ICOM / ICMAH Annual Conference 2009
“Museums and Faith”
organised by
ICOM’s International Committee for Museums and Collections of Archaeology and History (ICMAH)
and the
Musée d’Histoire de la Ville de Luxembourg
14-16 May 2009
GENERAL INFORMATION
The Musée d’Histoire de la Ville de Luxembourg (Luxembourg City History Museum) will be hosting the above conference. It will be organised as part of a support programme for the exhibition “A Matter of Faith. An Exhibition for Believers and Non-Believers”. For more information, please visit www.icmah.icom.museum
Starting point and background of the conference
The times we live in are characterised by our highly ambivalent relationship with religion and faith. On the one hand, western societies are experiencing increased secularisation. This is countered, on the other hand, by a growing trend towards fundamentalism, also among Christians. Nevertheless, the subject of faith and religion appears so far to have occupied only a marginal place in cultural history museums and exhibitions. There are only a handful of establishments that explicitly tackle this subject. Worth mentioning are the St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art in Glasgow, the Museum of World Religions in Taipei/Taiwan or the Bijbelsmuseum in Amsterdam. At the same time, numerous cultural history museums exhibit objects of faith outside of their religious context. Is the museum world scared of taking a stand with regard to the subject of faith?
The conference “Museums and faith” calls upon critically reflective museum curators. It is not intended to focus on religious history or anthropology.
More specifically, the conference “Museums and faith” will be contemplating and discussing innovative and stimulating practical examples under the following four focus points:
1. Museums in the area of tension between faith and society
It has become a common catchphrase to talk of a “clash of cultures” or a “clash of religions”. Major cities in Europe as well as in America are characterised by the juxtaposition and often the opposition of religions. To what extent do museums / exhibitions take a stand in these negotiation processes? Do they assume the role of neutral observers, of chroniclers? Or do they intervene, moderately or even taking sides?
Can and should museums explore the depth of faith?
2. Can historical experiences of faith be exhibited?
To what extent can individual experiences of faith in fact be represented by means of historical observation? (To what extent) can this even be communicated to an audience that is no longer religious?
3. Faith in contemporary art
How does contemporary art broach the issue of faith, between blasphemy and provocation on the one hand and individual professions of faith on the other hand? What can curators of cultural history museums learn from the approach adopted by contemporary art museums?
4. Secular museum objects, sacred museum objects
Whenever a Christian church is no longer used for worship, it must first be “deconsecrated”, so that it can subsequently be used for secular purposes. What happens to objects originally used for religious rites? What about their religious content? Does this disappear once they are transferred to a museum or an exhibition? As museum objects they are secular objects per se, but is there not something that “remains” nevertheless? Altar pieces, for instance, can trigger reflective meditation in a museum. Likewise, religious objects deposited in a museum can be made available to people for religious ceremonies. How do museum curators deal with this? Do they act as intermediaries between the religious and the secular? How much faith do curators allow in their museums?
LANGUAGES AND ABSTRACTS
The plenary and case study sessions will be held in English. No simultaneous translation from English is foreseen. Participants will receive the abstracts of the papers printed in English.
PARTICIPANTS
Registration will be limited to 50 participants.
REGISTRATION
The cost of the two-day conference is 180 euro, or an equivalent amount in dollars, and includes light lunches and receptions. It will be possible to register for one day only.
The deadline for registration is 1 May 2009. Registrations are to be sent to the Musée d’Histoire de la Ville de Luxembourg. Payment by Visa, MasterCard or American Express will be accepted. Please check the CONFERENCE REGISTRATION and CONFERENCE PAYMENT forms below for further information.
HOTEL ACCOMMODATION
Each conference registrant is responsible for reserving and paying for his or her hotel accommodation in Luxembourg. Contact one of the hotels below to make your reservation.
Hotel Simoncini
6, rue de Notre Dame
L-2240 Luxembourg
Tel : 00352 22 28 44
Fax : 00352 26 26 29 00
E-Mail : [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Web: www.hotelsimoncini.lu <http://www.hotelsimoncini.lu/>
Approximately 135€/night, breakfast included
Three minutes away from the Luxembourg City History Museum
Hotel Casanova
10, place Guillaume
L-1648 Luxembourg
Tel : 00352 22 04 93
Fax : 00352 22 04 96
E-Mail : [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Web: www.hotelcasanova.lu <http://www.hotelcasanova.lu/>
Approximately 110€/night, breakfast included
Three minutes away from the Luxembourg City History Museum
Youth Hostel Luxembourg
2, rue du Fort Olisy
L-2261 Luxembourg
Tel: 00352 22 68 89 20
Fax: 00352 22 33 60
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Web: www.youthhostels.lu <http://www.youthhostels.lu/>
Single bedroom 32,80€/night, breakfast included
Fifteen minutes away from the Luxembourg City History Museum
CONFERENCE APPLICATION FORM
Attendance Selection
Attendance at entire conference (if you select A1, skip to A6)
A1 I would like to register for the full conference
180 euros
Attendance at specific days only (if you did not select A1, please select any or all of the following)
A2 I would like to register for Thursday, 14 May 2009
15 euros
A3 I would like to register for Friday, 15 May 2009
60 euros
A4 I would like to register for Saturday (including dinner), 16 May 2009
70 euros
A5 I would like to register for dinner on Saturday, 16 May 2009 (drinks not included)
35 euros
Total
A6 ________ euros (please add up the above selections and enter total)
Name: _____________________________________________
Title: _____________________________________________
Museum: _____________________________________________
Address: _____________________________________________
(include postal code) _____________________________________________
Country: _____________________________________________
Telephone: _____________________________________________
Fax: _____________________________________________
E-mail address: _____________________________________________
CONFERENCE PAYMENT FORM
Total amount to be charged from A6: _________ euro
Payment by Credit Card (Please select one):
Visa
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Expiry Date: _____\______
Name on card: __________________________________________
Signature: __________________________________________
MasterCard
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American Express
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If you do not want to communicate your credit card number by e-mail or fax, you may also communicate it to us by telephone, please call Fabrizio Ceccarelli: +352 4796 4558 or Marie-Paule Jungblut: +352 4796 4562.
