A New Keyword in the Museum: Exhibiting the Anthropocene

Authors

  • Lotte Isager The Cultural History Museums in Holstebro Municipality Museumsvej 2, DK-7500, Denmark. Email: lotteisager@hotmail.com Telephone: +45 22 62 75 72
  • Line Vestergaard Knudsen Department of Politics and Society, Aalborg University Fibigerstræde 1, DK 9220 Aalborg, Denmark http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1783-4397
  • Ida Theilade Department of Food and Resource Economics (IFRO), University of Copenhagen Rolighedsvej 25, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Telephone: +45 35 33 17 42 http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3502-1277

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29311/mas.v19i1.3585

Keywords:

anthropocene, museum, heritage, future assembling

Abstract

Since 2000, the concept of the Anthropocene has moved from its geologic field of origin into numerous other academic disciplines and into the world of museums. Based on journal papers, exhibition reviews and online material, this paper describes 41 exhibitions about the Anthropocene, analyzes how museums and galleries understand the Anthropocene, and how they use exhibition media as well as their authority as museums in dealing with this topic. It is argued that exhibitions generally display the Anthropocene as an unsettled category. Audiences are presented with complex factual accounts and highly emotional images of the past and the future. They are invited to reflect upon the Anthropocene not as a well-defined issue but as heritage in the sense of ‘transformable practices’ (Harrison 2015: 34). However, most exhibitions appear to deliberately exclude significant controversies about the Anthropocene and the predicament of the world from their arenas for reflection.

Author Biographies

Lotte Isager, The Cultural History Museums in Holstebro Municipality Museumsvej 2, DK-7500, Denmark. Email: lotteisager@hotmail.com Telephone: +45 22 62 75 72

Lotte Isager, anthropologist and geographer, Ph.d., is currently managing a research and communication project where university researchers and museum curators join forces in exploring how to use plants and ethnobotany to tell cultural history. Prior to this, she has worked for two decades at the University of Copenhagen on research about natural resource management, agricultural development and institutional capacity building in developing countries.

Line Vestergaard Knudsen, Department of Politics and Society, Aalborg University Fibigerstræde 1, DK 9220 Aalborg, Denmark

Line Vestergaard Knudsen, Ph.d., researches and teaches museology and museum communication. By collaborating with several Danish cultural historical museums she studies and develops museum-society relationships. She has recently published studies of museum collaborations with public and private partners, and co-creative collaborations and participatory processes including users, digital developers and other stakeholders in museum projects. Currently, she is a member of a researcher/curator group that explores how to use plants and ethnobotany to tell cultural history.

Ida Theilade, Department of Food and Resource Economics (IFRO), University of Copenhagen Rolighedsvej 25, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Telephone: +45 35 33 17 42

Ida Theilade, Ph.d., teaches tropical botany and ethnobotany. Since the 1980s, she has conducted research on tropical forestry and botany, including management and conservation of forests and livelihoods in Southeast Asia and Africa. Her work as a conservation activist and her collaboration with groups of local non-state forest managers in Cambodia has won international acclaim. In Denmark, she is a keen participant in a collaborative project with five museums that explores how to use plants and ethnobotany to tell cultural history.

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Published

08.03.2021

How to Cite

Isager, L., Knudsen, L. V., & Theilade, I. (2021). A New Keyword in the Museum: Exhibiting the Anthropocene. Museum & Society, 19(1), 88–117. https://doi.org/10.29311/mas.v19i1.3585

Issue

Vol. 19 No. 1 (2021): Open Issue

Section

Articles

License

Copyright remains with the author(s) of the article. This article can be re-used according to the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0  licence.