(2020). Guest Editors' Biographies. Museum International: Vol. 72, LGBTQI+ Museums. Guest Editors: Renaud Chantraine and Bruno Brulon Soares, pp. iv-iv.

(2020). Introduction and Editorial. Museum International: Vol. 72, LGBTQI+ Museums. Guest Editors: Renaud Chantraine and Bruno Brulon Soares, pp. 1-13.

Abstract The Museum of Sexual Diversity in São Paulo was created in 2012 following public demand by LGBTQI+ activists, who wanted to preserve the memory of fallen comrades during the 1980s AIDS epidemic. When Brazil became more democratic after 1989, sexual minorities increasingly advocated for their interests and fought for their rights. One outcome of this change was the creation of the Museum of

Abstract This article focuses on an increasingly common phenomenon: the exhibition on violence or trauma that evokes excessively strong reactions in visitors. Popular contemporary museum practices contribute to such responses. The first is the valorisation of the ‘difficult’ exhibition without sufficient consideration of the ways in which it is challenging or of the identities of its targets. The desire

Abstract The fact that there are only a few queer museums operating globally raises questions around the heteronormativity inherent in—and the invisibility of—the LGBTQI+ community in museums and mainstream institutions. This is true in Vietnam, where no museums have yet agreed to host an LGBTQI+ exhibition, despite growing interest. This lack of representation has led certain activists to seek alternative

Abstract Through her experiences as a queer feminist artist and cultural worker, V. Jourdain shares some of her artistic and curatorial practices in Quebec and France. Comparing the two cultures' consideration of LGBTQI+ minorities, she illuminates a few strategies for changing practices in art and artistic labour in two French-speaking communities. In this article, V. Jourdain shares her experience

Abstract The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society in San Francisco is an internationally recognised, community-based queer public history institution founded in 1985. In its early years, its work focused largely on recovering and preserving archival records, periodicals, photographs, art and artefacts documenting the histories of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people

Abstract This article will discuss the fundamental importance of community-led, organic research methodologies when uncovering and revealing LGBTQIA+ identities within the Irish national collection. Using the National Gallery of Ireland as a case study, the paper highlights the importance of this research in an Irish context. The representation of the LGBTQIA+ community in historical and cultural institutions

Abstract Prior to the emergence of social and critical museology, a normativist discourse suffused with a white, male, heterosexual, bourgeois perspective prevailed within museums. Any discourse that did not fit into that legitimising pattern would simply be silenced and forgotten. Accordingly, the memory of the LGBTQI+ community was excluded from the museums of the city of Buenos Aires. Nevertheless

Abstract Most museums claim to foster the democratisation of their collections through top-down educational programmes. However, it is possible to challenge this perspective and, instead, encourage self-empowerment in lieu of imitation, hosting, and fostering cultural contributions offered by different communities that cultivate independent paths toward creating identities and institutional recognition

Abstract Museums of science and technology embody the potential to affect institutional change on issues of gender equality, actively shaping future practices. This article argues that alternative methods of storytelling, creative practice and collaboration with new partners are crucial in museum work; they both ensure representation and awareness of the diversity of gender and sexuality and promote

Abstract In this text, we present the contributions of the Spain-based project Rereadings. Museum Itineraries from a Gender Perspective, which aims to present to the public the collections of 11 Valencian museums, of various kinds and under different types of ownership, from a gender and queer perspective. Rereadings uses virtual itineraries and QR codes to contribute to the study of gender. Thus,

Abstract The definition of ‘museum’ has changed, though some prefer to cling to that of a hundred years ago. The tension between what a museum is and what it does will continue, because the relationships and discourses we build among objects, communities and spaces remain dynamic as those same elements transform. Highlighting certain voices from museology and queer theory, this article tells the brief

Abstract This article will address experiences centred around relationships—which are often conflictive—between sexual dissidents and museums, in particular outside the Anglophone world. In it, I address certain projects that I have worked on personally and collectively as an artist, and offer reflections that are undoubtedly conditioned by my own status as a migrant and sexually dissident person who

Abstract How and why do we, as queer people, occupy and create community-based artistic spaces? What sorts of performative forces and dynamics are activated once we adopt the name ‘museum’? Is AMOQA (Athens Museum of Queer Arts), whose creation is discussed in the present article, a ‘museum’ or a social centre? How can we imagine alternative ways of blending art, activism and politics? For example

