Museums beyond the Crises

Book excerpt: There are a number of different crises, in various guises, in today’s world. The most prominent of these is the global economic crisis, but this is not felt as keenly across the globe: there are also countries of economic prosperity. There is also, however, the museum crisis: the predominant model of the museum is collapsing. Again, this crisis is not constant everywhere – there are spaces that didn’t have museums until recently and are now suddenly experiencing a museum boom, or else are still without museums but have initiatives that are taking care of heritage beyond the traditional model of the museum. Such crises mean that the old paradigm is being replaced by a new one that still needs to be defined. This book investigates what such a new paradigm may entail and its consequences for the preservation of heritage.