IN-PERSON: Prague – Section B

Abstract

Embracing technology is not new for museums, even more so as the measures during the Covid-pandemic forced museum workers to rapidly adapt to establish and maintain any kind of connection between community and museum collection. Educational museum staff were confronted with a challenge to their competences and beliefs: how to organize educational activities that were equal to experiences with artworks during a museum visit on site. As such, museums became focal points for thinking about physical places, heritage and art, and meaningful connections between institutions and publics. This study presents a more in-depth understanding of educational museum staff’s experiences with the digitalization of museum mediation. Semi-structured individual online interviews (n=12) were conducted with museum workers with an educational position working in a museum in the Brussels Capital Region. On the one hand, the results show that their motives for engaging in digitalization correspond to a shift towards a postmodern and more inclusive museum. On the other hand, there is some ambivalence as they experience a digital divide and technology fatigue among visitors. Thus, museum workers hope to strike a balance between place-based and digital museum mediation.