Registration and payment in full is due by 1 May 2009. We will send you a confirmation. If you don’t have received the confirmation within 3 days after your registration via e-mail or fax., please contact us by telephone.
Please complete and send conference application and conference payment forms to:
Marie-Paule Jungblut
Musée d’Histoire de la Ville de Luxembourg
L-2090 Luxembourg
Tel.: +352 4796 4562
Fax: +352 471707
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
CONFERENCE PROGRAMME
Thursday May 14, 2009
Location: Musée d’Histoire de la Ville de Luxembourg, 14 rue du St-Esprit, L-1475 Luxembourg
15.00 – 16.00 Arrival and registration
16.00 – 16.30 Welcoming speeches
16.30 – 18.00 Visit of “A Matter of Faith. An Exhibition for Believers and Non Believers” by the curators Sibylle Lichtensteiger and Beat Hächler
18.00 - 20.00 Light dinner
Friday May 15, 2009
Morning
Location: Musée d’Histoire de la Ville de Luxembourg, 14 rue du St-Esprit, L- 1475 Luxembourg
09.00 – 09.30 Arrival and registration
09.30 – 09.50 Crispin Paine
Institute of Archaeology, University College London.
Material Religion
Theme 1 Museums in the area of tension between faith and society
09.50 – 10.00 Introduction by Jari Harju, Helsinki City Museum, Finland
10.00 – 10.20 Janrense Boonstra, Bible Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherland
Religion, a dangerous topic
10.20 – 10.40 Gaby Fierz, Museum der Kulturen Basel, Switzerland
The exhibition: Festivals of light. Religious Diversity in a city, 2004-2005 in Basel
10.40 – 11.00 Discussion
11.00 – 11.20 Break
Theme 2 Can historical experiences of faith be exhibited?
11.20 – 11.30 Introduction by Cristina Lleras, Museo Nacional de Colombia, Bogota, Colombia
11.30 – 11.50 Dubravka Peić Čaldarović, Croatian History Museum, Zagreb
Exhibiting Faith: Stereotypes and Potentials in Croatian Museum Practice
11.50 – 12.10 Isabelle Benoit, Tempora/Musée de l’Europe, Bruxelles
God(s) A User’s Guide : A European experience of faith and exhibition
12.10 – 12.30 Ansgar Reiß, Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, Germany
Calvinism. The Reformed Protestants in Germany and Europe
12.30 - 13.00 Discussion
13.00 – 14.15 Lunch
14.15 – 15.00 Bus ride to the MUDAM
Afternoon
Location: MUDAM Luxembourg, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, 3, Park Dräi Eechelen, L-1499 Luxembourg
Theme 3 Faith in contemporary art
15.00 – 15.10 Welcoming by Enrico Lunghi, MUDAM, Luxembourg
15.10 – 15.30 Peter Weibel, Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Germany
Medium Religion
15.30 – 16.00 Discussion
16.00 – 18.00 Visit of the MUDAM
18.00 – 20.00 Reception
20.00 Bus ride to the city center
Saturday May 16, 2009
Morning
Location: Bischöfliches Dom- und Diözesanmuseum, Windstraße 6, D-54290 Trier
Theme 4 Secular museum objects, sacred museum objects
08.15 – 09.30 Bus ride to Trier
09.30 – 10.30 Visit of the permanent display of the Bischöfliches Dom-
und Diözesanmuseum
10.30 – 10.40 Introduction by Nina Archabal, Minnesota Historical Society, St-Paul, USA
10.40 – 11.00 Gretchen Townsend Buggeln, , Valparaiso University, USA
Thoughts on the Interpretation of Religion at American
History Museums
11.00 – 11.20 Charles Horton, Western Collections, The Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, Ireland
The Sacred Traditions Exhibition
11.20 – 11.40 Teresa Leskinen, Suomen ortodoksinen
kirkkomuseo, Finland
From a gallery of curiosities to a temple of creativity –
The Orthodox Church Museum of Finland
11.40 - 12.30 Discussion and general conclusion of the conference
Lunch on your own
Afternoon
12.00 – 18.00 Free afternoon in Trier
14.00 – 15.00 ICMAH Annual General Membership Meeting
18.00 Bus ride to Luxembourg
20.30 Farewell dinner