Museology

According to the Dublin Descriptors, students will acquire:

 

1) Knowledge and Understanding

Students know and understand the definition and evolution of the concept of the museum — from private collecting to the public museum — the disciplinary nature and aims of museology and its relationship with museography; they know the legal, regulatory and managerial framework of museum institutions in Italy and abroad, the principles of cultural heritage education, and the transformations introduced by the digital dimension in museum communication and access.

 

2) Applying Knowledge and Understanding

Students are able to apply the knowledge acquired to the analysis of concrete museum case studies and to the critical reading of the museums they visit, reconstructing their origins, development and display choices; they are able to design cultural heritage education projects and storytelling activities aimed at differentiated audiences (adults, children, people with disabilities or in conditions of socio-cultural fragility).

 

3) Making Judgements

Students are able to critically assess the social role of the contemporary museum, engaging with the debate on the ICOM definition of the museum and on models of the participatory museum; they can distinguish and compare different approaches — for instance museum education and heritage education, or museology and museography — and form independent judgements even on the basis of incomplete sources and cases.

 

4) Communication Skills

Students are able to communicate museological content orally and in writing with lexical precision, linguistic correctness and clarity of exposition, adapting their register to both specialist and non-specialist audiences; they master the principles of communicative writing and of storytelling in the museum as means of conveying heritage to differentiated audiences.

 

5) Learning Skills

Students develop autonomy in locating and consulting the sources and updating tools proper to the discipline — institutional websites such as ICOM Italia, materials on the Studium platform, historical atlases, specialist bibliography — acquiring a study method that enables them to pursue the study of museology independently and to undertake further studies.

 

The course seeks to provide useful skills and to develop both valid museum teaching projects (indispensable instrument for conveying knowledge of the museum’s holdings), and an overall picture of the complex historical and legislative link between cultural and museum heritage and civil society.

Lectures, exercises, group work, case analysis.

Attendance is not compulsory.

The following will be taken into consideration: the history of collecting, the communicative circuit, museum teaching aimed at an audience of children, of people with difficulties (disabled, people on the margins of the economic/socio-cultural fabric). Part of the syllabus will centre on topics of a legal (management, legal status) and organizational nature with regard to museum structures, and on the relationship between museography/museology, illustrated by means of some case studies.

The subjects will be studied using the illustration of several case studies compared in the classroom.

All students (including those who do not attend the course) are expected to visit at least two museums of their choice.

A) Introduction to the subject: definition and evolution of the concept of museums, disciplinary nature and purpose of museology, cultural and methodological implications.

 Collectionism, the private museum and the public museum, legislation (relations, competences, tasks of the museum institution in Italy and abroad), management, standards and assessment, relations with visitors, the exposition (4 CFU).

- M. T. Fiorio, Il museo nella storia. Dallo studiolo alla raccolta pubblica, Pearson, Milano-Torino 2023, pp. 1-269.

- M. V. Marini  Clarelli, Il museo nel mondo contemporaneo. La teoria e la prassi, Carocci, Roma 2024, pp. 27-34, 51-59, 73-85, 108-197, 237-264.

 

 

B) Narration at museum as cultural heritage education (1 CFU).

-  S. Bodo-S. Mascheroni- M. G. Panigada, Un patrimonio di storie: perché e per chi ?, in S. Bodo-S. Mascheroni- M. G. Panigada (a cura di), Un patrimonio di storie. La narrazione nei musei, una risorsa per la cittadinanza culturale, Mimesis, Milano-Udine 2016, pp. 21-22;

- S. Mascheroni, Il museo narrativo: un laboratorio di vita, in S. Bodo-S. Mascheroni- M. G. Panigada (a cura di), Un patrimonio di storie. La narrazione nei musei, una risorsa per la cittadinanza culturale, Mimesis, Milano-Udine 2016, pp. 25-32; 

- S. Bodo, Il narratore al museo, “persona di consiglio per chi ascolta”, in S. Bodo-S. Mascheroni- M. G. Panigada (a cura di), Un patrimonio di storie. La narrazione nei musei, una risorsa per la cittadinanza culturale, Mimesis, Milano-Udine 2016, pp. 33-49;

- M. G. Panigada, Esperimenti narrativi in un museo, in S. Bodo-S. Mascheroni- M. G. Panigada (a cura di), Un patrimonio di storie. La narrazione nei musei, una risorsa per la cittadinanza culturale, Mimesis, Milano-Udine 2016, pp. 65-69.

S. Mascheroni, Intrecci di senso, in S. Bodo, S. Mascheroni, M. G. Panigada (a cura di), Fare nuove le cose. Patrimonio culturale e narrazione, uno sguardo pluridisciplinare, Mimesis, Milano-Udine 2024, pp. 11-24.

S. Bodo, Reincantare il patrimonio. Pratiche partecipative e narrazione nei musei, in S. Bodo, S. Mascheroni, M. G. Panigada (a cura di), Fare nuove le cose. Patrimonio culturale e narrazione, uno sguardo pluridisciplinare, Mimesis, Milano-Udine 2024, pp. 25-44.

S. Barlacchi, M. Spanò, Raccontare l’arte nei musei. Un dialogo possibile fra emozione estetica e rigore scientifico, in S. Bodo, S. Mascheroni, M. G. Panigada (a cura di), Fare nuove le cose. Patrimonio culturale e narrazione, uno sguardo pluridisciplinare, Mimesis, Milano-Udine 2024, pp. 99-112.

M. Valotti, I. Bertario,  La narrazione autobiografica per la formazione di saperi esperti. Educare al patrimonio culturale, dalle aule alla città, in S. Bodo, S. Mascheroni, M. G. Panigada (a cura di), Fare nuove le cose. Patrimonio culturale e narrazione, uno sguardo pluridisciplinare, Mimesis, Milano-Udine 2024, pp. 113-120.

 

C) Museums in a Digital World (1 CFU)

- N. Mandarano, Il digitale per i musei. Comunicazione, fruizione, valorizzazione, Carocci, Roma 2024, pp. 75-174.

 

 

Knowledge of the events concerning the setting up, development and staging of the two museums (chosen by students) will be discussed during the exam.

For the students, as well as consultation of the Studium platform (on the University of Catania’s website)

The students are also required to study with the aid of a historical atlas (to be chosen by the student), especially the parts relating to the legislation and history of collectionism.

Please remember that in compliance with art 171 L22.04.1941, n. 633 and its amendments, it is illegal to copy entire books or journals, only 15% of their content can be copied.

For further information on sanctions and regulations concerning photocopying please refer to the regulations on copyright (Linee Guida sulla Gestione dei Diritti d’Autore) provided by AIDRO - Associazione Italiana per i Diritti di Riproduzione delle opere dell’ingegno (the Italian Association on Copyright).

The teachers undertake, within the limits of the financial resources, to ensure as far as possible that a copy of the adopted texts is available in the departmental library or (in the case of hard-to-find texts, articles and essays) to make them available on Studium, in accordance with the applicable copyright laws.