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From 2D to 3D: the story of graphene in objects
This paper examines presentation of the material culture of graphene in the Wonder Materials exhibition by looking at ten of the objects on display, exploring the role they play in making the challenging nanoscience topic of the exhibition engaging for visitors.
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Location, location: a polemic on photographs and institutional practices
This essay explores the ambiguous status of photographs in museums and the impact of institutional thought-landscapes on that status. Which photographs are understood as ‘important’ and thus collectable and which are not, and under what conditions?
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Technologies of Romance: looking for ‘object love’ in three works of video art
This article applies the author’s experience as an artist working with video and photography, plus his recent research and publishing on the theme of Technologies of Romance, to the work of three contemporary artists using video. It explores video art for its potential to collect and transmit affective images and to act itself as an ‘object’ capable of communicating sentiment and sensuality. The article develops a current increase of interest within the author’s cultural and academic environment in evaluations of affect, emotion, love, intimacy, etc. in art theory, history and museum studies. In doing so the author’s own Technologies of Romance theme develops its investment in theories of history into a dialogue with the Science Museum and with processes of museology.
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Misbehaving Bodies: exhibiting illness
The essay explores the curation of Misbehaving Bodies: Jo Spence and Oreet Ashery, an exhibition at Wellcome Collection. Bringing together two artists who explore illness narratives, the essay explores how the exhibition expanded on Wellcome Collection’s ambitions to challenge how people think and feel about health.
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Mobilising the Energy in Store: stored collections, enthusiast experts and the ecology of heritage
This article considers the role of enthusiast experts as key actors within the ecology of public heritage, helping to keep stored museum collections ‘alive’ through their unique research practices, which we argue are ultimately beneficial across the wider museum sector.
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Moments of danger
This article takes an exhibition I co-curated for the Science Museum and National Science and Media Museum as the starting point for a reflection on the relationships between neoliberal politics, the histories of photography, and the social meanings of science and technology.
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Museums theme – Adventures in Museology: category building over a century, and the context for experiments in reinvigorating the Science Museum at the turn of the twenty-first century
Acting as an introduction to articles in this issue on a museums theme, this paper discusses the long-term history of science museums and the conjuncture of the late twentieth century which precipitated innovations in various science museums described in the collection.
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Museums theme – Beyond the Black Box: reflections on building a history of chemistry museum
An examination of the development of a history of chemistry museum from the perspective of the curatorial team, including the stumbling points, challenges and successes. The article looks at critical elements in exhibition development including audience and artefact selection.
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Museums theme – making Split + Splice: Fragments from the Age of Biomedicine
The author outlines the development and intellectual underpinnings of the Dibner Award-winning exhibition Split + Splice: Fragments from the Age of Biomedicine (Medical Museion, 2009). Deep connections between biotechnologies, technologies of the self, and the technology that is an exhibition are examined.
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Museums theme – Science vs technology in a museum’s display: changes in the Vienna Museum of Technology with a focus on permanent and temporary exhibitions and new forms of science education
This article focuses on the development of the displays and the content of the Vienna Museum of Technology as a whole, and on new educational approaches in cooperation with schools in particular.