MUSEOLOGY

This is a six-credit, core course of the Master's Degree Programme in "History of the Arts and Conservation of the Artistic Heritage". It can be attended by students enrolled in other Ca' Foscari programmes and in exchange programmes. However, it is highly desirable that potential participants from other programmes express their interest in this course to the teacher and the Humanities Campus before getting inscribed: some Ca' Foscari programmes have dedicated museology courses.
At Ca' Foscari, the BA course in museological disciplines ("Fundamentals of Conservation and Management of Cultural Heritage, I") has a mainly historical approach; instead, this MA course (Museology") focuses on theoretical and contemporary debates about museums and other institutions dedicated to conservation and memory.

- Familiarity with the keywords of the museological debate in the last decades.

- Awareness of the relations among museum policies and general cultural trends in the present and in the past.

- Ability to understand different strategies of display and interaction concerning the institutions of preservation and historical memory.

A good understanding of written English is required. This advanced course in museology can be fruitfully attended by students who have already attended a basic-level course in a B.A. Program (e.g. "Elementi di conservazione I" at Ca' Foscari University), but does not require a basic training in this subject.

This year the course offers a survey of fundamental contributions on the topic of museums (not only museological ones) published from 1979. It will discuss the keywords of the debate on museums in the last decades, with a particular focus on their role as sites of identity, media, agencies, mediators and arenas for the formation of authoritative discourses. It will also consider the historical development of the most recent museum theories and their dialogue with other cultural practices and branches of knowledge.

Assigned Readings

Attending Students
The readings will be shared through the platform moodle.unive.it and discussed in class. Each class will focus on specific readings, according to the schedule presented on moodle.

Non-Attending Students
Non-Attending students will prepare the readings above plus additional ones dedicated to them, which will be uploaded in a specific section of the platform moodle.

The evaluation considers the group presentations, if they will be possible (see below "Teaching methods"), and the results of the final in-class exam. The final in-class exam (lasting 90-120 minutes) consists of open-answer questions. It verifies the students' understanding of the topics discussed in class, presented on moodle and considered in the assigned readings.
Books, notes and electronic devices are not admitted during the exam.

Attending Students
The final note considers:
80%: in-class exam: questions concerning the issues discussed during the course and in the relevant online materials;
20%: presentations and interventions during the seminar and/or in the moodle forum.

Non-Attending Students
The final note considers only the in-class exam:
80%: questions concerning the issues discussed during the course and in the relevant online materials;
20%: questions concerning the additional readings for non attenting students.

Seminar on readings and students' group presentations on specific museums. The activity based on museum visits takes place only if museums and libraries will be open during the term.
The teaching form will be detailed in the first lesson of the course and in a pdf presentation that will be posted on the platform moodle.

Italian

Non final version.

BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF THE COURSE, students with disabilities are kindly requestest to contact: 1) the Office Disabilità e DSA: disabilita@unive.it, 2) The INSTRUCTOR.

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development