Surveying Nature and Culture

Whether museums of local history, museums specializing on specific historical topics, or provincial exhibitions: museums and exhibitions on (cultural) history operate within a particular tradition of displaying and communicating when it comes to dealing with past events and developments. Such presentations usually focus on the available, more or less accidentally preserved, precious objects. Their intended role is to substantiate a linear, previously defined history from beginning to end as well as provide evident causal links. During this event, we would like to explore the question of whether there are other, more contemporary ways of dealing with local and regional history. How can local museums do justice to the exceptional in the ordinary and the unspectacular in its diversity? What research approaches and strategies are there for discovering histories outside the grand narratives? How can a museum move forward and discern the past in the villages and landscapes? What knowledge can people contribute as local partners and what topics are they interested in at the moment? How can history enter the discussion and once again be seen by people as a multifaceted picture of varying viewpoints within the contested space of the museum of local history, the musée sentimental, participatory processes and artistic concepts? Together with museum executives, researchers and curators we will embark on a journey of discovery that promises an insight into remote areas and a wide range of different projects.