| dc.description.abstract | With the heavy cutbacks worldwide in the museum field, museums need to
find other methods to finance their operations (Black, 2012). The survival of
museums depends if the audiences come. If no one visits the museum, then
what good can the ‘big and expensive institutions’ contribute to the society
(Wäre, 2002, p.271)?
Opinion on what museums are about differs depending on what values the one
you are talking with holds (Hall, 2011). With many trends and countertrends,
my interest was caught by the discussion of inclusionary and participatory
museum, i.e. the social museum, and the trend of mounting blockbuster
exhibitions. While at first glance, these two phenomena seem to contradict one
another, I wanted to investigate if it might not be possible to merge them, such
that the blockbuster exhibition concept could work as a means to achieving
the goal of social museums. The social museum should work for the good of
society and its population, and hence should include and welcome everyone
(Heumann Gurian, 2006). According to the guiding ethos of a social museum,
museums should promote cross-cultural understanding, as well as building
bridges of apprehension between diverse groups in society (Sandell, 2007).
A short definition on the word ‘blockbuster exhibition’ could be an exhibition
that attracts a lot of people to see it and thus generates profit. However, one
has to look beyond the numbers blockbusters represent: profit, audience,
marketing, etc. During my research I have reached the conclusion that if a
blockbuster is well made, it can not only contribute to the budget and audience
size, but can also add educational value. A well-made exhibition, regardless
of whether it is a blockbuster or not, makes the visitor leave the museum
happy and content. What is more important, a well-made exhibition makes
the visitor leave the museum with new knowledge. | sv |
