Unit:
Κατεύθυνση Μουσειακές ΣπουδέςLibrary of the School of Philosophy
Author:
Sakallis Chrysostomos
Supervisors info:
Μάρλεν Μούλιου, Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια, Αρχαιολογίας & Ιστορίας της Τέχνης, Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Μαρία Στεφανίδου - Λουτσίδου, Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική Σχολή, Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Χριστίνα Ζαραφωνίτου, Καθηγήτρια, Σχολή Κοινωνικών Επιστημών, Πάντειο Πανεπιστήμιο
Original Title:
Ιστορία της Επιστήμης και Μουσειακές Σπουδές. Μέθοδοι επανερμηνείας συλλογών επιστημονικού ενδιαφέροντος: Η περίπτωση του Εγκληματολογικού Μουσείου του Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών
Translated title:
History of Science and Museum Studies. Methods of re-interpretation for scientific collections: A case study of the Criminology Museum of the University of Athens
Summary:
The scientific collections developed for this project were chosen out of a desire to comprehend and control nature with the result that these types of collections – as the primary tool for the production and shaping of knowledge for many centuries – transferred valuable content relative to the advancement and shaping of science; the evolution of the research process; the mode of teaching; and even the way science is interpreted as historical fact.
Nevertheless, the identification of such scientific collections with the production of rigorous academic knowledge as well as education and teaching, in combination with the continuous progress of scientific theories, gradually created a series of composite themes with regards the managing and processing of their content. In this way the resultant themes impeded the production of alternative forms for the comprehension and interpretation of the different parameters which influenced the scientific space. Specifically, their transformation from active research and educational tools to compound historical proofs of a past knowledge appears to provoke a rigidity to further interpretations, essentially rendering their content insurmountable to understanding.
The present thesis, utilizing the theoretical tools and practical methods of museology, attempts to show ways in which there can exist a renewed approach for these collections, whose interpretations and the ways in which they are exhibited have crystallized. Essentially, this approach turns towards the development of methods with both the discovery and comprehension of existing knowledge as well as the encouragement for further interpretation towards the formation of new knowledge, by a lay audience.
More specifically, from the analysis and re-interpretation of sixteen objects from the collections of the Criminology Museum of the University of Athens, two thematic journeys were designed. These journeys immerse the visitor in a game of discovery which will permit him to reveal and comprehend the aspects which are not brought into relief in the pre-existing exhibit narratives. The application of the particular methodology was chosen in order to promote the multi-aspect nature of the objects, in order to show the dynamic that is offered by the process of interpretation. In this way we are also able to bring into doubt and formulate anew a multitude of narrative models which equally describe perspectives of reality.
Main subject category:
History
Keywords:
scientific collections, academic collections, university museums, criminology museum of university of Athens , interpretation of museum objects, interpretation of collections
