Námskeið í safnafræði fyrir félaga FÍSOS dagana 11. – 14. mars 2012 og er haldið í samvinnu FÍSOS, Safnafræði við Háskóla Íslands, Listasafns Íslands og Þjóðminjasafns Íslands.
Félagsmönnum býðst námskeiðið án endurgjalds en nauðsynlegt er að skrá sig fyrirfram með því að senda netpóst til Sigurjóns B. Hafsteinssonar sbh@hi.is

Námskeiðið heitir From Research to Exhibition og er í höndum Dr. Thomas Ross Miller sem er mannfræðingur með bakgrunn í safnaheiminum, útgáfustarfsemi og myndlist. Um hann og námskeiðið má lesa nánar hér að neðan.

INTENSIVE COURSE/HRAÐNÁMSKEIÐ

THOMAS ROSS MILLER, PH.D.

UNIVERSITY OF ICELAND

SPRING 2012, March 11 – 14

In Collaboration with FÍSOS, The National Museum of Iceland and the National Gallery

Course description:

In this intensive course we will trace the path from primary research in archives, collections, and the field to exhibition. Case studies drawn from the professor’s experience and museum literature reveal curatorial strategies, techniques, obstacles, and innovations in museological methods. Topics include the history of collecting and display in ethnological museums, visual and aural modes of representation, layers of interpretation, the semiotic grammar of curatorial juxtaposition, writing text labels, the editorial decision-making process, dealing with sacred and culturally sensitive materials, stakeholders and sociopolitical issues in cross-cultural collaboration, preserving ephemera and performance art, and new ways of exhibiting cultures.

First session: Working with museum collections, March 11, 9:00-12:30. THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ICELAND

• Origins of museums as study collections and display venues
• From natural history to ethnology
• Case studies from the American Museum of Natural History:
• Hall of African Peoples, Hall of Asian Peoples, Hall of Northwest Coast Peoples

Second session: Working with expeditionary materials, March 11, 13:30-15:30. THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ICELAND

• From expedition to exhibition
• Archives and metadata
• Case studies from the American Museum of Natural History:
• “Drawing Shadows to Stone: Photographing North Pacific Peoples, 1897-1902” “African Reflections: Art from Northeastern Zaire”
• “Magnificent Voyagers”

Third session: Curating as an editorial process, March 13, 13:30-16:00. THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ICELAND

• Field work and museum projects; textual analysis versus visual display; what gets left out vs. what gets included; making a statement in objects, pictures, and words
• Case studies:  “Schamanen Sibiriens” (Linden State Museum, Germany)
• “Drawing Shadows to Stone” (AMNH)
• “The Family of Man”
• Frank Lloyd Wright vs. the Museum of Modern Art

Fourth session: Political pitfalls and community engagement, March 14, 8:30-10:30. THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ICELAND.

• Representation and repatriation
• Race, vision, and culture
• Collaborating with stakeholders
• Case studies:   NAGPRA (Native American Graves and Repatriation Act)
• Yuquot Whalers’ Shrine
• “Harlem on my Mind” (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
• Small local museums and regional historical societies
• Danish National Museum vs. Greenland National Museum
• The Manuscripts of Iceland

Fifth session: Beyond visual representation, March 14, 10:45-13:00. THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ICELAND.

• The multimedia museum; museums in cyberspace; curating performance and ephemera; artist-run spaces: museological preservation and interpretation
• Case studies: “Schamanen Sibiriens”; museum websites and acoustiguides; documenting alternative art in New York from the 1960s to the 1980s.

About Thomas Ross Miller, Ph.D.:

Thomas Ross Miller is a cultural anthropologist with a professional background in museums, publishing, and the arts. His interests include visual anthropology, sound and music, history and culture of museums and media, shamanism, and the intersections of science, art, and society. A former staff member and Guest Curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, he runs the independent Curatorial Consulting in Brooklyn, New York. He is a professor in the School of Liberal Arts at Berkeley College and adjunct instructor at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts. Previously he taught at Pratt Institute, Rutgers University, Drew University, Barnard College, Columbia University, and the State University of New York. His writings are published in the U.S. and Europe by Rolling Stone Press, Houghton Mifflin, University of Washington Press, American Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution Press, Syracuse University Press, Rodopi, Dietrich Reimer Verlag, and others. He is a National Endowment for the Arts award-winning composer and librettist, has collected songs and artifacts in more than a dozen countries, produced national radio broadcasts, and created multimedia installations for numerous museums, galleries, and performance spaces. In Winter 2012 Dr. Miller will be a visiting scholar in residence at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, Germany.

Education

• Simon’s Rock Early College: Intercultural Studies
• Wesleyan University: B.A. with Honors in Music
• University of Washington: Postgraduate study in Ethnomusicology
• Columbia University: M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D. in Anthropology