pipe. The work of art is what
is real, not the pipe in it. The computer programme of the virtual museum is an animated
cartoon in relation to exhibitions themselves. Animated cartoons are a great invention of the
20th century, with creators of pure genius; in fact their genius lies in the extremes beyond
reality where the stories and images inspired by life can take us. Virtuality cannot replace
museums - the virtual museum is no more than an amusing name for what is essentially an
electronic game. Virtuality, the invention the furthest removed from the material world we
have found so far, when applied to museum work clashes with issues of space, time, and
authenticity.

Space
I would invite museologists to return to considerations of the physical world before delving
into another form of recreating - and thus manipulating - images that should talk to us about
what a society has learned to accept as important. This is fairly arrogant coming from
someone who is not a museologist in the sense of having worked in a museum, only on
museum literature, but who is an inveterate museum visitor. This puts me in good company,
however: the late Kenneth Hudson was a journalist and not a museum person. He only
referred to himself as a museologist when applying for visas because it made him look more
impressive and more innocent than being an investigative reporter.

Discussions about museums and museology seem to overlook, or assume without finding it
necessary to explain, that we have a physical, three-dimensional reality. We, people, exist in
space. We take up space. We create a three-dimensional world around us that reproduces
ourselves: objects that suit our needs, fit into our hands, are adapted to what we can see -
small boxes and books and cups and the like for close-up, larger furniture for sitting or
storage or work, bigger and bigger buildings according to how far away we look at them, but

79
always with space inside mapped out in relation to how we see ourselves. Our museological
thinking has moved the mind to new areas - the debate on immaterial heritage (Munich and
Brno 2000, ISS 32 and 33) was particularly interesting and innovative - but our physical
beings have been left behind. Now, with yet another move of the mind beyond our actual
selves, into virtuality, it is time to examine exactly what we are.

The museum world is a special one, it is in a building or an area where we have gone first of
all because we want to be there, not just for the information we can find, that is available
elsewhere. In museums we react to the space we occupy, we feel the surroundings that can
impress us, or oppress us. Visitors most often are not alone - they come for a social
interaction as well as an intellectual one.

Exhibits are put on display in a line of sight where our surroundings should be ignored to a
large degree. Two-dimensional displays that reduce our line of sight even more, photos and
text, are instinctively uninteresting to someone who walks through it - a book is made to be
read sitting down. The most successful exhibitions are installed in a way that bring surprises
as we move through them, and use the building for some excitement.

Why do monuments and sites appeal to people? Because we are physically present. We feel
the excitement in the height of the ceiling of a church, a mansion, an old factory. Some
monuments in ruins that attract visitors for their historical interest are truly dreadful: barren,
grim, cold, and even smell bad in the dead-end corridors. The virtual museum can keep us
informed in much more comfortable conditions, but it can never give us the feeling of being
alive.

Time
We can now defy time to get information to the public electronically. No more waiting for a
publication to come off the press or for the mail to arrive, no more expensive costs involved
with both printing and postage. We are also empowered to design our own museums with
specialised programmes - a touch of the key and here it is, another one if we dont like it and
there it goes. The result is that no one moment remains fixed in time. Up-to-dateness has
taken priority over fixed-in-time to the extent that nothing remains, one line of computer code
replaces another from one minute to the next.

Another time issue, also discussed at the ICOFOM meeting in Munich in November 2000,
was the short life-time of electronic materials, quickly out of date and just as quickly
deteriorated. However, fixing an epoch, a style, a life, in time is what museum collections are
all about. It will save immense cost of production and cost of storage to put catalogues on-
line, but they will be gone as they evolve. An encyclopaedia that tells us how a society
viewed the universe and one time in its history - when it was printed - will be a rare prized
item, or it will not be there at all. With the speed of change of computer operating systems
and the development of more performing floppies (that no longer flop), the CD-ROM I
consult today will be unreadable in a few years.

Authenticity
A third aspect of the virtual display is the question of authenticity. There are many ways of
being unauthentic. First of are forgeries, exact copies of art works that an be confused with
the original by the untrained eye, and often by the trained one. If curators know what they
have, and use a copy instead of an original - with the obligation to say as much - I would
have no problem with that. There can be reasons of security that are overriding.

But in the original there is truth. Technically a color, a ceramic surface, can be copied to
perfection, but faces and expressions are the dead giveaway of forgeries, even in animal art.
Copyists are unable to enter entirely into the cannon of beauty and style of the period they
are imitating, and rarely fail to reveal some aspect of their own time that has been so firmly

80
imprinted into them. If this is all we see, we will never have a true understanding of the
culture or the art.

Fakes are another issue. A Canadian mounted trophy of a fish with fur that was supposed to
lose its hair in the summer and grow it back in the winter (on display in an exhibition on fakes
and forgeries by the Cartier Foundation in Paris in 1988) is the perfect example. It is a farce.
But there are fakes on display in museums that are dishonest because they are not identified
as such, and are used as symbols. An example is a figurehead in the Museum of the City of
Sydney in Australia. It is a contemporary wooden sculpture in the form of a Junoesque
aboriginal woman, without even so much as the artists name, to explain that there was
shipping and commerce with Australia in the 19th century - a time when aboriginal people
were never considered worthy of handsome representation. The shipping museum in
Mariehamn in the land Islands has a superb collection of figureheads: these voluptuous
women represented all that the sailor missed when at sea, and were closest in style to the
Edwardian beauty. Political correctness, regardless of intrinsic worthiness, is intellectually
dishonest in display.

If we want to learn art history and seek guidance from museum collections, we will never
learn from copies, and certainly not from computer assisted images. Scanned as they may
be, the screen can never reproduce exactly what an art work is. The value of the original is
that no matter what one does with it, the object speaks for itself.

Museums in the Soviet Union were agents of state propaganda; their personnel were - and in
principle could only be - party members. The communist party replaced religion, and
museums replaced the chapels and churches, with biographical and historical museums
devoted to the prophets and saints. The removal of churches took away the source of much
that was aesthetic and beautiful in the lives of ordinary people, including something to do on
Sundays. The result was that unexceptional museums had visitor statistics that would be the
envy of the west. One thing they did have were the originals. The requirement of only
originals, and the availability of only originals, marks regional museums in Russia today that
are largely unreformed.

An example that impressed me is the Regional Museum in Barnaul (Altai krai, Siberia) that I
visited in March, 2002. The display is unsophisticated, and the message similar to local
history museums I have seen in the USA and Australia: a history of settlement, the story of
our heroic forefathers, with the usual vases, tea cups, furniture, lace table cloths, etchings of
an unfinished city on a vast plain, old photos of the first man to open an industry, early
machines, logging and so on. Fortunately, Great Soviet Achievements in Siberia were not
there, or perhaps had never been recorded authentically, although printed lies are also
authentic documents. Siberia is most famous for exile and GULAG camps, of which there is
not a trace. But there were WWII posters encouraging people to send warm coats and boots
to the soldiers at the front, and certificates awarded to soldiers who had been in a battle.
These were moving testimonies, without any other background, explaining the suffering that
WWII brought to the country. It was not necessary to add more: the authenticity of every
piece gave an overwhelming message of truth, and with it I appreciated my own personal
freedom to feel and interpret it.

Authenticity and non-interpretation is to me a special experience. A museum visit years ago

to the Zoological Gallery of the Museum dHistoire Naturelle in Paris, before it closed to the
public for renovations that took decades, was a privilege that could be appreciated today.
Rays of light came feebly through the windows on the ceiling; it was winter, and there was no
electricity. Rows of jars with snakes and embryos that floated in brine stood on shelves in
front of the windows in the wall. The labels were hand-written, photographs showed a
scientist in a top hat at the site where he had found interesting fossils. There was more joy in
seeing the old pictures and more satisfaction in discovering the marvels of nature than in

81
seeing science explained interactively. Nothing could be further removed from virtuality. But
if the approach to display may mean a choice between virtuality or reality, it does not
eliminate the museological approach: the virtual image becomes reality in our minds. This is
an issue that has implications far beyond the creation of a virtual museum as a guide book.

The US Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 covers crimes that are punishable with 15
years in prison for the first offense, 30 for the second. Should virtual images of children be
subject to the same law? Plaintiffs from the entertainment industry, who objected to
limitations on their free speech which they felt were imposed by application of the law,
brought the case to the Supreme Court. The Court, by a vote of six to three, decided on 15
April 2002 that virtual images should be protected under the provisions for free speech, a
decision that was based on how these images were considered. No more than a comic strip
depicting children, or real children and abuse? The issue was complex because of the
difference between intention to commit a crime, and the fact of a crime. The law as it stands
prohibits speech that records no crime and creates no victims by its production,'' wrote the
majority in the court's decision upholding the constitutional protections of free speech.
However, the dissenters said, The increasing technological sophistication of those images
made it too easy for pornographers to avoid liability by claiming that their material did not
depict real children. We have not heard the last of this. If our nine chief justices cannot
come to terms on virtuality as against reality, intention as against fact, shall we do a better
job? Fortunately, no prison sentences await us as we continue to use all the possibilities
virtuality provide.

It is in outreach programmes, educational activities and in support to display, that virtuality is

invaluable, not to mention as an object of display. These are obvious truths that experienced
curators can explain for better than I. Every aspect of creativity - of which cyberspace is one
of the most innovative - can be included in museums, and should be so as part of
museologys relation to life.

Rsum: Ceci n'est pas une pipe: le muse virtuel

La virtualit - l'existence en code informatique des mots et des images qui peuvent nous
atteindre partout o nous avons un tlphone, un ordinateur et un moniteur - est une
extension de nos penses qui a l'incomparable avantage de rapprocher des gens qui sont
une trs grande distance. La virtualit est une production lectronique, cre sur terre mais
avec une vie dans l'espace cyberntique. Le muse virtuel nous loigne le plus possible du
principe du muse selon lequel nous regardons des objets authentiques dans un lieu prcis.
Mais la virtualit n'est pas loigne de la musologie. Le grand artiste belge, Ren Magritte,
contemporain de Salvador Dali et surraliste comme lui, a fait un portrait d'une pipe sous
laquelle il a peint les mots: "Ceci n'est pas une pipe." Bien sr ce n'est pas une pipe, c'est
une image d'une pipe. La ralit est l'uvre d'art, non pas la pipe qu'elle reprsente.

La virtualit ne peut pas remplacer le muse - le "muse virtuel" n'est qu'un nom amusant
qui dsigne ce qui est plutt un jeu lectronique. La virtualit, malgr tout ce qu'elle nous
apporte en plus, rentre en conflit avec les questions d'espace, de temps, et de l'authenticit
lorsque nous en parlons dans le contexte de "muse virtuel". C'est une vidence que c'est
dans les programmes distance, dans l'activits ducatives et dans la prsentation que la
virtualit est d'une valeur inestimable pour les muses, sans parler d'tre l'objet de
prsentation aussi. Tous les aspects de la crativit - dont l'espace cyberntique est une des
plus innovatrice - ont leur place dans les muses, et font part de la relation de la musologie
la vie.

82
 Los Museos y las nuevas tecnologas : inmersin,
navegacin o interaccin ?.
Norma Rusconi. Argentina

En un trabajo presentado en el Encuentro Internacional de Ecomuseos realizado en Santa

Cruz, Ro de Janeiro, la museloga mexicana Karina Durand 1explic claramente las
ventajas y desventajas del uso de las nuevas tecnologas en los museos.

El documento destaca que el mundo de las nuevas tecnologas conforma una nueva
cosmovisin en la que la sociedad contempornea espera encontrar soluciones para gran
parte de los problemas del mbito global de la accin comunicativa. Sin embargo el uso
indiscriminado de estas tecnologas, no slo no los soluciona totalmente sino que, por el
contrario, a menudo interfiere.

En el caso especfico de la museologa latinoamericana, compartimos con K. Durand la idea

de que el uso apropiado de estas tecnologas requiere de una capacitacin y de una
inversin econmica que no todos las instituciones poseen. Pero nos parece que lo ms
destacable de su anlisis consiste en sealar las interferencias que crean confusin en el
momento de seleccionar estrategias de difusin y estrategias de educacin. En ese
contexto existe el riesgo de confundir propuestas informativas con propuestas educativas,
por ello sugerimos recapacitar en esos casos puntuales, con el fin de evitar una idea
confusa del concepto de interactividad.

Son muchos los que afirman que el acercamiento y la superacin de tiempos y espacios
lograda por la tecnologa digital no generan necesariamente una experiencia participativa y
dialogal entre lo expuesto y el receptor. Philippe Quau 2, especialista en imgenes de
sntesis, afirma que la expresin telepresencia es peligrosa por ambigua. Coloca en un
mismo plano problemas de diversa categora y tiende a ocultar matices importantes pues, en
contra de todo sentido comn la nocin intrnsecamente contradictoria de telepresencia
tiende a dar crdito a la idea de una presencia a distancia y lo nico que transporta a
distancia son las representaciones.

Tambin sobre este tema, el pensador Hans Gadamer3 se ha manifestado con mucha
dureza. Al hablar de educacin y entretenimiento por imgenes en general y televisivo en
particular, ha afirmado que: ninguna valoracin del peligro que representan los grandes
medios de comunicacin para el autntico ser hombre puede ser suficientemente. Pues la
accin de educar comunicando trata por encima de todo de ensear y aprender a atreverse
a formular y exponer juicios propios, sealando que reducir el conocimiento del mundo a una
programacin de imgenes sin el intercambio y el dilogo de persona a persona, remite el
aprendizaje a posibles dogmatismos sustentados por la visin de los que estn detrs de la
programacin de imgenes.

Pese a ello, estamos de acuerdo como la gran mayora - en que nuestras sociedades han
adoptado con grandes ventajas, el uso de la tecnologa digital . Hoy la utilizacin combinada
del discurso verbal y del discurso de las imgenes permite mantener actualizado el

1
DURAND KARINA.Museos y nuevas tecnologas. Preprints.II Encuentro Internacional de
Ecomuseos y IX ICOFOM LAM. Santa Cruz. Ro de Janeiro. Brasil. 2000
2
QUAU Philippe.Lo virtual.Virtudes y vrtigo. Paids. Barcelona Espaa. 1993
3
GADAMER Hans G. La Educacin wes educarse. Paids. Barcelona. Espaa 2000

83
acelerado flujo de la informacin, creando al mismo tiempo un modelo de difusin de gran
atraccin, difcilmente superable. Imagen y palabra hace tiempo que caminan de la mano, y
hoy han llegado muy lejos.
Tanto una como la otra son elementos sintcticos mediante los cuales el hombre elabora
discursos acerca de la realidad. Discursos que hacen referencia a un estar ante y con los
objetos, ante y con los valores. Destacan y transmiten juicios, elaboran historias, construyen
culturas.

Cabra entonces preguntarnos una vez ms, y en esta oportunidad desde el museo, cules
son los cuidados que se deben tener con el empleo de estos elementos del discurso.
Cundo las palabras, dnde las imgenes. Cundo la cercana, dnde la distancia. Cundo
la informacin, dnde la educacin. Pues en esas opciones no podemos olvidar que la
palabra es un smbolo que se resuelve en lo que significa, en lo que hace entender, mientras
que la imagen es una pura representacin visual. No podemos comprender las palabras si
no conocemos el lenguaje en el que estn escritas. Mientras que la imagen, con slo mirarla
justifica en s misma lo que representa. Y esto es a la vez una ventaja y un peligro.Aprender
una lengua no quiere decir necesariamente escribirla impecablemente sino, por encima de
todo, ser capaz de dar cuenta de algo4 Tiene que ver con historias y tradiciones locales y
regionales. Mientras que el discurso de la imagen -como difusin- tiende a transformar todo
en espectculo, ....y...entonces las valoraciones pueden cambiar.5

La utilizacin en los museos de la comunicacin tradicional y de la comunicacin por

imgenes.

En 1968, el Metropolitan Museum of Art y la Illinois University, realizaron un estudio para

determinar si los contenidos de lo que entonces se denominaba gua computarizada, podra
provocar en los visitantes mayor inters en el arte. Fueron dos los objetivos principales de
esta investigacin: desarrollar mtodos de presentacin de material artstico por medio de la
terminal de computadora y definir sus especificaciones tcnicas, los canales de
comunicacin y las necesidades informticas del museo. Donald Bitzer, director del
Computer-Based Education Research Laboratory, de la Illinois University, inform en esa
oportunidad que las conclusiones obtenidas en su investigacin le permitieron considerar
que las guas computarizadas eran un recurso museogrfico adecuado.

Poco a poco las ventajas del uso de las mismas desarrollaron estrategias que facilitaron un
acceso rpido y eficiente a la informacin tanto dentro como fuera del espacio del museo.
Luego, su paulatina implementacin permiti mostrar que el hipermedia poda superar en
mucho la mera sustitucin de un trptico. Pero el hipermedia parece no favorecer en todos
los casos y con la misma intensidad los procesos de informacin y los procesos de
desarrollo sociocultural. Este ltimo requiere fundamentalmente de lenguajes contextuales
personalizados, mientras que la informacin tiende al espectculo masivo.

En nuestros pases, su implementacin no fue, ni es fcil. Las dificultades iniciales se

circunscribieron primero -como en cualquier lugar del mundo- a la especializacin de los
programadores y de los usuarios (hoy ya superada por los niveles de capacitacin
adquiridos), luego a la inversin econmica de su instalacin y utilizacin pblica o familiar,
cuestin todava no superada en pases y en museos econmicamente marginados.
Investigadores de Brasil reconocen que en su pas existe un apparheit digital que marca
un profundo abismo entre clases sociales Y, pese a que en la actualidad, ese pas ha
desarrollado programas para superar dicho abismo, informa que en Amrica latina slo un

5
QUAU Philippe. Lo virtual. Virtudes y vrtigos. Paids. Barcelona. Espaa.1993.

84
3,2% de la poblacin puede acceder adecuadamente con capacitacin y recursos- a las
maravillas de la tecnologa digital..6

Esta problemtica, cuya solucin tiende a reconocer la necesidad de equilibrar el acceso a

las nuevas tecnologas, ha despertado el inters de especialistas interdisciplinarios que
analizan fundamentalmente las ventajas o desventajas de trabajar con el discurso por
imgenes.

Para lograr un buen programa de imgenes se deben seleccionar conjuntamente:

finalidades, objetos, mensajes, contextos, ngulos de percepcin esttica y el conocimiento
de los efectos de una velocidad de visin que permita la intelectualizacin del mensaje.
Indudablemente la tarea no es fcil, pero en la mayora de los casos se logra. Y, hoy
podemos contar en algunos de nuestros museos con programas , CD-ROM y sitios
museolgicos de Internet que cumplen su cometido de difusin de una manera impecable.. 7

Pero no hay que olvidar que si: hoy presenciamos la propagacin de la tecnologa y de los
medios masivos de comunicacin, sin embargo, su expansin no ha llegado a la mayora de
la poblacin. Hay seres humanos que palpitan a otros ritmos de vida, expuestos a los
avatares que les impone su propia dinmica, completamente ajena a pelear por el dominio
del aparato seleccionador de canales o a vivir las consecuencias de un embotellamiento en
la supercarretera de la informacin8 Y, esta observacin que no cuestiona la validez de los
resultados del empleo de las tecnologas digitales, seala sin embargo la necesidad de
evaluar su aplicacin en contextos y demandas socioculturales localizadas. Si el objetivo del
museo es fortalecer el desarrollo de una comunidad, no debe reducir su tarea
exclusivamente a una actividad informativa, porque tal como insiste Jean Baudrillard no es
bueno confundir la realidad con el espectculo.9.Si ambos son reales, al menos sus efectos
son distintos.

A sta observacin nos gustara agregar que hay otras cuestiones que obligan a
reconsiderar las ventajas y desventajas del uso indiscriminado de la tecnologa digital en los
museos. stas apuntan a establecer una clara distincin entre lo que podramos denominar
el museo real/original y el museo real/virtual, otorgndole a cada uno de ellos su verdadera
funcin: el museo virtual atrae e informa, el museo real forma y educa. Para tener en claro
estas funciones sugerimos tener en cuenta las nuevas relaciones que se estableceran entre
las imgenes/objeto del lenguaje digital y la construccin de los espacios de la memoria del
sujeto/espectador.

Los museos, la comunicacin y las pantallas.

Desde tiempos remotos el ejercicio de la memoria ha consistido en el intento de desarrollar

tcnicas adecuadas para vencer al olvido. Esta preocupacin es muy anterior a la existencia
de otras formas generalizadas de almacenamiento de la informacin. Los antiguos
distinguan entre una memoria natural y otra artificial. La primera era un don variable segn
la naturaleza de cada uno; la segunda generalmente escrita o iconogrfica, era una tcnica
cuya funcin consista en el almacenamiento masivo de datos de inters social.10
En cuanto disciplina la mnemotcnica se encargaba de la construccin eficaz de los
discursos y la memoria estaba concebida como una parte de la retrica. Tal consideracin

6
Informa de CNN. 21 de abril de 2002.
8
DURAND, Karina. Documento ya citado.
9
BAUDRILLARD Jean. Cultura y simulacro. Taurus. 1997
10
AGUIRRE ROMERO, Joaqun. Profesor Titular. Departamento de Filologa Espaola. III.
U.C.N.

85
gener distintos paradigmas ontolgicos y epistemolgicos, pero en todos los casos se
consider al discurso verbal como la descripcin lgica de la realidad. La relacin palabra y
realidad era fundante. Fundante del espacio original.

Hoy los lingistas retoman esas ideas afirmando que el procedimiento del recordar consiste
en construir en primer lugar un espacio mental. Es decir, un espacio abarcable por la mente,
que pueda recordar con toda precisin cada uno de sus detalles. Para que esto suceda es
necesario haber desarrollado un espacio familiar,un espacio sintctico o sintagmtico que
sirve para situar en l, aquello que es necesario recordar.

El proceso de recordar implica necesariamente un viaje por un espacio interior. Recordar es

desplazarse por ese espacio slido. Objetivar el espacio es necesario para conferirle al
recuerdo esa independencia necesaria en la que se mantiene constante como terreno de
almacenamiento La mnemotcnica es una escritura.

El fillogo espaol Aguirre Romero seala que recordar es desplazarse por un espacio
slido y familiar. Un espacio que es slido porque es familiar. Recodar es leer en un texto en
el que se han escrito los resultados de una objetivacin que sita al sujeto y al objeto en un
accin de construccin compartida .Esta mutua construccin tiene como resultado un
espacio y un tiempo que se considerarn real/original y que ocupar un lugar en la
memoria.11 Recordar no es una manera, sino la manera de un estar en el mundo que es
familiar a la memoria del sujeto.

Pensemos ahora si la realidad/imgen de la tecnologa digital en espacios/tiempos que le

son propios y el discurso que ella elabora mejorara o no la insercin del hombre con su
realidad/original desde la memoria y los recuerdos. Creo que este es un interrogante que no
tiene an una respuesta definitiva, pero responderlo ayudara para planificar una adecuada
articulacin entre atraccin, informacin y educacin.

El poder representativo de las imgenes es tan elevado como el de la palabra. Pero como la
palabra,slo si la imagen ha sido cuidadosamente elegida adquiere su grado de evidencia.
Si el recorrido de su discurso ha sido cuidadosamente trazado, sin lugar a dudas el
"contexto" visual enriquecera el sentido de la realidad/original. En este sentido habra que
preguntarle a los lingistas si en el caso de los ciberespacios sus usuarios generarn junto
al espacio slido de la memoria, una memoria del ciberespacio.O si por el contrario, con el
tiempo ambos espacios no tendern a unificarse, superponindose uno el ms atractivo- al
otro.

La fuerza y la atraccin de las imgenes: de la virtualidad de la imagen a la realidad

virtual.

Es realmente interesante comprobar que el llamado de atencin con relacin a este nuevo
estar en el mundo, llega desde el discurso de un ingeniero en telecomunicaciones,
especialista en imgenes de sntesis. Es Philippe Quau12 quien se preocupa por explicar
que la realidad captada desde la realidad/original no es igual a la realidad captada en los
programas digitales. Que la realidad/virtual -futuro ineludible en el desarrollo de las
tecnologas digitales-, no es igual a la realidad/original. La relacin epistemolgica del
sujeto/objeto no genera en ambas ni una misma ontologa ni una misma axiologa. Sus
representaciones no difieren en el grado de realidad, sino en su modalidad. Ambas existen,
pero no son lo mismo.

11
KANT, Emanuel Prolegmenos a la Crtica de la Razn Pura. Aguilar. 1960
12
Quau Philippe es autor, entre otras de las siguientes punlicaciones :loge de la simulation. De la
vie des langages la synthse des images(1986) THorie de lrt intermdiaire (1989).

86
Estar en el mundo - afirma Quau - significa aprender a mirar alrededor, a mirarse a s
mismo es decir a considerarse. Estar en el mundo es vivir la distancia entre estar y existir,
es sentir la relacin que se establece por esta misma distancia, es morar en este intervalo
entre s y s, entre el pensamiento y la conciencia

Y,fundamentalmente se pregunta: Los mundos virtuales no pueden abolir nuestra posicin

en el mundo real pero,...adems... pueden conmovernos? 13

La fuerza y la atraccin de las imgenes nos estn planteando una toma de decisiones para
el desarrollo de una futurologa ya presente en la que debemos considerar atentamente las
ofertas del ciberespacio y de la realidad/teledirigida. En el primer caso ya no se trata
simplemente de contemplar a distancia y frontalmente la imagen de algo sino de introducirse
en los intersticios de una realidad compuesta, mitad imagen y mitad sustancia 14. En el
segundo caso se est sustituyendo la realidad/original por una estreo/realidad -una
realidad/virtual multimeditica- en la cual se inserta cada vez ms a menudo nuestra
relacin con el mundo y con quienes estn lejos, en otros continentes, en las antpodas. Es
una dimensin cenital que prevalece de lejos_-o ms bien desde lo alto - sobre la
dimensin horizontal, lo que no es poca cosa, ya que este punto de vista de Sirius elimina
entonces toda perspectiva15.

Nuevas formas de estar en el mundo que no podemos desatender si seguimos interesados

en transmitir tradiciones, manteniendo alerta la memoria y generando estrategias de
desarrollo sociocultural.

Inmersin, navegacin o interaccin : cundo, dnde?

La virtualidad tiende a la ilusin perfecta. Pero no se trata de la misma ilusin creadora de

la imagen del arte, de los signos o de los conceptos. Se trata de una ilusin re-creadora,
realista, mimtica, hologrfica. Ella pone fin al juego de la ilusin mediante la perfeccin de
la reproduccin, de la re-edicin virtual de lo real...por el exterminio de lo real mediante su
doble 16

Creo que Karina Durand ya comenzaba a responderlos en el II Encuentro de Ecomuseos,

cuando citndolo a Dertouzos afirmaba que hay que considerar que existen tres formas de
proximidad electrnica: mquinas con mquinas, personas con mquinas y personas con
personas. Considerndolas en el marco del museo, el primer caso aumenta la eficiencia de
los procesos, en el segundo la capacidad de obtener y dar informacin y es la ltima la que
propicia y facilita el dilogo, as como los mecanismos del trabajo de equipo a distancia.
Todas estas opciones son producto del espritu y del genio creador del gnero humano.
Aumentan las capacidades propias de nuestra naturaleza, pero con mediadores
electrnicos, que en ningn momento nos sustituyen.. pero la verdadera comunicacin
integral y permanente es siempre una interaccin personal con los dems y con el entorno.17

13
Quau Philippe.Lo virtual. Virtudes y vertigos. Paods. Barcelona. Espaa.1993.
14
Quau. Philippe. Obra citada
15
Virilio,Paul. Strategie de la deception. Galile.Paris 2000
16
Beaudrillard, Jean. Illusion, dsillusion esthtiques. Sens et Tonka. Francia 1997.
17
DURAND, Karina.Museos y nuevas tecnologas. Preprints.II Encuentro de Ecomuseos y IX
ICOFOM LAM. Santa Cruz. Ro de Janeiro. Brasil 2000

87
RESUMEN

En un trabajo presentado en el Encuentro Internacional de Ecomuseos realizado en Santa

Cruz, Ro de Janeiro, la museloga mexicana Karina Durand 18explic claramente las
ventajas y desventajas del uso de las nuevas tecnologas en los museos. La agudeza de su
anlisis obliga a retomar algunos de sus enfoques.

En aquel documento se destacaba que el mundo de las nuevas tecnologas conformaba una
nueva cosmovisin en la que la sociedad contempornea esperaba encontrar soluciones
para gran parte de los problemas del mbito global de la accin comunicativa. Sin embargo
el uso indiscriminado de estas tecnologas, no slo no los ha solucionado totalmente sino
que, en algunos casos ha interferido en sus finalidades.

Al consultar bibliografa sobre el tema es realmente interesante comprobar que el llamado

de atencin con relacin a este nuevo estar en el mundo, llega desde el discurso de un
ingeniero en telecomunicaciones, especialista en imgenes de sntesis. Es Philippe
Quau19 quien se preocupa por explicar que la realidad captada desde la realidad/original
no es igual a la realidad captada en los programas digitales. Nosotros agregamos adems,
que la relacin epistemolgica del sujeto / objeto no genera en ambas ni una misma
ontologa ni una misma axiologa. Sus representaciones no difieren en el grado de realidad,
sino en su modalidad. Ambas existen, pero no son lo mismo.

