Following a short presentation by Svitlana Muravska at the UMAC Conference in Prague, last August, UMAC is organising this Thursday 29 September a meeting with Ukraine university museum professionals.
The meeting, live on UMAC YouTube channel, will count with UMAC Chair Andrew Simpson, the President of Universeum Sébastien Soubiran and Marta Lourenco.
Reminder: Convert our meeting times to your time zone using an online converter, for example https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html
The Revista CPC, University of São Paulo, just released a full issue dedicated to university museums in Brazil (in Portuguese).
Get the full pdf here.
Continue reading here.
As a result of the research project ‘Cultural Heritage of Science and Technology and University Museums: research, analysis and characterization of strategic relationships’, coordinated by former UMAC Secretary Marcus Granato, from the Museum of Astronomy and Related Sciences in Rio de Janeiro, 444 university museums were identified in Brazil, including 21 virtual museums.
These museums are part of a universe of 201 Brazilian universities registered in the official accreditation platform for higher education institutions (e-MEC). It should be noted that a university museum is understood as any museum inserted in the administration of a university.
Search here the distribution of these museums by geographic region and by state (in Portuguese). When these exist, the museum websites are also provided.
Explore and enjoy!
For about a year now, humanity has been facing a major global threat: the SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic, usually referred to as covid-19. Governments across the planet have made all sorts of attempts to deal with this threat. However, the task is highly complex and demanding. Confusion and uncertainties abound while the death toll is becoming increasingly dramatic. High hopes are being placed on vaccination while individuals try to maintain a sense of normality through the increasing use of digital technologies.
This situation raises a number of critical questions, for example:
This event, promoted by the University of Porto with the support of UMAC-ICOM will contribute to critically address these questions. It aims to trigger debate and disseminate the international competition The Power of Design: Re-establishing embodied conviviality beyond covid-19.
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PROGRAM
1. Introduction and welcome 2. Reflection by Fátima Vieira (Vice-President, University of Porto) on utopian thinking and the international competition The Power of Design 3. Key note by Olivia Bina (Principal Researcher, University of Lisbon) on alternative imaginaries and their implications for addressing the challenges of the covid-19 pandemic 4. Debate with the participation of audience 5. The Power of Design competition: brief presentation by António Ferreira (Senior Researcher, University of Porto) 6. Conclusions |
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REGISTRATION AND FURTHER INFORMATION Registration is free of charge. To know more about this event and to register, please click here |
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Grâce Homsy-Gotwalles discute des opportunités de formation des professionnels des musées après l’explosion à Beyrouth.
Avec Sébastien Soubiran, UMAC Board/UNIVERSEUM/Université de Strasbourg.
Suzy Hakimian, Chair of ICOM-Lebanon talks to us about the impact of the explosion, the reconstruction of museums, the international effort, and more.
Elsa Urtizverea, Heritage Protection Coordinator at the ICOM Secretariat in Paris shares her first hand impressions and explains the next steps for the international recovery efforts.
Transcription:
Dear volunteers,
The international community of university museums and collections is deeply sorry for the shocking tragedy that happened last week in your beautiful city of Beirut, Lebanon. You, your family, your friends and all citizens of Beirut are in our minds and hearts, and I sincerely hope you are all well.
I want to express my deepest gratitude, on behalf of UMAC, for your amazing capacity of response and spirit of solidarity. The task ahead is huge and barely starting, but I am confident that with your help, resilience and passion, the cultural heritage of Beirut – particularly the outstanding museums, collections and archives of Beirut universities – will soon be well preserved and accessible again for research, education and culture.
On the international community side, the response has also been super quick and we are proud to be part of a coalition of institutions involving ICOM, ICOMOS, the Blue Shield, and others, led by ICOM Lebanon.
I want each and every one of you to know that you are not alone. You will be working towards the preservation of heritage that is not only of the Lebanese but of citizens from all over the world, of citizens of the future. Your hands and minds will be the hands and minds of hundreds of us who cannot be physically with you at this moment.
Thank you all, and thank you Gilbert, Elsy and David for mobilizing this extraordinary group. Together we will restore Beirut’s cultural heritage to its 3 August glory – perhaps even better. And I look forward to meeting you personally, one by one, as soon as possible.
Take care.
Marta Lourenço, University of Lisbon
12.08.2020
The architects Gilbert Nicolas, Elsy Sayegh and David Chelala are mobilizing volunteers to assess damages to museums in Beirut, assist with the clean up and reporting back to ICOM-UMAC.
They will be working with ICOM-Lebanon and Elsa Urtizverea, from the Heritage Protection Department of the ICOM Secretariat in Paris.
If you are in Beirut, your help is most appreciated. Sign in here to volunteer.
For the past 48 hours, Gilbert Nicholas has been visiting museums in Beirut, talking to staff, documenting damages and helping with the clean up. Today, he gives UMAC a first-hand report on the impact, particularly to university museums and collections.
In May 2014, the first non-governmental organization in Poland dedicated to Polish museums and museum units at universities was established – the Association of University Museums. The strength of the university museum community in Poland is evident in the Association’s growth: with 13 museums on 2014, today it has 102 university museums.
