RADIO AS INTANGIBLE HERITAGEIN

A MUSEOLOGICAL CONTEXT

A research project by

Christian Hviid MortensenUniversity of Southern Denmark

RADIO• LARM: Audio Research Archive

www.larm-archive.org• Radio as a ressource of cultural

heritage.• The CHAOS platform. (Cultural

Heritage Archive Open System)

CHAOS

MUSEOLOGICAL CONTEXT• Museum = an institution “[...] which acquires,

conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, study and enjoyment” (Desvallées & Mairesse, 2010, p. 57).

• Acquirement and conservation of Danish media heritage is done by the State Library and to some extent by the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR).

• Research is done at the universities.• Which leaves the communication and exhibition of

our media heritage as the Media Museums unique task.

SOUND IN EXHIBITIONS• Sounds of artefacts, not sounds per

se (as auditive artefacts).• Soundscapes.• Soundeffects.• Oral history (historic testemonies)• Sound Art.

INTANGIBLE HERITAGE• 2003: UNESCO ratifies the

convention for The Safeguarding of the intangible Cultural Heritage.

• Defined as: ”…the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated therewith that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage.” (UNESCO, 2003, p. 2).

EXHIBITING RADIO• Conceptualizing radio in a

museological context as artefacts to be exhibited.

• Delineating these intangible artefacts.

• Designing strategies for exhibiting radio artefacts.

• Implementing these strategies in actual exhibitions.

• Analyzing how the audience experience the exhibits through user studies.

FIELDS OF INQUIRY• Museology.• Exhibition design and design theory.• Communication (the exhibition as

medium).• Museum didactics.• Media studies (radio history).• Cultural memories studies (cultural

heritage and nostalgia).• User studies (e.g. video

ethnography).

NOSTALGIA• Retroculture and nostalgia is a

prominent trend in todays media (e.g. Mad Men and The Chronicle, DK).

• Therefore: Can this trend be used as a motivating design strategy for exhibiting radio history?

• Case: The Danish Rock Museum.

BLOG

Radiocurator.wordpress.com

SLIDESHARE• www.slideshare.net/

christianhviidmortensen

REFERENCES• André Desvallées, F. M. (2010). Key

Concepts in Museology: Armand Colin.

• UNESCO: Convention for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage(2003).