Presence in the Museum. On metonymies, discontinuity and history without stories

Abstract

In this paper, I will explore and extend the concept of presence as formulated by the Dutch philosopher of history, novelist and psychologist Eelco Runia, arguing that it provides a useful tool with which to unpick some of the non-representational aspects of exhibition making in historical museums. The paper proceeds from a  desire to find theoretical tools with which to, in Kathleen Stewarts words, ‘slow the quick jump to representational thinking and evaluative critique long enough to find ways of approaching the complex and uncertain objects that fascinate because they literally hit us or exert a pull on us’ (Stewart 2007: 4). Specifically, I will use a philosophical analysis of presence to show how it might be employed in a museum context, through the conceptual pairings of presence and meaning, discontinuity and continuity, and metaphor and metonymy.