ICOM Germany and ICOM Nord jointly organize a conference in Helsingborg, Sweden, on September 21–23, 2017 with the theme “Difficult issues".
Museums play a key role in creating and representing the shared cultural heritage of various communities. What is to be said about the stories museums facilitate? Why is something remembered and something else forgotten? What is highlighted, what hidden? What does restrict museums' freedom to act and / or do we restrict ourselves? What are the roles of public and local societies? Are museums prisoners of their own familiar practices and processes?
Six national committees of the International Council of Museums – ICOM Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Germany – jointly invite to a conference addressing demanding issues for today's museums and museum professionals.
13:00 – 14:30 |
Welcome Katherine Hauptman, Chair ICOM Sweden Beate Reifenscheid, Chair ICOM Germany Mats Sander, Mayor of Helsingborg, Sweden
Welcoming speech Suay Aksoy, President, International Council of Museums (ICOM)
Introduction to the conference theme Stefan Bohman, ICOM Sweden
|
15:15 – 16:30 |
Ethical Challenges for Museum Professionals
|
|
Moderator: Helga Lára Thorsteinsdottir, Board Member ICOM Iceland
Moral challenges for museum professionals when working with difficult issues – a short overview Kathrin Pabst, Head of Department for Research, Collection Management and Education, Vest-Agder Museum, Kristiansand, Norway
House of Silicone: displaying macabre and contested history at the Saga Museum Gudrun D Whitehead, Assistant Professor of Museum Studies, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland
The German Tank Museum: a blood diamond as a regional touristic crown jewel? Ralf Raths, Director, German Tank Museum Munster, Munster, Germany
|
17:00 – 18:15 |
Difficult Objects and Sensitive Stories
|
|
Moderator: Eero Ehanti, Chair ICOM Finland
Witch hunts, immigration and integration. New 'difficult' museums in the making Lulu Anne Hansen, Head of History Department, Museum of Southwest Jutland, Ribe, Denmark / Flemming Just, Director, Museum of Southwest Jutland, Ribe, Denmark
Conservational challenges in dealing with Holocaust objects Natalie Meurisch, Student, Cologne Institute of Conservation Sciences, Cologne, Germany
Documenting collective grief Birgitta Witting, Antiquarian, Kulturmagasinet, Helsingborg, Sweden
FOLK: an exhibit on science, identity, and politics Ageliki Lefkaditou, Senior Curator of History of Medicine, Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology/National Medical Museum, Oslo, Norway / Jon Røyne Kyllingstad, Senior Curator, Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology, Oslo, Norway / Henrik Treimo, Senior Curator, Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology, Oslo, Norway
|
18:30 – 20:30 |
Reception at Dunkers
Guided tours through the different exhibitions at Dunkers are available.
|
Thursday – Friday |
Roll-up Presentations (Foyer)
|
|
The following Roll-up Presentations on the theme of the conference will be on show during the conference (Foyer):
Congo Gaze – people, encounters and artifacts. Obstacles trust and mistrust Tone Cecilie Simensen Karlgård, Museum Lecturer, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Norway
An international refugee museum Anne Sofie Vemmelund Christensen, Curator, Varde Museums, Varde, Denmark
'Kunst auf Lager': from blind spot to spotlight Carolin Vogel, Project Manager, Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg, Germany
An open forum for reflection about ethics – a new ICOM International Committee on ethical issues? Kathrin Pabst, Head of Department for Research, Collection Management and Education, Vest-Agder Museum, Kristiansand, Norway / Søren la Cour Jensen, Senior Curator, Head of Archives and Manager, The House of Knud Rasmussen, Hundested, Denmark / Per B. Rekdal, retired Head of Exhibitions, Education and Public Services, Museum of Cultural Heritage, Oslo, Norway
|
09:00 – 10:15 |
Museums and Changing Communities
|
|
Moderator: Kathrin Pabst, Board Member ICOM Norway
Guovtti ilmmi gaskkas. Balancing between two contested worlds. The challenges and benefits being an indigenous museum professional Áile Aikio, Curator, Sámi Museum Siida, Anár/Inari, Finland