Y, en el caso especfico de la museologa latinoamericana, sealamos que el uso apropiado

de estas tecnologas requiere de una capacitacin y de una inversin econmica que no
todos las instituciones poseen, insistiendo que nos parece que es necesario analizar el uso
de la misma en estrategias que articulan la difusin con lo educativo. Pensamos que en ese
contexto se est poniendo en riesgo el espacio de los recuerdos y la memoria de lo real y el
concepto de interactividad atribuido a la relacin sujeto / realidad.

18
DURAND KARINA.Museos y nuevas tecnologas. Preprints.II Encuentro Internacional de
Ecomuseos y IX ICOFOM LAM. Santa Cruz. Ro de Janeiro. Brasil. 2000
19
Quau Philippe es autor, entre otras de las siguientes publicaciones :loge de la simulation. De la
vie des langages la synthse des images(1986) THorie de lrt intermdiaire (1989).

88
 Les Muses et les nouvelles technologies: immersion,
navigation ou interaction ?
Norma Rusconi Argentina
_________________________________________________________________

Dans lintervention prsent par Karina Durand, pendant la Rencontre Internationale des
Ecomuses Santa Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, elle a expliqu trs clairement les avantages et
les inconvnients de l'usage des nouvelles technologies dans les muses. La finesse de son
analyse force pour en le reprendre.1

Dans ce document elle affirma que le monde des nouvelles technologies, conforme une
cosmologie contemporaine dans laquelle la socit attend trouver des solutions pour une
grande partie des problmes des communications. Cependant l'usage aveugle de ces
technologies cause confusions.

lAmrique Latine, nous partageons aussi avec K. Durand l'ide que l'usage appropri de
ces technologies exige d'une formation et d'un placement conomique qui pas toutes les
institutions possdent. Mais au-del de ces questions, nous trouvons que le plus prominent
de son analyse consiste en signaler les interfrences qui cause l'usage de cette technologie
dans les actions qui articulent la diffusion informative avec les actions pdagogiques. Sans
doute, dans ce contexte le risque consiste en confondre linformation avec lducation. Cest
justement sur ce point prcise que nous partageons avec K. Durand, lide de travailler avec
beaucoup dattention fin d'viter une conceptualisation confuse de lide dinteraction.

Un grand nombre des spcialistes pensent que l'approche des temps et des espaces que
saccomplissent avec limplmentation des nouvelles technologies ne produit pas une
exprience participative, un vrai dialogue entre les objets et les sujets rcepteurs. Philippe
Quau, qui a t directeur de recherche lInstitut National de lAudiovisuel,2 affirme que
lexpression tl-presence est dangereuse cause de son ambivalence. Le mot place
parfois dans un mme endroit des problmes de catgorie diverse et il occulte en mme
temps la ralit de lexprience. Il dit que pendant lexprience le sujet a l'ide d'une
prsence distance, mais vraiment la seule chose qu est transport distance, cest la
reprsentation de quelque chose que semble tre rel.

A propos de cette ide, Hans Gadamer proclame des conclusions plus critiques. Quand il
parle des actions cognitives et des actions ludiques ou artistiques produites au moyen de la
transmission dimages, il dit quon doit toujours valuer les consquences vis--vis la
formation de lhomme et des socits du futur. Parce que l'action d'instruire en
communiquant, est en principe un apprentissage qua pour but formuler et exposer des
ides propres. De cette faon il signale que rduire la connaissance du monde une
programmation d images sans change et sans dialogue de personne personne, aidera
construire une rudition partielle soutenue souvent par les autres, soutenue par la vision de
ceux qui sont derrire l'image.3

Malgr lui, nous sommes daccord comme presque tout le monde avec les avantages des
nouvelles technologies. Aujourd'hui l'usage combin du discours verbal et du discours des
images permette maintenir le courant rapide de l'information et engendre des modles de
diffusion de grande attraction. Image et mot il y a quelque temps qu'ils marchent de la main,

1
Durand Karina, Museos y nuevas tecnologas. Preprints II Encuentro Internacional de Ecomuseos OX ICOFOM
LAM. Santa Cruz. Ro de Janeiro. Brasil 2000
2
Le virtuel, volution ou rvolution. Dossier.La recherche 265.Mai 1994.
3
Gadamer Hans G.La Educacin es educarse. Paids. Barcelona .Espaa 2000

89
et aujourd'hui ils sont arrivs bien loin. Mots et images, les unes comme les autres, sont les
lments syntactiques des discours et des textes o lhomme parle de la ralit. Discours et
textes qui font la rfrence un tre avec les objets et avec les valeurs, qui mettent en
valeur et laborent des histoires, transmettent des traditions et construisent des cultures.

Ainsi, nous devons nous demander encore une fois, et dans cette occasion du point de vue
du muse, qu'ils sont les soins qui nous devons implmenter pendant lemploi des images
ou des mots. Quand les mots, o les images?. Quand la proximit, o la distance?. Quand
l'information, o l'ducation?. Parce que ces options ne peuvent pas nous faire oublier que le
mot est un symbole intellective et par contre l'image est une reprsentation visuelle pure.

Nous ne pouvons pas comprendre les mots si nous ne savons pas la langue dans laquelle ils
ont t crits, mais l'image justifie dans elle-mme ce quest reprsent. Et a c'est en
mme temps un avantage et un danger. Apprendre une langue ne veut pas dire
ncessairement l'crire parfaitement, au-dessus de tout, il veut dire tre capable de la
comprendre daprs son contexte historique et socioculturel. Par contre un mauvais usage
de limage (intentionnelle ou pas) peut transformer tout en spectacle,.... et... alors les
valorisations de la ralit changent.

Les muses, la communication et les crans

En 1968, le Muse Mtropolitain d'Art et l'Universit dIllinois, ont emport une recherche
pour dterminer si les contenus dune guide digitale pouvait causer dans les visiteurs un plus
grand intrt. Ils taient deux les objectifs principaux de cette enqute: dvelopper mthodes
de prsentation de matire artistique au moyen de l'ordinateur et dfinir leurs spcifications
techniques, les canaux de la communication et les ncessits de la technologie du
virtual.Donald Bitzer, directeur du Computer-Based Education Research Laboratory, de
l'Universit dIllinois informa dans cette occasion, que les conclusions obtenu dans son
enqute permettent considrer que les guides virtuels taient une ressource
musographique appropri. Peu peu les avantages de l'usage de ces techniques ont
permis dvelopper des stratgies pour faciliter un accs rapide et effectif l'information dans
l'intrieur ainsi comme en dehors de l'espace du muse. Finalement, son mise en oeuvre
graduelle montre aujourdhui que les hypermdia peuvent remplacer un triptyque, et
beaucoup plus. Mais lapplication des hypermdias ne parat pas favoriser dans tous les cas
et avec la mme intensit les processus d'information et les processus de dveloppement
socioculturel. Un vrai dveloppement socioculturel exige fondamentalement des discours
contextuels presque personnaliss, pendant que l'information de lcran virtuel tend au
spectacle massif.

Dautre part dans certains pays, ses applications ne sont pas faciles. Les difficults initiales
ont t bornes la spcialisation des programmateurs et des utilisateurs et maintenant ce
sont les placements conomiques ceux qui bornent leur installation publique ou familire.
Ces difficults subsistent encore dans certains nombre de nos pays et dans nos muses
conomiquement exclus. Quelques Investigateurs de Brsil reconnaissent que dans leur
pays il existe un apparent informatique qui marque un abme profond parmi les classes
sociales. Ils ont travaill pour vaincre cet abme. En outre, laccomplissement dun bon
programme dimages, devrait tre le rsultat dun travail interdisciplinaire. Pour obtenir des
rsultats convenables, les images sur lcran devraient montrer une slection conjointe des
connaissances de diverses disciplines., car les objets, les messages, les contextes, les
angles de perception esthtique et la comprhension des effets de vitesse ont pour but un
message intelligible. a n'est pas facile, mais dans la plupart des cas elle est accomplie. Et,
aujourd'hui nous pouvons avoir dans quelques-uns de nos muses, des CD-ROM et links qui
runissent leur tche par un chemin impeccable, malgr tout a, en lAmrique latine,

90
seulement un 3,2% de la population peut arriver convenablement aux ressources et aux
merveilles de la technologie digitale.4.

Pourtant nous ne pouvons pas oublier que si: aujourd'hui nous sommes les tmoins tonns
des avantages des nouvelles technologies, leur expansion n'est pas arrive la plupart de la
population Il y a tres humains qui palpitent autres rythmes de la vie, exposs aux
changements qu'il les impose leur propre dynamique, totalement ignorant du domaine du
slectionneur des canaux dans la super-route de l'information5 Et, cette observation qui ne
questionne pas la validit des rsultats de l'emploi des images et des mots sur lcran,
montre la ncessit d valuer son implmentation dans des contextes singuliers propos
des demandes socioculturelles particulires. Si la fin du muse est fortifier le dveloppement
d'une communaut, il ne devrait pas rduire sa tche une activit exclusive de diffusion,
parce que de la main de Jean Baudrillard, on doit insister qu'il n'est pas bon confondre la
ralit avec le spectacle. Si les deux sont vrais, au moins leurs effets sont trs diffrents. 6

Nous voulons aussi ajouter qu'il y a dautres questions qui nous forcent reconsidrer les
avantages et inconvnients de l'usage aveugle de la nouvelle technologie dans les muses.
Ceux-ci montrent lurgence dtablir une claire distinction parmi ce que nous pourrions
nommer la ralit/original et la ralit/ virtuel (ou le rel et le virtuel tout simplement). La
premire instruit, la seconde informe et attire. Sans doute on peut les articuler, mais on ne le
fait pas, toujours.

Avoir trs clair ces articulations cest une bonne recommandation pour penser les nouveaux
rapports qui s'installeraient entre les images/objet du discours virtuel et la construction
permanent des espaces de la mmoire, proccupation central de la fonction des muses.

Les images du texte virtuel et la mmoire

Ds origines l'exercice de la mmoire a consist l'intention de dvelopper des techniques

appropries pour vaincre loublie. Cette inquitude est trs antrieure l'existence des
autres chemins de stockage de l'information. Les anciens ont distingu entre une mmoire
naturelle et une mmoire artificiel. La premire tait un trait naturel, variable d'aprs la nature
de chaque personne; la seconde gnralement crite ou iconographique, tait presque une
technique dont sa fonction a consist garder les faits et les actions d'intrt social. La
discipline mnmotechnique avait comme mission la construction efficace des discours (ou
des textes), et la mmoire t conue comme une partie de la rhtorique. Cettes ides ont
produit des paradigmes trs diffrents du point de vue de l'ontologie et ds lpistmologie,
mais dans tous les cas le discours verbal a t considr comme la description logique de la
ralit. Le rapport mot/ralit taient la vrit et le fondement de l'espace original.

Aujourd'hui les linguistes reprennent ces formulations et affirment que laction de se

souvenir fait rference la construction dun espace mental. C'est dire, un espace
abarcable pour l'esprit o on peut re-lire avec prcision les dtails dun fait pass. Afin que
cela se passe il est ncessaire avoir dvelopp un espace syntactique ou syntagmatique
familier.7

Le philologue espagnol Aguirre Romero insiste que pour se rappeler, il est fondamental de
se dplacer travers un espace solide et familier. Justement un espace qui est solide parce
qu'il est familier. Se rappeler cest lire dans un texte qui a t crit avec les rsultats d'une
activit intelectuelle parmi laquelle le sujet a localis un objet (un fait ou un acte). Cette
4
CNN. 21 de abril de 2002
5
Durand Karina.
6
Baudrillard, Jean. Cultura y simulacro. Taurus. 1997
7
Aguirre Romero, Joaqun. Profesor titular. Departamento de Filologa espaola. III U.C.N.

91
construction (sujet/objet) possde un espace et un temps que la mmoire garde comme
rel/originel. Se souvenir n'est pas un chemin, sinon la carte de route dun monde qui est
familier dans la mmoire du sujet.

Laissez-nous demander maintenant si la ralit de lcran et ses espaces/temps amliore le

rapport de l'homme avec son existence partir de la mmoire des faits virtuels. Nous
croyons que cette question n'a pas encore une rponse dfinitive, mais si nous pouvons
noncer quelques ides propos de cette demande, a aideraient lorganisation et
slection des programmes dimmersion, navigation et/ou interaction.

Le pouvoir reprsentatif des images et des mots est galement valable. Comme le mot, si
l'image a t choisie avec soin elle possde un haut grade d'vidence. Serait ncessaire
demander aux linguistes si dans limmersion produite para les hypermdias les sujets
construisent avec cette exprience une mmoire de lespace/temps virtuel. Et les demander
aussi si au futur, les deux espaces/temps (le rel et le virtuel) pouvaient se mler un sur
lautre.

La force et l'attraction des images: de la virtualit de l'image la ralit virtuelle.

Il est vraiment intressant retourner l'appel d'attention que nous avons cit en relation ce
nouveau tre dans le monde.

Philippe Quau s'inquite pour expliquer que lexprience de la ralit n'est pas semblable
aux expriences de la ralit virtuel. Nous ajoutons que la perspective epistmologique, et
ontologique du rapport des sujets avec les objets ne produit pas dans les deux cas les
mmes concepts, ni les mmes valeurs. Etre dans le monde affirme Quau - veut dire
apprendre regarder autour, nous regarder. tre dans le monde cest vivre la distance
entre ltre et lexistence, cest sentir le rapport que se construit pour cette mme distance,
cest vivre dans l intervalle entre la pense et la conscience Et fondamentalement, il se
demande: si les mondes virtuels peuvent abolir notre place dans le vrai monde, et le
dplacer8

Sans doute, la force et l'attraction des images nous exigent des dcisions propos dune
futurologie dj prsente u nous devront considrer les offres du cyber/espace et de la
ralit/tele-dirig. Dans le premier cas il nest pas simplement contempler distance et en
face limage de quelque chose sinon limmersion du sujet dans les interstices d'une ralit
compose, demi-image et demi-substance. Dans le deuxime cas la ralit/original est
remplace par une stro/ralit une ralit/virtuel multi-mdiatique qua insr notre
rapport avec ceux qui sont lointains, dans dautres continents, dans nos antipodes.
Dimension znithale qu la manire du point de vue de Sirius efface toute perspective.9

Immersion, navigation, interactions: quand, o?

La virtualit tend lillusion parfaite. Mais il ne sagit pas du tout de la mme illusion
cratrice qui est celle de limage ( celle aussi du signe, de concepts, etc)Il sagit dune
illusion rcreatrice raliste, mimtique, holographique. Elle met fin au jeu de lillusion par
la perfection de la reproduction, de la rdition virtuelle du rel...par lextermination du rel
par son double . 10

8
Quau Philippe. Lo virtual. Virtudes y vertigos. Paids. Barcelona. Espaa.1993.
9
Virilio, Paul. Strategie de la decepcin. Galile Paris 2000
10
Baudrillard, Jean. Illusion, dsillusion esthtiques. Sens y Tonka.Francia 1997.

92
Nous croyons que Karina Durand a dj commenc nous rpondre quand en mentionnant
Dertouzos elle a affirm quon doit considrer trois formes de voisinage avec les
technologies. Existent: machines avec les machines, gens avec machines et gens avec des
gens. Dans les muses les premires augmentent l'efficacit des processus, dans le
seconde cas la capacit dobtenir et de donner de l'information mais cest le dernier celle qui
concilie et facilite le dialogue, ainsi comme les meilleurs mcanismes du travail en quipe
et distance. Tout ces options sont produit par l'esprit et le gnie cratif de l'espce
humaine. Ils augmentent nos capacits, mais la vraie communication, la communication
permanente est toujours une interaction personnelle avec les autres personnes et aussi
avec l'environnement.

RSUM

Les Muses et les nouvelles technologies: immersion, navigation ou

interaction ?
Norma Rusconi Argentina
_________________________________________________________________

Dans un travail prsent dans la Rencontre Internationale d'Ecomuseos Santa Cruz, Rio
de Janeiro, la muselogue mexicaine Karina Durand a expliqu trs clairement les
avantages et les inconvnients de l'usage des nouvelles technologies dans les muses La
finesse de son analyse force pour en reprendre quelques-uns de ses perspectives.

Dans cette intervention elle affirma que le monde des nouvelles technologies, conforme une
nouvelle cosmologie o la socit contemporaine attend trouver des solutions pour une
grande partie des problmes des communications. Cependant l'usage aveugle de ces
technologies il na pas rsolu les problmes, mais plutt, il a perturb dans quelques cas
leurs buts.

Quand on consulte la bibliographie des nouvelles technologies, il est vraiment intressant lire
les travaux d'un spcialiste, qui fait un appel d'attention propos de cette manire nouvelle
dtre dans le monde. Il est Philippe Quau, auteur de plusieurs ouvrages sur le virtuel, qui
nous donne son point de vue sur limportance que revt le virtuel, tant sur le plan conceptuel
que matrielle, en considrant que le virtuel est un nouveau systme dcriture dont les
consquences sur nos socits seront considrables.

Nous pensons aussi que les rapports epistemolgique, ontologique et les valorisations des
sujets ne se produisent pas de la mme manire dans les expriences du virtuel et du rel.

Et, dans le cas spcifique de la musologie de l Amrique Latine, nous signalons aussi que
l'usage appropri de ces technologies exige d'une formation et d'un placement conomique
qui pas toutes les institutions possdent. Pourtant nous trouvons quil est ncessaire chez
nous, analyser l'usage de cette technologie dans des stratgies qui articulent les applications
de diffusion avec une pdagogique social a fin dviter mettre en risque l'espace des
mmoires: la mmoire des faits rels de lexistence et les actions interactives quon attribue
aux rapports entre les sujets et les communauts.

93
 The Exhibition as Presentation of Reality

Prof. Tereza Scheiner UNIRIO, Brazil

INTRODUCTION

In recent years, a new Theory of the Museum has been developed, according to which the
Museum is considered not as an institution (in the organizational form), but in its phenomenic
nature and its plurality as representation. To recognize the phenomenic character of the
Museum is to understand it through the world perception of each individual by means of the
multiple and complex relations that each social actor, individual or group, establishes with
the complexities of Reality.

We all know that the development of Museology as a disciplinary field is based on the study
of the Museum and its relations with Reality (what in French we would call Le Rel). As
Reality, we refer not only to what is in the outer world, outside our body and senses, but to
the infinitely multiple plans of reality that constitute our minds and bodies and through which
we mediate with the world: inner reality design, mask and shade of our desires and
passions, expressed in the interweaving of the conscious and unconscious levels of our
psyche; outer reality the face of the world as we see it out of ourselves, and which crosses
our bodies and minds, in permanent intensity and continuity; and the moment of the
encounter, deeply shaped by our perception. The understanding of the term Museum as a
polisemic concept reveals its nature as a semiotic instrument, which appears in the specific
relationship it creates between the outer world and the world of the human senses; between
the material and the virtual; the individual and the collective; the local and the global; the
tangible and the intangible; between creation and information.

To operate the Museum in daily action we must conceive and act it in the sphere of Reality.
And, since Reality is not one, but several (what philosophers name le Rel complexe), we
must understand which plans of reality articulate to shape the specific momentum of each
museum and how this happens. To work in the sphere of Reality means to be able to
understand how it is represented in and by each museum, and the ways through which it is
represented. It also means that we must be able to perceive what is not represented, and to
infer what is being hidden behind its blank faces, as memories of silence: for we know, an
ideology of occultation and of forgetfulness also makes part of the Museum - the face of the
Self that we wish to keep in the shadows. Thus we may not be able to know how the
Museum must be, in each moment, in each place: each museum will exist and realize itself
using the elements offered by Reality. But it is possible to choose, among many alternatives
and possibilities, what the Museum can be and we succeed in doing so by using its
potential to incorporate the multiple cultural and identitary expressions existent in the spaces
and times to which it refers. This is our task and responsibility. For what does a
museologist, if not a constant mediation between past and present, museums and society
articulating the different plans of reality that permanently cross the Museum? 1 It is our task
to unveil what is hidden, explain what is hermetic, remind what is forgotten; toss a little more

1
SCHEINER, Tereza. Museologa, Globalismo y Diversidad Cultural. VII ICOFOM LAM. Xochimilco, Mexico,
Sept. 1998.

94
light over material and immaterial objects to sharpen all their angles, enabling societies to
see them and, through them, recognize themselves.

Museum is thus a powerful signifying construction, built from identity perceptions, through the
dynamics of memory, and which expresses itself under different forms, in time and in space.
Perception is the background from which everything emerges and what really matters are
the meanings that take shape in the intersection of all those experiences. More than
representation, the Museum will be a creator of meanings, in the relationship: and it is from
such meanings that its discourse it built, and communicated to society. So, we must identify
and analyze what the Museum represents, how it represents and over which strategies its
discourse is founded.

We know by experience that the exhibition is the main instance of mediation of museums: it
is the activity that characterizes and legitimates its tangible existence. Through exhibitions,
museums elaborate a cultural discourse by which they are defined and signified as agencies
for sociocultural representation. Defined as mirrors of society or even as windows that each
museum opens to the world 2, exhibitions constitute a bridge, or link between the things of
Nature and the human culture, such as they are represented in museums. And it is through
exhibitions that the Museum represents, analyzes, compares, simulates, builds specific
forms of discourse - which main objective is to narrate to society the stories of the world and
the stories of humankind. We may thus understand each exhibition as a representation of
world of a specific museum, in a specific moment. Each exhibition also represents specific
aspects of the world vision of the social groups to which it relates - expressing, in direct or
metaphoric language, the cultural values and traits of those groups. It is then important to
know how such representations develop, and recognize the ways and means by which each
museum apprehends Reality, interpreting its multiple meanings under the light of its own
traits. That is how museums build, in museological language, their instruments of mediation.

In 1992, Montpetit3 already stressed that exhibitions are essentially a communicational act;
the exhibition is thus submitted to the theories and criteria of the Communication field even
when such theories and criteria are to serve the concepts and practices of Museology. To
think about the exhibition is a natural movement for both the museologist and the
semiologist: they incessantly try to investigate, through the exhibition, how the Museum
represents, signifies and produces meanings. They know that to expose is to display things
in such a way that a subjacent order of things is made visible; it is to act towards making that
effectively language interweaves with space 4. Brilliantly approached by Philosophy
(Foucault, Merleau-Ponty) and by Semiology (Eco, Barthes, Baudrillard), such questions
have been exhaustively investigated and discussed by Museology over the last two decades.
As a consequence, several thesis and research projects were developed, most of them
approaching the exhibit under the following aspects:
1. Museographic analyses;
2. Analyses of the object as semiotic element;
3. Thematic analyses;
4. Visitor studies (relationship museums x society);
5. Effects of the exhibition over the visitors (psychological/pedagogic perspective).
But, in the present days, it is not enough to indicate the communicational character of
Museology, or to analyze its elements and relationships with the Museum and with society:
we need to go much beyond, trying to understand the exhibition under the light of a general
theory of the Museum. This is the epistemic strategy that will enable the development of a
real Theory of the Exhibition, which does not limit itself by certifying the relationships
between individual x object in the exhibit space, or through the symbolic analyses of a

2
RUFFIN, Fath Davis. The Exhibition as Form: elegant metaphor.
3
MONTPETIT, Raymond: 6, 1992. 58-60
4
FOUCAULT, Michel: 3, 1986. p. 9.

95
semiology of the form - founded in the perception of design as cause and consequence of all
the exchanges in the museum. A theory that will not limit the analysis of symbolic exchanges
to pedagogical methods, with visitors objectified as categories of study. The search for a
theory of the exhibition must lead towards the articulation of all such fields, defining the
spaces of interchange that constitute Museology. And this is exactly the focal point where
Museum and Reality relate.
.
Some years ago, Jean Davallon stated that the exhibition is the means of presence,
because it brings physically together the object and the visitor 5. I would agree that the
exhibition is effectively the means of presence but not only because it brings together
people and objects: it is the main voice of the Museum as an instance of presentification of
the memory of humankind. It is a powerful relational instance, a vigorous mediatic
instrument that not only brings together people and objects, but also and mainly brings
together all kinds of people: those who have made the objects, those who have made the
exhibition, those who visit the museum, those who are not in the museum, but talk and write
about the exhibition.

1. METAPHORIC SPACE, RELATIONAL SPACE

To understand the exhibition as a relational space means to perceive it, above all, as an
instance of impregnation of senses. It also means to understand in depth the infinite and
delicate subtleties of symbolic exchange, made possible by the immersion of the human
body in the space of the exhibition. This immersion will be more intense, as more openly
articulated are the relationships between form, space, time, sound, movement, light, color,
object and contents. The excessive and absolute control of the technique may help create
magnificent visual and/or multimedia effects, that move the senses of the visitors in the
cognitive plan (curiosity) or in the motor plan (movement); but they will not be enough to
generate instances of real affective mobilization. And it is in the plan of feelings that
communication is elaborated: it is through feelings that the mind and the body move
together, opening the spaces of the mind to new knowledge, new visions of the world, new
experiences and possibilities of perception.

Such subtle aspects of perception not always need or must be articulated in excess or
spectacularity: the excess of impact may blur the senses, projecting the observer out of
him/herself and diminishing the potential of perception. The right word is to savor. Every
exhibition should be savored step by step, point by point, in the exact perceptual timing of
each individual, enabling experience to flow through all his/her being. For it is this
impregnation of the senses that effectively mobilizes emotion and enables change. Each
exhibition must be, thus, an ambience for the training of the senses, an opportunity for deep
learning. And here I refer to the most spontaneous side of learning that which enables
liberty through experience and that leads to the understanding of the immense importance of
the senses in the building of knowledge.

Exhibitions touch all the senses, functioning as a multidimensional experience of

communication unlike other media, which offer a more reduced perceptual experience: in
design and printed media, image is outstanding; in the movies and TV, the relationship
image + sound + movement prevails. The experience closer to the museum would be the
theatre, which also touches all the senses, in all dimensions. Gestalt research has already
proved the importance of multidimensional experience in the communicational process: they
enable a wide range of visual, tactile, aural and emotional experiences to impregnate the
process, turning each observer into an active participant, and making possible a better
degree of immersion in the reality to be communicated. Herein the importance of vision must

5
DAVALLON, Jean ; 2, 1986. P. 275

96
be emphasized as essential for Museology: for very often knowledge starts with the sight 6.
And there is no doubt, each person is a gaze towards the world, and an object visible to the
eyes of the world. Each body has a specific way of looking and such specificity conforms its
visibility as a body, different from other bodies 7.

We know that the Museum organizes itself from the cognitive plan where its rationality is
founded. Museums have been traditionally articulating their discourse starting from the
rational plan. But seeing only with the eyes of the reason makes us blind to the infinite
perceptual dimensions of Reality and to a philosophical truth: the world of order only exists to
those who have never really tried to see 8. The spectacular, but also the excess of reflection
prevent the subject to apprehend the object, and to perceive the outer world as something
where the vision may be detained. And, although we are inevitably subordinated to the world
of order, and signified by the rationality of things, we must try to retrieve our capacity of
contemplating the world and to perceive things with the eyes of the mind. Starting from the
visible, the sight wakes, through reflection and shades, the invisible horizons and dimensions
of our experience those which exist beyond the domain of matter, in the sphere of the
intangible.

Visual perception may be also considered a multidimensional experience, which cannot be

put into words. Because it is the glance that precedes touch and language, that seduces the
observer, provokes all the senses, opens up to fantasy (this powerful weapon against the
logos), and turns each visitor into a potential voyeur. It is through the eyes that the observer
can possess the desired thing, reach it through space, scan its surface, trace its borders,
explore its texture, build an invisible bridge between his/her body and the body of the object
9
. The sight is completed by the touch, which instantly melts the visitor and the object,
establishing between them a unique, personal and untransferrable relation; and by the
sound, which embraces the visitor, enveloping his/her body and mind in rhythm and
vibration. But there is movement as well, which articulates sound and image to create
unique effects; and also the possibility of apprehending the exhibition through smell, or even
through taste. All such things must be offered respecting the perceptual times and spaces of
each individual or group: because communication is only effectively established when its
form and contents mediate, simultaneously, information and emotion. This is the true
knowledge: not information in itself, but the kind of knowledge that starts from information
and elaborates it through emotion, to turn it into experience.

2. THE VOICE OF THE MUSEUM: THE EXHIBITION AS LANGUAGE

Every exhibition is the re-creation of a parcel of the world a re-creation of Reality. But is it
also an intentionally articulated metaphoric space, and as such, capable of producing a very
special discourse, which builds its identity and turns it into a specific perceptual object. But it
is the adequate use of languages that will contribute to turn the exhibition into an emotional
space, helping to turn the experience of the visit into a memorable, live experience.

a) The organized speech and the creative space

To all of us, who have inherited from Modernity the belief that the Museum (and
consequently, the exhibition) may only exist as organized discourse, it is still very difficult to
accept the possibility of communicating mainly and freely through the senses. Pedagogy
itself has tended, along the last two centuries, to perceive the Museum as an open book a

6
BELLAIGUE, Mathilde: le voir initie le savoir. In : Le Dfi Musologique. Bol. ICOFOM LAM, ano 1 no. 4,
1995.
7
PERRONE-MOISS, Leyla : 9, 1995. p. 327
8
NOVAES, Adauto: 8, 1995. p. 9
9
ARNHEIM, Rudolph. Cit. In: SCHEINER, Tereza: 14, 1998. p. 79

97
three-dimensional, illustrated book, which pages were the exhibition nuclei and rooms and
where, to the discourse of written language, the subtle discourse of the objects was added.
Almost always dependent of a defined aesthetical party, exhibitions have evolved developing
logical themes and presentational scripts, based in a long preparation and in several years of
research being didactically presented under the same logics that would have founded the
recollection of the objects. It was as if all the things to be known must (or should) be
explained by means of groups of inanimate objects, carefully chosen and disposed according
to pre-established aesthetical criteria, and related to facts and people through explicit or
symbolic scenarios; as if, by doing so, the observer would be able to understand the total
reality where things happen. Such tendency to create universes inspired in reality10 has
been specially explored in the thematic exhibitions and also in those which made use of
scenic resources. Some History museums even came to re-create period rooms, while
science museums tried to reproduce the natural environment of their species. Sceneries,
dioramas and reconstitutions have long been treated almost as pictures, or photographs -
the objects mere elements in a context where all priority was given to association.

