Museum displays and their contemporary sociological resonance

Abstract

In the context of Malta’s Valletta 20181 commitment to maximise, popularise and ‘Europeanise’ its cultural spaces, the chapter examines the role of national museum spaces in the contemporary era of cultural hybridisation, liquidity (Bauman, 2000) and mobility. Devoting attention to the proposed MUŻA (Mużew ta’ l-Arti – Art Museum) and its artefacts, as well as other museums and displays, the paper examines how museums can become truly democratic spaces. By democratic spaces we mean places with which people can identify and which allow them to contribute to their narratives and cultural production, besides critically engaging with curatorial choices. In this regard, we are suggesting a non-conventional approach to reading and appreciating artefacts in a museum, one that allows for a less hierarchical reading, and valorises communal, social class, religious identity and environmental perspectives. Ours is an attempt at enabling works to ‘speak’ to contemporary concerns. We, however, recognise the need to avoid giving these works any false sense of ‘universality’.