Topic

Museum is an institution that serves societies, communities and developments. Since the 1970s, this proposition has always been the consensus of the international community and the basis of discussion relating to museum. In 1972, UNESCO and the International Association of Museums held a conference in Chile entitled "Museums and Contemporary Society", which emphasised that museums should adjust with social development, promote social integration and inclusion, and proposed to set up more small and medium-sized museums that is closely engaged to the community. This conference has created a significant change in the history of museum thoughts, which not only enriches the connotation of museum work, but also promotes the intersection of Museology and various disciplines, and more consciously connect museum to the society and the public.

Since then, it ties up with the trends of globalization and regionalism, cultural democratization, civil society development, the establishment of biological / cultural diversity values, the expansion of the world of cultural heritage as well as the emergence of cultural resources and Neo-liberal views. Facing the society, the roles and topics of museums have become increasingly diverse and complex. Correspondingly, we can see that museums have constantly reshaped themselves, including their form, character and methods. Several representative Museum discussions point out the general direction, such as Eco Museum, New Museology, New Museum, Museum and Public Sphere, Appropriate Museology, Liquid Museum etc.: the form of the museum is deconstructed, changing from the open of institutional space to the field management discussion. The traditional collection search is no longer a necessary condition. It advocates the importance of people-oriented, present and future oriented, interdisciplinary vision and makes softer response to locality, cultural view and social network, as well as generates joint action with the stakeholders of the subject, encourages innovative methods and resource integration, but at the same time, be aware of and reflects on politicization and marketization.

There are hardly any cultural institutions like museums, are so closely and synchronously evolving with the social process. The significance and possibility of museums as a public field are still growing. Museum is not only a set of cultural technology connecting history, culture, art, nature, science and public dialogue, but also an excellent vocal platform for hidden locality and multiple voices. It is an index to highlight contemporary values such as democracy, social tolerance and creativity. It has also developed a mechanism to regulate the relationship between the state, society and the public. However, the museum, which bears many expectations and is depicted as a thousand hands and thousands of eyes, not only inspires the imagination of practisers, but also attracts the attention of researchers: in the face of so many new social topics, how can the museum evolve, cross domain and develop corresponding capabilities? Does Museum profession need to be redefined? How to adjust professional ethics in response to functional expansion? What is the fact of museums under the banner of ideals? Also, how should the core function of the museum respond to the changes? What is the boundary of the museum?

This conference proposes to reflect on the above-mentioned roles and topics of museums from the perspective of "public museology", and solicit all parties to participate in deepening issues and opening up dialogues. As a social and cultural institution, the appearance of the museum is originally accompanied by the public thinking and the debate and practice of its public role and method is one of its important axes. The intention of "public museology" is to break through the established framework of Museology, get closer to the real world and social issues faced by museums, and seek more cross domain and interdisciplinary dialogues. Based on the above discussion of museums and the current situation of social situations, the topic focuses on the investigation and Reflection on how to integrate, imagine and practice the "publicness", "newness" and "methodology" of museums.

The "publicness" from the perspective of public museology focuses on the significance and possibility of the museum as a public field. Publicness is not single and self-evident, but plural. On the one hand, museums should pay attention to the cultural views of different societies, communities and understand the existence of diverse publicness. On the other hand, they should focus on the participation of related people or different communities as well as the process of continuous dialogue and experience, so as to understand the purpose and ways to practise publicness; "Newness" refers to the creative thinking carried out by the museum in response to new topics, breaking through the tradition and current situation, for example, cross domain dialogues that are still full of various possibilities, redefinition and integration of museum resources and practisers, strategy thinking on openness, participation and cooperation, as well as the impact of various new media and new technologies; "Methodology" mentioned here refers to the reflection of concrete actions of publicness and newness. New attempts are definitely encouraged, however, special attention to the application of new values and methods should also be paid. In recent years, several international organisations have made efforts to redefine the modernity of collection, research, exhibition and education / learning, so as to enrich the professional meaning of the museum and ensure the museum developing timelessly with its unique operation system and charms.

Subthemes

The purposes of this conference are to solicit researches relating to museum's publicness, newness, methodology, and to investigate empirically as well as to reflect on the expansion and application of museum capabilities such as collection, research, exhibition / performance and education / learning, therefore focuses on the following topics:

1. Reflection on the Publicness of Knowledge / Art and Museums
In recent years, great attention has been paid to the correlation in the field of humanities and art between knowledge / art and society, which is a reflection of the situation of the times. Public Anthropology, public history, public sociology, public folklore and the publicness of art have appeared one after another. These discussions focus not on the application of existing knowledge / art, but on how knowledge / Art participates in and intervenes in social topics to become assistance. Such concern even brings new stimulation and speculation to existing core issues such as research topics / creative purposes, discipline methods / art majors, researchers / artists' positions and roles, etc.

2. Citizen Participation, Community Subjectivity and Museums
The trend of advocating cultural democratization and intellectual equality is the key to the transformation of museums, so that museums can jump out of the role of elitism and enlightenment and enter into a noisy world. How to ponder the ideal mechanism of citizen participation in the museum paradigm shaped by the expert group as the core? And how does this add unique charm to museums? The cooperation between museums, communities, and organizations allows museums to enter the social network and take actions. It is also the key to open dialogue and create new social values.

3. Local Vision, Cultural Diversity and Museums
As a place for local cultural performance and construction of local identity, museum is an important new public field for local development. At the same time, local culture and sociality are also shaping museums. The recognition of the significance of local vision and cultural diversity makes the forms and methods of museums more and more diverse. The practice of ecological museum as an ideal medium to show local vision is still full of vitality. The cultural heritage interpretation and museum trend from local vision have created a variety of quasi-museum fields, while local communities of different natures are also re-aware of the significance of being cultural practitioners through the participation of museums.

4. Interpretation, Dialogue on Social Issues and Museums
Social issues such as human rights, justice, social inclusion and environmental education have been the focus of discussion on the social responsibility of museums in recent years. Activists advocate that the museum should not turn a blind eye to the current social problems, and should give full play to the social influence of the museum. However, these social issues often involve a complex yet wide range of interests, thus, there is apparently no simple and clear answer for it. Museums should always reflect on how to stand firm, give full play to museum functions, and continue to promote in-depth interpretation of topics and social dialogue.

5. Professional Governance, Public Governance and Museum Policy
As a social tool to serve social development, museums should not be isolated. The overall support of system, policy and social environment to the museum, especially the support for the professional development of the museum in response to new topics, is very important. The government roles require more pragmatic evaluation while more forward-looking imagination is needed for policy development.