Along the 20th century, this romantic game between illusion and reality became one of the
most appreciated forms of exhibition, since it sends the observer into the domain of fantasy.
That happened especially in north-American museums, which used such artifice to
compensate the smaller occurrence of spectacular collections of art, history and
archaeology, so common in European museums. Even when using dioramas and
reconstitutions, European museums, for their turn, remained concentrated in the exhibition of
objects with the emphasis in things, as would note Marcel Mauss 11. The reaction to those
tendencies started in modern and contemporary art museums capable of elaborating the
exhibit as a process, or as an oeuvre ouverte; it was consolidated with the upcoming of
exploratory museums, which dynamics is centered in the relationship object x visitor; and
finally, it matured with the inclusion of natural preserved areas in the universe of museums12.
But the theories of communication, applied to the field of Museology, have enabled a new
perception of the relational function of the Museum which became understood as an
instance of dialogue with society. In such perspective, each exhibition constitutes a cultural
argument, an instance of mediation between visitor and object. The scenic elaboration has
in itself started to be considered under a new perspective - sceneries no more being
considered as background and frame for the object, but as an inalienable part of the
argument which helps building the narrative, through which the visitor perceives how the
exhibition signifies.

From the 60s on, the structural changes in museological thought and the development of the
theories of the total museum helped to enlarge the physical limits of what was considered
exhibition space and the concept of exhibition has enlarged to encompass parcels of
territory, groups of houses, villages, farms and also live communities. Everything could be
objectified, following the trend of reaffirming the social/plural character of the Museum. In the
90s, another revolution was announced: a new epistemology of thought enabled specialists
to perceive the Museum as an event, as a process, as an outburst of the mind and of the
senses which significance is shaped in the very instant of the relationship. In such
perspective, the formal/ spatial articulation of the exhibition is left on the second plan, serving
as mere scenery of accessory to the true experience: that which unites, in the instant of the
relationship, exhibition and visitor. And which is intense, true, intangible and absolutely
personal. And which is elusive. It is thus in the domain of intangibility that the relationship
exhibition & visitor is understood today: in the flash of understanding that makes each
individual apprehend, through emotion and with all the senses, the exposed things. That is
the total museum: not the one that deals with Reality in extension - but that which creates an
10
LA MUSOLOGIE SELON GEORGES HENRI RIVIRE. Cours de Musologie, Textes et Temoignages. Paris:
Dunod, Bordas, 1989. 402 p. il.
11
SCHEINER, Tereza: 14, 1998. Cap. 3
12
ibid, ibidem

98
intensive link between the many faces of Reality of the inner/outer world of each visitor and
the elements witch form the wholeness of the museum sphere.

b) The structure of discourse

Semiology teaches us that, to analyze the exhibition as language, we must try to use the
attributes found in linguistic relationships, thus establishing a very special relation between
that who speaks and that who listens. We have traditionally assumed that the Museum
speaks and the visitor listens. And that the Museum, by means of the exhibits, builds a
discourse that must communicate through the impregnation of the senses. We imagine (and
hope) that the discourse of the Museum is elaborated in a clear and understandable way,
making use of the different languages of communication to develop the language of the
exhibition a specific form of discourse founded in a very special blend of signs that gives
meaning to narrative structures. In a previous study on the discursive strategies which make
possible to define the narrative operations in museums 13, I have already mentioned that
every discourse results from mediatic operations between facts in themselves and the
personality and intentions of the narrator shaping what Lyotard names as metamorphosis
of affects. The narrative interpretation overlays the reality of facts, re-creating facts from
definite ideological operations, that frequently intend to provoke definite emotional effects on
the observer. Thus, everything can be reinvented, adapted, manipulated: places, facts,
characters, and even time and memory, movement and sounds. Everything can become
effect of a narrative.

It is from such movements that Museology feeds, especially in what refers to the
interpretation of the world through the exhibition. One of the tasks of Museology would thus
be to identify, among the many existent possibilities, the ethical limits for the interpretation of
Reality. For one thing is to build new narratives from a given reality and other is to distort
reality, trying to influence the observer. Another task would be to fully recognize the visitor
as an emitter of narratives, acting the Museum as an experimental space of interpretation.
The development of museological practice depends on the recognition of such plurality of
relations, based in the affective memory of society and which permanently intervene in the
ways by which each individual and/or social group perceives the Museum. This is not an
easy task, considering that emotional and sensorial movements permanently cross cultural
facts and that, at each movement of mediation, new aspects aggregate that contribute to
define the affective character of interpretation. The articulation of voices from different
mediatic languages becomes, thus, a fundamental trait in museum practice. Once more, I
would call attention to the necessity to critically evaluate the use of such languages,
especially in the exhibition projects trying to prevent the building of distorted discourses.
We cannot forget the existence of a museological language with defined times and spaces,
and which permits that all discursive creation is adapted to the necessities and
characteristics of each museum.

In the present days, museums often try to approach the forms of discourse used by
marketing and by other media, as a strategy to renew the museologic discourse. The result
may be the over-valuation of a vocabulary used in mass media discourse, which not always
has to do with the realities and communication times of the Museum. To imagine that an
exhibition made with leads or transformed into a multimedia show must fully reach the
visitor, as a means of communication, is a serious mistake or a fantasy. This is especially
serious in History museums, where exhibitions may reflect the interpretative reductions so
commonly made by TV and press news. Museums may also be used as instruments of
suspension of collective memory, specially in what refers to recent and ambivalent periods or
facts of recent history deciding to omit or to hide certain facts or memories that may be
considered annoying to some segments or societies.

13
SHEINER, Tereza: 15, 2000.

99
That is why I systematically defend that museums must build their narrative strategies
integrating past and present, and trying to present facts from a plural perspective, which
enables the maximum possible alternatives for interpretation. The commitment to historical
and scientific exactitude must be allied to an adequate use of design, which enables the
development of creative museographic solutions that do not compromise the ethical role of
the museum. This implies a balanced use of scenography and other resources, such as
multimedia and dramatization which must enhance the imagination and the emotion of the
visitors, without exaggeration or distortion.

Specialists who develop exhibition projects must define which articulations of vocabulary
are desired in their narratives. Lynn Maranda14 reminds that such movements may be
recognized from four main categories: 1) generic/aesthetic, which values the formal aspect of
the exhibition and works from an inherited aesthetic perception, important component of
social memory; 2) generic/objective, based on taxonomic information and on the scientific
value of collections and which celebrates intellectual perception deriving from the
articulation between similarities and variety; 3) thematic/narrative, which establishes relations
between groups of things and explains Reality in relation to each component; 4)
thematic/situational, which emphasizes ambience, placing each element in contact with
totality starting from the gestaltic structure of immersion to explore the relation between
elements, as well as the dynamics of articulation of such elements in their original
environments.

To build its very special language, the exhibition imports other elements as well, specific of
languages and fields of knowledge external to Museology: from technology, the effects of
sound, light and the virtual languages; from architecture, art, theatre and design, the capacity
of allying form, space, color, time and movement to create expressive significant ambiences;
from the scientific disciplines, the discourse of the object. And since each exhibition is a form
of cultural argument, its persuasive quality will reside exactly in the competence of each
museum in making use of those many languages to develop, to its public and for its public,
narratives that will define its special identity. The signic value of each communicational
complex will derive from the many approaches elaborated by each museum. We may not
forget that communication is a double-hand road, and that emitter and receiver must
syntonize with the codes of expression that are being used. Each project must also be in
tune with the imagination of the visitor establishing bridges that articulate through the
symbolic memory of each individual. And that will be more effective whenever museums
become able to make use of communicational technologies to help develop their narratives,
starting from codes that are in full use in contemporary society. Today, videotexts and
interactive virtual experiences communicate more easily and completely than, for example,
traditional labels mainly in those exhibits where young visitors are expected. But we must
take care that the information does not limit do those resources, turning the exhibits into
mere copies of products exhaustively offered by other mediatic agencies.

It is the vitality of languages, and not the collection in itself that turns every exhibition into a
fascinating trip. The flashing character of information in process, in permanent flux, with its
ever-changing hues and its subtleties is what makes the relationship between visitor and the
museum an unforgettable experience. And the most fascinating thing is that this is a never-
ending process, which assigns to all exhibits (and not only to art exhibits) the character of
oeuvre ouverte where, to the existing ambience, each observer will contribute with his/her
specific timing and Gestalt. Only in the relationship between the things exhibited (object)
and the visitor (subject) will the exhibition exist and it is by means of this flowing and
mutable process that museums turn into powerful communicational agencies, capable of

14
MARANDA, Lynn: 5, 1991.

100
giving an expressive contribution to human knowledge and to enhance the quality of social
behaviors.

3. Reality within our minds: the exhibition as alternative

Universe

To emphasize the immense importance of imagination for the communicational process in

the Museum, I would once again remind Bachelard - to whom to imagine is to elude Reality,
to throw oneself into the future, to transit by means of impulse in a universe without law. This
eluding process enables us to see the subtle hues of movement. The continuous transit form
Reality to Imagination helps us notice the immanence of the imaginary in reality, and to
understand the experience of transformation of images into poetic objects. As I have said
before 15, the imagination capacity will become seductive when we succeed in restituting
things in their proper movement, abandoning what we see in favor of what we imagine.
Imagination as percourse: this is what is really interesting and will enable us to understand
imagination as a psychological yonder 16, revealed by the incessant movement that crosses
all human senses. More than vision a mostly cinematic movement, linked to matter (I only
see what is in front of me), the imagining game enables us to move beyond materiality, to
enter an alternative universe which flows through all our senses, and where all other
dimensions fade.

The imagining capacity puts memory into permanent action, as instrument of elaboration of
experiences. It is the opposition of habit, which attributes value to permanence. The infinite
imagining capacity of the human being unfolds in continuous flux, enabling us to apprehend
Reality as poetics and to design countless percourses between the senses and the mind, as
true dreams of flight 17 - which start in the mind and travel through all the roads of memory,
in search of the unknown. The imagining capacity feeds from oneiric construction, that
fugace and subtle percourse that crosses all the spaces of the mind, when the control of the
body escapes from our will. It is not by chance that museums are considered dream spaces,
and exhibitions as narratives experiences, which pathway does not start in the objects, but
rather in people and their relationships with past and present. For every exhibition is an act
of unveillance: exhibiting, the Museum exposes itself, opens up to society, even when
perpetuating the illusion that the mystery remains. This is its force and its magic. That is the
real communicational (and pedagogic) dimension of the Museum: not what is established by
means of controlled didactic operations, dependent from logic; but the spontaneous flow
between the imaginant capacity of individiduals and the many languages of the exhibition.
Museums are in themselves formative agencies and spaces for the acquisition of knowledge.
They must establish a true dialogue with the visitor, giving priority to emotion, to imagination
and to sentiments, through which reason will be offered.

Museological exhibitions are not mere shows: they are instances of conversation, and aim at
offering a durable experience that will become part of the life experience of each individual18.
Because the real Museum is not in the tangible ambience where things exist (outer Reality),
yet it derives from the relationship, from the precise moment when the exposed thing
touches, in depth, the body and the soul of the observer (total Reality).

Museums must today, more than ever, understand that to offer experience is infinitely more
important than to inform. Psychology tells us that knowledge does not derive from
information, but from experience. In the present days, when we are constantly overflown by

15
SCHEINER, Tereza. Museology and the Intangible Heritage. ICOFOM Annual Conference, Munich, Germany,
Nov. 2000.
16
Bachelard, Gaston: 1, 1990. p: 6.
17
Bachelard, in op. Cit. p. 15
18
SPIELBAUER, Judith: 17, 1991.

101
news and information and haunted by all kinds of stimuli, exhibitions may develop as
powerful experiential spaces, helping each visitor to look at the world with the eyes of the
mind. And this is what puts us into things, and also helps us seeing over things and beyond
things, reaching across them something hidden, essential; it also enables us to see inside
things - where, instead of matter and facts, we try to see ourselves 19 - thus becoming able to
see, within and out, the Other. This is the main contribution that the Museum may give to
society: become an instance of self-knowledge and of recognition of the Other fundamental
movements in the development of a dignified relationship with the world.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

BACHELARD, Gaston. O Ar e os Sonhos. Ensaio sobre a Imaginao do Movimento. SP: Martins

Fontes, 1990. 275 p.
DAVALLON, Jean. Gestes de Mise en Exposition. In: Claquemurer, pour ainsi dire, tout lunivers.
Paris: Georges Pompidou, 1986, p. 275
FOUCAULT, Michel. As Palavras e as Coisas. Trad. Salma Tannus Muchail. SP: Martins Fontes,
1981.
KAVANAGH, Gaynor. Dream Spaces. Memory and the Museum. London: Leicester University Press,
2000. 200p.
MARANDA, Lynn. The Language of the Exhibition. ICOM/ICOFOM. ICOFOM STUDY SERIES.
Vevey: out. 1991.
MAURE, Marc. The Exhibition as Theatre on the staging of museum objects. In: Nordisk Museology,
2: 155-168. SWEDEN: Umea University, 1995.
MONTPETIT, Raymond. La Pluratit du Langage des Expositions. In: Muso-seduction. Muso-
reflection. Dir. Annette Viel et Cline de Guise. Coord. Martin Le Blanc. Qubec: Muse de la
Civilization, 1992. p: 58-60.
NOVAES, Adauto. De Olhos Vendados. In: O Olhar. Adauto Novaes (org.) SP: Cia. das Letras, 1995
PERRONE-MOISS, Leyla. Pensar Estar Doente dos Olhos. In: O Olhar. Adauto Novaes (org.) SP:
Cia. das Letras, 1995:329
POSTMAN, Neil. The Museum as Dialogue. In: Museum News, Sept./Oct. 1990: 55-58.
SHANE, Ed. Disconnected America.
SCHEINER, Tereza. A Exposio como Linguagem. Texto de Aula. Disciplina Comunicao em
Museus I. RJ: UNIRIO/CCH, 1999.
___________ . A Magia das Palavras. In: Interao Museu-comunidade pela Educao Ambiental.
Coord. Tereza Scheiner e Rita de Cssia de Mattos. RJ: Tacnet Cultural Ltda, 1991. (Pre-ed.)
___________ . Apolo e Dioniso no Templo das Musas. Museu: gnese, idia e representaes na
sociedade ocidental. Tese de Mestrado. RJ: ECO/UFRJ, 1998.
___________ . Museologia, Identidades, Desenvolvimento Sustentvel: estratgias discursivas. In:
ICOM/ICOFOM/ICOFOM LAM. Anais do IX Encontro Regional do ICOFOM LAM/II EIE. RJ:
Tacnet Cultural Ltda., May 2000.
___________ . Museus e Exposies: apontamentos para uma teoria do sentir. In: ICOM/ICOFOM.
ICOFOM Study Series . Vevey: out. 1991.
SPIELBAUER, Judith. A Linguagem da Exposio: interpretao e viso de mundo. In:
ICOM/ICOFOM. ICOFOM Study Series . Vevey: out. 1991.

19
PERRONE-MOISS, Leyla : 9, 1995, p. 329.

102
 Lexposition comme prsentation de la ralit
Tereza Scheiner Brsil

Introduction

Dans des annes rcents, une nouvelle Thorie du Muse cest dveloppe, o le Muse
est conu non plus comme institution (au sens organisationnel), mais partir de sa nature
phnomnique et de sa pluralit comme reprsentation. Reconnatre le caractre
phnomenique du Muse nous remet la possibilit den apercevoir travers lexprience
de monde de chaque individu par moyen des multiples et complexes relations que chaque
acteur ou groupe dacteurs sociaux tablissent avec le Rel complexe.

Nous savons tous que le dveloppement de la Musologie comme champs disciplinaire se

fonde sur ltude du Muse et de ses relations avec le Rel. Nous considrons comme le
Rel non seulement tout ce qui est dans le monde extrieur, en dehors nos corps et nos
sens, mais aussi les infiniment multiples plans de ralit que constituent nos esprits et nos
corps, et travers lesquels se fait notre mdiation avec le monde: ralit intrieure design,
masque et ombre de nos dsirs et passions, exprims dans linterface entre le plan de la
conscience et les plans inconscients de notre psych; ralit extrieure la face du monde
comme nous en voyons nous mmes, et qui nous traverse le corps lesprit, en permanente
intensit et continuit; et le moment de la rencontre, entirement dfini par notre perception.
La perception du terme Muse, en tant que concept polysmique, rvle aussi sa nature
comme instrument smiotique, que se ralise exactement dans la relation entre le monde
extrieur et le monde sensoriel; entre le matriel et le virtuel; lindividuel et le collectif; le local
et le global; le tangible et lintangible; entre cration et information.

Pour oprer le Muse dans laction quotidienne nous devons, donc, en concevoir et actuer
au plan du Rel. Et, comme le Rel nest pas un, mais plusieurs (ce que la Philosophie
dfinirait comme le Rel complexe), nous devons identifier quels sont les plans de ralit
que sarticulent pour dfinir le momentum spcifique de chaque muse et comment se
donne un tel phnomne. Travailler dans la sphre du Rel signifie tre capable de
comprendre comme le rel se fait reprsenter dans et par chaque muse, et les moyens
travers lesquels se donne telle reprsentation. On doit quand mme tre capable de
percevoir ce que nest pas reprsent dans les muses, et dinfrer quest ce que se cache
sous leurs faces muettes mmoires du silence. Parce que, on le sait bien, il y a une
idologie de loccultation et de loublie qui fait partie du Muse la face du Mme quon
dsirait maintenir dans lombre. Donc, on peut ntre capables de savoir quest ce que le
Muse devra tre, chaque moment, dans chaque situation: chaque muse dfinira son
existence et se ralisera en faisant outil des lments offerts par la ralit. Mais il est
possible choisir, entre diffrentes alternatives et possibilits, quest ce que le Muse peut
tre en faisant outil du potentiel dincorporation des multiples traits et expressions
identitaires, existants dans des espaces et temps rfrs par les muses. Cest notre devoir
et notre responsabilit. Car, quest ce que fait le musologue, si non un constant travail de
mdiation entre pass et prsent, entre muse et socit travers larticulation des
diffrents plans de ralit quintermdient, en permanence, le Muse? Cest nous le rle
de rvler ce qui est cach, expliquer ce qui est hermtique, remmorer ce qui est dans
loublie; lancer un peu plus de lumire sur des objets matriels et immatriels, pour raviver
ses traces, et ainsi permettre que les socits puissent les voir et, travers eux, puissent
apprendre se reconnatre.

103
Muse est donc une puissante construction signique, que se constitue et sinstitue partir
des perceptions identitaires, en utilisant les enjeux de mmoire et en se faisant exprimer
sous les plus diffrentes formes, dans le temps et dans lespace. Et limportant est le sens
qui se cre dans lintersection de ces expriences. Plus que reprsentation, le Muse sera
pourtant crateur de sens, dans la relation: des multiples sens que traversent ces
sensations, actes et expriences. Et cest partir de ces sens que le Muse tablit son
discours, diffus pour la socit essentiellement travers lexposition. Donc, ce qui importe
est identifier et analyser, travers ces relations, quest ce que le Muse reprsente, comme
il reprsente et sur quelles stratgies se fonde le discours quil labore.

On sait, par exprience, que lexposition est la principale instance de mdiation des muses,
lactivit que caractrise et lgitime son existence tangible. travers les expositions, les
muses laborent une narrative culturelle que les dfinie et signifie comme agences de
reprsentation socioculturelle. Dfinies comme miroirs de la socit, ou mme comme une
fentre ouverte sur le monde, les expositions constituent un pont, ou lien entre les choses de
la Nature et la culture humaine, telles comme elles sont reprsentes dans les muses. Et
cest travers les expositions que le Muse reprsente, analyse, compare, simule, construit
les discours spcifiques dont le principal objectif est ce de dire, la socit, les choses du
monde et les choses de lHomme. On peut donc entendre chaque exposition comme une
reprsentation de monde dun muse en particulier, dans un moment spcifique. Chaque
exposition reprsente, aussi, certains lments de la vision de monde des groupes sociaux
auxquels elle se rapporte expressant, dans un langage directe ou mtaphorique, les
valeurs et traits culturels de ces groupes. Cest important savoir comment se fait telle
reprsentation; reconnatre les moyens et les formes sous lesquels chaque muse
apprhende le Rel et interprte certains aspects de la ralit, la lumire de ces
spcificits, pour ainsi construire, dans le langage musologique, ces instruments de
mdiation.

En 1992, Montpetit 1 faisait dj attention au fait de que exposer est essentiellement un acte
communicationnel. Ainsi dfinie, lexposition termine pour se soumettre aux thories et
critres du champs de la Communication mme quand ces thories et critres, dune ou
dautre manire, terminent par sa fois subordonns aux concepts et aux pratiques de la
Musologie. Penser lexposition est un mouvement naturel du musologue et aussi du
smiologue qui ne finissent dinvestiguer, travers elle, comme le Muse reprsente,
signifie et produit des sens. Car exposer est disposer (des lments) de forme rendre
visible une ordre subjacente des choses, cest agir de manire faire que effectivement le
langage sentremet avec lespace 2. La Philosophie (Foucault, Merleau-Ponty) et la
Smiologie (Eco, Barthes, Baudrillard) ont dj fait un brillant approche de telles questions.
Au champ de la Musologie, elles ont t exhaustivement investigues et discutes daprs
les derniers vingt annes ce qui a permis le dveloppement de nombreuses thses et
recherches, dont la plupart approche lexposition sous des aspects suivants: 1. analyse
musographique; 2. analyse de lobjet comme lment smiotique; 3. analyse thmatique; 4.
analyse de la visitation (relation muse et socit); 5. effets de lexposition sur le visitant
(perspective psycho/pdagogique).

Mais aujourdhui, il ne suffit plus quon indique le caractre communicationnel de la

Musologie, ou quon analyse ses lments et ses relations avec le Muse et la socit: on
doit aller plus loin, en essayant de comprendre lexposition la lumire dune thorie
gnrale du Muse. Cest la stratgie pistmique que nous permettra, parfois, dvelopper
une vraie Thorie de lExposition, que ne se remplit par la constatation des relations homme-
objet dans lespace expositif, ou par des analyses symboliques dune smiologie de la forme
fonds sur une perception du design comme cause et consquence des changes

1
MONTPETIT, Raymond : 6, 1992. 58-60
2
FOUCAULT, Michel: 3, 1986. p. 9.

104
relationnelles au muse; ou mme que limite lanalyse des changes symboliques aux
thories pdagogiques, o les visitants sont objectifis comme des catgories dtude.

La recherche dune thorie de lexposition devra emporter la pense vers larticulation entre
tous ces champs, ce qui permettra dfinir les espaces de relation o se ralise la
Musologie. Et cest exactement dans ce point focal que la Musologie fait interface avec le
Rel. Jean Davallon nous a dit que lexposition est le moyen de la prsence, parce quelle
russit physiquement objet et visitant 3. Je dirait que lexposition est effectivement le moyen
de la prsence mais non parce que elle russit des personnes et des objets: elle est la
principale voix du Muse comme instance de prsentification de la mmoire de lhomme.
Elle est aussi une puissante instance relationnelle, un vigoureux instrument mdiatique que
non seulement unifie des personnes et des objets, mais aussi et surtout conjugue
personnes personnes: ceux qui ont fait les objets, ceux qui ont fait lexposition, ceux qui
travaillent avec le public, ceux qui visitent le muse, ceux qui ne sont pas l mais parlent et
crivent sur lexposition.

1. Espace mtaphorique, espace relationnel

Entendre lexposition comme espace relationnel signifie, avant tout, essayer de la

comprendre comme instance dimprgnation des sens. a veut dire, essayer dentendre, en
profondeur, les infinies et dlicates nuances dchanges symboliques, rendues possibles par
limmersion du corps humain dans lespace expositif. Telle immersion sera tant plus intense
et effective quant plus ouverts soient les moyens de contrle des articulations entre forme,
espace, temps, son, lumire, couleur, objet et contenus. Le control excessif et absolu de la
technique peut aider crer des magnifiques spectacles visuels ou multimdia, que
mobilisent les sens du visiteur au plan cognitif (curiosit) ou moteur (mouvement); mais
difficilement ils pourront gnrer des expriences de vraie mobilisation affective. Et cest
dans le plan affectif que la communication slabore: cest par laffect que lesprit et le corps
sarticulent, ouvrant les espaces du mental envers des nouveaux savoirs, des nouvelles
visions de monde, des nouvelles possibilits de perception.

Ces aspects subtils de la perception ne doivent toujours tre articuls dans lordre de lexcs
ou du spectacle: parce que lexcs dimpacte peut anesthsier les sens, projetant lindividu
en dehors de soi mme et rduisant son potentiel de perception. Le mot plus prcis serait
goter. Jutilise propos cette mtaphore pour suggrer que toute exposition devrait tre
savoure, point point, pas pas, dans le temps perceptif de chaque individu, en faisant
possible que tout son tre se fait imprgner par lexprience. Cest cette imprgnation des
sens queffectivement mobilise lmotion et veille vers le changement.

Toute exposition peut tre, donc, un environnement pour lentranement des sens, une
instance profonde dapprentissage. Je ne me rfre ici aux formes dapprentissage qui
mobilisent essentiellement les instances du plan cognitif; parce quil ne sagit dnumrer les
thories pdagogiques, ni dentendre muse et exposition comme des espaces
denseignement (au sens traditionnel du terme). Je me rfre une instance plus spontane
dapprentissage, celle qui rendra possible la libert de lexprience, et que nous fera
comprendre lnorme importance des sens dans la construction de la connaissance.

On sait que lexposition travaille tous les sens, dans une exprience multidimensionnelle de
communication au contraire dautres mdias, qui offrent une exprience perceptuelle plus
rduite: la presse et le design privilgient limage; le cinma et la TV emphatisent la relation
son + image. Lexprience la plus proche du Muse serait le thtre, que mobilise aussi
tous les sens, toutes les dimensions. Limportance des expriences multidimensionnelles

3
DAVALLON, Jean ; 2, 1986. P. 275

105
dans le procs communicationnel peut tre prouve par des tudes de Gestalt: elles
permettent que toute une vaste gamme dexpriences visuelles, tactiles, orales et
emotionales imprgnent le processus, faisant de lobservateur un participant actif ce qui
lui permettra un plus grand degr dimmersion dans lensemble tre communiqu. Je
remarquerai, ici, limportance du regard tout fait essentiel au monde de la Musologie,
parce que cest par o sinitie le savoir 4. Car sans doute, chaque personne est un regard
jet vers le monde et un objet visible aux yeux du monde. Chaque corps dispose dune
faon de regard que lui est propre et telle particularit conditionne aussi sa visibilit comme
corps, diffrent des autres5.

On sait que le Muse sorganise partir de linstance cognitive, o se fonde sa rationalit.

Traditionnellement, les muses ont articul leur discours partir du plan rationnel. Mais ne
voir quavec les yeux de la raison nous rend aveugles aux infinies dimensions
perceptuelles, et vers une vrit philosophique: le monde de lordre existe seulement pour
ceux qui non jamais essay de voir 6. Tant le spectacle comme la rflexion excessive
empchent lapprhension de lobjet par le sujet, en empchant de voir le monde extrieur
comme quelque chose o le regard se dtient. Et, mme quand nous sommes
irrmdiablement subordonns au monde de lordre, cet univers rational que nous signifie
et se nous impose, il est fondamental chercher de rcuprer notre capacit de contemplation
du monde et dapercevoir les choses partir de la contemplation. Partant du visible, le
regard rveille, travers les reflets et les ombres, les horizons et les dimensions invisibles
de notre exprience ce quexiste au del de la matire, dans le domaine de lintangible.

Je dirais que la perception visuelle constitue elle mme, dune certaine faon, une
exprience multidimensionnelle qui ne peut tre mise en paroles: parce cest le regard qui
prcde la touche et la parole, sduit lobservateur, lui provoque les sens, rveille la fantaisie
(cette puissante arme contre le logos), transforme chaque visitant en potentiel voyeur. Par le
regard, il est possible lobservateur possder lobjet dsir, en atteindre travers
lespace, en parcourir la superficie, en tracer le contours, en explorer la texture; tracer un
pont entre son corps et le corps de lobjet 7. Le regard se complte avec la touche, que
fonde instantanment visiteur et objet, en tablissant entre eux une relation unique,
personnelle, intransportable; et avec la perception du son, quembrasse le visiteur,
enveloppant son corps et son esprit en rythme et vibration. Il y a aussi le mouvement,
quarticule son et image pour crer des effets trs spciaux; et encore la possibilit
dapprhender lexposition par le parfum, ou par le got. Mais tout a doit tre offert en
respectant les temps et les espaces perceptuels de chaque individu ou groupe: parce que la
communication ne stablit effectivement si non quand sa forme et son contenu mdient,
simultnement, motion et information. Cest la vrai connaissance: non linformation en soi
mme, mais la connaissance que, partant de linformation, en labore par lmotion, pour la
transformer en exprience de vie.

