The theme of the 40th International Museum Day \u2018Museums and contested histories: saying the unspeakable in museums<\/a>\u2019 led me to ask: do we need museums? What speaks for or against them? What role do they play in society? These questions are more relevant than ever in light of the current political and social distortions arising from alternative facts and fake news.<\/strong><\/p>\n No-one needs sacred halls packed with the dusty art of past ages! What for? I can\u2019t rest on a sofa after an exhausting day at work and relax while enjoying the art, and the kids can\u2019t explore the museum playfully. Whenever they get loud, older visitors chastise them with disparaging looks, and I break out in a nervous sweat when they come too close to the artworks in their exuberance<\/a>.<\/p>\n Besides, maintaining museums costs taxpayers money, and I get nothing from them. They\u2019re always closed when I would have time to visit them. On the weekend I\u2019m drawn to more amusing forms of entertainment than a visit to a stuffy museum that holds up the aura of the original<\/a> like a halo. The objects often seem to me to just stand or hang around there, completely unrelated to my own lived reality. They don\u2019t tell me stories, they lack emotion, they don\u2019t inspire reflection. I don\u2019t know why they\u2019re there, or anything about the context in which they were created. Tours, catalogues, or audio-guides would give me more information, but I have too little time or energy for them.<\/p>\n Aside from these guides, no-one from the museum talks to me about the art, not even on social media<\/a>. What good are the many events on offer to me personally? I can hardly find anything that looks fun or interesting. Museums don\u2019t need digitalization. So say museum critics.<\/p>\n I have exaggerated a bit in this polemic, but it reflects voices from the internet. The article \u2018Keiner da? Mit dem Nicht-Besucher-Forscher im Museum<\/a>\u2019 (No-one there? A visit to the museum with the non-visitor-researcher), along with the discussion it generated, is particularly revealing. The truth is that time for museum visits is limited, while other forms of entertainment provide stiff competition.<\/p>\n When money gets tight the budget for cultural programmes shrinks, both in Germany and abroad. This doesn\u2019t affect the blockbuster exhibits that draw large crowds, there\u2019s always money for those. What suffers is the overall operation of the museum. Funds for bringing permanent exhibitions to the public\u2019s attention are limited, and such exhibitions often attract few visitors. To change this will require a rethinking of museums and cultural policy beyond mere lip service<\/a>. We need new approaches to publicity anchored in the current moment and capable of connecting the digital and the analogue.<\/p>\n The digital transformation of society constitutes a significant challenge for museums. They need to find their role in this process and claim their relevance for the whole community. If seen only as \u2018champagne towers<\/a>\u2019 for elites, then they can go.<\/p>\n According to Donald Trump, for example, culture is unnecessary. He planned to cut federal funding for art and the humanities in favour of increased military spending, and signed an executive order that would do just that. For the time being, Congress has stopped the cuts to federal cultural funding<\/a>, after artists and celebrities effectively protested the executive order in the media. The next round of discussions begins in September. Museums have had a wake-up call.<\/p>\n Museums and libraries reacted cleverly and cheekily to Trump\u2019s alternative facts and fake news. On 17 February 2017 they fought back with a #DayofFacts<\/a> on social media, using facts to disprove Trump\u2019s claims. Museums are taking a clear stance: neutrality is no longer an option, according to Claire Solery<\/a>. Day of Facts\u2019 campaign Storify<\/a> documents this.<\/p>\n Some 40 members of the Field Museum\u2019s staff delightfully and clearly disprove fake news in a Youtube video<\/a>.<\/p>\nNo-one needs museums! A polemic<\/h3>\n
Culture \u2013 a question of money?<\/h3>\n
#DayofFacts \u2013 alternative facts and fake news<\/h3>\n