Settis: also musuems can die

by Salvatore Settis, from Il Giornale dell’Arte number 344, July 2014

THE USE WE DO NOWDAYS DISTORTS THEIR RAISON FOR BEING

It seems impossible, but it can happen. Born in the early eighteenth century, like all cultural creations they are not immortal. The preservation is growing in the emerging countries in which the cultural heritage has an identity value, it decreases in others where it counts only for its economy value, such as pride or pleasure. We are forgetting the institutive function of museums. Therefore they could perish.

Not only specialists but also intellectuals and politicians from various countries discuss publicly about the role of cultural heritage and, especially, about museums and exhibitions, and they do it in constantly changing environments with historical, social and cultural background higly differentiated. However, very often we tend to take for granted that such museums and their activities (including exhibitions) are institutions and / or socio-cultural practices,whose existence and cultural value are out of question. It is as if we believe that they can be criticized, improved or made worse by what we do (or do not do), but that in any case represent a fixed point, a substantially unchanging of our cultural landscape. Therefore, it is crucial to remind ourselves how the museum is a cultural creation, and also very recently…

Read the full article http://www.ilgiornaledellarte.com/articoli/2014/7/120601.html