2. La voix du muse: lexposition comme langage

Toute exposition est une rcration dune parcelle de monde. Mais cest aussi un espace
mtaphorique intentionnellement articul, et comme tel, elle est capable de produire un
discours trs spcial, que configure son identit et que la transforme dans un objet
perceptuel spcifique. Mais cest le juste emploi des langages que va contribuer faire de
lexposition un espace mouvant, contribuant transformer lexprience de la visite dans
une exprience viventielle.

4
BELLAIGUE, Mathilde: le voir initie le savoir.... In: Le Dfi Musologique. Bull. ICOFOM LAM, no. 2, 1993. p. 2
5
PERRONE-MOISS, Leyla : 9, 1995. p. 327
6
NOVAES, Adauto: 8, 1995. p. 9
7
ARNHEIM, Rudolph. Cit. In: SCHEINER, Tereza: 14, 1998. cap. 3.

106
a) la parole organise et lespace de cration

Pour nous, qui avons hrit de la Modernit la croyance de que le Muse (et, par suite,
lexposition) ne sont possibles que comme parole organise, il est encore trs difficile
daccepter la possibilit de communiquer prioritaire et librement travers les sens. La
pdagogie elle-mme a tendu, pendant les derniers deux sicles, percevoir chaque muse
comme un livre ouvert un livre illustr, en trois dimensions, dont les pages taient les
expts et les salles dexposition et o, au discours de la parole, sajoutait le discours trs
subtil de lobjet. Presque toujours dpendantes dun parti esthtique dfini, les expositions
ont volu par moyen du dveloppement de thmes et de routiers logiques de prsentation,
bass dans une longue prparation et dans plusieurs annes de recherche; ces thmes se
faisaient prsenter sous un parti didactique et sous la mme logique quaurait fond la
rcollection des objets. Cest comme si toutes les choses connues devraient (ou pourraient)
tre expliques travers des ensembles dobjets inanims, soigneusement choisis et
disposs, obissant des critres esthtiques pr-tablis, lis aux faits ou aux personnages,
et constituant des scnarios explicites ou symboliques comme si, de cette faon,
lobservateur pourrait comprendre lenvironnement o se donnent les choses. Ces
8
tendances crer des univers inspirs dans la ralit ont t explores surtout dans des
expositions thmatiques (celles qui racontent des histoires) et dans celles que font usage
des ressources scnographiques. Certains muses dhistoire ont russi mme rcrer des
salles ambiantes par priodes, pendant que les muses de sciences cherchaient
reproduire les environnements naturels de ses spcimens. Scnarios, dioramas et
ambiances ont t, pendant beaucoup dannes, traits presque comme des peintures, ou
photographies, les objets simples lments dans un contexte o toute importance tait
attribue lassociation.

Au long du 20. Sicle, cet enjeux romantique entre illusion et ralit devint une des formes
plus apprcies dexposition, en renvoyant lobservateur au domaine de la fantaisie surtout
dans les muses nord-amricains, lesquels, avec ces artifices, ont cherch compenser la
relative insuffisance de collections spectaculaires dart, dhistoire et darchologie, si
communes dans les muses europens. Ces derniers, bien que utilisant des dioramas et
des mises en ambiance, ont rest concentrs dans les exhibitions dobjets avec une
emphase chosologique, comme dirait Marcel Mauss 9. La raction ces tendances partait
des muses ddis aux arts modernes et contemporaines les premiers institutions
travailler lexposition comme processus, ou comme oeuvre ouverte; et sest consolide avec
lmergence des muses exploratoires, dont la dynamique est centre dans la relation objet
& visiteur. Finalement, elle sest approfondie avec linclusion des sites prservs dans
lunivers du Muse 10.

Appliques au champ de la Musologie, les thories de la communication ont permis une

nouvelle perception de la fonction relationnelle du Muse qui commence tre entendu
comme instance de dialogue avec la socit. Dans cette perspective, chaque exposition
constitue un argument culturel, une instance de mdiation entre visiteur et objet.
Llaboration scnographique passe, elle mme, tre vue sous une nouvelle perspective:
le scnario non plus considr comme fond et encadrement de lobjet, mais comme partie
inalinable de largument qui aide configurer la narrative, travers laquelle le visiteur
peroit comme lexposition signifie.

partir des annes 60, les changements structurels de la pense musologique et

lmergence des thories du muse intgral ont aid amplifier les limites physiques de ce
quon considrait espace expositif et le concept dexposition senlarge pour embrasser
8
LA MUSOLOGIE SELON GEORGES HENRI RIVIRE. Cours de Musologie, Textes et Tmoignages. Paris:
Dunod, Bordas, 1989. 402 p. il.
9
voir SCHEINER, Tereza: 14, 1998. Cap. 3
10
ibid., ibidem

107
des ensembles de maisons, villes, fermes, et aussi quelques communauts. Tout est
objetifi, sous le dsire de raffirmer le caractre social/pluriel du Muse. Aux annes 90,
une autre rvolution sannonce: une nouvelle pistmologie de la connaissance permet
quon aperoit le Muse comme un vnement, une closion des sens ou de lesprit, dont la
signification se donne dans linstant, au moment de la relation. Dans cette perspective, on
laisse dfinitivement au deuxime plan larticulation spatiale/formelle de lexposition que
deviendra scnario, ou accessoire, de la vraie exprience: celle qui unifie, dans linstant de
la relation, expots et visiteurs. Et qui est intense, vraie, intangible et trs personnelle. Et qui
est fugace. Cest, donc, au domaine de lintangibilit quon aperoit, aujourdhui, la relation
exposition et visiteur dans ltincelle de reconnaissance qui fait que lindividu apprhende,
par lmotion et par les sens, la chose expose.

La Smiologie nous enseigne que, pour analyser lexposition comme langage, on doit
chercher de le faire par moyen des attributs rencontrs dans les relations linguistiques, en
tablissant une relation trs spciale entre ce qui parle et ce qui coute. Traditionnellement,
on a assum qui le muse parle, et le visiteur coute. Et que le muse, par moyen des
expositions, articule un discours que doit communiquer travers limprgnation des sens.
On imagine (espre) que le discours du muse soit labor dune manire claire et
comprhensible, en utilisant des diffrentes langages de communication pour configurer le
langage de lexposition forme spcifique de discours, que se fonde sur une conjugaison
trs spciale de signes, pour donner forme aux structures narratives.

b) la structure du discours

Dans un tude antrieur sur les stratgies discoursives qui permettent dfinir les oprations
narratives aux muses 11, javais dj dit que tout discours devient des oprations
mdiatiques entre les faits eux mmes et la personnalit et les intentions du narrateur
configurant ce que Lyotard a nomin mtamorphose daffections. la ralit sajoute
linterprtation narrative, qui rcre les faits partir des oprations idologiques dfinies
avec lobjectif de produire certains effets motionnels dans linterlocuteur. Tout peut, donc,
tre rcr, adapt, manipul: lieux, faits, personnages, et mme le temps, la mmoire, les
sons et le mouvement. Tout peut devenir effet de narration.

Cest de ces mouvements que se nourrit la Musologie, surtout en de qui concerne

linterprtation du monde, via exposition. Un des rles de la Musologie serait, donc,
essayer didentifier, entre les plusieurs possibilits existantes, les limites thiques
dinterprtation de la ralit; parce quune chose est construire des nouvelles narratives
partir dune ralit donne, et autre est la dformer, pour influencer linterlocuteur. Un autre
rle serait ce de reconnatre, de plus en plus, le visiteur comme un metteur de narratives,
en jouant le muse comme un espace exprimental dinterprtation. Le dveloppement de la
practice musologique dpend de la reconnaissance de cette pluralit de relations, fondes
sur la mmoire affective de la socit et quinterviennent en permanence dans des moyens
et des formes selon lesquels chaque individu ou groupe social aperoit le muse. Ce nest
pas un rle facile, si lon prend en compte que les faits culturels sont toujours traverss par
des mouvements motionnels et sensoriels, et que, chaque mouvement de mdiation, des
nouveaux lments de mdiation et agrs contribuent dfinir le caractre affectif de
linterprtation.

Larticulation des paroles de diffrentes langages mdiatiques devient, donc, une donne
fondamentale dans la practice musologique. Une fois encore, je soulignerais la ncessit
dune valuation critique des critres dutilisation de ces langages, surtout dans les projets
dexposition ce qui vitera la construction de discours quemmnent les visiteurs des
visions trompes ou dformes du Rel. On ne peut oublier lexistence dun langage

11
SHEINER, Tereza: 15, 2000. p. 109-113

108
musologique, avec ses temps et ses espaces dfinis, que permettent toute cration
discoursive sadapter aux caractristiques de chaque muse.

Les muses essayent souvent, prsent, se rapprocher des formes de discours utilises par
la propagande et par des autres mdias, comme stratgie de rnovation du discours
musologique. Le rsultat est la supervaloration du vocabulaire utilis dans les discours de
mass mdia, que nont toujours voir avec les ralits et les temps de communication du
muse. Imaginer quune exposition faite avec des leads ou transforme en spectacle
multimdia devra atteindre intgralement le visiteur, comme instrument de communication,
est un erreur grave ou une fantaisie. Et cest grave surtout aux muses dhistoire, o les
expositions frquemment rflchissent les rductions interprtatives prsentes aux
noticiaires de TV ou de la presse. Muses peuvent tre utiliss quand mme comme des
instruments de suspension de la mmoire collective, surtout quand il sagit de priodes
rcentes ou ambivalentes de lhistoire nationale ou mondiale quand on dcide omitir ou ne
prsenter certains faits ou mmoires qui, on considre, pourront perturber quelques
segments de la socit.

Je dfends systmatiquement que les muses constroyent des stratgies narratives en

intgrant pass et prsent, et en essayant de prsenter les faits partir dune vision plurale,
que permet le maximum possible dinterprtations. Le compromis avec la rigueur historique
et scientifique doit sallier lusage quilibre du design, envisageant le dveloppement des
solutions musographiques cretives, qui ne mettent en risque le rle thique du muse. Un
usage quilibr des ressources musographiques, de multimdia et de dramatisation devra
travailler sur lmotion des visiteurs, ne laissant tomber dangereusement dans lexagration
ou la sensiblerie.

Il faut, alors, que les responsables pour le projet dune exposition dfinissent quelles
articulations de vocabulaires ils dsirent dans sa narrative. Lynn Maranda 12 nous enseigne
que ces mouvements peuvent tre reconnus selon quatre catgories: a)
gnrique/esthtique, ou mise en valeur de laspect formel de lexposition o on travaille
sur la perception esthtique hrite, importante component de la mmoire sociale; 2)
gnrique/objective, base sur linformation taxonomique et sur le valeur scientifique de la
collection o on clbre la perception intellectuelle, fonde sur larticulation entre similarit
et varit; 3) thmatique/narrative, qui tablit des relations entre les ensembles et explique
les ralits, dans la relation; 4) thmatique/situationnelle, o on privilgie lambiance, chaque
lment mis en symbiose avec la totalit partir de la conjoncture gestaltiste de
limmersion. Ce dernier explore la relation entre les lments partir de son articulation dans
la ralit dans leur environnement original.

Pour constituer son langage spcialissime, lexposition importe quand mme des lments
spcifiques dautres langages et dautres champs de connaissance, externes la
Musologie: du champs de la technologie, les effets de son, lumire et les langages virtuels;
de larchitecture, de lart et du design, la capacit darticuler forme, espace, couleur, temps et
mouvement pour crer des ensembles signiques vraiment expressifs; des disciplines
scientifiques, le discours de lobjet. Toute exposition est donc une forme dargument culturel,
et sa qualit persuasive se rencontrera exactement dans la matrise avec laquelle le muse
fait usage de ces plusieurs langages pour dvelopper, avec son public et travers son
public, des discours quen donnent une spciale identit. La valeur signique de chaque
ensemble communicationnel deviendra donc des approches labors par le muse. On ne
doit pas oublier que la communication est une vie de main double, et qumetteur et
rcepteur doivent tablir une syntonie vers les codes dexpression utiliss. Il est aussi
fondamental de permettre que chaque projet aie une syntonie avec limagination du visiteur
en crant des ponts articuls par moyen de la mmoire symbolique de chaque individu. Et

12
MARANDA, Lynn: 5, 1991. p: 69-79

109
a se fera plus effectivement dans la mesure o chaque muse peut (ou sait) faire usage
des nouvelles technologies communicationnelles, constituant ses narratives partir de
codes que soient en plein usage dans la socit contemporaine. Je dirais que, prsent,
vido-textes et expriences interactives virtuelles communiquent plus facile et compltement
que, par exemple, les traditionnelles tiquettes surtout aux expositions o on espre un
public jeune ou familiaris avec les nouvelles technologies. Mais que lexposition ne se
rsume lusage de ces ressources, devenant une mre copie de produits dj
exhaustivement offerts par dautres agences mdiatiques...

Cest la vitalit des langages, et non la collection en soi mme ce qui rend fascinante toute
exposition. Cette caractristique fascinante dinformation en procs, en permanent flux, avec
ses nuances changeantes et ses subtilits, rend inoubliable la relation entre visiteur et
muse. Et le plus fascinant est que cest un procs qui na pas de limite, ce qui donne
toute exposition (et non seulement celles dart) la caractristique dune oeuvre ouverte
o, lensemble existant, sajoutera la personne de lobservateur, avec son temps et sa
gestalt spcifiques. Seule dans la relation entre ensemble xpositif (objet) et visiteur (sujet)
est que lexposition se ralise et cest par moyen de ce processus, toujours changeant,
toujours mutable, que les muses deviennent des puissantes agences communicationnelles,
capables de contribuer, de forme expressive, vers la connaissance humaine, priorisant la
qualit sociale.

3. Muse et imagination: lexposition comme univers alternatif

En ce qui concerne lnorme importance de limagination pour le procs communicationnel

du Muse, je rappellerai Bachelard - qui disait quimaginer cest sabsenter du Rel, se
lancer au devenir, transiter par moyen des impulses sur un univers sans loi. Ce procs lusif
nous permet de voir les subtils nuances du passage. Le trajet continu du rel limaginaire
nous aide percevoir limmanence de limaginaire dans le rel, et comprendre les
expriences de transformation de limage dans des objets potiques.

La capacit imaginante se fera plus sductrice dans la mesure en ce quon restitue

toutes les choses leur mouvement propre, oubliant ce quon voit en faveur de ce quon
imagine. Limagination comme voyage: cest le parcours que nous intresse et quira nous
permettre den comprendre comme un au del psychologique13, que se rvle par le
mouvement permanent et que traverse tous les sens de lhomme. Plus que le regard,
mouvement purement cinmatique, irrmdiablement lie la matire (je ne vois que ce qui
est devant moi), le jeu imaginant nous permet de transiter au del de la matrialit, dans un
univers alternatif qui traverse tous les sens, et o toutes les dimensions seffacent.

La capacit imaginante met la mmoire en permanente action, comme instrument

dlaboration dexpriences. Cest loppos de lhabitude, qui attribue valeur la
permanence. Linfinie capacit imaginante de ltre humain se droule dans un flux continu,
que nous permet dapprhender le Rel comme potique et dessiner des in comptables
parcours entre lesprit et les sens, comme des vrais rves de vol 14 - que commencent dans
lesprit et parcourent tous les chemins de la mmoire, en recherche du merveilleux et de
linconnu. Et, si pour rver il faut ne pas voir, ne pas parler, la capacit imaginante se nourrit
de la construction onirique, de ce parcours que se droule en souplesse fugace et qui
traverse tous les espaces du mental, quand le control du corps escape notre volont. Ce
nest pas par hasard quon considre les muses comme espaces de rve, et les expositions
comme des expriences narratives, dont la trajectoire en vrit ne sinitie dans des objets,
mais dans les personnes et leurs relations avec le pass et le prsent. Parce que toute

13
BACHELARD, Gaston: 1, 1990. p: 6.
14
BACHELARD, in op. Cit. p. 15

110
exposition est un acte de rveillement: en exposant, le Muse sexpose, se dvoile vers la
socit, mme en faisant durer lillusion de permanent mystre. Et cest dans la capacit de
dvoilement que rsident sa force et sa magie.

Ici rside la vraie dimension pdagogique du Muse: non celle tablie par la vie formelle des
oprations didactiques comptrolles, dpendantes du logos; mais celle qui permet de laisser
fluir une relation spontane entre la capacit imaginante de lindividu et les plusieurs
langages de lexposition. Parce que le Muse est, en soi mme, une instance de formation,
un espace pour des expriences dapprentissage. Et pourtant, on doit chercher tablir un
vrai dialogue avec le visiteur, en donnant priorit lmotion, limagination et au sentiment
pour, travers eux, en offrir la raison. Les expositions muselogiques ne sont simples
expts elles sont des espaces de conversation, et visent offrir au visiteur une exprience
durable, que devient partie de la vie de chaque individu 15. Car le vrai Muse nest dans
lenvironnement tangible o les choses existent, il se constitue spontanment dans la
relation, dans linstant prcis en ce que la chose expose touche, en profondeur, le corps et
lme de lobservateur.

Aujourdhui les muses ont besoin, plus que jamais, de comprendre que faire exprimenter
est infiniment plus important quinformer. Lexprience de lapprentissage, nous dit la
Psychologie, ne rsulte de linformation, mais de la pratique. Dans lactualit, o nous
sommes noys en notices et informations, assols par des stimuli, les expositions peuvent
se dvelopper comme des puissants espaces exprimentaux, en aidant chaque visiteur
regarder le monde avec des yeux de voir. Parce que cest le regard que nous place dans
les choses, mais qui nous permet quand mme de voir hors des choses et au del des
choses, en cherchant, travers delles, ce qui est cach, invisible, essentiel; et aussi de voir
en de des choses, o le sujet nessaie de voir les choses, mais soi mme 16 et termine
pour voir aussi, son intrieur e devant soi mme, lAutre.

Cest la grande richesse que le Muse peut faciliter la socit: se constituer comme une
instance de connaissance de soi-mme et de (re)connaissance de lAutre mouvements
fondamentaux dans la constitution dune relation digne de lindividu vers soi mme et vers le
monde.

RFRENCES BIBLIOGRAPHIQUES

BACHELARD, Gaston. O Ar e os Sonhos. Ensaio sobre a Imaginao do Movimento. SP: Martins

Fontes, 1990. 275 p.
DAVALLON, Jean. Gestes de Mise en Exposition. In: Claquemurer, pour ainsi dire, tout lunivers.
Paris: Georges Pompidou, 1986, p. 275
FOUCAULT, Michel. As Palavras e as Coisas. Trad. Salma Tannus Muchail. SP: Martins Fontes,
1981.
KAVANAGH, Gaynor. Dream Spaces. Memory and the Museum. London: Leicester University Press,
2000. 200p.
MARANDA, Lynn. The Language of the Exhibition. ICOM/ICOFOM. ICOFOM STUDY SERIES.
Vevey: out. 1991.
MAURE, Marc. The Exhibition as Theatre on the staging of museum objects. In: Nordisk Museology,
2: 155-168. SWEDEN: Umea University, 1995.
MONTPETIT, Raymond. La Pluratit du Langage des Expositions. In: Muso-seduction. Muso-
reflection. Dir. Annette Viel et Cline de Guise. Coord. Martin Le Blanc. Qubec: Muse de la
Civilization, 1992. p: 58-60.
NOVAES, Adauto. De Olhos Vendados. In: O Olhar. Adauto Novaes (org.) SP: Cia. das Letras, 1995

15
SPIELBAUER, Judith: 17, 1991. p: 121-127
16
PERRONE-MOISS, Leyla : 9, 1995, p. 329.

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PERRONE-MOISS, Leyla. Pensar Estar Doente dos Olhos. In: O Olhar. Adauto Novaes (org.) SP:
Cia. das Letras, 1995:329
POSTMAN, Neil. The Museum as Dialogue. In: Museum News, Sept./Oct. 1990: 55-58.
SHANE, Ed. Disconnected America.
SCHEINER, Tereza. A Exposio como Linguagem. Texto de Aula. Disciplina Comunicao em
Museus I. RJ: UNIRIO/CCH, 1999.
___________ . A Magia das Palavras. In: Interao Museu-comunidade pela Educao Ambiental.
Coord. Tereza Scheiner e Rita de Cssia de Mattos. RJ: Tacnet Cultural Ltda, 1991. (Pre-ed.)
___________ . Apolo e Dioniso no Templo das Musas. Museu: gnese, idia e representaes na
sociedade ocidental. Tese de Mestrado. RJ: ECO/UFRJ, 1998.
___________ . Museologia, Identidades, Desenvolvimento Sustentvel: estratgias discursivas. In:
ICOM/ICOFOM/ICOFOM LAM. Anais do IX Encontro Regional do ICOFOM LAM/II EIE. RJ:
Tacnet Cultural Ltda., May 2000.
___________ . Museus e Exposies: apontamentos para uma teoria do sentir. In: ICOM/ICOFOM.
ICOFOM Study Series . Vevey: out. 1991.
SPIELBAUER, Judith. A Linguagem da Exposio: interpretao e viso de mundo. In:
ICOM/ICOFOM. ICOFOM Study Series . Vevey: out. 1991.

112
 Art rupestre et archologie cognitive
du site au muse:
parcours de musologie applique au territoire
Dario Seglie Turin, Italie

De la fouille au laboratoire jusqu la vitrine: itinraires et trajectoires non alatoires.

Larchologie est un domaine de la recherche scientifique qui consent particulirement bien

affronter un voyage physique et mental- du site, o existent les stratifications matrielles
et culturelles qui dessinent une situation particulire spatio-temporelle, jusqu un nouveau
site de re-dessinement des exits de lactivit dintervention territoriale.

Cette opration consiste rcuprer une srie de donnes, cest--dire dun ensemble non
alatoire ni arbitraire dobjets, de rapports, de relations, selon deux plans principaux de
rfrence, le synchronique et le diachronique, sur base desquels la ralit exhume peut
devenir intelligible et re-proposable.

Le choix dune intervention archologique dans un point donn du territoire nest pas laiss
au hasard, cest dire, elle ne peut pas partir dune tabula rasa mme si Karl Popper avait
mis un avis contraire, erreur que nous pouvons lui pardonner volontiers parce que
lpistmologue, pour une fois, tait sorti de sa comptence disciplinaire, en marchant dans
un domaine scientifique qu'videmment il ne connaissait pas ou connaissait seulement par
des prjudices ou des lieux communs- mais qui doit popperiennement- partir dune
hypothse scientifique, par exemple de lexistence certaine ou prsume de reliquats du
pass dans un certain lieu gographique.

La nouvelle acquisition, transitoire et dogmatiquement non dfinitive, nous consigne un

morceau du puzzle que nous voulons configurer comme une fresque historique (et pr- et
proto-historique, dvnements, dhistoire, volutions et involutions, crations et destructions)
laquelle nous rapportons notre diversit, notre diffrence et distance, notre exigence
existentielle, notre prcarit : entre un pass non rcuprable et un futur non prconisable,
elle fluctue sur londe dun prsent insaisissable.

La fouille est un procd destructeur parce qu'elle tend isoler les lments qui constituent
lensemble questionner, en privilgiant des donnes par rapport d'autres, slectionne les
parties juges significatives de celles considres cartables, cre les trouvailles, en
nuclant, en mesurant, en les plaant dans un rticule cartsien, en les dcrivant, en les
photographiant et dessinant, leur attribuant un code alphanumrique et en les rendant
uniques.

Les choses que larchologue a cartes, les liens entre les trouvailles pas vus ou pas
apprcis, les relations non trouves constituent la limite subjective impose la relecture
du pass qu'on trouve sdiment dans la terre.

A ce propos larchologie contemporaine, avec un acte dhumilit vers les possibilits

scientifiques futures, vite de fouiller compltement le site, en laissant des zones non
touches pour des interventions faire dans des poques futures, probablement capables
dmettre d'autres hypothses heuristiques et d'autres techniques et technologies
diagnostiques.

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Pourtant lquipe multidisciplinaire qui fouille (larchologue seul qui dcouvre des
civilisations du pass est dsormais une figure consigner dfinitivement lalbum
romantique des souvenirs) doit fonctionner selon un projet qui relie ensemble les diffrents
rsultats pr-dfinis et explicits selon la hirarchie des objectifs quon doit attendre.

Le projet devra tenir compte des rsultats de la fouille archologique quon veut raliser, des
ncessits dlaboration des donnes traiter dans le laboratoire (ou dans les diffrents
laboratoires spcialiss), et de lutilisation finale des nouvelles connaissances et des
nouvelles trouvailles, d'extrioriser, de porter au dehors et de montrer, travers des
itinraires et parcours varis: des publications spcialises celles de divulgation, de dpt
magasin jusquau muse, jusqu ce point dtermin de lespace expositif, explicatif,
interactif: vitrine, podium, carrefour, voie, forum.

Les itinraires et les parcours, du site au muse, ne sont jamais casuels, mais proviennent
des choix politiques de politique culturelle - explicites ou implicites, conscients ou
inconscients, lis la culture, la socit, au systme de pouvoir, lintelligence des sujets
dputs aux dcisions

Ce n'est pas toujours laction explicite qui va dterminer le destin dun site archologique ou
dune mergence monumentale: lincurie, la ngligence ou limbcillit dans lapproche
conservatrice arrivent parfois aux mmes remarquables rsultats de brisement et perte des
donnes du pass comme il est advenu, par exemple en Italie- la cathdrale de Noto, aux
peintures prhistoriques de Porto Badisco, aux murs aurliens de Rome, la Domus Aurea,
etc. etc. etc.

Ou, grce aussi d'imposants fonds europens, on va btir un barrage, pour un but
discutable dirrigation sur le fleuve Guadiana, la frontire entre lEspagne et le Portugal,
Alqueva ; et cela sans tudes exhaustives dimpact environnemental et par une enqute
territoriale superficielle darchologie qui ne relve pas, ne voit pas plus de 10 kilomtres
de sites archologiques et dart rupestre, de considrables vestiges qui datent du
Msolithique lAge du Fer.

Dans un monde aux possibilits limites (conomiques, structurelles, humaines) dinteragir

dune faon intelligente avec le patrimoine culturel du pass, la seule voie demeurant
praticable est doptimiser les ressources disponibles, valuer cots et bnfices, et pourtant
crire un plan/programme/projet qui couvre compltement litinraire, du site au muse, sans
solutions de continuit et sans laisser de traits de parcours au hasard, la fortune, la
divine providence, cette dernire certainement, justement, toujours - engage en bien
dautres affaires.

La trouvaille, rcupre dans une opration de fouille archologique, est un objet avec
plusieurs liens son contexte de provenance: elle est comme un tesson de mosaque qui ne
peut pas parler si est isole de ses alentours, des relations avec lensemble, elle est comme
un mot qui perd son orientation et sa force expressive s'il est spar de la phrase
dappartenance. Pourtant lopration archologique ne vise pas isoler les trouvailles (si
monumentales qu'elles puissent tre) mais c'est un projet de reconstruction de la ralit qui
sera aussi consenti par les analyses de laboratoire et de ltude qui labore une lecture du
pass et des dynamiques qui ont dtermin lvolution du site travers le temps, jusqu
aujourdhui. Naturellement le point maximum de difficult est constitu par le passage de la
trouvaille du laboratoire la vitrine, la salle du muse, pour lostension. Il est clair que la
capacit de fournir des informations suffisantes au public, aux visiteurs, est lie la
connaissance complte de lhistoire de la recherche en amont de la trouvaille, sans laquelle
lartefact est absolument comparable un objet achet au march aux puces.

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- Le changement de catgorie des trouvailles: dobjets de contemplation et de culte aux
documents; de lunicit et la singularit linsertion dans un rseau informatif ; de la clture
spcialistique louverture sociale.

La trouvaille, matrialisation dun fragment du pass, morceau de ralit qui se trouve au

carrefour du diachronique et du synchronique, survivance, reste et relique dun monde
disparu hier ou dix, cent, un million annes passes- nous observe et nous relativise. Aussi
nous sortons de la vague du prsent qui nous envahit et grce au tmoin muet lobjet
archologique- dpoque distincte de notre essence quotidienne, qui peut acqurir ombre et
paisseur, et laborer intellectuellement- les scnarios des poques, le story-board de la
vie. A cause de leur vidente attitude se proposer comme des objets miraculeux,
fascinants, mystrieux, magiques, tranges et anormaux, les trouvailles ont jou, ds
l'poque nandertalienne, un rle damulettes et de symboles. Les collections de cristaux et
coquilles des hommes de la prhistoire, la fabrication dinutiles mais esthtiquement
notables- amygdales, traites avec d'opportunes techniques de pierres avec fracture
conchode, a sign le passage de lanimalit lHomo Faber, jusqu nous immodestement
et bouffiement- Sapiens Sapiens.

L'poque des Lumires et le triomphe de la science positiviste au XIXme sicles ont

remplac les Chambres des Merveilles et les Cabinets de Curiosits des poques
alchimiques, en y introduisant ordre et classification. La sortie du chaos est obtenue avec
des tiquettes et de petits panneaux crits avec de lencre de Chine. Quoique ces fragments
furent classifis et aligns dans les vitrines avec lintention de les consigner la complte
observation des savants qui se promnent dans les laboratoires, dans les galeries, dans les
archives et dpts, un plus vaste public aussi fut admis non sans rituels ddis- goter
des parties slectionnes ad usum delphini- des collections.

