The 21st Century Museum (EAS3245)

30 credits

This module introduces you to recent museum practices and models. You will be offered the opportunity to explore a range of emergent practices spanning from education, digital, preservation, marketing and curation. You will evaluate these practices through methodologies and theories drawn from Museum Studies, Digital Humanities, Performance Studies, Art, New Media, and Visual Culture. You will also think about ways in which museums structure learning and education activities. You will explore key concepts and practices: interaction and participation; augmented and virtual reality; gameful design; community; experience economy and globalisation; archive and documentation; ecological practice; mobile and free learning. You will also learn about how museums operate as organisations; how they design and market their relationships to visitors, both in the museum and online; how they use a range of technologies and learning strategies to reach out to different groups; and how they produce novel forms of aesthetic and economic value. The module requires no prior knowledge or skills in museum studies and is open to anyone with an interest in the current and future developments of the museums. It may be of particular interest of those students who are considering a career in the museum sector.