The Association of University Museums makes the society aware of the importance of academic heritage as an important dimension of national identity. The most important goal of the Association is to develop university museums and preserve academic heritage through its protection, dissemination and promotion, as well as to support the collection, documentation and conservation of monuments, and develop scientific research. A wide range of information activities is carried out, promoting the idea of university museums in Poland and abroad.
Several publications have resulted from the activities of the Association: “University Museums”, ed. H. Kowalski, M. Grassmann, M. Bukowski; “University Museum in Poland”, ed. H. Kowalski, M. Grassmann, M. Bukowski, Warsaw 2016; K. Pomian, “Museums and nations in Central Europe”, Warsaw 2016; “University Museums. Catalogue” ed. H. Kowalski, M. Grassmann, M. Bukowski, M. Piszczatowska, J. Ślaga, Warsaw 2017.
In 2020, the Association of University Museums is implementing the project “TREASURES OF THE POLISH UNIVERSITY HERITAGE”. This project will publish in English a catalogue of the most valuable objects from 102 museum units of Polish universities. The project will also create a website in English. The official launch of the catalogue will take place December 16th, 2020 in the Warsaw University Museum.
The project “TREASURES OF THE POLISH UNIVERSITY HERITAGE” has been co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund.
More information about the project here.
Since late March, universities across the world have closed, lectures were moved online and research – apart from COVID research – has suffered limitations due to safety reasons. As lockdown rules relax and museums worldwide gradually reopen, UMAC wants to have a global overview of the situation for university museums and collections.
How did the lockdown affect your university museum, collection, botanic garden or science center? How did you navigate the plethora of online platforms and social media, both internally and publicly? How did you respond to your audiences – researchers, students, general public? What lessons did you learn?
UMAC is organizing a series of five informal webinars every Friday between 5 June and 3 July 2020. The series will take place on ZOOM. Each webinar will happen twice a day to facilitate access from different time zones.
Please see below how you can participate.
The series will be made available au fur et à mesure under our resources section — webinars and in UMAC YouTube channel.
Similar initiatives are being organised by Universeum (also here) and the AAMG – check their websites for details.
Has your university museum, botanic garden or science center reopened to the public or will reopen soon? What safety measures are you implementing in your exhibitions and public spaces? Will you reopen totally or partly? If you are on campus, how are you coping with the restrictions of a closed campus?
8 AM Lisbon/9 AM Pretoria/3 PM Shanghai/4 PM Tokyo/5 PM Sydney, moderated by Andrew Simpson, Australia
5 PM Lisbon/11 AM Mexico City/12 PM New York/1 PM Rio de Janeiro, moderated by Marta Lourenço, Portugal
Is your university museum resuming access to collections post-lockdown? What safety measures are you implementing? Do you plan to quarantine specimens, artefacts, manuscripts and books post-access? What impact did COVID have on your collections policy? Are you collecting COVID objects?
8 AM Lisbon/9 AM Pretoria/3 PM Shanghai/4 PM Tokyo/5 PM Sydney, moderated by Akiko Fukuno, Japan
5 PM Lisbon/11 AM Mexico City/12 PM New York/1 PM Rio de Janeiro, moderated by Sébastien Soubiran, France
During lockdown, did your university museum, science center, botanic garden remain active online? Was your university museum prepared? What technological, logistical, content challenges did ‘going digital’ pose? What lessons did you learn for the future?
8 AM Lisbon/9 AM Pretoria/3 PM Shanghai/4 PM Tokyo/5 PM Sydney, moderated by Roland Wittje, India
5 PM Lisbon/11 AM Mexico City/12 PM New York/1 PM Rio de Janeiro, moderated by Jill Deupi, USA
Was your university museum or collection being used for teaching? Were you teaching material culture or collections-based courses at graduate or post-graduate levels when the lockdown started? What were the challenges of moving object-based teaching online? Which platforms did you use? Did you create specific resources? How did students cope? How can we prepare for a future where online teaching appears to be predominant?
8 AM Lisbon/9 AM Pretoria/3 PM Shanghai/4 PM Tokyo/5 PM Sydney, moderated by Alistair Kwan, New Zealand
5 PM Lisbon/11 AM Mexico City/12 PM New York/1 PM Rio de Janeiro, moderated by Kirsten Vincenz, Germany
What is the immediate and mid-term impact of COVID in your university museum and collection? What consequences do you anticipate in terms of audiences, logistics, finances, access, even mission and strategy?
8 AM Lisbon/9 AM Pretoria/3 PM Shanghai/4 PM Tokyo/5 PM Sydney, moderated by David Ellis, Australia
5 PM Lisbon/11 AM Mexico City/12 PM New York/1 PM Rio de Janeiro, moderated by Steph Scholten, UK
We are now inviting informal contributions from all over the world. Each contribution consists of a 5 min presentation (max. 3 powerpoint slides, these are optional). Slots are limited and will be accepted on a first come first served basis.
If you want to contribute, please send an email to UMAC Secretary Wenjia Qiu, indicating name, institution, and which date and hour you want to intervene. You will be asked to provide your three slides 24 h before the webinar.
Everyone can attend but registration is required.
Please send an email to UMAC Secretary Wenjia Qiu, indicating name and institution. You will be given the access link and password.
See also here.