A difficult issue, or a difficult place? Adapting National Museum Policies to local museum realities Maja Leonardsen Musum, Head of Department for Exhibitions and Education, Randsfjordmuseene, Oppland, Norway
The politics of diversity: excluding identities from the inclusivity movement Antonio Rodriguez, Consultant, Traveling Exhibitions and International Programs, Strategic Partnerships and Alliances, Washington D.C., USA
Trembling walls. When the earthquake changes the identity of local museums Valeria Pica, National Coordinator for Education and Mediation, Rome, Italy
|
10:15 – 10:45 |
Coffee break (Presenters will be available at their Roll-up for a short oral presentation! – Foyer)
|
|
Moderator: Stefan Bohman, ICOM Sweden
Managing the 'Other': stories of the Estonian Russian-speaking minority in the core exhibition of the Estonian National Museum Terje Anepaio, Researcher Curator, Estonian National Museum, Tartu, Estonia / Kristel Rattus, Researcher Curator, Estonian National Museum, Tartu, Estonia
Warsaw, 2004 – Gdańsk, 2017. Evolution of the Polish museum boom Maria Kobielska, Jagiellonian University, Research Center for Memory Cultures, Krakow, Poland
Ingeborg Holm changed the world. An early whistleblower Anja Petersen, Antiquarian, Kulturmagasinet, Helsingborg, Sweden
|
13:30 – 14:45 |
Museums and Public Responsibilities
|
|
Moderator: Beate Reifenscheid, Chair ICOM Germany
Collection management and public consent: the practice, politics and perception of collections disposal and transfer Michael Terwey, Head of Collections and Exhibitions, National Science and Media Museum, Bradford, UK
Hidden objects on display Karen Sivebæk Munk-Nielsen, Head of Holbæk Museum, Museum Vestsjælland, Holbæk, Denmark
A bloody tradition – whale killing in paintings by Mikines Solveig Hanusardóttir Olsen, Curator, National Gallery of the Faroe Islands, Torshavn, Faroe Islands
|
15:15 – 16:15 |
Collecting and Displaying the Hidden Contemporary
|
|
Moderator: Katherine Hauptman, Chair ICOM Sweden
Collecting and telling outside the comfort zone Diana Chafik, Curator and Project Manager, Sörmlands Museum, Nyköping, Sweden / Peter Ostritsch, Head of Collections, Sörmlands Museum, Nyköping, Sweden
Collecting the Troubles and Beyond: the role of the Ulster Museum in interpreting contested history Karen Logan, Project Curator, National Museums Northern Ireland, Belfast, Northern Ireland
At home with people with severe mental illness Ellen Lange, Curator, National Medical Museum/Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology, Oslo, Norway
|
16:15 – 17:00 |
Unfolding dark Narratives
|
|
Moderator: Minna Sarantola-Weiss, Board Member ICOM Finland
Museums and presentation of education, wars and the socialist period as problematic memories – experiences in Slovenia Branko Šuštar, Museum Councillor, Slovenian School Museum, Ljubljana, Slovenia, and President, Historical Association of Slovenia
Sind wir noch Freunde? Displaying the difficult history of the German presence in Finnish Lapland, 1941-44 Mirkka Hekkurainen, Coordinator, University of Helsinki, Finland / Eerika Koskinen-Koivisto, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Jyväskylä, Finland / Suzie Thomas, University Lecturer in Museum Studies, University of Helsinki, Finland
|
17:00 – 19:00 |
ICOM Germany Annual Meeting (only for German members!)
|
09:00 – 09:45 |
Bridging History with the Present
|
|
Moderator: Tine Bagh, Board Member ICOM Denmark
Post-mortem photography – is it right for museums to decide who is remembered, forgotten or hidden? Satu Savia, Curator, Helsinki City Museum, Helsinki, Finland / Hanna Talasmäki, Freelance Curator, Helsinki, Finland
Difficult issues around gender Merete Ipsen, Director, Women’s Museum in Denmark, Aarhus, Denmark
|
|
Moderator: Suay Aksoy, President, International Council of Museums (ICOM)
Panel with Session Moderators & Audience
|
10:30 – 16:30 |
Field trip to Elsinore, Denmark
|
|
We continue the conference theme in Denmark, and take the ferry from Helsingborg to Helsingør to visit the repeatedly rewarded Maritime Museum of Denmark and have a welcome and guided tours at Kronborg Castle. There is no organised trip back to Helsingborg.
> More information about the field trip
|