Mais le changement avait eu lieu et la trouvaille, perdant un peu daura, acquit une valeur
didactique, puissance pdagogique, attitude heuristique. Lancienne magie fut confirme
dans la nouvelle faon de vhicule scientifique. Et la science moderne cra les rseaux
informatifs, les catgories exprimentales, les disciplines magistrales, les statuts
scientifiques, dont les bases reposent encore sur la trouvaille, dsormais certifie et garantie
par les preuves de laboratoire et par la reproductibilit des expriences.

Du monde clos des spcialistes, la trouvaille ou mieux, dsormais on doit dire les
ensembles organiques des trouvailles- va se replacer dans des structures dostension : les
muses scientifiques, les nouveaux temples du savoir moderne et du rendez-vous entre la
culture spcialise et lhumanit dsireuse dtre acculture.

Le rle de diffuseur social de connaissance du muse devient la nouvelle vocation de

linstitution re-connote et replace dans des contextes quotidiens et amicaux pour la
communaut, avec un pouvoir amplifi dinterfrence avec les autres centres du savoir,
lcole et luniversit en particulier, sans ngliger les autres composantes de la socit
(associations, syndicats, catgories professionnelles, mnagres, troisime ge, etc.).

- La recherche archologique et musale: la conscience dans la production de la trouvaille; la

responsabilit de la conservation; lthique dans lostension.

La trouvaille archologique scientifiquement acquise nest pas un objet qui affleure

fortuitement de la nuit des temps mais un document riche de donnes et dinformations
potentielles : elle doit obtenir son papier didentit et un statut qui drivent des procdures
avec lesquelles elle a t extraite du contexte dans lequel elle dormait avant de voir
nouvellement la lumire.

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 Si les choses ne se droulent pas de cette faon, il serait prfrable quelle continue
reposer dans lobscurit de loubli jusquau moment o des archologues intellectuellement
illumins lintercepteront.
Un projet archologique qui par essence est destructeur du site qu'il investigue - doit tenir
compte de la destination de la trouvaille, de toutes et de chaque trouvaille, destination qui
sera prcise seulement a posteriori, aprs avoir accompli les tudes, les analyses et les
dmarches ncessaires extraire de lobjet la plus grande quantit dinformations qu'il soit
possible dobtenir ; aprs quoi la pice sera envoye aux vitrines du muse, a ltalage
du dptmagasin, la bote dun laboratoire didactique, etc.
Le devoir moral du chercheur est donc dtre un btisseur, un ouvrier, et limpratif thique
est celui de lostension, entendue dans le sens le plus ample du terme, c'est dire de rendre
commun tous les biens culturels, parce quils sont des instruments universaux dlvation
spirituelle, entendus de manire claire comme patrimoine de la collectivit, en opposition
la conception mdivale, fodale et absolutiste de proprit exclusive du prince.

- La vhiculation musale de la connaissance: les messages gnraux, implicites et explicites;

les informations spcifiques, mises sur diffrents niveaux daccs, pour les diffrents niveaux
dducation et dapprentissage.

Projeter un muse, archologique ou non, signifie aujourdhui avoir clairement lesprit que
linstitution est principalement un instrument de vhiculation de la connaissance, en plus d'un
lieu de conservation, de recherche et dtude.

Transmettre des connaissances signifie aussi savoir les cueillir, laborer, tudier, proposer:
la trouvaille qui est dj en soi loquente, ncessite des prothses explicatives pour la
rendre accessible au grand public, le public qui aujourdhui dsire recevoir information et
formation par le muse. Du visiteur le plus curieux et attentif, prompt et disponible au
dialogue, qui est reprsent par lcolier de lcole primaire, jusquau coriace, distrait,
anxieux et press visiteur adulte, souvent aussi snob et prsomptueux, de toute faon
ignorant ou analphabte de retour si bien fourni de lauream -, le muse doit donner des
messages diffrencis par une multiplicit de subsides qui vont du noble personnage en
chair et en os tel quest lducateur musal, jusquau triste mcanicien audiovisuel ou au
support interactif, CD-rom, DVD, ignobles substituts des vrais rapports interpersonnels.
Du public on est pass l'utilisateur: changement qui carte lorientation de laxe musal qui
de find centred passe visitor oriented ; le vieux muse a t lieu litaire ou les trouvailles
furent ranges typologiquement et taxonomiquement comme des troupes militaires la
parade. Aujourdhui on doit tenir compte des exigences ducatives des visiteurs qui
conoivent le muse comme un lieu de formation de la connaissance au niveaux personnel
et social.
Lancienne conjugaison AcadmieMuse, circuit clos de lpoque de la Renaissance,
trouve nouvellement aujourdhui une consonance apparente dans le rapport Ecole Muse,
circuit ouvert vers le futur.

- La relativit de la connaissance et la problmatique des hypothses prsentes et

reprsentes dans le muse.

La connaissance du pass est le point fondamental de rfrence autour duquel on organise

lactivit musale ; le muse a une valence explicite et symbolique qui se concrtise dans le
rapport instaur avec les alentours et avec la socit par la mdiation du groupe de
rfrence ou de gestion qui va dterminer le destin de linstitution.

Larchologie de la connaissance (Cognitive Archaeology), ne en milieu anglo-saxon au

dbut des annes 1980, se rfre aux tudes des socits du pass dans lesquelles une

116
attention particulire est dvolue aux processus du pens humain et aux comportements
symboliques.

Puisque la pense ne se fossilise pas, les restes archologiques consistent uniquement en

fragments de culture matrielle: artefacts, ossements, constructions; il ny a pas
dinformations directes sur les systmes de croyances, sur les processus de pense dans
les esprits du pass ; ces donnes doivent tre dduites exclusivement des trouvailles.
Larchologie cognitive cherche accomplir cette tache, avec la conviction que des
interprtations appropries des restes du pass peuvent nous conduire aux procds
mentaux de leur cration et que, en construisant des modles de ces anciennes socits, il
doit tre possible de reconstruire les systmes et les processus de pense et de
comportement.

Les hypothses interprtatives ont beaucoup vari dans les derniers cinq cent ans: la valeur
et la signification des trouvailles prhistoriques ont chang selon les diffrentes perspectives
mentales et de reprsentativit sociale de ceux qui les observent.

Au XVIme sicle, les humanistes incorporaient dans les premires collections

encyclopdiques publiques du prince, des trouvailles prhistoriques en pierre, les indiquant
comme pierre de foudre ou bizarrerie de la nature et aussi correctement- comme
pointes de flches et couteaux fabriqus par la main de lhomme.

Pendant les sicles suivants, la vision publique des biens culturels fut largie, mais la
signification attribue reste presque identique, bien confine dans la catgorie de ltrange
ou du rare : les merveilles ou les curiosits, Naturalia, Artificialia et Mirabilia des
Wunderkammern et des Cabinets de Curiosits.

Pendant le XVIIIme sicle et au dbut du XIXme, les objets archologiques reoivent un

nouveau statut drivant de linfluence des Lumires - dobjets prhistoriques ayant appartenu
lhomme antdiluvien, dfini ensuite laquement comme pr-biblique par la science de la fin
du XIXme sicle.

Mais c'est seulement pendant le XXme sicle que en saffranchissant des mythologies et
des superstitions mdivales- les objets prhistoriques viennent se placer dans des
structures musales suivant des critres typologiques et stratigraphiques, pour reprsenter
les cultures les plus archaques du Palolithique Infrieur jusquaux poques Proto
historiques, en connexion avec le statut nouveau et le rle amplifi de larchologie
prhistorique dans le monde entier.

La jouissance rpandue des biens musaux archologiques: les problmes de dialogue, le

feedback, lhistoire, laction et limage complexe de linstitution museale.

La modernisation, lvolution des procds technologiques qui supportent nos coutumes

quotidiennes, le rythme acclr de la diffusion du savoir, le monde de la communication de
masse qui se dilate, lessoufflement de naviguer dans une mer de nouvelles toujours plus
agite, la juste proccupation dtre adquats aux objectifs qui varient rapidement, soit dans
le domaine scientifique soit dans le social, la socit civile qui tend toujours davantage se
convertir dans un lieu de citoyennet globale, sont les nouveaux paramtres et les multiples
directions de lactivit cognitive de lhomme.
La rvolution pistmologique a replac sa juste dimension lhomme visavis du cosmos.
Lhumanit est aujourdhui un virage, probablement sans retour, si nous considrons que
notre espce (animale) est celle qui exerce la plus grande pression sur lenvironnement
naturel.

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Lvolution technologique qui a dtermin cette situation na pas t linaire, mais a eu un
mouvement de croissance exponentielle. Pendant plus de quatre millions dannes,
lhomme, soutenu par une conomie de cueillette, chasse et pche, est rest en constant
quilibre avec les ressources de la nature et avec les disponibilits de son environnement. Il
y a seulement 10.000 ans qu'est entame la rvolution du Nolithique, avec linvention dun
nouvel ordre conomique, technologique et social, caractris par la sdentarit,
lagriculture, le pastoralisme, linvention de la cramique puis de la mtallurgie. Le rapport
hommeenvironnement a commenc changer progressivement, avec une utilisation du
territoire toujours plus intense et avec les modifications cologiques consquentes, souvent
irrversibles, provoques par les inventions technologiques et par la pression
dmographique.

La reprsentation du changement la squence, la chronologie, le carrefour entre la donne

synchronique et diachronique- est constitu par la trouvaille qui est le morceau de pass que
nous devons mettre en place, classer, exposer pour le bnfice de tous. Cette jouissance
doit tre acte de cognition et rcognition pour tous, afin de percevoir le flux du temps, tter le
pass et le mettre en perspective avec le prsent qui nous transporte incessamment vers le
futur, opration essentielle et vitale pour la continuit de la culture humaine, sans laquelle on
aurait le collapsus de notre histoire et de notre espce parce que lhomme, ne possdant
pas de spcialisation physique, est spcialis dans la production de la culture et dans sa
transmission.

Le muse, en tenant compte de la condition humaine, est un instrument fondamental de

transmission culturelle et en mme temps un facteur de survivance pour lhumanit: nous
pouvons le comparer au moteur raction qui soutien un avion en vol.

Espaces ouverts/espaces clos territoire et muse: le muse du territoire; le territoire du

muse; le territoire-muse (open air museum).

La musologie qui sest arrog le droit, ou le privilge, de constituer et construire la casse

forte des bijoux de famille de lhumanit, dans le sens de discriminer ce qui doit tre
conserv avantage de la postrit, ou au moins tenter de conserver pour la science et
connaissance de nos fils et des fils de nos fils, et la robe qui peut tre abandonne loubli
du temps, ne possde pas aujourdhui toutes les certitudes du pass rcent et elle
sinterroge -toujours avec une inquitude majeure- sur les valeurs qui doivent tre
embaumes et transmises aux gnrations futures.

Un nouvel lment de discrimination est venu des sciences du paysage et en particulier de

la landscape archaeology, grce laquelle la conception du muse sest tendue aux lieux
ouverts, aux cosystmes naturels et anthropiss, en laborant le concept dcomuse qui
va surclasser la conception du vieux muse de plein air, le scansen museet des pays
scandinaves ou le land museum de tradition anglo-saxonne.

Le landscape museum peut aussi ne pas tre un muse entendu au sens traditionnel- et se
concevoir comme une manire doffrir la possibilit au public de dchiffrer, de lire le territoire.

Un projet musal open air nous porte une construction fondamentalement vide de
structures matrielles pour abriter les trouvailles parce quil est le territoire mme qui se
transforme en cole, laboratoire et muse, grce des actions de perception et dcryptage
des stratifications physiques et culturelles qui transforment naturalia en artificialia, en suivant
un parcours guid et auto guid. Dans ce cas la conservation sidentifie strictement avec la
politique de planification du territoire et avec lurbanistique.

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Une affaire archologique et anthropologique spciale: lArt Rupestre.

Il y a maintenant plus dun sicle que lart rupestre est tudi, discut, dchiffr, en dbats
souvent passionns. Le matriel produit remplirait la mythique bibliothque dAlexandrie, si
elle existait encore et si nous pouvions y concentrer tous les livres, tous les manuscrits,
toutes les mmoires, tous les relevs et toutes les documentations de tous les savants de la
discipline. Mais cela nest pas possible et le sera difficilement dans le futur : dans cette
utopique et imaginaire bibliothque globale, une trs grande somme de donns se sont
perdues dans le temps la mme vitesse par laquelle on va en acqurir de nouvelles.
Nos horizons sont aujourdhui certainement plus vastes que par le pass: les dcouvertes se
sont multiplies dans tous les continents, avec lvidente exception de lAntarctique,
quelques sites ont disparu mais beaucoup de nouveaux districts ont t dcouverts et
laccroissement de la documentation est exponentiel : celle-ci semble suivre la courbe du
dveloppement dune pandmie. Limpression que les Matres du pass avaient de pouvoir
matriser tout le savoir disciplinaire a t mise en crise, soit par le dluge des donnes, soit
par linformatique en rseau, Internet, qui nous oblige prendre acte de notre inadquation
congnitale face locan des donnes arrimes dans les cales lectroniques.

Localisation de lart rupestre: les macro-geomorphologies.

Les lments de localisation et de spcification gographique et topographique ne sont plus

traits marginalement comme des donnes logistiques de faible relevance, mais ils vont
prendre une position centrale : les diffrentes composantes du paysage et les macro-
gomorphologies constituent une partie intgrante du phnomne art rupestre, avec une
importance gale sinon majeure des autres donnes de micro analyse, plus consolides,
telles que la forme des graphismes, la technique excutive, le mdium utilis, le style, la
composition, etc.

Ces nouveaux lments de localisation des sites sont donns par des paramtres qui
constituent le paysage, anthropis par la prsence de lart rupestre, signe lger qui ne
modifie que discrtement la surface des roches mais qui accomplit la grande transformation,
du naturel au construit : du chaos lordre, ordo ab chao, selon lexpression des alchimistes
du moyen ge.

Cette chane dinterdpendances situe le savant ou l'quipe de recherche dans une sorte
de prison cognitive ou de trappe du temps prsent de laquelle on doit tre conscient, dans
la tentative de surpasser lhorizon de lhomologation mono-culturelle, en cherchant de plus
grands degrs de libert.

La globalisation et la rcente attention vers lenvironnement, entendu comme cosystme

mondial, ont apport de nouveaux lments et rveill des ferments latents aussi dans le
domaine de lart rupestre. Larchologie du paysage (landscape archaeology) a reu de
robustes encouragements et de significatifs largissements dhorizon.

Les sites dart rupestre : la conservation in situ or la virtualit dans le muse.

En considrant le territoire et son anthropisation ancienne ou actuelle, les sites dart rupestre
peuvent tre classifis en trois grands groupes :

a) sites fossiles dart rupestre : Tous les liens avec le pass sont coups et il ny a
plus de liaisons avec lactualit ni lhistoire de ce territoire, soit crite soit orale ; leur mmoire
tait compltement disparue jusqu'au moment de la dcouverte par des chercheurs
scientifiques ou occasionnels ;

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b) sites historiques dart rupestre : il y a des survivances de mmoires historiques
prsumes, lies en gnral aux lgendes ou aux cultes, traditions et contes populaires,
dits du pouvoir civil ou de lautorit religieuse, actes de procs inquisitoriaux, etc. ;
c) sites vivants dart rupestre : dans ces lieux, encore aujourdhui frquents pour
des raisons religieuses ou crmonielles, sans apparente solution de continuit avec le
pass, on perptue un usage spcial et traditionnel pour finalit de culte, gnralement en
possession des communauts locales qui les utilisent et les gardent.

Le paysage rel et le paysage peru : sacre et profane.

Lart rupestre se prsente comme un lment fortement associ au paysage, ou mieux, il est
tellement li au contexte que nous sommes dans limpossibilit de le considrer dune faon
autonome et spare.

La perception de la ralit est un phnomne de type bioculturel car elle dpend de ltat
physiologique (ge, sant, etc.) de lobservateurchercheur et du complexe de sa modalit
culturelle spcifique, individuelle et sociale. Effondr dans cette forme du rel, le
discernement de lart rupestre est le rsultat de la comparaison avec le modle gnral
global de laire dans laquelle on mne la recherche. Les attentions actuelles au contexte du
paysage dans le domaine de la recherche archologique et ethnoanthropologique sont une
conqute, relativement rcente, de ltude de la gomorphologie entendue comme somme,
rservoir et rcipient de la complexit de la ralit.

Aujourdhui, sur la face de la terre il ny a plus de paysage compltement naturel ; laction de

lhomme sur lenvironnement sest diffuse dans toutes les aires, des dserts jusqu'aux
landes polaires. De la matrise du feu par lHomo Erectus, il y a plus de 500.000 ans,
travers la rvolution nolithique jusqu notre re atomique et interplantaire, toute la surface
terrestre porte les stigmates plus ou moins vidents de lanthropisation.

Lart rupestre est un de ces signes, peut-tre le plus ancien signal et le premier symptme
perceptible, la trace matrielle de la spiritualit complexe de lhomme et du dveloppement
de ses capacits cognitives suprieures, le reste des activits pas directement fonctionnelles
ou ncessaires la survivance quotidienne, mais peut-tre utiles pour donner cohsion et
force laction de perptuer la descendance humaine.

Le paysage se prsente aux hommes comme le lieu qui est reconnaissable par les signaux
quil met pour la vie quotidienne dans lequel elle se droule ; il est labri, la protection, la
source, la nourriture ; il est aussi la terre des morts, des anctres ; et enfin il est le territoire
du mythe, de la lgende, du rve et par consquent aussi du sacr et de lau-del. Sacr et
profane sont deux catgories qui se fondent inextricablement entre elles et sont toujours
contenues dans le paysage qui est construit soit par les prsences soit par les absences, par
la ralit et par la virtualit, par le conscient et linconscient ; les correspondances arrivent au
niveau culturel et cest lhomme qui charge de significations symboliques la morphologie du
territoire, en construisant les plans mentaux et psychiques qui deviennent le substrat sur
lequel on va btir le projet de vie que lindividu et le groupe dveloppent dans le temps.

Ces paysages mentaux constituent le thtre dans lequel lhumanit ralise sa propre
culture. Lantinomie nature/culture trouve exactement dans le concept du paysage le
fondement de la civilisation avec les signaux vidents des transformations et des
interventions anthropiques qui redessinent de nouveau le territoire.

Lart rupestre se place exactement au sommet de cette antinomie : par des interventions
lgres, par de petites modifications superficielles sur les parois de grottes, dabris, de

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roches de plein air, lhomme a transform le territoire en crant le panorama sacr, par une
opration dnorme efficacit politique, conomique et sociale.

Lart rupestre aujourdhui est le reste, la donne survivante dune construction culturelle
complexe dont le temps et loubli de la mmoire ont effac presque tous les lments
constituants : les rites, les sons et les chants, les actions mimiques nont pas laiss de trace,
parce que la tradition orale et les gestes ne se fossilisent pas.

En fixant un centre qui organise le territoire et donc range lunivers le faisant sortir du chaos
primordial, on va tablir le territoire connu et fiable duquel on extrait le soutien quotidien par
rapport au territoire inconnu et pas fiable dans lequel prvalent des forces considres
comme hostiles.

Et dans ce thtre en plain air, exactement constitu des sites dart rupestre, il est possible
difier le muse de la plus ancienne activit cognitive de lhomme.

Rsum

De la fouille au laboratoire jusqu la vitrine: itinraires et trajectoires non alatoires.

Le changement de catgorie des trouvailles: dobjets de contemplation et de culte
aux documents; de lunicit et de la singularit linsertion dans un rseau informatif ;
de la clture spcialiste louverture sociale.
La recherche archologique et musale: la conscience dans la production de la
trouvaille; la responsabilit de la conservation; lthique dans lostension.
La vhiculation musale de la connaissance: les messages gnraux, implicites et
explicites; les informations spcifiques, mises sur diffrents niveaux daccs, pour les
diffrents niveaux dducation et dapprentissage.
La relativit de la connaissance et la problmatique des hypothses prsentes et
reprsentes dans le muse.
La jouissance rpandue des biens musaux archologiques: les problmes de
dialogue, le feedback, lhistoire, laction et limage globale de linstitution museale.
Espaces ouverts/espaces clos territoire et muse : le muse du territoire ; le
territoire du muse ; le territoire-muse (open air museum).
Une affaire archologique et anthropologique spciale: lArt Rupestre, larchologie
cognitive, la conservation. Original-rel ou virtuel ?

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A comunicao nos museus na era das novas tecnologias,
luz das metforas de W. Barnett Pearce

Vera Lucia de Azevedo Siqueira Brasil

Este artigo prope um debate, com base nas metforas comunicacionais de W. Barnett
Pearce, em torno da comunicao nos museus na era das novas tecnologias, cujo advento
tem engendrado mudanas significativas nessas instituies em todo o mundo. Com efeito,
a partir dos anos 90, o aperfeioamento da Internet - com a criao da rede WWW, em que
o hipertexto, as imagens, o som e o vdeo enriquecem o ciberespao - tem provocado uma
nova revoluo na comunicao-mundo e, por extenso, na cultura-mundo. Assim, o museu
tradicional v-se diante de novas possibilidades de comunicao, mais rpidas e
desterritorializadas. Agora o "museu imaginrio" previsto por Andr Malraux, uma
realidade.

Trs metforas

Tendo em vista tentar entender algumas mudanas na comunicao dos museus,

propiciadas pelo advento das novas tecnologias, optamos por trazer para o debate algumas
idias de W. Barnett Pearce. A partir de trs metforas, a do terremoto, a do movimento da
serpente e a do jogo, este autor faz referncia comunicao relacionada com o novo
paradigma, que consiste de novas maneiras de pensar sobre ns mesmos, nossa relao
mtua e a sociedade em que vivemos.

Novo paradigma e revoluo das comunicaes

O primeiro ponto para reflexo que o novo paradigma no surgiu do nada, mas uma
resposta s condies materiais do mundo atual. Um dos aspectos da contemporaneidade
a revoluo das comunicaes. Hoje, o que chamamos velho paradigma est configurado
na revoluo propiciada h tempos pela escrita e, mais tarde, pelo advento da imprensa. O
segundo ponto que, na atualidade, com o advento dos meios eletrnicos experimentamos,
segundo Pearce, outra revoluo comunicativa que tem modificado nossa vida em aspectos
muito complexos que ainda estamos elaborando. O terceiro ponto que o novo paradigma,
ao colocar em primeiro plano a comunicao, questionou nosso conceito sobre a
comunicao. Da, o autor exemplificar esse novo paradigma com a metfora do terremoto,
que proporciona uma permanente sensao de vertigem. Para Pearce, nossa emancipao
do velho paradigma ainda incipiente, por isso a tendncia a tomar algumas idias novas e
injet-las em velhas formas de pensar e agir. Da, ser necessrio questionar
freqentemente nossa prticas.

Novo paradigma e comunicao

De acordo com Pearce, no velho paradigma, h um conceito de comunicao que aborda

trs aspectos: o primeiro, supunha que a linguagem se referisse ao mundo, ou seja, s
coisas que esto l fora; o segundo, estabelece que a transmisso de mensagens a
funo chave da comunicao; e o terceiro, define a comunicao como um processo
secundrio. Para este autor, no novo paradigma, em primeiro lugar concordamos que a
linguagem constri o mundo; em segundo, concordamos que a funo primria da
linguagem a construo de mundos humanos; o terceiro ponto de consenso diz respeito a
que a comunicao sucede o processo social primrio; j o quarto ponto, abandona o
consenso, pois de acordo com Pearce os interessados no novo paradigma no esto

122
seguros de como pensar a comunicao e isso se deve a que os paradigmas no mudam
de repente, nem ao mesmo tempo em todos os lugares. Da, o sentimento de vertigem.
Ainda segundo o autor, h duas posturas sobre a natureza da comunicao: uma centrada
na linguagem e outra, nas atividades como meio construtivo. O quinto ponto diz que
estamos imersos em atividades sociais, em que a linguagem est em nossos mundos, mas
no o parmetro deles. A esse enfoque, Pearce chama de construcionismo social.

Construcionismo social: algumas idias bsicas

A primeira idia de Pearce a de que o mundo social consiste em atividades. Para o autor,
a substncia do mundo social so as conversaes, ou seja, padres de atividades
conjuntas semelhantes a jogos. H uma grande variedade de jogos: os esportes, um jantar
ou um bate-papo. Desde que nascemos nos inclumos em pautas de interao social
semelhantes a jogos. A segunda idia de Pearce que os seres humanos tm uma
capacidade inata para criar seus lugares nesses tipos de jogos. A terceira idia a de que
essas atividades se estruturam segundo algumas regras acerca do que devemos ou no
fazer. Somos seres sociais e estamos imersos num processo em curso, no qual as
conversaes desenvolvem-se em vaivm, como num movimento de serpente. A quarta
idia que, para entender esses jogos, temos de nos centrar no produzir e no fazer.
Finalmente, a quinta idia que, quando nos incorporamos a essas pautas de interao
social semelhantes a jogos, nunca nos incorporamos a um nico jogo: em nossa vida
sempre jogamos muitos jogos ao mesmo tempo e s vezes nos confundimos, da que a
estratgia vencedora num contexto pode ser perdedora em outro.

Construcionismo social: self, significado e contexto

Essa perspectiva, de acordo com Pearce, questiona idias bsicas sobre quem somos,
nossa vida, nossa tica e nossas instituies sociais. A comear da noo do self
(indivduo), que para o autor significa nos reconhecermos a ns mesmos e assumirmos
responsabilidades. A segunda implicao diz respeito ao significado das aes que
realizamos: s realizamos atos em interaes sociais. Assim, o significado de uma
enunciao est sempre inconcluso e o que o outro faz o completa, mas no
definitivamente. A comunicao , portanto, um processo circular (o movimento da
serpente), da a terceira implicao, a de contexto: para entender o que acontece em
determinado momento temos que compreend-lo em funo do que sucedeu previamente e
do que suceder depois.

Novos paradigmas - revoluo das comunicaes - conhecimento

Para Pearce, o velho paradigma era ligado divulgao escrita de materiais: sua noo de
conhecimento requeria que o que fosse considerado como tal, tinha de ser escrito. J o
novo paradigma consiste na passagem da teoria prtica. O autor lembra que teoria em
sua etimologia significa espectador. Com relao ao novo paradigma da comunicao,
Pearce pergunta se somos participantes ou espectadores, conclui dizendo que somos
participantes e isso implica questionar que tipo de conhecimento adequado aos
participantes: para ele, seria a praxis (prtica) aliada fronesis (uma sabedoria sobre
como funcionam as coisas do mundo).

Voltando revoluo das comunicaes, Pearce diz ainda que se os padres de atividade
conformam o mundo social, o meio de comunicao que utilizamos ser a infra-estrutura
que possibilite esses jogos. E meios podem ser a fala, a escrita, os videocassetes, os
udios, os semforos, as bandeiras, os sinais de fumaa. Eles nos permitem fazer certas
coisas e no outras. Os novos meios eletrnicos no s modificaram a estrutura fsica do
mundo social, mas tambm a estrutura moral: democratizamos os meios de produo de
smbolos culturais.

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Concluindo, a partir da transposio das trs metforas utilizadas por Pearce, propomos as
seguintes questes que nos parecem motivadoras para uma discusso em torno da
comunicao no Museu diante do advento das novas tecnologias:

1 O que o Museu deve fazer frente ao terremoto de um novo paradigma, que ocasiona
uma perda de sua estabilidade ao propor um novo tempo (mais acelerado) e um novo
espao (o virtual)?

2 - Como as novas tecnologias podem propiciar, com base num movimento de serpente, a
introduo, no Museu, de referncias a mltiplos e diversificados contextos?

3 Com o advento das novas tecnologias, o Museu convidado a tomar parte no jogo.
Que implicaes podem advir dessa sua opo?

Referncia bibliogrfica

PEARCE, W. Barnett. Novos modelos e metforas comunicacionais: a passagem da teoria

prtica, do objetivismo ao construcionismo social e da representao
reflexidade. In: SCHNITMAN, Dora Fried (org) Novos paradigmas, cultura e
subjetividade. Porto Alegre: Artes Mdicas, 1996, p. 172-183.

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 The Search for Autonomy
Museology, Museums and Globalisation

Marlia Xaxier Cury

This text has the purpose of collaborating with the discussion of a subject of great relevance,
Museums and Globalisation.1 For that it presents some questions to be considered for this
reflection and makes the effort to give motive to professionals of museums in getting
prepared for this new world-wide model that, being economic, reaches a transcultural
dimension. Today the world is the history stage and Museology needs to respond with
efficiency and efficacy to this new paradigm.

