Framing Effects in Museum Narratives: Objectivity in Interpretation Revisited

Bergqvist, A (2016) Framing Effects in Museum Narratives: Objectivity in Interpretation Revisited. Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement, 79. pp. 295-318. ISSN 1358-2461

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Abstract

Museums establish specific contexts, framings, which distinguish them from viewing the world face-to-face. One striking aspect of exhibition in so-called participatory museums is that it echoes and transforms the limits of its own frame as a public space. I argue that it is a mistake to think of the meaning of an exhibit as either determined by the individual viewer's narrative or as determined by the conception as presented in the museum's ‘authoritative’ narrative. Instead I deploy the concept of a model of comparison to illuminate the philosophical significance of perspective in understanding the idea of objectivity in museum narratives.