Katarzyna Jagodzińska

About the nature of museums, the review of the book W kręgu muzealnych przedmiotów by Justyna Żak

The review concerns the book W kręgu muzealnych przedmiotów by Justyna Żak, published in 2020 by the Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego. The book deals with the nature of museum objects and objects that fill museum rooms and do not have the status of museum objects, being elements of arrangement, reproductions or reconstructions. In a broader sense it is a reflection on the nature of museums, in which the notion of authenticity is of key importance. The book’s asset is a broad perspective of an object in a museum –its status, value, meaning – from theoretical reflection in the field of philosophy, sociology and aesthetics, to case studies and museum practice, supported by quotations from belles-lettres, however, the author fell into the trap of a superficiality that was difficult to avoid.

According to the Resolution no 1, adopted by the ICOM’s General Assembly in 2016, “Museums have a particular responsibility towards the landscape that surrounds them, urban or rural”. And thus, they should “manage buildings and sites of cultural landscape as ‘extended museums’, offering enhanced protection and accessibility to such heritage in closed relationship with communities”. This document arises from new museology thinking developed in the 1970s and 1980s. In the article we discuss this newly “codified”responsibility illustrated with an example of four Polish museums – Muzeum Śląskie in Katowice, Museum of King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanow, Muzeum Podgorza and Ethnographic Museum in Krakow –with intention to examine strategies and positions museums adopt, and contexts that determining those actions. We conclude that museums must play active parts in societies and take actions regarding changes in the landscape that surrounds them. However, the ICOM resolution is only a signpost, and broader recognition of museums as subjects of discussion on urban and rural space is required.