... The politician in practice is a creator, one who makes appear, but he
does not create starting from nothing neither moves himself in the empty
agitation of his desires and dreams. He takes as basis the effective reality:
but what is this effective reality? Should it be something static and
immovable, or, on the contrary, a relation of forces in continuous movement
and alteration of equilibrium? To apply the will to the creation of a new
equilibrium of really existing and actuating forces, basing himself in that
specific force considered to be progressive, fortifying it to make it triumph,
means to continue moving himself in the ground of effective reality, but to
dominate it and excel it (or to contribute for that). Therefore, the "must be"
is something concrete, or better, it is the sole realistic and historic
interpretation of reality, it only is history in practice and philosophy in
practice, it only is politics.
Antonio Gramsci

Answer quickly:
Why the Pope John Paul II travels (used to travel) so much?
Why the day 11 of September is unforgettable?
What the Brazilian MST (Movement of the Without Land) went to do in Palestine?
Why are we living the phenomenon of transnationalisation, which phenomenon surpasses
the limits of the national to reach the universalization of ideas, values, standards,
procedures, reaching the cultural and social ambit. The world is then the stage of history
because the problems today are transnational, they became world-wide. Economy, terrorism,
environment, culture of mass, sport, propaganda, tourism and fashion are some examples of
the globalisation effects, are examples of world-wide aspects. The crime against the World
Trade Centre is another recent and concrete example. A terrible example of which we have
been all affected. The whole world assisted on the TV, simultaneously to the occurrence, the
scenes of destruction of the twin towers. All we have seen the spectacle offered by
globalisation in all visual angles and all we have shared the preoccupation with the future:
what may occur? Which will be the US and world reactions?

The world is the stage of history and this bring to us new dilemmas, impasses and
perspectives. We are going through a historical rupture and, therefore, epistemological,

1
This text has been elaborated starting from other not published articles: Museology, Museums and Globalisation
(accessible in http://www.revistamuseu.com.br/artigos), Exposition, Interaction and Alterity
(http://planeta.terra.com.br/arte/museusbsb/leitura) and Cultural Patrimony, Museums and Cultural Tourism
(presentation in the I Cycle of Regional Conferences, DEMA, Brodowski and Tup/SP).

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resembling to the historical ruptures which occurred with the discovery of America and with
the Industrial and French Revolutions.

Today we are living the transition between the paradigm of yesterday, of the national society,
and that of today, of the global society. It is the paradigm of the national society making way
to the global society. The concept of national society was born with the French Revolution
and with the burgess hegemony1 2and nation was an invention which led and leads to
forgetfulness of facts and reconstruction of the tradition. Today we live in a global village and
this means that the national society exists within the global society. The nation question has
not disappeared, but has changed of place.

The global society is a new society, new relations, processes and structures are being
engendered. And a new concept is coming forth, that of no territorialization of things, of
ideas, of the individual.

But globalisation is a primordially economic process and has in his bulge the capitalism
way of production and civilising process. Subaltern forms of capitalism and moments of the
globalisation process are the Mercantilism, the Colonialism, the Imperialism and the
Globalisation as we understand it today.

The neo-liberalism, economical expression of the globalism, understands the global society
as a global system. It has a systematic vision of the present world in its ideological speech
and in the transnational corporations which are not, necessarily, capitalist corporations.
ICOM is a transnational corporation, as well as Green Peace, WWF, FIFA. The football world
cup and the Olympiad are transnational events.

But, as we know, not everything are roses in the process of making things world-wide. First
because the historical rupture is leading to groupings as we can see in East Europe and
to accommodation considering the imposing character of globalism. Second because there
are cultural costs (and human costs which will not be discussed here) and this affects
museums and Museology. The process of transculturation world-wide cultural hybridisation
means an interchange of cultural values which is not necessarily negative nor baneful, but
complex and delicate and deserves all attention from the part of the professionals of
museums. This happens because in globalisation ideas are adopted, disseminated and even
rendered uniform.

On the other hand, the local and global dichotomy is gaining force, where the local not only
answers to global stimulus but also has the power of stimulating, by proposing cultural
questions full of values to participate of a world-wide cultural forum. By way of illustration of
stimulus we have some Chinese films which, brilliantly, have known how to touch the world
with their cultural and social questions. Here in Brazil we have examples of answers to the
globalisation: the carnivals in Salvador and Rio de Janeiro. They are local answers to new
parameters (perhaps exigencies). To reach a landing of world-wide visibility they had to
adapt themselves. They maintained much aspects and innovated in some others. It may be
criticised, but they obtained success. Which is the critic and which is the success? What
have they lost and what have they gained? Which is their participation in the world-wide
culture? Are we talking about culture or mass culture? Are we talking about culture (and
education) or about amusement? All these investigations are pertinent because only their
answers will be able to instrument the process of taking of decision which involves the

2
We have used here the concept of hegemony of Gramsci, construction form of power starting from an
interpretation of reality and the forces of which it is composed. The hegemony is exercised starting from a reality
and on groups and is only reached when taking into consideration the different postures, interests and tendencies
of these groups, forming an equilibrium of compromises. It is the process in which power is organised and
engendered a political project attending the social demands. It is revendication and taking of power, capacity of
direction and to establish objectives.

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cultural hybridisation of cultures which have never been crystallised, but have ever been in
transformation, occurring that the taking of conscience about the transculturation is the sole
weapon against uniformization or loss of values. The museums have always been important
institutions for discussing cultural transformation, memory and identity starting from the
cultural patrimony. This role is not lost, on the contrary, it is now as much or more important,
because we are in rupture and because we want to participate of a historical action.

It is this process of reflection that the museums must propose presently, supported by
Museology collection of theoretical and methodological motives able to respond for the
new paradigm. Then, paradigmatic changes are also expected from the museological
discipline and from the praxis of the museum institutions.
But not everything is ready in the world-wide process, because other forms of sociability are
appearing or being expected to appear and we do not know what they are. But we do know
that they must be invented. Museology and museums may have a fundamental role in the
process of invention of this new sociability. The world-wide condition is being processed and
we can assume the political role of interfering in this process. Words of order against
globalisation are useless, passional and ingenuous. Our energy must be addressed to the
comprehension of the historical and epistemological rupture we are going through, to
politically respond for the new place of museums and Museology in the new world-wide
configuration.

Museums and the search for autonomy

Globalisation is a form of interaction established between the local and the global. We are
the local, those who are inside a situation, living local cultural values. Global are the others,
the foreigners, those being out of our situation looking for (or imposing) universal cultural
values, some times standardised and made homogeneous.

The globalisation follows the economical spelling-book, is an economical movement dealing

with culture. The globalisation is ruled by economy and by the values stated by enterprises.
In its local cultural autonomy, the museums work with a view to the local social development,
even when they are open to the tourism and/or to other publics. The local museums serve
firstly to the local population especially when we talk about cities with a small and medium
demography, with a local history and economy. The people look for the museums to discuss
local cultural values having a universal dimension, that is, concerning the humanity. Although
they have perfected locally, they have substance to be proper and specific of the human
nature, of the human being and, such being the case, they refer to the universal of humanity.
Of course we are not referring to the standardisation and/or rendering homogeneous highly
criticised by those adverse to globalisation, and this is because we are all equal in a different
form or, as the anthropologist George Marcus (1991:202) says, everything in every place
but, even so, different in each place. The local museum, when it is set in an upright manner
for its population, with persons trying to look to themselves, and to look again, learning and
discovering about themselves and about their city in the museum, is creatively and
autonomously reaching a form of humanity3. The museums must search for their autonomy
and collaborate for the local cultural autonomy and not an autarchy. According to the
Dictionary Houaiss of Portuguese Language4, autonomy, for Kant, is the capacity presented
by human will of self-determining in accordance with a moral legislation which has been
established by the same, free of any strange or exogenous factor with a subjugating
influence, such as a passion or an incoercible affective inclination. Or preservation of the
self integrity. In the same dictionary, autarchy refers to a closed auto-sufficiency,
AUTARCIA, independence in relation to the foreigners 3.

3
This concept has inspired Prof. Sonia F. Dorta and the MAE/USP team to define the title of her present
exposition of long duration Forms of Humanity.
4
Electronic Houaiss Dictionary of Portuguese Language 1.0, December of 2001.

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Then, what the museum must offer? The best for local population, it must have the local
public as its principal reference. It must be prepared and wait for the public. Be prepared
being structured as institution, planning, conceiving and developing the actions proper of the
trusteeship process. Wait for the public does not mean to open the doors and cross the
arms, it means that the public is being waited with the satisfaction of one having conscience
that a cycle of his responsibilities is being completed and other is beginning the cycle of
appropriation by the public of the services accomplished/rendered by the museum. The
museum offering its best to the local public is, in a good way, participating of the search for
autonomy, for it has a pattern of attending and a level of answer suitable to its role and social
relevance that, in synthesis, corresponds to having conscience about preservation and its
participation in the processes of construction of memory and identity.

Back to globalisation and interaction between local and global, the contact (occurring of
innumerable and inevitable forms) provokes changes and a relation denominated
transculturation. It is a continuous cultural interaction being processed independently of our
will, in spite of our knowledge that there are forms to intensify the contact. Full of tension it is
established starting from two poles which negotiate the terms of participation in the
globalisation as interaction and for which it became more clear the comprehension of the
process of transculturation. The two poles accommodation and resistance, pessimism and
totality, homogeneity and diversity are not, however, antithesis or exclusives. They are not
searching, in the words of Marshall Sahlins (1997), the sum zero. It happens because they
lead to the fight for autonomy face to a global scenery. This fight cannot be understood as a
fight localised by identity, which identity is menaced to be deconstructed, but, on the
contrary, must be understood as a creative construction, fragmented (because they are
various), a complex and multiple process for being permanently defined, in several places
where they circulate and with several groups with which the individuals interact. It happens
because the totality of the communities or the absolute pessimism that globalisation will
standardise the world (in the future will be part of a unique culture) are conceptions
transcended by Anthropology, even because the accommodation would manifest itself
differently in several contexts and this would configure as expression of creativity.

After that has been exposed, we have to think about the cultural exchanges which are
established in the perspective of a game of tensions between parts, where the creative
search for local cultural autonomy is what means interest to all and especially to the
museums, because the local preservationist processes and the role of local museums will
begin to have a sense in constructing the multiples identities and a participation in the new
world-wide order.

Exposition, Interaction and Alterity

The search for local cultural autonomy lead us to a search of museological and of museal, of
museum (Chagas, 2001/2002, p.48), which can respond for this great objective. These are
indeed successive searches of Museology, of the institution museum, of the professionals
of museums and of the society. The exigency to change of paradigms lead us to reflect about
the thought and the praxis which guide us. To think about the role of the expositions is
essential today in this context of discussion, because the expositions are what agglutinates
the museum actions and the relation between institution and society.
The exposition in museums has assumed a great relevance in the contemporaneity, for this
museologial media is responsible for the interface between the museum and the society and
the great possibility of making effective the social compromise of this institution. A museum
only contemplates its preservationist role in the measure in which it communicates, exposes
the cultural patrimony of which it is responsible to the society.

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On the other hand, the object of study of Museology the relation between the man and the
object in the institutionalized5 space has in the exposition its principal field of development
and comprehension of the phenomenon of preservation as a form of amplification of a critical
conscience and of exercise of citizenship. In this sense, one proposes a reflection about the
postures of communication present in our museological institutions and how these postures
orientate the relation of museums with the society. For that, we can compare two of them,
the conductive and the inter-activist.

The conductive line understands the process of communication as the transmission of the
message by the transmitter, by a specific way, to the receptor. The transmitter has the
control of the situation and the receptor is the passive element. The transmitter keeps the
control of the situation and the signification of the message. In this posture, the museological
evaluation permits that the transmitter adjusts the message and/or reduces the
communication noises, permitting a better situation of reception of the message.

The inter-activist line review the actuation quality of the transmitter and receptor roles in the
process of communication. The transmitter emits the message to the receptor, who interprets
starting from his subjective synthesis, starting from the singularity represented by each one.
Both make the structure and negotiate the meaning of the message, both participate actively
of the process with their perceptions and points of view. Communication here is understood
as interaction, that is, meeting of the transmitter and receptor horizons. In the interactive line
the museological evaluation, or the reception research, the ways and results of the
exposition and its addressee meeting are studied. The interaction between exposition and
receptor is proposed and constructed by the museums professionals in the measure in which
it is proposed to establish a dialectical relation with the visiting public, what presupposes a
conscience of alterity, the conscience that the speech of self has a coherence of senses
impregnated of subjectivity, cultural values and ideas. The conscience resides in the
flexibility to construct the coherence of senses for another, having this other as a reference,
leaving space for his active and creative participation. In the interactive line there is
predominance of dialogue instead of roles, argumentative posture, negotiation, respect to the
differences and positioning construction. It is up to the professionals of museums to
understand the communication and reception in this perspective and to understand that our
responsibility is not concluded with the mounting of the exposition, but it is only complete in
the form as the public appropriate themselves, interact and re-elaborate the exposing
speech. The transmitter, the professionals of museums, produce specific museological
speeches starting from the re-elaboration of the plurality of scientific and social speeches
they receive. The receptor, the public, receive the specific museological speech and receive,
also, all other speeches (scientific, cultural, social, ideological, politic) circulating in his
universe, which speeches he mobilises in the process of expositions interpretation. The
individual-subject, the public, manifest himself in the re-elaboration of the speeches and in
the re-elaboration of the cultural signification.

The communication in museums is only effective when the museological speech is

incorporated by the visitor and became fountain of another speech, now out of the institution
spaces. Then, the receptor actuate as transmitter and as constructor of cultural signification.
Here is a place to mention that we understand that the reception is not restricted to visiting

5
We have adopted the definition of Museological Fact of Waldisa Russio Camargo Guarnieri. Following this
Brazilian theory, it is the deep relation between the Man, known subject, and the Object, part of the Reality to
which the Man also belongs and over which he has the power to act`, which relation is processed in an
institutionalised scenery, or the museum`.. Concept of culture and its inter-relation with cultural patrimony and
preservation. Museological Exercise Books, Rio de Janeiro, n.3, 1990, p.7. This definition has been firstly
presented by the author in the Encounter of ICOFOM on 1981 and can be consulted in its text
L`interdisciplinarit en Musologie. MuWop/DoTraM, Stockholm: ICOM, n.2, 1981, p.58.

129
the museum. Consists of a process that precede and succeed the being in the exposition
and, for this reason, a complex cultural and educational process. The good exposition is that
stimulating connections with previous experience and opens and/or amplifies future cognitive
possibilities around the question.

To understand how the relation between man and the object in the museum institutionalised
space is processed is to understand, before anything, that in this space a complex weaving
job is processed, proposed by the cultural patrimony, which is expressed in the polyphony
that each visitor is and in the multiple forms of identities.

The Taking of Decision in Processes of Communication

We believe that in processes of communication in museum all the options taken (conceptual
and methodological) must have a public as reference. The taking of decision must have as
parameters the experience of the public when visiting the exposition and its previous relation
with the theme being presented.

We believe, also, that all the process is developed in the sense of qualified participation of all
members of the team and, consequently, of the visitor. Yet, we consider as a directive that
the exposition and educational projects are the constitutive basis of the visitor experience.
Therefore, the adopted methodologies in museological processes of communications should
have this as presupposed. To justify this position, we can start from the idea of
representation. The knowledge with which we are labouring to conceive an exposition is a
scientifically elaborated representation. The exposition is a representation elaborated by the
team of the museum starting from the scientific representation. The educational proposal is a
representation elaborated by the educator prepared for this starting from the exposition
representation. The public, at its turn, re-elaborate its representation (for it already has a
representation previously to visiting the exposition). This representation from the part of the
public consists in a form of creative participation in the construction of knowledge. This chain
of representations, unchained by the exposition process having the public as reference
permits that the involved professionals as well as the public trace their own trajectories in the
construction of knowledge and a creative participation in the process. Permits them to
actuate as agents.

This form of working consists in a proposal of paradigm which oblige us to review the
institutional structures which will make possible not only to exercise the process of
conception and development of expositions but also a methodology being able to respond for
this paradigm. To have the public as reference signifies that all the institution must be
prepared for this, because this will involve the whole in a different form (and understanding
that the process of development of communication actions involves necessarily the
institutional whole). We need to adopt a complex methodology to succeed with a proposal
also complex. The qualified participation of the members of the team in the construction of
the public experience happens, in consequence of that, with complexity, understanding as
qualified participation that impregnated of attitudes and values demonstrating a new
conscience concerning the role of the museums in the construction of the cultural meanings
and local autonomy in a globalised world.

This is a complex process because the experience of the public is complex. The experience
of the public is complex because it has quality, is an aesthetic experience and, in accordance
with John Dewey, it is complete and conscious, integrated and delimited, upright in a manner
to reach the consummation. Such an experience is a whole and brings together its own
individualising quality and its auto-sufficiency. Is one experience (Dewey, 1980, p.247). It is
that experience that remains in the mind of the person who lived it, depending on the flux
intensity in the sense of consummation, in the sense of the experiences summit. An
experience is observed in its totality, in its unity, formed by parts organised in a flux going

130
from one point to another. The consummation occurs with the harmony between the process
and the end and the totality of the experience is the integration of the processing means with
the result. The consummation refers to the integral experience (Dewey, 1980):

...An experience in exposition intended to be of quality must be developed

towards the consummation. To be in the exposition, to walk along its space,
to observe the objects, to learn its thematic contents, to appreciate the
expographic and sensing effects, to observe, to analyse, to judge, to
criticise, to compare, to make relation, to remember, to reject, to agree with,
to disagree with, to become full of emotion. The conclusion of the visitation
process is the appreciation itself, that realised by the public itself that, in the
mind, recreates the exposing speech. The consummation, at its turn,
understands the integration of the aspects involving the visitation with the
appreciation: each moment of the visitation has became essential, in the
relation among all moments/stages, as well as considering its importance
for conquering the result. Certainly the public must have conscience that
that exposition has been an experience unique. (Cury, 1999, p.28)

But, if to conceive and mount an exposition means to construct and offer an experience of
quality to the public, the construction of this experience, the exposition itself, and the
appreciation from the part of the public constitute the experience of quality of the team that
elaborated each stage and observes the forms of participation of the visitor when visiting it.
The whole process of conception, mounting and studies of reception form a totality which can
lead to the consummation the persons responsible for the job. The flux is developed towards
the consummation. It may, in this way, be an experience of quality for the professionals of
museums. After having settled this, our attention is displaced from the exposition to the
reception of the public. The product of the conception and mounting is the exposition, a cycle
is closed here. But, the cycle of the process of experience is closed in the enjoying of the
visitor. It is a risk our considering the conclusion of our experience of quality in the exhibition,
as if it was important by itself and as if our job was to mount expositions, as if communication
as interaction would not depend on the creative participation of the other. Creative
participation is creation, is to be author and not reader, is to be creator of speeches, subject
and agent.

On the other hand, the museums which desire to be in the front in the proposition of
expositions conceptual, methodological and formally speaking need to assume that the
experimentation, the innovation and the evaluation make part of the process of research
about exposing communication. This means that we must be available to discuss the
process before, during and after, that is, to implant a culture of evaluation starting from the
conscience, desire and initiative of the involved professionals.

A political approach, at its turn, lead us to think in the form we wish to work, better saying,
there are many forms of planning and many others for the taking of decision (we decide the
whole time, have you already perceived?). The political approach proposes a collective
planning and taking of decision. The interactivity between the members of the team would be
the strategy proposed to potentialize the politic dimension of the team. This means to
permanently and continuously exercise the building of consensus by the argumentation set
by the team in moments of decision. The individual works with other individuals in a team, in
a participation form, collectively taking the decisions and facing the consequences of these
decisions. The process becomes a form of apprenticeship and is no longer a mean and turns
into a product for the team constantly in formation. Metaquality is quality with quality.
Museological products of quality built with processes of quality. The professional of museum,
therefore, will not be a managing tool but will be used as a tool to reach a term, which term
will attend to other no democratic interests. On the contrary, we, professionals of museums,
want to assume the responsibilities inherent to the place of public confidence that we

131
occupy56. Our compromise with the efficiency of the process must be qualified and the taking
of collective decision is a form of qualification. The individual, actuating in group, wins the
condition of subject, that who elaborate, (re)create, impute senses and proposes
signification. Metaquality is quality with quality. Exposing metaquality is when the same
exposition is the element provoking experience of quality for the public and for the team
responsible for its conception and concreteness (Cury, 1999, p.120).

Final considerations

The world is passing through great transformations and the globalisation process is
provoking a taking of conscience about the role of local, face to global predominance.
Transculturation is being implanted and this implants a mechanism of game of forces and,
primordially, of negotiation among parts. The search for local autonomy is the constructive
and positive answer to this process of world-wide condition. The Museology and museums
win, in this panorama, a paper of relevance for being socially consecrate agents as actuating
parts in the construction process of cultural memory and identity. The museological
exposition, at its turn, assume an essential paper in the hybridisation and in the search for
local cultural autonomy, because it works in the dimension of construction of local cultural
signification. Therefore, new museological, expological and expographic paradigms are to be
imposed.
.
Bibliography

CHAGAS, Mrio. Museums of Science: so it is, if it looks to be so for you In: Exercise
Book of the Life Museum formal and not formal in the educational dimension of the
museum. Rio de Janeiro: Life Museum/FIOCRUZ, 2001/2002, p.46-59.
CURY, Marlia Xavier. Exposition methodological analysis of the conception process,
mounting and evaluation. So Paulo: ECA/USP, 1999. 134p. (Dissertation of
Mastering)
DEWEY, John. Having an experience. The Thinkers. So Paulo: April, 1980, p. 246-263.
GRAMSCI, Antonio. Exercise Books of the Prison. Rio de Janeiro: Brazilian Civilisation, v.3,
2000.
GUARNIERI, Waldisa Russio Camargo. L`interdisciplinarit en Musologie.
MuWop/DoTraM, Stockholm: ICOM, n.2, p.58-59, 1981.
GUARNIERI, Waldisa Russio Camargo. Concept of culture and its inter-relation with
cultural patrimony and preservation. Museological Exercise Books, Rio de Janeiro,
n.3, p.7-12, 1990.
IANNI, Octavio. The globalism era. Rio de Janeiro: Brazilian Civilisation, 1997. 304p.
IANNI, Octavio. Theories of the globalisation. Rio de Janeiro: Brazilian Civilisation, 1995.
228p.
MARCUS, George. Passed, present and emergent identities: requisites for ethnographies
about the modernity at the end of century XX at world-wide level. Magazine of
Anthropology. So Paulo: USP, n. 34, p.197-221, 1991.
SAHLINS, Marshall The sentimental pessimism and the ethnographic experience: why
culture is not an object nearly to be extinct (parts I and II). Mana. Rio de Janeiro, v.
3, n. 1 and 2, 1997. Electronic version.

6
ICOM Code of Professional Ethics, 2001.

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 A BUSCA PELA AUTONOMIA
MUSEOLOGIA, MUSEUS E GLOBALIZAO

Marlia Xavier Cury

Este texto tem o objetivo de colaborar com a discusso de um tema de grande relevncia:
Museus e Globalizao. Para tanto, apresenta algumas questes a serem consideradas ao
se fazer essa reflexo, alm de pretender motivar os profissionais de museus a se
prepararem para esse novo modelo mundial que, sendo fortemente econmico, atinge uma
dimenso transcultural. Hoje, o mundo o palco da histria e a Museologia precisa
responder com eficincia e eficcia a esse novo paradigma.

... O poltico em ato um criador, um suscitador, mas no cria a partir do nada nem se
move na vazia agitao de seus desejos e sonhos. Toma como base a realidade efetiva:
mas o que esta realidade efetiva? Ser algo esttico e imvel, ou, ao contrrio, uma
relao de foras em contnuo movimento e mudana de equilbrio? Aplicar a vontade
criao de um novo equilbrio das foras realmente existentes e atuantes, baseando-se
naquela determinada fora que se considera progressista, fortalecendo-a para faz-la
triunfar, significa continuar movendo-se no terreno da realidade efetiva, mas para
domin-la e super-la (ou contribuir para isso). Portanto, o "dever ser" algo concreto,
ou melhor, somente ele interpretao realista e historicista da realidade, somente ele
histria em ato e filosofia em ato, somente ele poltica.
Antonio Gramsci

Responda rapidamente: Por que o Papa Joo Paulo II viaja tanto? Por que o dia 11 de
setembro inesquecvel? O que o MST brasileiro (Movimento dos Sem-Terra) foi fazer na
Palestina? Porque estamos vivendo o fenmeno da transnacionalizao, fenmeno que
ultrapassa os limites do nacional para atingir a universalizao de idias, valores, padres,
procedimentos, alcanando o mbito cultural e social. O mundo passa a ser o palco da
histria porque os problemas hoje so transnacionais, esto mundializados. Economia,
terrorismo, meio-ambiente, cultura de massa, esporte, propaganda, turismo e moda so
alguns exemplos dos efeitos da globalizao, exemplos de aspectos mundializados. O
atentado ao World Trade Center um outro exemplo recente e concreto, um exemplo
terrvel, em que todos fomos afetados. O mundo inteiro assistiu, pela TV, s cenas de
destruio das torres gmeas simultaneamente ao acontecimento. Todos assistimos ao
espetculo oferecido pela globalizao sob todos os ngulos visuais, e todos
compartilhamos a preocupao com o futuro: o que acontecer? Qual ser a reao dos
EUA e do mundo?
O mundo o palco da histria e isso nos traz novos dilemas, impasses e perspectivas.
Estamos passando por uma ruptura histrica e, portanto, epistemolgica, semelhana das
rupturas histricas que ocorreram com a descoberta da Amrica e com as Revolues
Industrial e Francesa.
Hoje, estamos vivendo a transio entre o paradigma de ontem o da sociedade nacional -,
e o de hoje, da sociedade global. O conceito de sociedade nacional nasceu com a
Revoluo Francesa e com a hegemonia1 burguesa, e a nao foi uma inveno que levou -
e leva - ao esquecimento de fatos e reconstruo da tradio. Vivemos numa aldeia global
e isto significa que a sociedade nacional existe dentro da global. A questo nacional no
sumiu, porm mudou de lugar.

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A sociedade global uma sociedade nova, com novas relaes, processos e estruturas se
engendrando, e um novo conceito tem surgido: o da desterritorializao das coisas, das
idias, dos indivduos.
A globalizao um processo primordialmente econmico e mantm, em seu bojo, o
capitalismo, seu modo de produo e processo civilizatrio. O mercantilismo, o colonialismo,
o imperialismo e mesmo a globalizao - como a entendemos hoje - so formas subalternas
do capitalismo e momentos do processo de globalizao.
O neoliberalismo, expresso econmica do globalismo, entende a sociedade global como
um sistema global. Possui uma viso sistmica do mundo presente em seu discurso
ideolgico e nas corporaes transnacionais, que no so, necessariamente, corporaes
financeiras. O ICOM uma corporao transnacional, assim como o Green Peace, a WWF,
a FIFA. A Copa do Mundo de futebol e as Olimpadas so eventos transnacionais.
Mas, como sabemos, nem tudo so rosas na mundializao. Primeiro porque a ruptura
histrica est levando a grupismos - como podemos ver no Leste Europeu - e
acomodao, considerando o carter impositivo do globalismo. Segundo, porque h custos
culturais - e humanos, que no sero aqui tratados que afetam os museus e a Museologia.
O processo de transculturao hibridizao cultural mundial significa um intercmbio de
valores culturais que no necessariamente negativo ou nefasto, mas complexo e delicado,
merecendo por isto toda a ateno dos profissionais de museus, uma vez que, na
globalizao, idias so adotadas, disseminadas e, at mesmo, uniformizadas,
padronizadas.
Por outro lado, ganha fora a dicotomia do local e global, na qual o local no s responde a
estmulos globais como, tambm, tem o poder de estimular a sociedade a participar de
fruns mundiais, ao propor questes culturais carregadas de valores. guisa de ilustrao
desse tipo de estmulos, temos alguns filmes chineses que, brilhantemente, souberam
sensibilizar o mundo com suas questes culturais e sociais.
No Brasil, os carnavais de Salvador e Rio de Janeiro so exemplos de respostas locais
globalizao, ou seja, a novos parmetros, ou exigncias, talvez.
Percebe-se por meio desses exemplos que, para atingir um patamar de visibilidade mundial,
as respostas locais tiveram de adaptar-se. Mantiveram muitos aspectos e inovaram outros.
criticvel, mas alcanaram xito. Qual a crtica e qual o xito? O que perderam e o que
ganharam? Qual sua participao na cultura mundial? Estamos falando de cultura ou cultura
de massa? Estamos falando de cultura - e educao - ou de entretenimento? Todas essas
indagaes so pertinentes, e somente respostas a elas podero instrumentalizar o
processo de tomada de deciso que envolve a hibridizao de culturas que nunca estiveram
cristalizadas, ao contrrio, sempre estiveram em transformao, e a tomada de conscincia
sobre a transculturao a nica arma contra a uniformizao ou perda de valores.
Os museus sempre foram instituies importantes na discusso das transformaes
culturais, da memria e identidade a partir do patrimnio cultural. Esse papel no est
perdido, pelo contrrio, faz-se to ou mais importante justamente por estarmos em um
processo de ruptura e porque queremos participar de uma ao histrica. este processo
de reflexo que os museus devem propor atualmente, amparados pela Museologia
conjunto de pressupostos tericos e metodolgicos que devem dar conta do novo
paradigma. Mudanas paradigmticas tambm so esperadas da disciplina museolgica e
da prxis das instituies museais.
Mas nem tudo est pronto na mundializao, uma vez que esto surgindo outras formas de
sociabilidade e mesmo novas formas, que nem sabemos ao certo quais/como so. Mas
sabemos, sim, que sero certamente criadas. A Museologia e os museus podem ter um
papel fundamental no processo de inveno dessa nova sociabilidade. A mundializao est
em processo e podemos assumir o papel poltico de nele intervir. Palavras de ordem contra
a globalizao so inteis, passionais e ingnuas. Nossa energia deve estar dirigida para a
compreenso da ruptura histrica e epistemolgica que estamos atravessando, com a
inteno de responder politicamente quanto ao novo lugar dos museus e da Museologia na
nova configurao mundial.

