EXHIBITING EUROPE
The development of European narratives in museums, collections and exhibitions.
Europe wants to be collected, but it has no collection. This tension serves as a starting point for the research project Exhibiting Europe. Taking into account the gap between ambition and the reality of a specific European narrative in museums, collections and exhibitions, our research addresses the following topics:
* The correlation between collecting policies and the musealisation of Europe. (Stefan Krankenhagen / Part Project 1)
* The development of cohesive master narratives of European Union history in museums and exhibitions. (Wolfram Kaiser / Part Project 2)
* The museal display of migration as a negotiation of the borders of EUrope. (Leonore Scholze-Irrlitz and Kerstin Poehls / Part Project 3)
The two PhD projects within Exhibiting Europe are analysing important motives of European integration history that became foundation myths of the EU: the Second World War and the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). The Second World War will be addressed by looking at the figure of the witness in contemporary Western European museums and exhibitions (Steffi de Jong); while the ECSC will be approached through an analysis of the ongoing efforts of the European Route of Industrial Heritage to make industrial heritage sites serve as vehicles both for local redevelopment as well as for transnational and interregional cooperation in Europe (Torgeir Bangstad). Both the witness and workers' culture, are prominently present in specifically Europe-related exhibitions and – still much more – in the context of national and regional display. Thus, they highlight the tensions in the development of European narratives in museums, collections and exhibitions.
Exhibiting Europe is a research project financed by the Research Council of Norway hosted by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in collaboration with the Institute for European Ethnology of the Humboldt University and the Centre for European and International Studies Research of the University of Portsmouth.
8 May 2012 Wolfram Kaiser, lecture 'Europäische Integrationsgeschichte erzählen: Akteure und Narrative im Museum in Europa' on the invitation of Prof. J. Leonhard at the University of Freiburg i.B.
2 May 2012 Wolfram Kaiser, lecture ' Actors and Narratives in European History Museums? Transnationalization or Europeanization?' on the invitation of Prof. K. Patel at the University of Maastricht
30 April 2012 Stefan Krankenhagen, lecture 'Collecting Europe. Transnational strategies and collection practices today' at the Danish Museum Academy in Copenhagen
25 April 2012 Kerstin Poehls, lecture 'Vom Hinstellen und Herstellen: Migration, das Museum und Europa' at the DOMiD Symposium 'Stand der Dinge - Sammlung und Darstellung von Migration' at the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum in Cologne
23 April 2012 Wolfram Kaiser, lecture 'Europa ausstellen. Narrative im Museum' on the invitation of Prof. C. Opitz at the Europainstitut in Basle
28 March 2012 Wolfram Kaiser, lecture 'Narrating European Integration History: The Politics of History in Europe' on the invitation of Prof. S. Bartolini at the Robert Schuman Centre, European University Institute in Florence
14 March 2012 Wolfram Kaiser, lecture 'Narrating European Integration History: The Politics of History in Europe' on the invitation of Dr. Birte Wassenberg at the Institut des Hautes Études Européennes, Université Robert Schuman, Strasbourg
6 February 2012 Wolfram Kaiser, lecture 'Narrating European Integration History: The Politics of History in Museums in Europe' at the Freie Universität in Berlin, Kolleg-Forschergruppe "The transformative Power of Europe"
24 January 2012 Wolfram Kaiser, lecture ' Exhibiting Europe: Actors and Networks in the European Museum Field' at the Central European University in Budapest
14 December 2011 Kestin Poehls, lecture "Wenn die Dinge sich bewegen: Migration, das Museum und Europa" at the Institute for Cultural Anthropology/ European Ethnology at the Georg-August Universität in Göttingen
Click here for an overview over earlier activities
Publications
Wolfram Kaiser, Stefan Krankenhagen, Kerstin Poehls (2012), Europa Ausstellen. Das Museum als Praxisfeld der Europäisierung, Köln, Weimar & Wien: Böhlau Verlag.