Abstract This article aims to rethink the concept of unpredictability – one that natural law theoreticians such as Thomas Hobbes have in the past read through negative connotations of suspiciousness, uncertainty, contingency or anti-orderliness - through the lens of art and LGBTQI+ activism. Instead of demanding more certainty, security and authoritarianism in an era when we are confronted with radical

Abstract This article presents the LGBT Memory Project and a mapping of institutions currently constructing a Latin American, LGBTQI+ Museology. The need to reflect on the current conjuncture in Latin America is justified in view of the ultraconservative turn in the political and social fields: one that has affected how museums and museology are constructed and conceived of. We understand LGBT Museology

Abstract This paper takes part in the ongoing debate around how museums have begun to address LGBTQI+ and feminist issues in the 21st century. While Portugal is a particularly interesting country to consider, given that it has passed some of the most advanced legislation on LGBTQI+ rights in Europe (Santos 2012), this progressivism is not reflected in Portuguese museum practices, given that gender

Abstract Renaud Chantraine, co-Guest Editor of the present volume, initiated a conversation in March 2020 with Birgit Bosold and E-J Scott around their practices as museologists and activists, and centred around their experiences as directors and founders of two community-based museums focused on LGBTQI+ heritage. Bosold is member of the Board of Directors of the Schwules Museum in Berlin (opened in

(2020). Re-imagining Museum Studies: Review of Museums, Sexuality, and Gender Activism and Queering the Museum. Museum International: Vol. 72, LGBTQI+ Museums. Guest Editors: Renaud Chantraine and Bruno Brulon Soares, pp. 226-227.

Abstract Many natural history museums present species’ life histories in their galleries, which millions of visitors use to make meaning of the ‘natural world’ to which humans belong. Because curation is inherently practiced through a human’s perspective, and often the male gaze, images depicting the ‘natural world’ may be informed more by dominant understandings of sex and gender as social constructs

Abstract This paper provides an overview of the Women of Kazakhstan virtual museum project as a case study and explores its principal vectors, missions and strategic lines. It critically analyses the themes and evolution of existing women’s museums in Kazakhstan. The key digital methods revealed in the article may be applied to existing women's museums and future museum initiatives in Kazakhstan and

Abstract This article addresses the use of the concept of gender in the analysis and interpretation of collections as a strategy for the inclusion of gender perspective in museums. Firstly, the two types of strategies for including a gender approach in museums, quantitative and qualitative, are presented. Both are necessary, but it is the qualitative strategies that allow the questioning the discourse

Abstract Museums do not simply reflect the world; they shape and mobilise our seeing and thus knowing of the world. As highly trusted, authoritative institutions, museums educate a common sense of historical, social, aesthetic and cultural value. Despite efforts to change, feminist cultural theorists remind us that women in all their diversity continue to be excluded or problematically imagined in

Abstract In 2017, four female students from the Master in Management of Cultural Sector at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) studied the issue of gender discrimination in the cultural and artistic sector in Brussels. The importance of this particular issue quickly became apparent to the students. By comparing their respective professional settings with their academic environment, they observed

Abstract Quantitative measures of relative representations of gender and minoritised persons provide stark evidence of the continuing inequalities in museums. Understanding and opposing such inequalities requires an account of museums that recognises their role in inscribing hierarchies associated with the modern nation state and its concept of citizenship. Benedict Anderson’s identification of the

Abstract The National Archaeological Museum of Athens, the Byzantine and Christian Museum, the Benaki Museum of Greek Culture and the Museum of Cycladic Art are among the finest museums in Greece. Their permanent collections include splendid, important works of art and rare everyday objects that, arranged chronologically, represent the evolution of life and history in the Greek peninsula from prehistory

Abstract Recent research has shown that Norwegian museums reproduce outdated ideas, power structures and inequities in their exhibitions and educational programmes, as well as in the management of their collections. In 2018, the Arts Council Norway granted the Norwegian Museum Network for Women’s History (led by the Women’s Museum in Norway) NOK 2.8 million (EUR 260,000) for a project aiming to change

Abstract To achieve long-term impact in the arena of gender equality, museums need to go beyond thematic educational activities and exhibitions. Museums need to become permanent spaces dedicated to problems of gender equality, advocate for changes that promote gender equality internally and externally and become acknowledged on local and national level as trusted organisations that bring together stakeholders

Abstract Insurgents: Redefining Rebellion in Barbados opened at the Barbados Museum & Historical Society (BMHS) on 8 March 2019. Curated by Saamiya Cumberbatch of the Barbados Youth Development Council, Ronelle King of Life in Leggings: Caribbean Alliance Against Gender Based Violence, and Natalie McGuire-Batson of the BMHS, this exhibition involved the design and development of an inclusive space