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Os museus e a busca da autonomia

Globalizao uma forma de interao que se estabelece entre o local e o global. O local
somos ns, aqueles que esto dentro de uma situao, vivendo valores culturais locais. O
global so os outros, os estranhos, os de fora de nossa situao, procurando, ou impondo,
valores culturais universais, s vezes padronizados e homogeneizados. A globalizao
segue a cartilha da economia, pois um movimento econmico que lida e influencia a
cultura, mexe com ela. regida pela economia e por valores empresariais.
Em sua autonomia cultural local, os museus trabalham com vistas ao desenvolvimento
social local, mesmo quando abertos ao turismo e/ou a outros pblicos. Os museus locais
servem, primeiramente, populao local especialmente quando falamos de cidades com
pequena e mdia demografia, com uma histria e economia caracterstica local. As pessoas
procuram os museus para discutir valores culturais locais que tenham uma dimenso
universal, ou seja, que digam respeito humanidade. Muito embora tenham se aprimorado
localmente, esses museus possuem um contedo prprio e especfico relativo natureza
humana, ao ser humano e, portanto, referem-se tambm ao universal da humanidade. De
certo, no estamos nos referindo padronizao e/ou homogeneizao to criticada por
aqueles avessos globalizao, pois partimos do princpio de que somos todos iguais de
forma diferente ou, como diz o antroplogo George Marcus (1991, p.202), tudo em todos os
lugares mas, ainda assim, diferente em cada lugar. O museu local, ao colocar-se de forma
ntegra quela sua populao que procura o ver-se a si prpria, o rever-se, o aprender e o
descobrir sobre si mesma e sobre sua cidade no museu, est atingindo criativamente e
autonomamente uma forma de humanidade2. Os museus devem buscar sua autonomia e
colaborar para a autonomia cultural local e no buscarem ser uma autarquia. Partindo do
Dicionrio Houaiss da Lngua Portuguesa, a definio de Kant para autonomia a seguinte:
a capacidade apresentada pela vontade humana de se autodeterminar segundo uma
legislao moral por ela mesma estabelecida, livre de qualquer fator estranho ou exgeno
com uma influncia subjugante, tal como uma paixo ou uma inclinao afetiva incoercvel.
Ou preservao da integridade do eu. No mesmo dicionrio, autarquia refere-se a uma
auto-suficincia fechada, autarcia, independncia em relao ao estrangeiro 3.
Ento, o que o museu deve oferecer? Deve oferecer o melhor para a populao local, e seu
pblico local deve ser sua referncia maior. Deve preparar-se e esperar por ele, ao
estruturar-se como uma instituio, que planeja, concebe e desenvolve as aes prprias do
processo curatorial. Esperar pelo pblico no significa abrir as portas e cruzar os braos;
significa esperar o pblico com a satisfao de quem tem a conscincia de que um ciclo de
responsabilidades se completa enquanto outro se inicia: o ciclo da apropriao pelo pblico
dos servios realizados/prestados pelo museu. Quando o museu oferece o que tem de
melhor ao pblico local est participando, e muito, da busca pela autonomia, pois est lhe
fornecendo um padro de atendimento e um nvel de resposta condizente com o seu papel e
relevncia social que, em sntese, correspondem conscientizao sobre a preservao e
sua participao nos processos de construo da memria e da identidade daquela
sociedade/cultura.
A interao e o contato entre o local e o global, realizados por meio de inmeras e
inevitveis formas, provocam trocas de informaes e uma relao denominada de
transculturao, ou seja, uma interao cultural contnua que se processa
independentemente de nossa vontade, apesar de sabermos que h formas de intensificar o
contato. A transculturao carregada da tenso que se estabelece a partir de dois plos,
que negociam os termos da participao na globalizao enquanto interao e pelos quais
fica mais clara a compreenso do processo de transculturao. Os dois plos - acomodao
e resistncia, pessimismo e totalidade, homogeneidade e diversidade - no so, no entanto,
antteses ou excludentes. No buscam, nas palavras de Marshall Sahlins (1997), a soma
zero, pois levam luta pela autonomia diante de um cenrio global.
Essa luta no pode ser entendida como uma luta pela identidade localizada - aqui
ameaada de ser desconstruda -; pelo contrrio, deve ser entendida como uma construo
criativa, fragmentada (porque so vrias), como um processo complexo e mltiplo que est

135
sempre por definir-se permanentemente, em diversos locais por onde circule e com diversos
grupos com os quais os indivduos interajam. A totalidade das comunidades ou o
pessimismo absoluto, que entende a globalizao como padronizadora do mundo (no futuro,
faremos parte de uma nica cultura), so concepes ultrapassadas pela Antropologia,
mesmo porque a acomodao se manifestaria diferentemente em diversos contextos, e esta
situao j se configuraria como uma expresso de criatividade.
Desse modo, temos de pensar que as trocas culturais - que se estabelecem sob a
perspectiva de um jogo de tenses entre partes - devem procurar realizar uma busca criativa
da autonomia cultural local, que o que mais interessa a todos e, especialmente, aos
museus, pois sob esse olhar, os processos preservacionistas locais e o papel dos museus
locais passam a ter um sentido na construo das mltiplas identidades e participao
efetiva na nova ordem mundial.

Exposio, Interao e Alteridade

A busca da autonomia cultural local leva-nos busca de uma autonomia museolgica e

museal (Chagas, 2001/2002, p.48). So, de fato, buscas sucessivas que devem ser
realizadas pela Museologia, pela instituio museu, por seus profissionais e pela sociedade.
A exigncia de mudanas de paradigmas conduz-nos reflexo sobre o pensamento e a
prxis que nos norteiam. Pensar sobre o papel das exposies nesse contexto de discusso
hoje essencial, pois as exposies so as aglutinadoras das aes museais e da relao
entre a instituio e a sociedade.
A exposio em museus tem assumido uma grande relevncia na contemporaneidade, pois
esta mdia museolgica responsvel pela interface entre o museu e a sociedade, e lhe
inerente a grande possibilidade de efetivao do compromisso social dessa instituio. Um
museu s contempla o seu papel preservacionista medida que comunica, que expe,
sociedade, o patrimnio cultural do qual responsvel.
Por outro lado, o objeto de estudo da Museologia a relao entre o homem e o objeto no
espao institucionalizado4 tem, na exposio, seu principal campo de desenvolvimento e
compreenso do fenmeno de preservao como forma de ampliao de uma conscincia
crtica e de exerccio da cidadania. Nesse sentido, propomos uma reflexo sobre as
posturas de comunicao presentes em nossas instituices museolgicas e como essas
posturas orientam a relao dos museus com a sociedade. Para tanto, podemos comparar
duas delas: a condutivista e a interacionista.
A linha condutivista entende o processo de comunicao como a transmisso da mensagem
pelo emissor para o receptor por um determinado meio. O emissor possui o domnio da
situao e o receptor o elemento passivo. O emissor detm o domnio da situao e o
significado da mensagem. Nesta postura, a avaliao museolgica permite que o emissor
ajuste a mensagem e/ou reduza os rudos de comunicao, permitindo uma melhor situao
de recepo da mensagem.
A linha interacionista rev a qualidade de atuao dos papis de emissor e receptor no
processo de comunicao. O emissor emite a mensagem ao receptor, que a interpreta a
partir de sua sntese subjetiva a partir da singularidade que cada indivduo representa.
Ambos estruturam e negociam o significado da mensagem; ambos participam ativamente do
processo, conforme suas percepes e pontos de vista. Comunicao aqui entendida
como interao, ou seja, como o encontro dos horizontes do emissor e do receptor. Na linha
interacionista, a avaliao museolgica ou a pesquisa de recepo estuda os modos e
resultados do encontro da exposio e seu destinatrio. A interao entre exposio e
receptor proposta e construda pelos profissionais de museus medida que estes
propem estabelecer uma relao dialtica com o pblico visitante, a qual pressupe, por
sua vez, uma conscincia de alteridade, a conscincia de que o discurso do eu tenha uma
coerncia de sentidos impregnada de subjetividade, valores culturais e idias. A conscincia
reside na flexibilidade em construir a coerncia de sentidos para o outro, tendo este outro
como referencial, abrindo espao para a sua participao ativa e criativa. Na linha

136
interacionista no h predomnio de papis e, sim, dilogo, postura argumentativa,
negociao, respeito s diferenas e construo de posicionamentos.
Cabe aos profissionais de museus entenderem a comunicao e a recepo sob essa
perspectiva e perceberem que a nossa responsabilidade no se conclui na montagem da
exposio, mas se completa no modo como o pblico se apropria, interage e re-elabora o
discurso expositivo. O emissor - os profissionais de museus - produz discursos
museolgicos especficos a partir da re-elaborao da pluralidade de discursos cientficos e
sociais que recebe. O receptor - o pblico - recebe o discurso museolgico especfico, assim
como recebe, tambm, todos os outros discursos (cientficos, culturais, sociais, ideolgicos,
polticos) que circulam em seu universo, mobilizados por ele durante o processo de
interpretao da exposio. O indivduo-sujeito, o pblico, manifesta-se na re-elaborao
dos discursos e na re-elaborao dos significados culturais. Portanto, a comunicao em
museus s se efetiva quando o discurso museolgico incorporado pelo visitante e se torna
fonte de um outro discurso, agora fora dos espaos da instituio. A ento, o receptor
passa a atuar como emissor e como construtor de significados culturais.
Cabe mencionar que entendemos que a recepo no se restringe visitao ao museu.
Consiste em um processo que antecede e sucede o estar na exposio e, por este motivo,
representa um processo cultural e educacional complexo. A boa exposio aquela que
estimula conexes com experincias anteriores e abre e/ou amplia possibilidades cognitivas
futuras em torno da questo.
Entender como se processa a relao entre o homem e o objeto no espao
institucionalizado do museu entender, antes de tudo, que nesse espao se processa uma
complexa tecedura proposta pelo patrimnio cultural, expressa na polifonia que cada
visitante constitui e nas mltiplas formas de identidades possveis.

A Tomada de Deciso em Processos de Comunicao

Acreditamos que, em processos de comunicao em museus, todas as decises tomadas

(conceituais e metodolgicas) devam possuir o pblico como referncia. As tomadas de
deciso devem ter, como parmetros, a experincia do pblico ao visitar uma exposio e
sua relao anterior com o tema que lhe est sendo apresentado.
Acreditamos, tambm, que todo o processo se desenvolve com as participaes
qualificadas de todos os membros da equipe, a qual inclui, naturalmente, o visitante.
Consideramos ainda, como uma diretriz, os projetos expositivo e educacional como as
bases constitutivas da experincia do visitante, e sob esse prisma que as metodologias de
processos comunicacionais museolgicos devem ser elaboradas.
Para justificar esse posicionamento, podemos partir da idia de representao. O
conhecimento com o qual lidamos ao conceber uma exposio sua representao
elaborada cientificamente. A exposio a representao do conhecimento elaborada pela
equipe do museu a partir da representao cientfica desse conhecimento. A proposta
educacional a representao concebida pelo educador preparado para tal a partir da
representao expositiva. O pblico, por sua vez, re-elabora sua representao, uma vez
que j possua uma, antes mesmo de sua visita exposio. Essa representao por parte
do pblico consiste em uma forma de participao criativa de construo de conhecimento.
Toda essa cadeia de representaes desencadeada pelo processo expositivo - que tem o
pblico como referncia - permite que tanto os profissionais envolvidos quanto o pblico
tracem as suas prprias trajetrias de construo de conhecimento e tenham uma
participao criativa no processo, permitindo que atuem como agentes.
Esse modo de trabalhar consiste em uma proposta de paradigma que nos obriga a rever as
estruturas institucionais que possibilitaro no somente o exerccio do processo de
concepo e desenvolvimento de exposies, mas tambm uma metodologia que preveja
esse paradigma. Toda instituio deve preparar-se para ter o pblico como referncia, com
o fim de envolver o todo de forma diferente, entendendo que o processo de
desenvolvimento de aes de comunicao envolve necessariamente o todo institucional.
Necessitamos adotar uma metodologia complexa para lograr xito, com uma proposta

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tambm complexa. Em conseqncia desse posicionamento, a participao qualificada dos
membros da equipe na construo da experincia do pblico faz-se de modo complexo, pois
a participao qualificada implica aquela impregnada de atitudes e valores, que demonstram
uma nova conscincia quanto ao papel dos museus na construo dos significados culturais
e da autonomia local em um mundo globalizado.
Esse processo complexo porque a experincia do pblico complexa, e esta complexa
porque tem qualidade, porque uma experincia esttica, e segundo John Dewey,
completa e consciente, integrada e delimitada, ntegra, de maneira a alcanar a
consumao. Tal experincia um todo e traz consigo sua prpria qualidade
individualizadora e sua auto-suficincia. uma experincia. (Dewey, 1980, p.247).
aquela experincia que fica na mente da pessoa que a viveu, e que depende da intensidade
de sua consumao, do seu auge. Uma experincia percebida em sua totalidade, em sua
unidade, formada por partes organizadas em um fluxo que vai de um ponto a outro. A
consumao d-se com a harmonia entre o processo e o fim, e a totalidade da experincia
percebida pela integrao do meio processual com o resultado. A consumao refere-se
experincia integral (Dewey, 1980):
...Uma experincia em exposio que se pretenda de qualidade deve
desenvolver-se em direo consumao. Estar na exposio, caminhar por
seu espao, observar os objetos, apreender o seu contedo temtico, apreciar
os efeitos expogrficos e sensoriais, observar, analisar, julgar, criticar, comparar,
relacionar, lembrar, rejeitar, concordar, discordar, emocionar-se. A concluso do
processo de visitao a apreciao em si mesma, aquela realizada pelo
prprio pblico que, em sua mente, recria o discurso expositivo. A consumao,
por sua vez, compreende a integrao dos aspectos que envolvem a visita com
a apreciao: cada momento da visita tornou-se essencial, seja na relao entre
todos os momentos/etapas, seja considerando a sua importncia para a
conquista do resultado. Certamente o pblico deve ter conscincia de que
aquela exposio foi uma experincia nica. (Cury, 1999, p.28).
Mas, se conceber e montar uma exposio significa construir e oferecer uma experincia de
qualidade para o pblico, a construo dessa experincia - a exposio propriamente - e a
apreciao por parte do pblico constituem a experincia de qualidade da equipe, que
elabora cada passo e observa as formas de participao do visitante. Todo o processo de
concepo, montagem e estudos de recepo formam uma totalidade que pode levar os
responsveis pelo trabalho consumao. O fluxo desenvolve-se para a consumao. Esta
pode, sem dvida, ser uma experincia de qualidade para os profissionais de museus.
A nossa ateno, ento, desloca-se da exposio para a recepo do pblico. O produto do
processo de concepo e montagem a exposio, um ciclo que aqui se fecha. Mas o ciclo
do processo da experincia fecha-se na fruio do visitante. um risco considerarmos a
concluso da nossa experincia de qualidade na exibio, como se ela fosse importante por
si s e como se todo o nosso trabalho fosse voltado somente para montar exposies, como
se comunicao como interao no dependesse da participao criativa do outro.
Participao criativa criao, ser autor e no leitor, ser criador de discursos, sujeito e
agente.
Por outro lado, os museus que desejam estar frente no que se refere proposio de
exposies conceitual, metodolgica e formalmente falando , necessitam assumir que a
experimentao, a inovao e a avaliao fazem parte do processo de pesquisa sobre
comunicao expositiva. Isto significa que devemos estar disponveis para discutir o
processo antes, durante e depois, com a pretenso de implantar uma cultura da avaliao a
partir da conscincia, desejo e iniciativa dos profissionais envolvidos.
Uma abordagem poltica, por sua vez, leva-nos a pensar na forma como queremos
trabalhar, ou seja, existem muitas formas de planejamento e outras tantas para as tomadas
de deciso (temos de decidir o tempo todo, vocs perceberam?). A abordagem poltica
prope um planejamento e tomadas de deciso coletivas. A interatividade entre os membros
da equipe seria a estratgia proposta para potencializar sua dimenso poltica. Isto significa
exercitar permanente e continuamente a construo do consenso pela argumentao,

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colocada em momentos de deciso da equipe. O indivduo trabalha com outros indivduos
em equipe, de forma participativa, tomando as decises coletivamente e arcando com as
conseqncias das decises. O processo torna-se uma forma de aprendizagem, deixando
de ser meio e passando a ser produto para a equipe em constante formao. Meta-
qualidade qualidade com qualidade: produtos museolgicos de qualidade construdos com
processos de qualidade. O profissional de museu no ser simplesmente uma ferramenta
gerencial, nem ser usado como instrumento para se atingir um fim, fim que atende a outros
interesses no democrticos. Ao contrrio, ns, profissionais de museus, queremos assumir
as responsabilidades inerentes ao cargo de confiana pblica que ocupamos5. O nosso
compromisso com a eficincia do processo deve ser qualificado, e as tomadas de deciso
coletivas so uma forma de qualificao. Atuando em grupo, o indivduo ganha a condio
de sujeito, aquele que elabora, (re)cria, atribui sentidos e prope significados. Meta-
qualidade expositiva refere-se ao elemento provocador de experincia de qualidade para o
pblico e para a equipe responsvel pela sua concepo e concretizao (Cury, 1999,
p.120).

Consideraes finais

O mundo est passando por grandes transformaes e o processo de globalizao est

provocando uma tomada de conscincia sobre o papel do local, face ao predomnio do
global. Implanta-se a transculturao, que , na verdade, um mecanismo de jogo de foras
e, primordialmente, de negociao entre as partes. A busca da autonomia local a resposta
construtiva e positiva a esse processo de mundializao. Nesse panorama, a Museologia e
os museus ganham papel de relevncia por serem agentes consagrados socialmente e
atuantes no processo de construo da memria e da identidade cultural. A exposio
museolgica, por sua vez, assume um papel essencial na hibridizao cultural e na busca
pela autonomia cultural local, pois trabalha na dimenso da construo dos significados
culturais locais. Desse modo, novos paradigmas museolgicos, expolgicos e expogrficos
se impem.

Notas
Este texto foi elaborado a partir de outros artigos publicados apenas eletronicamente:
Museologia, museus e globalizao (disponvel em
http://www.revistamuseu.com.br/artigos); Exposio, interao e alteridade
(http://planeta.terra.com.br/arte/museusbsb/leitura); e Patrimnio cultural, museus e turismo
cultural (apresentado no I Ciclo de Conferncias Regionais, DEMA, Brodowski e Tup/SP).
1
Usamos aqui o conceito de hegemonia de Gramsci, forma de construo do poder a partir
de uma interpretao da realidade e das foras que a compem. A hegemonia exercida a
partir de uma realidade e sobre grupos, e s alcanada quando se levam em conta as
diferentes posturas, interesses e tendncias desses grupos, formando um equilbrio de
compromisso. o processo no qual se organiza o poder e se engendra um projeto poltico
que atenda as demandas sociais. reivindicao e tomada de poder, capacidade de
direo e de estabelecimento de objetivos.
2
Esse conceito inspirou a Profa. Sonia F. Dorta e a equipe do MAE/USP para definir o ttulo
de sua atual exposio de longa durao Formas de Humanidade.
3
Dicionrio Eletrnico Houaiss da Lngua Portuguesa 1.0, dezembro de 2001.
4
Adotamos a definio de Fato Museolgico de Waldisa Russio Camargo Guarnieri.
Segundo essa terica brasileira, a relao profunda entre o Homem, sujeito que
conhece, e o Objeto, parte da Realidade qual o Homem tambm pertence e sobre a qual
tem o poder de agir`, relao esta que se processa num cenrio institucionalizado, ou o

139
museu`. (Guarnieri, 1990, p.7). Essa definio foi primeiramente apresentada pela autora
no Encontro do ICOFOM em 1981 (Guarnieri, 1981, p.58).
5
Cdigo de tica profissional do ICOM.

Bibliografia

CHAGAS, Mrio. Museus de Cincia: assim , se lhe parece. In: CADERNO do Museu da
Vida formal e o no formal na dimenso educativa do museu. Rio de Janeiro:
Museu da Vida/FIOCRUZ, 2001/2002. p.46-59.
CURY, Marlia Xavier. Exposio : anlise metodolgica do processo de concepo,
montagem e avaliao. 1999. 134p. Dissertao (mestrado) Escola de
Comunicaes e Artes, Universidade de So Paulo, So Paulo.
DEWEY, John. Tendo uma experincia So Paulo: Abril, 1980, p. 246-263. (Os
pensadores).
GRAMSCI, Antonio. Cadernos do crcere. Rio de Janeiro: Civilizao Brasileira, 2000.
v.3.
GUARNIERI, Waldisa Russio Camargo. Conceito de cultura e sua inter-relao com o
patrimnio cultural e preservao. Cadernos Museolgicos, Rio de Janeiro, n.3,
p.7-12, 1990.
GUARNIERI, Waldisa Russio Camargo. L`interdisciplinarit en Musologie.
MuWop/DoTraM, Estocolmo: ICOM, n.2, p.58-59, 1981.
IANNI, Octavio. A era do globalismo. Rio de Janeiro: Civilizao Brasileira, 1997. 304p.
IANNI, Octavio. Teorias da globalizao. Rio de Janeiro: Civilizao Brasileira, 1995.
228p.
MARCUS, George. Identidades passadas, presentes e emergentes: requisitos para
etnografias sobre a modernidade no final do sculo XX ao nvel mundial. Revista
de Antropologia, So Paulo, USP, n. 34, p.197-221, 1991.
SAHLINS, Marshall. O pessimismo sentimental e a experincia etnogrfica: porque a
cultura no um objeto em vias de extino (partes I e II). Mana, Rio de Janeiro,
v. 3, n.1/2, 1997. [verso eletrnica].

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 Museology and Presentation: Virtual or Real
Analyzing Summary

Anita B. Shah

To understand museology and presentation in terms of museality in the context of virtual or

real, we have to first understand the specificity of reality versus the virtual. Reality in its
purest form is unchanging and absolute. But the world as we know it is changing all the time.
The world as we know it as real exists only in the minds of people at a particular point of
time.

According to the theory of quantum mechanics, nothing is real, and that we cannot say
about what things are doing when we are not looking at them. Then nothing is real unless it
is observed. In 1982, as extraordinary experiment was performed. The research team
composed of physicists Alain Aspect, Jean Dalibard, and Gerard Roger at the Institute of
Theoretical and Applied Optics in Paris made what may prove to be the one of the most
significant discoveries of the century. Their findings brought to a close not only one of the
longest running debates in the history of science, but cast grave doubts on some of our most
basic assumptions about what we call reality1.

The experiments in essence can be thought of as a test of reality, the results of this crucial
experiment are unambiguous. The kind of correlation predicted by quantum mechanics is
found and what is more, again as predicted by quantum theory, the measurement that is
made on one photon, has an instantaneous effect on the nature of the other photon. Some
interaction links the two inextricably, and even though they are flying away at the speed of
light, and relativity theory tells us that no signal can travel faster than light. The experiments
prove that there is no underlying reality to the world. Reality, in the everyday sense, is not a
good way to think about the behavior of the fundamental particles that make up the universe;
yet at the same time those particles seem to be inseparably connected into some indivisible
whole, each aware of what happens to the others 2.

In 1951, a brilliant Princeton physicist named David Bohm what many consider the classic
text book on Bohrs interpretation of quantum theory. According to Bohm what we perceive
as separate particles in a subatomic system are not really separate at all, but on a deeper
level of reality are merely extensions of the same fundamental something. Bohm called the
level of reality in which the particles appear to be separate the level that we inhabit the
explicate order. The deeper substratum of reality, the level in which separateness vanishes
and all things appear to become part of an unbroken whole, he called the implicate order. He
concluded that our own three dimensional world is therefore the projection of a still higher
and multidimensional reality3.

Human thought is maturing to a level where it does not just accept the mechanistic view of
reality anymore and even scientists are coming to terms with a reality that cannot be directly
observed. Tereza Scheiner, Anita Shah, Andre Desvallees speak about reality as
multidimensional.

According to Tereza As Reality, we refer not only to what is in the outer world, outside our
body and senses, but to the infinitely multiple plans of reality that constitute our minds and
bodies and through which we mediate with the world: inner reality design , mask and
shade of our desires and passions, expressed in the interweaving, of the conscious and
unconscious levels of our psyche; outer reality the face of the world as we see out of our

141
selves, and which crosses our bodies and minds, in permanent intensity and continuity; and
the movement of the encounter, deeply shaped by our perception.. Reality is not one but
several.

Continuing her thought Anita Shah says perception of the world depends to a large extent
on the interpretation of the stimulus by the brain. Interpretation of the stimulus depends upon
the past experience, culture, maturity, genetic makeup, etc of the individual. Therefore
perception the external stimuli, is intrinsic and highly individualistic. What the individual
perceives is relative to him. His world exists in relation to his mind.

Taking this argument a little further, Andre Desvallees says virtual has not to be confused
with intangible: it is not abstract and it really exists even if it has a special materiality. We
have to study the relation between virtual and the real thing. But the virtual has two
meanings: the philosophic meaning which was previously used by museum people, is
different to the meaning, that the multimedia people have introduced to name the object of
the new technologies.

According to Andre virtual reality in the present context is yet another aspect of reality. Virtual
reality should not be confused with intangible heritage. This is a very important point to be
noted. Virtual reality is a technical visualization of reality Andre. I think this is the most
appropriate definition of Virtual Reality in the present context of museology.

Virtual reality in the above context can be an excellent tool to support the various activities of
the museum, but can never replace the original museum experience.

Ivo Maroevic has traced in brevity the gradual transformation of museological presentation in
lieu with technological developments. He also believes that If we present objects, then the
virtual world cannot replace the world of objects for us, but it can help it can help it by
enabling us to explain it better. He sounds a word of caution and further explains that
whether is it possible to have a tolerant coexistence between the world of objects and the
world of ideas, with ideas not leading us to neglect the objects, or objects not limiting us with
respect to the creation of ideas. My question to this fundamental question would be still
positive. I think the coexistence between objects and ideas is possible, that it is even
essential, so that on the one hand the material should not lose the spirit, and on the other the
ideas should not outgrow the material evidence that binds them to earth, to history and man,
should not wander off into the virtual world of absolute imagination.

At its best this technology can support an exhibition in its mission of dissemination of
knowledge but the Real objects in this exhibition world, will retain the role of key fixed points
that reduce virtuality to reality. The integration of the virtual and the real will occur at two
different levels, with the virtual world being a backdrop, and the real objects the protagonists
of the exhibition events on stage.

Ivo Maroevic brings to the forefront that if the limits of using technological developments are
stretched too far in the museum environment we may end up losing our vision. It is not
uninteresting, and not museologically unusable, but it does stay at the level of representation
and manipulates previously formatted knowledge about the material culture. It cannot result
in a presentation of new knowledge, not needing to be subject to checks against the world of
real objects and relations to reality. Metaphorically, it is a sirens song, behind which there is
no real world of truthfulness or of verifying the conclusions, rather a world of fine and
excellent things in which a check on the authenticity of the beauty or an evaluation of the
truthfulness is not factored in. A world to be believed in, not checked out.

He calls for striking a balance between virtual presentation and the actual museum visit to
uphold the values of knowledge while walking in line with technological advancements.

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Prof. Krste Bogoeski, Republic of Macedonia, holds that The exhibition joins the messages
of the museum objects of the accumulated fund and the abstract scientific findings structured
in the thesaurus thus composing a systemexhibition. This system is called a concretization
of the cultural message and circulates from reality through the objects to the user..The
exhibition is one of the forms of emitting the information borne by the objects..Major
changes in the presentational communication have started with the virtual exhibitions, which
change the way museums in the world think and act..In the last decade of the 20th
century the phenomenon of a virtual exhibition appears as a medium for conveying
messages. It means that this change in the way of thinking and acting of the museum and
museum experts will not be hindered. On the contrary, it advances with major steps so that,
on the internet, we can see many virtual museums in the world that enable contextual and
condensed knowledge from certain sciences to be accessible to the public without time and
space limitations.

He moves forward to explain that the digital technology has its own advantages as well as its
disadvantages, the exhibition can be taken far and wide without being limited by space and
time, but the feeling of a real exhibition is different, especially when facing the real objects.
The real objects are surrounded by an aura that involves a sensual and emotional approach
towards the material and the real. Virtual objects cannot replace this.

Another important point he has raised is that One has to emphasize that new information
and communication technologies are less likely to find mass application in the smaller and
poorer museums of the world.

The emotional experience and the sensual gratification that the individual feels during a visit
to the museum is very important as it helps to retain the experience in the pages of his
memory. Comparatively a visit to a virtual museum on the web site may be informative but
appeals less to the various senses. As Nelly Decarolis says Human beings have developed
complex systems of language to interpret the signals received from the senses enabling
them to recognize the objects they see, understand their messages and comprehend the
signs as the elements of communication and carriers of meanings.

An object is filled with meaning which can be explained explicitly through multidimensional
communication channels. Nelly explains that Conceptual and symbolic thought is always
projected in the cultural product. Visual communication is a central aspect of our lives.
Images are needed to make philosophical abstractions and visual experiences are tied to
intellectual and emotional ones. The bond between symbols and objects is something non-
conventional and natural. A tangible object is enveloped in linguistic forms, artistic images,
mythical symbols and religious rites in such a way that the only possibility to get to know it is
through these intangible values.

