Museums are sanctuaries of knowledge, history and art; spaces that deepen your understanding of cultures past and present. They are places to slow down, look closely and gain new perspectives on everything from ancient civilizations to contemporary works of art and complex conflicts. They are polyphonic, democratising and inclusive spaces for critical dialogue and engagement in order to strengthen human dignity, social justice, global equality and planetary well-being.
They are not-for-profit organisations and work in active partnership with diverse communities to collect, preserve, research, interpret, exhibit and enhance understandings of the world and its heritage, for the public benefit. They hold artifacts and specimens in trust for society, ensuring they are available to future generations in their own right. Museums are not neutral but rather strive for diversity, equity and inclusion in all aspects of their mission.
Often, museums host exhibitions that are curated to showcase their collection in new ways or to address a particular question. But the real magic happens when they are able to inspire visitors to think differently about their own societies and the challenges that we face. The best museums in the world have a way of doing this that transcends exhibitions and collections, a magical mix of awe-inducing objects, carefully crafted narratives, and ethereal settings.
The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is an excellent example of this type of museum that has inspired millions of people to think differently about their societies. And this is what museums should aspire to do, although they may not all reach their full potential to be inspirational for every visitor. But even those who do not find the experience transformational can still leave a museum feeling refreshed and with a greater appreciation of our shared human heritage.
There are many different definitions of what a museum is. The major professional organizations that represent museums around the world each offer a slightly different take on what makes up a museum, but the common themes are the public good and the care, preservation, and interpretation of collections.
Museums are the best places for preserving precious items that we would otherwise be unable to protect in our everyday lives. And they are also the safest place for them to live so that we can continue to learn about our past.
Most of the time, a museum only has a small fraction of its collection on display. The rest are tucked away in temperature-controlled vaults for safekeeping. But the object don’t just sit in storage; researchers across the world study them: they investigate painters; anthropological traces of humans’ evolution; or the posture of ancient human fossils.
Despite having a long and rich history, the definition of what a museum is continues to be debated. Icom Define, the committee charged with revising the existing definition, has been working to update it to reflect a more modern reality of museums. The old definition did not include phrases such as decolonisation, repatriation and restitution which are core to the issues facing museums today. During the first consultation round (Consultation 1), Icom Define received richly varied responses from 23 National and 6 International Committees. This has informed the development of five proposals to be put to the ICOM membership for further consultation.