Steffi de Jong (2012), Who is History? The use of autobiographical accounts in history museums. In Kate Hill (ed.), Museums and Biographies: Stories, Objects, Identities. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer. (forthcoming)
Stefan Krankenhagen (2011) (ed.), Exhibiting Europe. The Development of European Narratives in Museums, Collections and Exhibitions.Thematic Section for Culture Unbound. Journal of Current Cultural Research, Vol. 3 with articles by Torgeir Bangstad, Alexander Badenoch, Nanna Thylstrup, Kerstin Poehls, Ljiljana Radonic, Steffi de Jong and Wolfram Kaiser.
Wolfram Kaiser (2011), Unreliable narrators. Witness accounts and the institutionalization of European history in Eurozine, first published on the European Cultural Foundation' webpage Narratives for Europe.
Kerstin Poehls (2011). Ankommen. Wie Migration in der nordöstlichen Ägäis verräumlicht wird. In Friedrich von Bose, Kerstin Poehls, Franka Schneider and Annett Schulze (eds.) Museumx. Zur Neuvermessung eines mehrdimensionalen Raumes. Berliner Blätter 57, pp.77-86.
Kerstin Poehls (2011). Review of Winfried Eberhard, Christian Lübke (eds.) (2009), Die Vielfalt Europas. Identitäten und Räume. Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag and Burkhart Lauterbach, Stephanie Lottermoser (2009). Fremdkörper Moschee? Zum Umgang mit islamischen Kulturimporten in westeuropäischen Großstädten. Würzburg: Königshausen und Neumann. In Zeitschrift für Volkskunde, 107:2.
Steffi de Jong (2011). Bewegte Objekte. Zur Musealisierung des Zeitzeugen. In Sibylle Schmidt, Sibylle Krämer, Ramon Voges (eds.), Politik der Zeugenschaft. Zur Kritik einer Wissenspraxis. Bielefeld: transcript, pp. 243-264.
Kerstin Poehls (2010). Review of Ramona Lenz (2010). Mobilitäten in Europa: Migration und Tourismus auf Kreta und Zypern im Kontext des europäischen Grenzregimes. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag in H-Soz-u-Kult, 22.11.2010, <http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/rezensionen/2010-4-128>.
Stefan Krankenhagen (2010). Europa på museum. Om museenes konstruksjon og presentasjon av europeisk historie. In Arne Bugge Amundsen; Bjarne Rogan (eds.), Samling og museum. Kapitler av museenes historie, praksis og ideologi. Oslo: Novus, pp. 309-325.
Kerstin Poehls (2010). Zeigewerke des Zeitgeistes. Migration, ein boundary object im Museum. In Zeitschrift für Volkskunde 106:2, pp. 225-246.
Kertin Poehls (2010). Zwischen den Objekten. Oder: Europäisierungsimpulse durch Migration im Museum. In Museumskunde 75:1, pp. 71-76.
Stefan Krankenhagen & Wolfram Kaiser (2010). Europa ausstellen. Die Konstruktion europäischer Integration und Identität im geplanten Musée de l'Europe. In Michael Gehler & Silvia Vietta (eds.), Europa-Europäisierung-Europäistik . Köln, Weimar & Wien: Böhlau, pp.181-198.
Kerstin Poehls (2009). Zum Stand der Dinge: Migration im Museum. In Natalie Bayer, Andrea Engl, Sabine Hess, Johannes Moser (eds.), Crossing Munich. Beiträge zur Migration aus Kunst, Wissenschaft und Aktivismus, München: Silke Schreiber Verlag, pp. 94-98.
Kerstin Poehls (2009). Vom Durchkreuzen der Erwartungen. Wie Migration museal wird, ohne MigrantInnen zu Objekten zu machen. In kulturrisse. Zeitschrift für radikaldemokratische Kulturpolitik, 3, pp. 50-54.