To communicate intangible values involves the transmission of feelings and emotions which
requires a face to face contact between the object and the receiver for a deeper impact. The
modern technologies offer us multiple alternatives but The impossibility of having direct
contact with the original is something that marks an essential difference in relation to the
traditional visit to an exhibition. Nelly Decarolis.

Taking this discussion further Tereza Scheiner says It is in the plan of feelings that
communication is elaborated: it is through feelings that the mind and the body move
together, opening the spaces of the mind to new knowledge, new visions of the world, new
experiences and possibilities of perceptionExhibitions touch all the senses,
functioning as a multidimensional experience of communication..Communication is
only effectively established when its form and contents mediate, simultaneously, information
and emotionThis is the true knowledge: not information in itself, but the kind of

143
knowledge that starts from information and elaborates it through emotion, to turn it into
experience.Museums are themselves formative agencies and spaces for the
acquisition of knowledge. They must establish a true dialogue with the visitor, giving priority
to emotion, to imagination ant to sentiments, through which reason will be offered.

Silvia Ventosa, Spain has also emphasized the sensual and emotive approach to real and
material objects. She feels that Virtual tools dont need to substitute real museum, but be an
attractive tool to interest new publics ( specially young people) in museums, with horizontal
interaction between museums and society in a fresh, participative way.

Hildegard Vieregg feels that virtual reality and modern technologies can be used very
creatively and this attracts the younger generation to the museum environment. Prof. Vieregg
defines virtual reality in the present context as applicable to the museum reality. She says
The so-called virtuality is a pretense of reality because the visitor meets a media-portal.
The internet concerning its structure is a net that satisfies completely the requirements of
both a single communication medium of many receivers. Cyberspace is a computer-
environment that includes several computers, user and data bases..In general, virtual
means all suppositions and models that- for example in the physics and mathematics- should
describe and explain characteristics and matters in a hypothetic way..Virtual reality is a
technology that tries to help the user concerning a complete immersion of an interactive
computer generated environmentThe aim of virtual reality is, to deceive the senses of
the individual. Virtual in this connotation is an attribute of the stimuli in a computer
designed world. The user who deals with virtual reality exists at the same time in two or more
worlds-the real and the virtual.

Vieregg points out that virtual reality has its own advantages and dangers. On one side of the
coin it can be used creatively to allow people in remote regions access to the exhibition so
that they can participate in spirit, and people can be informed and made acquainted with the
exhibition before actually visiting the museum. This can help them understand and assimilate
the message put forth. On the other hand it raises ethical questions also. She feels that the
discussion about social and moral/ethical decisions is permanently necessary. However,
through interesting case studies she has shown how the New Media can be creatively used
to enhance the complete museum experience. She feels that One of the central challenges
facing museums is to utilize information technology without giving up our core identity: to
embrace the virtual without abandoning the real. Nevertheless, museums are going to be
changed by the New Media. They are also going to be influenced by global cultural changes
and the further development of the Media.

It is true that if we do not adapt to the global changes now we will be regarded as too old
fashioned to be visited by the younger generation. It is to them that we have to leave the
legacy so that the continuation of the heritage is carried forward in the futures.

In the same line of thought Ann Davis feels that This philosophic approach recognizes that
the medium can and will change. Such change cannot be stopped. Rather than bemoan
change in media, museologists must examine how such change can and will affect the
message. At the same time the other element, the message, will also change as
museologists consider and reconsider the purpose and meaning of museums. What are the
museological links between medium and message? How can museums be both real and
virtual? Might museums be both medium and message?

This is the right time to think of the direction that we should take in pace with the modern
technology. We cannot ignore it. So how do we use it to our best advantage, without
contaminating our identity as a socially responsible institution?

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As a keen observer of ICOFOM pursuits Suzanne has brought some valid points to the
forefront: The museum world is a special one, it is in a building or an area where we have
come first of all because we want to be there, not just for the information we can find, that is
available elsewhere. In museums we react to the space we occupy, we feel the surroundings
that can impress us, or oppress us. Visitors most often are not alone they come for a social
interaction as well as an intellectual one. This is an important point. Human beings are
social creatures, social interactions are very much part of the total museum experience.

She also has shown that technological changes are fast overtaking one another. She further
says that virtual display is like Copyists (who) are unable to enter entirely into the cannon of
beauty and style of the period they are imitating, and rarely fail to reveal some aspect of their
own time that has been so firmly imprinted into them..If we want to learn art history and
seek guidance from museum collections, we will never learn from copies, and certainly not
from computer assisted images..The value of the original is that no matter what one does
with it, the object speaks for itself.the authenticity of every piece gave an overwhelming
message of truth, and with it I appreciated my own personal freedom to feel and interpret it.
This shows that the emotional experience of the visitor is a necessary part of the whole
museum experience.

Adding to the fact that the original is an integral part of the museum experience I would like
to add that each individual perceives reality depending on his or her level of understanding
and cultural background. Coming to the world of objects, objects per se have no meaning
independent of the knower. As the Quantum Theorist would say Nothing is real until it is
observed. As Anita Shah says In this context the existence of objects is by the virtue of the
illumination they receive. This illumination is consciousness, which is self- luminous. Objects
on the other hand are not self luminous, they acquire meaning and significance through
perception of conscious beings.

Reality is multi-dimensional, and how we integrate the different planes of reality into the
museum environment is a challenge. Interpretation of reality is not as simple as it may seem
in the museum context. Here the continuum from experience to meaning and then to
understanding is not a gradual one. Past and present experiences, and projected meanings,
interact to give a complex understanding. Experience, meaning and understanding are thus
closely interconnected. Expectations, projections and identifications are all implicated in the
total museum experience. How do we integrate and adapt our medium of messages to the
present times need further elaboration and reflection by museologists.

All said and done, we have to remember that ultimately a museum is not just a library or a
repository of the cultural and scientific heritage of mankind. It is a social institution holding
the responsibility on its shoulders of conserving, preserving, presenting and above all
interpretating reality. It is a place where people will come to see, feel, understand, learn and
then go back and contemplate on the past, present and futures. It is a place where they will
come to terms with their own reality, their identity, and their place on the map of mankind.
How best we can achieve this goal of enhancing this experience lies in the hands of
museologists and museum experts using whatever best means and mediums at their
disposal.

Articles of Authors:
Museums Virtual and Real: Ann Davis, Canada.
Museology in Motion: Presentation and Education by New Media: Dr. Hildegard Vieregg
Museology and Presentation a Joint venture of Science and Arts: Nelly Decarolis, Argentina.
The Exhibition as Presentation of Reality: Prof. Tereza Scheiner, Brazil.
Presentational Communication: Prof. Krste Bogoeski, Republic of Macedonia.
Original + Virtual: Silvia Ventosa, Spain.
The Virtual Museum: Suzanne Nash, Sweden.

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Museology and Exhibition: The Real and Virtual (English summary): Andre Desvallees,
France.
Ivo Maroevic, Croatia.
The Different Planes of Reality: Dr. Anita Shah, India

Bibliography:

1: Talbot, Michael: Beyond the Quantum: Bantam Books 1988

2: Gribbin, John: In Search of Schrodingers Cat: Black Swan, 1998
3: Talbot, Michael: Beyond the Quantum: Bantam Books 1988

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 Sumario analtico:
Museologa y presentacin original/real o virtual

Mnica Risnicoff de Gorgas - Argentina

El abordaje de los distintos autores al tema propuesto ha sido realizado desde puntos de
partida bastante diferentes. Podemos decir que hay una variedad de enfoques y tambin de
posturas, algunas casi antagnicas.
Ha sido difcil por lo tanto, resumir todo lo expuesto. Me contento con plantear las grandes
lneas de pensamiento para un debate que significar, sin duda, un nuevo aporte a la teora
de los museos.

Museologa y presentacin en proceso de cambio:

Informes sobre diversos aspectos de la museologa y la presentacin

Si bien pareciera que la presentacin, como acto de mostrar los objetos en un museo, est
ms cercano a la prctica museogrfica que a la Museologa. Deloche nos plantea que la
Museologa, entendida como la filosofa del campo museal, no puede dejar de interrogarse
sobre el juego y las modalidades de la presentacin, que no es nunca una operacin neutra.
Llegando a ser como afirma Maroevic, una creativa categora espiritual en la interpretacin
del mundo de los objetos, donde es imposible eliminar la subjetividad del autor o grupo de
autores y el contexto social del tiempo en que la presentacin tiene lugar. Ms aun, el
sentido de toda obra, de todo objeto, no es absoluto, depende a la vez del contexto que le
ha sido dado y de la lectura que hace el que la observa en funcin de su propio bagaje
espiritual, nos recuerda Devalls citando al fsico alemn Cerner Heisenberg "La
observacin de la realidad transforma la realidad observada". Interesa agregar a estos
conceptos los de Anita Shah que afirma que cada individuo percibe la realidad de acuerdo a
su propio nivel de conocimientos y cada sociedad percibe el mundo de acuerdo a su
conciencia colectiva.
Poderoso medio de comunicacin la exposicin es la principal materia de mediacin de los
museos, es la actividad que caracteriza y legitima su existencia tangible, en palabras de
Tereza Scheiner.

Varios autores afirman que ms que de Presentacin, deberamos hablar de

Representacin, porque toda exposicin es una recreacin de una parcela del mundo, un
espacio metafricamente articulado, citando de nuevo a Tereza Scheiner.

Es en esa Representacin dnde se ponen de manifiesto las relaciones sociales que se

encarnan en el sentido de los objetos exhibidos y de las obras y prcticas artsticas
expuestas, nos dice Freddy Olmedo, agregando que el museo ya no se concibe como lugar
de presentacin o representacin de objetos (reales o virtuales) si no ms bien como un
lugar de intercambios culturales, de produccin de sentidos, de generacin de reflexividad,
donde los objetos se disuelven en una red de significaciones y valoraciones.
Conceptos contrapuestos a los de Suzanne Nash que expresa que la no-interpretacin deja
paso a experiencias personales de libertad.

Museos: original/reproduccin, real/virtual

La necesidad de saber de qu hablamos cuando hablamos de, tantas veces enfatizada por
A. Desvalles, nos lleva a interrogarnos sobre lo que significa real y virtual y a plantearnos si
son verdaderamente procesos antagnicos.

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El uso cotidiano de origen comercial y periodstico asimila generalmente el trmino virtual al
mundo de la multimedia, tomando una connotacin de ficcin e irrealidad. Pero desde un
punto de vista estrictamente filosfico la oposicin de lo virtual y lo real no tiene
verdaderamente sentido. Desde la filosofa, lo virtual es lo que es "en potencia", lo que es
posible, aquello que tiene la virtud de producir un efecto, aunque no lo produzca de
momento. Esa acepcin filosfica era compartida por la Museologa antes de la aparicin de
las nuevas tecnologas de la comunicacin. Si un original contiene "en potencia" todas las
otras formas de presentacin como la copia en papel o la imagen digitalizada, desde el
punto de vista de lo virtual filosfico se tiende a contradecir el sentido usual del trmino que
equipara la multimedia a una suerte de presentacin fantasmagrica. Para H. Vieregg la as
llamada virtualidad es una pretensin de realidad.

Hay coincidencia entre Bernard Deloche, Andr Desvalles y Francois Mairesse en que las
dos acepciones se unen de hecho porque lo virtual remite al conjunto de medios de
sustitucin. Agregando Deloche que el sustituto multimedia, digamos lo virtual en sentido
usual no es ms que uno de las diversas virtualizaciones en la Presentacin.

Pero recordemos con Francois Mairesse que el planteo de lo virtual nos conduce
insensiblemente a los sustitutos utilizados hace mucho tiempo en los museos (fotos,
diseos, maquetas, moldes) y que este tema ya ha sido objeto de discusin en otras
reuniones de ICOFOM, habiendo autores que 1- defienden la supremaca del objeto,
dejando al sustituto un rol auxiliar, cuando falta el objeto; otros 2- haciendo hincapi en la
autenticidad ms que en la originalidad destacan que el objeto de museo puede no ser
original pero s debe ser testimonio de la realidad que intenta documentar, otros 3- ponen
el acento en el objeto o sustituto como portador de informacin esencial; y por ltimo hay
otros 4- que presentan la perspectiva no europea, para ellos lo importante sera la
presentacin de una tradicin viva, sin hacer del objeto una finalidad en s misma.

Bernard Deloche plantea que el sustituto al desacralizar el objeto permite la neutralidad del
abordaje cientfico, pero agrega que an desde ese punto de vista la conservacin del objeto
original es indispensable como soporte y referencia de futuras y ms avanzadas
investigaciones.

Otra lnea de anlisis de lo virtual se puede rastrear en los gabinetes de curiosidades y

teatros de la memoria del S XVII; o los dioramas ms recientes en los museos de
antropologa y ciencias naturales (Bogoeski). Como bien dice Maroevic, la presentacin o
representacin pone de manifiesto los mensajes ocultos o revelados en la seleccin de
objetos de mundo material, resignificados en sus relaciones. La exposicin est entonces
disponible para ser cuestionada y para recibir el contexto que le quiera dar el que organiza
la exposicin. Metafricamente los objetos juegan el rol de actores en presentaciones en las
que el Director (autor de la exposicin) da una interpretacin del mundo diferente del mundo
en que vivimos; ese mundo no es el verdadero mundo, aunque lo interpretemos con objetos
que son parte material de su fenomenalidad. La virtualidad, dice Desvalles, se sita en esa
tensin que puede generar nuevos sentidos. Nos estamos refiriendo a significados virtuales
que tambin estn presentes en los modelos de presentacin que son a menudo ms
importantes que el material del museo (Maroevic).

A respecto nos dice Decarolis "cuando prepara una exposicin el profesional de museo elige
el objeto, aislndolo del mundo exterior. El objeto elegido es real, pero ha sido privado de su
funcionalidad y enviado a un medio de exhibicin donde la reglas son diferentes de la vida
real. Ha sido seleccionado, graduado, ordenado y se le han agregado objetivos y
estrategias de comunicacin preestablecidos...El espacio dnde es exhibido est situado en
la convergencia de tres dominios, el mundo real de donde proviene, el medio creado por la
exhibicin y la esfera imaginaria sobre la que acta".

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Al hablar de objeto real o de objeto virtual, hay una tendencia general que nos lleva a tomar
partido por el objeto, que como testimonio material del hombre y su medio ha constituido el
principio motor de nuestros museos. Nos dice Mairesse que se deja as a lo "virtual", en el
espacio ms o menos ldico que se adjudica a los textos, a las ilustraciones, a los grficos
para la puesta en espacio de las exposiciones, considerando que los llamados "museos
virtuales" al no tener objetos no constituyen museos en s mismo, (teora a la que adhieren
entre otros Suzanne Nash y Ana Mara Reyes).

Maroevic en su interesante trabajo al interrogarnos sobre qu es lo que presentamos en los

museos , si objetos o ideas, no dice al respecto que si presentamos objetos el mundo virtual
no reemplazar al mundo de los objetos, pudiendo ayudar a explicarlo mejor; si
presentamos ideas, entonces el mundo virtual podra reemplazar al mundo de los objetos
pero la presentacin no tiene por qu tener lugar en el museo.
Rusconi dice que la realidad captada desde la realidad/original no es igual a la realidad
captada en los programas digitales, ambas existen, pero no son lo mismo.

La postura de la mayora de los conservadores est condicionada por el poder del "aura" de
los objetos y el temor a su prdida irremediable al recurrir a los sustitutos. El "aura" es esa
fuerza inmaterial de la presencia que impacta y subyuga al visitante cuando entra en
contacto con la obra original, una fuerza que parece emanar del objeto y que resulta de los
diferentes estados del objeto, su historia, su trayectoria en el tiempo y espacio y el rol de
culto que se le asocia. (Deloche).

Vieregg nos dice que original, en lo que respecta a museos, significa una condicin inicial y
un estado de exhibicin. Original tambin caracteriza un arquetipo o una versin original,
genuina, peculiar e independiente.

Como contraparte Mairesse se interroga y nos interroga acerca de la "originalidad" del

original, recordando que muchas veces la frontera entre el objeto y su sustituto es
imprecisa. Ejemplo del molde o la copia de poca que con el tiempo pasan a la categora de
originales.

Afirma Maroevic que lo que hace valiosos a los objetos de los museos es su autenticidad,
rareza, originalidad y antigedad. Coincidentemente Deloche y Mairesse acotan que las
razones por las que optamos por el "original" se sitan ms all del plano cientfico y son
a) la de las emociones que genera el objeto por su autenticidad: El visitante tiene
derecho a esperar que los testimonios que le son propuestos sean autnticos.
Suzanne Nash en rol de "vocero" del visitante nos dice que en el objeto original se
percibe la "verdad".Esta concepcin de autenticidad est basada en una cierta idea
de que la ciencia produce certezas, idea puesta en cuestin en estos ltimos aos.
La verosimilitud del testimonio, tiene un valor fluctuante, ms relacionado, en el
campo de los museos, al campo de las emociones que al de los conocimientos. En
La Ronda Nocturna es Rembrandt el que est presente en su obra. (F. Mairesse)

b) por el impacto del tiempo o antigedad del objeto: Al perder el valor de

originalidad deploramos la prdida del valor de antigedad. El pasaje de los siglos
que deja sus huellas sobre el original, permite al visitante proyectar sobre el objeto su
propia finitud y representarse el ciclo que hace emerger lo singular de lo general. La
antigedad aparece como un vestigio de autenticidad y de humanidad en una
sociedad enteramente estandarizada. Tener delante de uno, un objeto creado un
siglo o dos milenios atrs desafa nuestras estructuras mentales sobre la muerte y la
desaparicin. Lo digital tiende a borrar las huellas del tiempo sobre el objeto,
privndolo de su dimensin simblica.

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todas maneras, cuestiona Mairesse, en los museos hay copias o moldes de objetos
realizadas 2 0 3 siglos atrs, lo que ilustra el continium original/sustituto. .(FM)
Si lo virtual es aquello que existiendo realmente es un derivado que revela una materialidad
particular, entonces debemos estudiar su relacin con la "cosa verdadera" "the real thing". Y
en ese sentido ms lato, acota Desvalles, la "cosa verdadera" musealizada comprende a la
vez, el objeto, el gesto y el proceso.

Segn Cameron (cita Mairesse) la cosa verdadera constituye la media principal (en trminos
de comunicacin) del museo, dejando a los substitutos el papel de medios secundarios o
subsidiarios. Seala Mairesse que el concepto de "cosa verdadera" puede tener
connotaciones diferentes, por un lado engloba en su calificativo de real o verdadero la
nocin de autenticidad del objeto original, por otro engloba igualmente otros conceptos
inmateriales, como la demostracin de la atraccin terrestre o el movimiento de la tierra y
posee tambin una connotacin emotiva muy importante, que se puede traducir como
aquello que vale la pena de ser vivido o lo que vale ms, en trminos financieros el mejor o
lo ms grande (coca cola o la Venus de Milo). Para Mairesse la "cosa verdadera" se define
en el seno del museo, no en su funcin potencial de originalidad o de autenticidad , sino
sobre todo en funcin de sus posibilidades de comunicacin, que son factuales, acientficas,
espacio/temporales y mediticas. Concluyendo que hay numerosos objetos autnticos que
no tienen potencial de "cosa verdadera" y puede haber numerosos sustitutos que pueden
tener un potencial de comunicacin superior a los objetos autnticos. (FM)

El rol de la Museologa frente a la prdida de la identidad. Territorio y museo

Retomando el tema de la relatividad del conocimiento y la problemtica de las hiptesis
presentadas y representadas en las exposiciones de los museos, es interesante destacar el
aporte de Seglie en lo referente a territorio y museo, espacios abiertos y espacios cerrados.
Pero antes de hacer referencia a los museos de sitio y a la interpretacin de los hallazgos
arqueolgicos, nos parece pertinente referirnos aqu lo que plantean desde distintas pticas
Suzanne Nash e Ivo Maroevic, Suzanne nos habla del principio de los museos, basado en
un objeto original que podemos ver en un lugar especfico a dnde es posible ir, un edificio
o un lugar a donde vamos porque deseamos hacerlo y dnde buscamos no slo interaccin
intelectual, tambin interaccin social.

Maroevic no dice por su parte que el museo se ha identificado frecuentemente con su

edificio, en donde se exhiben los objetos, mientras que las funciones de preservacin,
investigacin y exhibicin pasan a las sombras del desconocimiento general.

Afirma Dario Seglie refirindose al hallazgo arqueolgico que su musealizacin implica un

cambio de categora, de objetos de contemplacin y culto a los documentos, de la unidad y
la singularidad a la insercin en una red de informacin. Agrega tambin que la eleccin
sobre la conservacin in situ o la virtualidad en el museo proviene de opciones polticas
explcitas o implcitas, conscientes o inconscientes, ligadas a la cultura, al sistema de
valores, a la inteligencia de los sujetos que toman las decisiones.

El museo de sitio, sobre todo en donde su ubica el arte rupestre, dnde el hombre ha
transformado su territorio creando un panorama sagrado, ofrece al visitante la posibilidad de
descifrar y leer un territorio. Es interesante recordar que el paisaje se presenta a los
hombres como el abrigo, la proteccin, la fuente, lo nutricio, es tambin la tierra de los
muertos, de los ancestros, territorio del mito y la leyenda. Sagrado y profano presentes en el
paisaje que se constituye tanto por presencias como por ausencias, por la realidad y por la
virtualidad, por lo consciente o por lo inconsciente.

Nuevas tecnologas de la informacin y la comunicacin y su transferencia a temas

museolgicos

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Es indudable que los museos van a sufrir substanciales transformaciones como resultado de
la nueva media (H. Vieregg), de hecho, influenciados por la cultura global, ya han
experimentado mudanzas de peso tanto en su concepcin como en sus prcticas. Como
asevera Krste Bogoeski, importantes cambios en la comunicacin a travs de las
presentaciones ha dado comienzo con exhibiciones virtuales que transforman la manera en
que los museos piensan y actan, cambiando el mismo concepto de museo.
La Hipermedia es una aplicacin de la Multimedia que se caracteriza por ser mantenida por
una computadora, reacciona de la alguna manera a las respuestas del que la recibe y usa
varias clases de media (textos, dibujos-fotos y sonidos) interconectados entre s.
Existe una relacin estrecha entre Multimedia y los trminos Ciberespacio y Realidad
Virtual. Aunque los trminos "Realidad Virtual" y "Ciberespacio" no deben ser usados como
sinnimos.
Los productos mediticos pueden por un lado tener funciones didcticas y por el otro lado
asumir el carcter de una exhibicin. Tres interesantes ejemplos nos brinda H Vieregg:

1. Diskuss: Base de Datos desarrollada como un sistema de informacin estrechamente

conectado con historia social y del arte. Un esfuerzo exitoso de cooperacin entre
museos, archivos, instituciones de proteccin del patrimonio y universidades, en el que
cada institucin participante puede disponer de la totalidad de la informacin.
2. "Acuario" Museo de la Torre de Agua en Alemania:Una exhibicin diseada en una
angosta torre de agua en la que el "agua est presente por medios electrnicos. Consta
de 26 instalaciones interactivas, juegos de computadora y simulaciones con imgenes
mviles y estaciones acsticas. Se acede a la informacin en forma de juego, con
efectos sonoros tpicos, imgenes de eventos relacionados con el agua de diferentes
sitios del mundo y otras actividades que tienen como pblico objetivo los jvenes.
3. El Centro de Artes y Tecnologa Medial en Alemania que ha desarrollado interesantes
instalaciones y exhibiciones a partir de proyectos de investigacin con una visin crtica
a los productos comerciales de la cultura global, por ejemplo la :"mquina del mundo
virtual", en el que el participante puede experimentar por simulacin los efectos
climticos y ambientales de la mquina en la que "viaja".
Entre las ventajas de la utilizacin de estas nuevas tecnologas, podemos citar con Ann
Davis la democratizacin de la informacin y la naturaleza no jerrquica del acceso a
grandes cantidades de informacin. La misma autora encuentra que como contraparte las
desventajas vienen por el camino de la uniformizacin lingstica y cultural necesaria para
su utilizacin.

Diversas posturas y Responsabilidad tica

Hoy la utilizacin combinada del discurso verbal y del discurso de las imgenes permite
mantener actualizado el acelerado flujo de la informacin, creando un modelo de difusin de
gran atraccin, difcilmente superable. La palabra es un smbolo que se resuelve en lo que
significa, en lo que hace entender, mientras que la imagen es una pura representacin
visual. Ambos son elementos sintcticos mediante los cuales el hombre elabora discursos
acerca de la realidad. Discursos que hacen referencia a un estar ante y con los objetos, ante
y con los valores. Destacan y trasmiten juicios, elaboran historias, construyen culturas.
Analizar las ventajas o desventajas de trabajar con el discurso por "imgenes" y evaluar
su aplicacin en contextos y demandas socioculturales localizadas, ser una
responsabilidad de la museologa. (Rusconi).

Para Maroevic la exhibicin virtual no es un fenmeno museolgico, es un fenmeno a nivel

de video juego, publicaciones no literarias o pelculas. Sin dejar de reconocer que pueden
ser interesantes, permanecen en el nivel de representaciones y manipulan conocimiento
previo sobre la cultura material. Metafricamente es un canto de sirena que nos seduce
porque parece abrir nuevas posibilidades de interpretacin e imaginacin. La museologa
sera la encargada de amortiguar la cada desde las alturas de la ambivalencia de la
realidad virtual.

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Para Francois Mairesse , el museo virtual como creador de nuevas virtualidades conduce a
nuevos espacios de experimentacin. Siendo lo virtual "cosa verdadera" enteramente y de
manera significativa. Si nos atenemos a la concepcin restringida de museo clsico
santificando lo original, corremos el riesgo de perder numerosas posibilidades mediticas y
museales, quizs ms eficaces. Si entrevemos una concepcin ms amplia de objeto
basada sobre el concepto de "cosa verdadera" con una relacin de continuidad entre "cosa
verdadera" y sustituto, obtenemos una paleta de posibilidades ms rica para el visitante,
donde lo virtual juega su rol desde un primer plano.

Para Andr Desvalles, como en todo campo lo positivo y lo negativo se equilibran, siendo
lo positivo todas las ventajas relativas a la reproduccin y a las interrelaciones, y lo
negativo la ausencia de contacto, no totalmente material pero de medios carnales con la
realidad: El abordaje virtual est lleno de contradicciones.
Para Freddy Olmedo el problema de la exposicin a nivel de objetos, no son los objetos en
s, son los discursos detrs de la escenografa que ha enfatizado al objeto en s,
abstrayndolo de sus potenciales relacionales, de su ubicacin de nodo o nudo en una red
de connotaciones culturales junto a los valores que se le han adscrito. La informacin a
travs de medios virtuales puede o potenciar una nueva sensibilidad epistmica o solamente
implicar un cambio de formato. Independientemente de que un museo sea real o virtual,
ambos sern siempre arenas sociales puesto que la produccin y la recepcin de una
experiencia museal se nutre primordialmente de aquellos supuestos y repertorios que hacen
sentido de ella.
Uno de los roles de la museologa ser entonces, tratar de identificar entre las muchas
posibilidades existentes, los lmites ticos de interpretacin de la realidad, porque una cosa
es construir nuevas narrativas a partir de una realidad dada y otra es deformarla para
influenciar al interlocutor. Tereza Scheiner.
Para Bernard Deloche debemos preguntarnos sobre la distincin entre el espectador de
objetos y el visitante de museo, para saber que es lo que motiva a este ltimo. Si estamos
en situacin de museo cada vez que asistimos a una presentacin deliberada, y la
multimedia llega a llevar a cabo algunas de las funciones propias del museo. Cul ser el
futuro de la vieja institucin a la luz de esta revolucin tecnolgica?.
Karina Durand nos habla de enfrentar el momento histrico con imaginacin, respeto,
accesibilidad y cautela a la vez, fortaleciendo la credibilidad que el museo tiene como
institucin y mantenindose como un verdadero medio de expresin de la sociedad. Nos
recuerda la misma autora que a travs de la media se presenta la realidad del consumo y
acumulacin de ciertos bienes como el nico y mejor modo de civilizacin, el nico y mejor
modo de vivir y hacer las cosas. Sin embargo, esta ilusin de riqueza, de despliegues
tecnolgicos, aparente abundancia material y exceso informacin nos est situando en el
desierto del espritu humano; en la injusticia, la intolerancia, el crimen, la soledad, la prdida
de la dignidad y abrindose paso, entre una multitud escandalosamente indiferente
deambula la tica, en estado de trance, entre una dimensin virtual y el ensueo de un
futuro incierto.
Es interesante recordar lo que manifiesta Seglie, la museologa que se arroga el derecho y
el privilegio de construir y constituir la caja fuerte de las joyas de familia de la humanidad, en
el sentido de discriminar lo que debe ser conservado para beneficio de la posterida y lo que
deber ser abandonado al olvido del tiempo se interroga hoy con una inquietud mayor sobre
los valores que deben ser transmitidos a las generaciones futuras.

Para Norma Rusconi el museo virtual atrae e informa, el museo real forma y educa. Resta
saber si la realidad/imagen de la tecnologa digital en espacios/tiempos que le son propios y
el discurso que ella elabora mejorara o no la insercin del hombre con su realidad /original
desde la memoria y los recuerdos. Para ese interrogante an no tenemos respuesta
definitiva.

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