April 24, 2012
Is the Universal Museum still a valid model for the twenty-first century?
Tom Flynn has written a book on the Universal Museum – and why it should not be seen as a valid model for museums any longer. This presents a refreshing antidote to the views espoused by James Cuno, in his book on the subject.
You can purchase the book on Lulu.
From:
Tom Flynn
The Universal Museum: A valid model for the 21st century?
The Universal Museum
By Tom FlynnA considered critical response to the Declaration on the Importance and Value of Universal Museums issued by the Bizot Group of Museum directors in 2002. The text offers a critique of the concept of the Universal Museum by tracing its historical roots in the Cabinets of Curiosity assembled by European princes from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries. The early ‘universal’ cabinet collections ultimately formed the foundations of the great western ‘encyclopedic’ museums which in turn benefited from the era of colonialism and imperial adventure in the nineteenth century. The book argues that the concept of a ‘universal museum’ is philosophically and practically flawed, an anachronistic aspiration that is the product of an idealistic, eighteenth-century Enlightenment mindset devoted to the accumulation and classification of all species of flora and fauna, natural and man-made objects. Such collections are not only unsustainable but perpetuate many of the worst aspects of the age of imperialism.
Buy the book now on Lulu:
https://www.lulu.com/commerce/index.php?fBuyContent=12656359
- Re-examining the controversial status of the ‘Universal Museum’ : June 13, 2012
- Universal museums & selective hearing : January 20, 2009
- Rediscovering the enlightenment : February 1, 2004
- Lectures on the Encyclopaedic Museum : August 23, 2008
- Cuno talks with Conforti : June 27, 2008
- The Peru / Yale agreement : September 16, 2007
- New Zealand Parthenon replica to head to Athens : May 24, 2010
- James Cuno defends the “universal museum” concept : April 12, 2012