Changing Museums
‘Often museums change as the result of societal pressures, or pressure from politicians representing society. Is there anything we, as museum professionals and/or art historians, wish to change or develop ourselves? Museums have evolved since the 19th century, but not really in an essential way. We present our collections too much according to classification (art - decorative arts, glass with glass, silver with silver) without necessarily asking ourselves: Is the public actually interested in that? or: What other stories could our objects tell? It is a fact that temporary exhibitions rate far better with the public than permanent displays of the collection. What should be learnt from this? Does new media have a role to play?’

Professor Ronald de Leeuw has been Director of the Rijksmuseum since 1996, and in 2002 he became principal of the New Rijksmuseum Project. He is also Extraordinary Professor of Museology and of the History of Collecting at the Free University at Amsterdam. Prof. de Leeuw has been instrumental in bringing several major exhibitions to Australia, including Rembrandt (1997) and Dutch Masters (2005).

Venue: Wood Lecture Theatre, Economics and Commerce Building, The University of Melbourne
Date: 9th November, 2006
Time: 10am (coffee & tea from 9:30)

Professor de Leeuw’s lecture is part of the FLUX conference to be held at the University of Melbourne on the 9th and 10th of November 2006. FLUX will feature 75 papers from postgraduates across Australia and New Zealand in the fields of art history, cinema, classics, archaeology, museology and related disciplines. FLUX is a free event, all welcome.

For more details see: www.ahcca.unimelb.edu.au/flux
Or email: ahccapgrads@gmail.com