Abstract The National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., in the United States, and the Museum of Women (Musée de la Femme) in Longueuil, Canada, were founded with the objective of making women visible in museum collections and promoting gender equality in society. Can they be considered feminist museums? Feminist museology is not limited to describing the past and the present; on the

Abstract This article presents two case studies, which are the result of the application of a gendered interpretative tool to the collections at the Victoria & Albert Museum (London) and the Vasa Museum (Stockholm). Objects and their gendered narratives within the museums’ collections were researched across their lifecycle, from commission and manufacture to consumption and display in a museum setting

I there any need to introduce Hugues de Varine? As Assistant Director of ICOM from 1962 to 1965 and Director until 1974, he inspired a number of (eco) museum projects around the world. After publishing extensively on his conception of museums since the 1970s (his bibliography contains over 100 works), the author is now developing a retrospective and subjective look at the New Museology, from its origins

U museums as tools for sustainable community development is one of the priorities of the international research project EULAC-MUSEUMS (2016-2020). This ambitious project has been explicitly designed in response to the European Union Horizon 2020 Work Programme call INT 12 (2015), ‘the cultural, scientific and social dimension of EU-LAC relations’. The project seeks to carry out a comparative analysis

MUSEUM international K aren Brown is Senior Lecturer in the School of Art History, University of St Andrews in Scotland. She is also Director of the University’s Museums, Galleries and Collections Institute (MGCI), teaching Museum and Gallery Studies. A Board Member of ICOM’s International Committee on Museology (ICOFOM), she previously served as a Board Member of ICOM Europe and ICOM Ireland. A graduate

Abstract Shanty towns have been common to most major immigration cities around the world, including Paris, New York, São Paulo, Mexico City, Mumbai and Seoul. Yet, this crucial theme in global urban history remains poorly represented in city museums, with the focus generally being limited to urban poverty. This has contributed to neglect the fact that people living in shanty towns have played an important

Kylie Message is Professor of Public Humanities in the Humanities Research Centre at the Australian National University. Her research explores the role that museums play as sites of cultural and political exchange, focusing specifically on the relationship between museums, citizenship and political reform movements. She has written extensively about the ways that museums across the world have conducted

Abstract Over the past decades, many museums have seen their roles change significantly. Originally institutions essentially committed to bridging the gap between a nation's past and present, they have gradually assumed a supplementary role as social actors with a special opportunity for giving marginalised groups a chance to be heard and seen. A multitude of strong narratives, many of them traumatic

Abstract In this article, I discuss the challenges of being indigenous and a museum curator, and some of the benefits that I have found in balancing between these two worlds with their much‐contested relationship. In many parts of the world, museums play a role in managing indigenous heritage, though sometimes indigenous peoples are represented only passively in comparison to the place material culture

Abstract This article describes an initiative to connect a small refugee community with the city of Athens using cultural sightseeing as a medium for creating meaningful socio‐cultural experiences and the sharing and exchange of past memories. The sightseeing experience led to an impromptu exhibition in a refugee camp in the outskirts of Athens that was co‐created by a group of teenagers from Iraq

Abstract Contested and sensitive histories mostly focus on communities within a nation or city. The Amsterdam Museum often presents individual stories and objects with a biographical narrative in exhibitions that addresses ‘difficult’ histories in order to create an empathic space, where visitors are confronted with people beyond their own time, space and social group. In this article, I relate examples

Abstract This article examines the evolution of the so‐called ‘red museums’ in Yugoslavia (1945‐1991). Focusing on how Yugoslavian post‐war museums were established, organised and operated, the article reveals changes in the way historical discourses were reinterpreted in efforts to promote new national narratives. In recent years, the use of personal narratives in national museums, particularly at

Abstract In this article, I begin by describing the course of events during two violent days in Helsingborg, Sweden, when the football clubs Djurgårdens (from Stockholm) and Helsingborgs () met for the season's first match in the Allsvenskan football league in March 2014. One man died amidst several cases of assault and vandalism and a remembrance place soon formed on the site where he was killed.

