The Greenhouse and Stavanger Museum are arranging a workshop for museum professionals and academics in conjunction with Professor Libby Robin’s Stavanger visit. The workshop will take place on November 21, 2017.
Register by November 14 using the following link to Eventbrite.
The Anthropocene, the geological age in which humans have radically changed the natural world, is not just an issue for the natural sciences. The environmental challenges facing the Earth in this age of humans should prompt museums to engage with the social, political, cultural, and economic reasons for these changes, at both local and global levels. What cultural stories, insights, and artefacts do museum collections hold that can expose how human-nature interaction works? How can museums serve to encourage reflection about the environment among their visitors through exhibitions and displays?
At this workshop, museum professionals and academics will work together to explore how local museums can work with such global environmental challenges in their exhibitions and activities.
Program
09:30-10:00
Registration
10:00-10:15
Welcome by Greenhouse co-directors Professors Finn Arne and Dolly Jørgensen
10:15-10:45
Slamming the Anthropocene: Keynote by Professor Libby Robin (Australian National University/National Museum of Australia)
This keynote will focus on “Anthropocene slams” as a method of localizing plenary environmental change by making the Anthropocene special to local communities. Professor Robin will demonstrate the slam technique and how local cultural objects can put the big A into Museums.
10:45-11:00
Break
11:00-12:00
Putting the Environment on Display: Participant lightning talk session
Participants are invited to share their own experiences and examples of bringing environmental themes and issues into their museum settings. Participants willing to share their examples, which can be based on a specific object, whole gallery or event, will have 5 minutes to present their mini-case. A computer will be available for showing images. Presentations in Norwegian or English welcome.
12:00-13:00
Lunch
13:00-13:30
Tour of Stavanger Museum exhibits: Museumsreisen, Kraniekoret, and Fugletrekkets gåter
We will take a group tour of three local exhibits which deal with human interaction with nature.
13:30-14:30
Museums as Agents of Change: Brainstorming session
We will work in groups to discuss possibilities for bringing planetary environmental challenges into our local museum contexts in Norway, including permanent installations and special exhibits.
14:30-15:00
Concluding remarks
