Manfred Eisenbeis
KHM, Köln

Designing the museum of the future -
Theses on the virtual dimension of museum
development in the context of media culture.

Saturday, 11th December 1999

Manfred Eisenbeis studied art and design in Ulm and Munich. Study of philosophy, sociology, history of art and communication sciences in Tübingen and Paris. 1968-76 initial member, research and teachings at the Institute for the Environmental Design, Paris; 1976-89 professor at the Academy of Art Offenburg, research in the areas film, video, interactive media as well as aesthetics, new media and museum; since 1989 founding rector and professor for visual communication Kunsthochschule für Medien, Cologne.

http://www.uni-koeln.de/themen/multimedia/texte/fb97/017.htm
http://www.khm.de/projects/im_ss96/19_06.html
http://www.hnf.de/termine/tagung/euphorie-digital/
programm/eisenbeis.html

Designing the museum of the future ·
Theses on the virtual dimension of museum
development in the context of media culture

Since the middle of the 19th century, the development of new media - starting with photography - stimulated and influenced the activities of museums. The methods of scientific inquiry, restoration and presentation changed constantly and situated the unique institutional framework of museums and its development in an accelerating process of cultural change.

In that process, more and more stimulated by information and communication technologies and concepts like information or knowledge society, the transformation of the structure and function of museums are discussed in relationship with new methods and forms of artistic creation.

The contemporary pertinence of thinkers like Valéry, Benjamin and Malraux as precursors to the ongoing discussion and experimental exploration of virtual museums should be taken in consideration to give a real dimension to the time factor in cultural change - beyond the aspect of technological feasability. It seems that museums will be confirmed as locally as well as globally relevant institutions, but with an extended spectrum of activities and interactions based on digital multimedia technology and networks. Museology as well as museography therefore need new approaches and design concepts integrating the material and immaterial components of the developments. The paper will introduce a typology of hybrid and virtual forms of museums and develop - for further discussion - some theses on the structure and function of museums in the context of Media Culture.