Museums and Identities. Planning an Extended Museum

The publication is the result of an international seminar entitled “Museums and Identities”, the 2nd International Seminar in a Cycle ‘Planning an Extended Museum’ that was organized by the Museum of King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanów. The seminar was organized by the museum in cooperation with ICOM Austria, ICOM Czech Republic, ICOM Poland, ICOM Slovakia and took place at Wilanów on 21-23 November 2018.
Publication “Museums and Identities. Planning an Extended Museum” is the 20th volume of the Muzeologia publishing series, issued within financial support of the ICOM Special Project, the Museum of King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanów, the National Museum in Kielce, MOCAK the Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow, and the Cracow Saltworks Museum Wieliczka. The book was released under the auspices of ICOM Austria, ICOM Czech Republic, ICOM Poland, ICOM Slovakia
 
“Museums and landscapes are an essential element of humanity’s physical, natural, social and symbolic environment.” Based on the first sentence of the ICOM Resolution of the 24th ICOM General Conference held in Milano in 2016 “The Responsibility of Museums Towards Landscape”, the book presents a wide array of opinions and views about the impact of museums on social, natural, rural, and urban surroundings, expressed by eminent specialists and members of various museum institutions.
 
(…) the variety of reflection and the timeliness of discussed themes makes the book an important voice on the condition of contemporary museums, but also more broadly on culture and its development, as well as the links between museums, culture, and art with contemporary problems, such as social participation, their role in shaping attitudes, the importance of museums in contemporary democratic states, identity, cultural economics, and even specific issues, such as migration, among other significant topics. The individual case studies, i.e. references to specific museums and their practices, as well as challenges they face – are all current, interesting, and reported in a creative, engaging manner.
 
Publishing review
Prof Kamil Zeidler, PhD
University of Gdańsk