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Biomedicine in museums

Mellem meningskultur og nærværseffekter: biomedicinens objekter som museal udfordring

By November 18, 2009No Comments

Adam’s, Camilla’s og min artikel “Between meaning culture and presence effects: contemporary biomedical objects as a challenge to museums” — som sammenfatter grundideen i Medicinsk Museions forskningsproblematik — er nu tilgængelig i en online-version på tidskriftet Studies in History and Philosophy of Science‘s hjemmeside.

Det koster en formue at læse den via tidskriftets hjemmeside i betalingsversionen  — men Københavns Universitetsbibliotek/Det Kongelige Bibliotek og andre universitetsbiblioteker giver gratis access til tidsskriftet via deres elektroniske tidskriftsservice.

Den trykte version kommer først i december.

Her er abstractet:

The acquisition and display of material artefacts is the raison d’être of museums. But what constitutes a museum artefact? Contemporary medicine (biomedicine) is increasingly producing artefacts that do not fit the traditional museological understanding of what constitutes a material, tangible artefact. Museums today are therefore caught in a paradox. On the one hand, medical science and technologies are having an increasing pervasive impact on the way contemporary life is lived and understood and is therefore a central part of the contemporary world. On the other hand, the objects involved in medical diagnostics and therapies are becoming increasingly invisible and intangible and therefore seem to have no role to play as artefacts in a museum context. Consequently, museums are at risk of becoming alienated from an increasingly important part of contemporary society. This essay elaborates the paradox by employing Gumbrecht’s (2004) distinction between ‘presence’ and ‘meaning’.

Thomas Söderqvist

Author Thomas Söderqvist

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