Stefan Krankenhagen (2008). Versuch, Kunst und Geschichte zusammenzudenken. Das Beispiel der Brüsseler Ausstellung 'C'est notre histoire!'. In Museumskunde, 76 H. 1, pp. 127-132.
NEW BOOK: Europa ausstellen. Das Museum als Praxisfeld der Europäisierung
A book summerizing the project results written by the three senior researchers on the project has now been published by the Böhlau Verlag: „Europa ausstellen: Das Museum als Praxisfeld der Europäisierung", by Wolfram Kaiser, Stefan Krankenhagen and Kerstin Poehls. An English language version is currently planned for 2013.
Click here for a link to the teaser on the website of the Böhlau Verlag.
CULTURE UNBOUND: EXHIBITING EUROPE
Click here for the thematic section Exhibiting Europe of Culture Unbound. Journal for Current Cultural Research, Volume 3, 2011
Content:
Stefan Krankenhagen
Exhibiting Europe: The Development of European Narratives in Museums, Collections, and Exhibitions
Torgeir Rinke Bangstad
Routes of Industrial Heritage: On the Animation of Sedentary Objects
Alexander Badenoch
Harmonized Spaces, Dissonant Objects, Inventing Europe? Mobilizing Digital Heritage
Nanna Thylstrup
The Digital Dimension of European Cultural Politics: Index, Intellectual Property and Internet Governance
Kerstin Poehls
Europe Blurred: Migration, Margins and the Museum
Ljiljana Radonic
Croatia – Exhibiting Memory and History at the ‘Shores of Europe'
Steffi de Jong
Is This Us? The Construction of European Woman/Man in the Exhibition It's our History!
Wolfram Kaiser
From Great Men to Ordinary Citizens? The Biographical Approach to Narrating European Integration in Museums
CONFERENCE
Oslo, Interkulturelt Museum/Intercultural Museum, 7-9 April 2011
Click here for the conference report on H-Soz-u-Kult
External Partners
- Prof. Gabriele Clemens from the University of Hamburg has worked on film and other cultural representations of the current EU in historical perspective
- Prof. Robert Frank from the University of Paris I has researched issues of European identity and identity promotion in long-term historical perspective
- Prof. Hans Otto Frøland from NTNU has developed the local BA/MA programme of Europastudier and is an expert of European integration history
- Dr. Harald Kraemer, director of Artcampus at the University of Bern, has worked extensively on new media and the museum using digital media for both his academic and curator work
- Prof. Sharon MacDonald from the University of Manchester adds her expertise in museum and memory studies
- Prof. Els Witte from the Vrije Universiteit Brussels is a leading expert in European nation-building and on the advisory board of the Musée de l’Europe
- Network of European Museum Organisations - (NEMO)
- Norges Museumsforbund - website
- Norsk Nettverk for Migrasjonsforskning - website
Related Projects
European Museums and Libraries in/of the Age of Migration: MELA
Theorie und Praxis von Museen und Ausstellungen: Laboratory at the Institute for European Ethnology, Humboldt University
Making National Museums: NAMU
Technology and the Making of Europe, 1850 to the present: Inventing Europe
Cultural Heritage, Identity and Memory Research Area: CHIMERA
Dissemination
Wolfram Kaiser (2011), Exhibiting Europe. In Nemo News, Vol.2, p. 6.
Stefan Krankenhagen (Interview). Søker Europa i nasjonale museer. In Adressavisen, 11.01.2011, p.12.
Steffi de Jong (2010). Zeitzeugen im Museum. In Zeit Zeugen Brief, Oktober 2010, pp. 2-3.
Stefan Krankhenhagen (2009). Museum Europa. In dramaturgie. Zeitschrift der Dramaturgischen Gesellschaft, 2, p.29.
Lasse Kristensen (2009). Å utstille Europa. In Museumsnytt, 2, pp. 26-27.
Stefan Krankenhagen (2008). Exhibiting Europe - A Project Description. In NEMO, Newsletter of the Network of European Museum Organisations, 2, p.4.
