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ICOM International Council of Museums - International Institute for ...

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which museum objects are frequently used as just metaphors <strong>of</strong> time in an imaginaryspace.The significance or importance <strong>of</strong> a museum object has a direct relationship withsociety in any <strong>of</strong> its <strong>for</strong>ms – from family to nation or race. If we exclude at this momentits material (monetary) worth, we shall see that the level <strong>of</strong> social identification,recognition and assessment <strong>of</strong> the value <strong>of</strong> an object is most important in the scale <strong>of</strong>the different levels <strong>of</strong> its evaluation. Pr<strong>of</strong>essional or scientific evaluation is an essentialprecondition in the process <strong>of</strong> ascribing value, because through it a clear system <strong>of</strong>selection is carried out. But the significance or importance <strong>of</strong> a museum object comesmost patently to the <strong>for</strong>e in the communication processes in which the museum missionvia exhibitions or other <strong>for</strong>ms <strong>of</strong> communication is directly transferred to the level <strong>of</strong> thecurrent social moment. All kinds <strong>of</strong> social groups fine answers to some <strong>of</strong> theirquestions when they come face to face with the museum object. The museum object,particularly in those situations when it tells <strong>of</strong> historical events, to some extent playsdown the valorisation processes that judge it only as artefact, naturefact or work <strong>of</strong> art.In the suffusion <strong>of</strong> the achieved values, the significance <strong>of</strong> the museum object will rise ifit obtains social support. In this context some objects will become sacrosanct, while themuseum aura will bring some to a certain level <strong>of</strong> alienation (Maroevic, 1993:153).ConclusionIt is not hard to conclude that the museum object, studied and interpreted in one <strong>of</strong> thesaid ways, will become a historical source and a document <strong>of</strong> life, events or any kind <strong>of</strong>human activity in the past. But it is proper not to lose sight <strong>of</strong> the fact that every objectcan be a historical document if we take into account its historical or social identity.Everything depends on the fact <strong>of</strong> whether during its lifetime it has acquired thoselayers <strong>of</strong> credibility without which it can be believed only with difficulty. On the otherhand, the common life <strong>of</strong> objects in a museological context, objects that in the pastnever lived together, opens up new possibilities <strong>for</strong> the representation <strong>of</strong> knowledge orat least a complex structure <strong>of</strong> knowledge in which the input parameters <strong>of</strong> eachindividual object will be crucial <strong>for</strong> a conclusion about the whole. This is verycharacteristic <strong>of</strong> historical museums and historical exhibitions. The classification <strong>of</strong>museum objects in general or special museums into – artefacts, artistic, archaeologicalor natural history objects or any other kind <strong>of</strong> object is not relevant if we want tointerpret history in museums. Every object, irrespective <strong>of</strong> origin and kind, can be thebearer and transmitter <strong>of</strong> in<strong>for</strong>mation and messages about the past. The mostimportant thing is its historical testimony and its ability to give authentic testimonyconcerning historical events, processes or times that we connect it to, in any <strong>of</strong> thecommunicational museological processes. The special ability <strong>of</strong> the creator <strong>of</strong> museumcommunication lies precisely in the selection and quality connection and juxtaposition<strong>of</strong> museum objects so as to be able to present a given subject authentically andcredibly. This creates a new reality that corresponds with the past and which makes thepast current in the present, in a manner that meets the requirements and conditions <strong>of</strong>this new present. The interpretation <strong>of</strong> the past thus becomes part <strong>of</strong> the museologicalcommunication process, which leads us in the direction <strong>of</strong> the relativity <strong>of</strong> the past. Theaggregate <strong>of</strong> views onto the past, at once made current and yet relativised, via thechoice and interpretation <strong>of</strong> museum objects, approximates a general and at the sametime a virtual view into the past. Thus the museums and their communication serve <strong>for</strong>a simultaneous making-current and a relativisation <strong>of</strong> the past, which sometimes entersinto the scientific sphere <strong>of</strong> history, and sometimes remains at the level <strong>of</strong> a possibleview <strong>of</strong> the past through the ever-present prism <strong>of</strong> the present.References336

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