Abstract Studies since the 1990s have shown how what is exhibited in major museums as the history, values, beliefs and identities of a community constitutes a representation of the dominant groups within a given society. Such groups may be political parties seeking to portray their organisational aspirations using heritage institutions. The overall image that emerges risks imposing a narrative on museum

Abstract The Museum of the City of New York's new award‐winning permanent exhibition, New York at Its Core (2016), devotes its largest space, the Future City Lab, to a consideration of New York City's present and future. Centred around five key challenges that face New York in the 21st century, it confronts the inherently contested nature of contemporary events through a variety of exhibition techniques

Abstract This article contributes to the debate on the increasingly prominent role of museums in the interpretation of what have become known as ‘difficult histories’. It begins by outlining the impact and legacy of contested history within the context of Northern Ireland before focusing on how and why some museums have come to see their role and purpose, and define their social impact, in relation

Abstract In an effort to meet changing visitor needs, the Mutare Museum modernised its Beit Gallery, which presents the traditional, agricultural, healing, musical and religious practices of the Eastern Shona people through digital technology. This new display in the gallery was inaugurated to counter the decreasing numbers of visitors over the years (2000‐2015). As many visitors regretted the absence

Over the last three decades, the digitisation of art collections has become a priority for an increasing number of museums all over the world. Regarded as a means of promoting public access to culture, the dissemination of collections on the Internet has also proven to be crucial for communicating with different audiences. Through museum websites, social media and common platforms—such as Google Arts

Abstract More than 70 years have passed since the atomic bombs were dropped on Japanese soil. With the atomic bomb survivors aging and the war generation quickly disappearing, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum urgently needed to address the shift in the nation's demographics. To meet this demand, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum renewed its permanent exhibition for the third time and reopened

The present article describes museum4punkt0, a three‐year project that develops and evaluates digital communication applications and technologies in museums. This project, held on a nationwide scale and funded by the Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, or ), aims to document and analyse the development process, encourages

Abstract The aim of this article is to present a large‐scale regional project conducted in Sicily, #iziicilia, which consists of an online platform and app. My point of departure is an overview of the literature on the use of digital storytelling and Information and Communication Technologies for heritage promotion. I will then delve into the project itself, whose primary purpose was to use digital

Abstract This article explores the ‘GuggenTube’ phenomenon, which was the result of a collaboration between Google and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation to celebrate the five‐year anniversary of YouTube. It proposes a case study of the 2010 YouTube Play creative video contest, which featured worldwide user‐generated content to promote pop video culture in museums. Although it was implemented almost

The digital revolution has affected museums in many ways, both directly and indirectly. A major external change is the rise of user‐written reviews; that is, reviews written by museum visitors and posted on the Internet. User‐generated reviews pose challenges to museums, as they are publicly available and largely outside the control of museums. This article discusses research on reviews of accredited

Abstract In this article, we investigate the positive impact recent developments in digital technologies have on the relations between museums, their collections and the communities they serve. Our work indicates that sustainable benefit is produced with the use of existing digital literacies and infrastructures. We have analysed and evaluated the potential of emergent 3D and spherical technologies

Museums must adapt to the increasingly massive use of the Internet, and use it to reach new audiences and find new ways of enhancing culture, or consolidate the relationship with their existing public. Therefore, defining an online strategy that conforms to the museum's mission may prove difficult. One of the challenges cultural organisations face in this regard is how to define, measure and evaluate

Abstract Digital technologies have begun to radically disrupt museum business models. The quantity of information available online today has never been so abundant, and easy access to information calls into question the role, purpose and ‘usefulness’ of museums. A century after John Cotton Dana called for a ‘useful’ museum, in‐house start‐up hubs where creative entrepreneurs can work, collaborate and

Abstract Considering the evolution and impact of digital technologies in society, and consequently in cultural organisations, how are these changes affecting museum professional's profile roles? What are the required new competences? Are there changes or up‐skilling to be made? Can new emergent job role profiles be identified? These are some of the questions that informed Mu.‐Museum Sector Alliance

Abstract Understanding the issues in cultural heritage preservation and digital heritage begins with knowledge exchange and the education of present and future stakeholders in the sector. Therefore, an innovative integration of digital technologies into museum practice and professional development courses is of great importance. In this article we describe three case studies involving knowledge exchange

Abstract The digitisation of images is a prerequisite for their dissemination on the Internet, to make them widely accessible. Due to their sheer number and pertinence, digital images and their derivatives can have a powerful effect on observers, which exceeds the impact of photography in the early 20th century. However, increased access to images may lead people to confuse the image with the object

Abstract Greek archaeological museums and collections form a dense and homogeneous network nationwide, incorporated in the administrative structure of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports. They depend upon the public authorities that are responsible for the protection of the antiquities excavated, and thus operate within the rigid, centralised system of the Greek civil service whose policies