museum_inside_out

Memory work

A Discourse and an Exhibit: A Project

Starting on June 15th, you will be able to experience the Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art a different way. On three days during the week, you will have the opportunity to see the museum itself at work, live. Thousands of objects from the various collections housed at the museum will move onto shelves, over tables, and through the hands of the museum's employees. These items will be registered, checked, digitized, evaluated and questioned. Almost the entire personnel of the museum will be at work in the exhibition rooms. The workflow itself dictates that what you see will change and be fresh every day. The emphasis of this project is not on objects themselves but on the many ways a cultural museum works with its varied materiel.

The project itself is experimental, and the process open. Only a few basic procedures have been fixed, and even the closing date for this exhibit is not determined. In this workshop-style approach, the Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art plays with the conventional structures and content of museums generally, and with its own conventions. We want to break through the conventions to start a dialogue about the museum that is not just conducted by experts but also in collaboration with visitors. In spaces and places where objects can be seen without benefit of specific settings or pre-ordained interpretations, it is easier to ask questions about their meaning, or their topicality, or even how one perceives them. The museum itself would like to build on this dialogue for its own future, whether in terms of exhibit contents, programmatic plans, or organizational mandates.

The museum has limited resources. Yet it holds collections that contain, overall, at least 200,000 objects - with their own demands, say, in terms of conservation - and at the same time must also satisfy, enlighten and enrich its visitors. The work in and of the museum, displayed until early October, is the first part.

Use this opportunity to gain ever-changing insights into the museum. Peer behind its curtains! Ask questions, please, of the museum. And pose questions to those who work in the museum. Write down your suggestions and questions. Give us feedback. Communicate! We welcome your visit. We welcome your insights.