Zugl.: Wien, Universiẗat, Diss., 2004.

The purpose of this master’s thesis was to investigate how museum stores are governed, with a focus on museum stores situated in museums in Stockholm and on museums stores which are part of a government agency. The purpose was also to investigate the relationship between the museum and the consumption in the museum store in general.  The thesis shows that museum stores which are part of a government agency are governed by their appropriation directions, including the direction that the museum stores must be fully financed. However, the museum stores are also influenced by guidelines that have not been written down, expectations from the museum and from museum patrons. Other factors not within the control of the museum were also of importance, and could limit the choices available for the museum store managers as well as be a source of inspiration. The result also shows that the museum store and the consumption it’s associated with, is seen as either a threat, a necessity or a possibility: The museum store is often viewed as being at odds with the main role of museums in general, while also being considered a necessity, helping the museum to meet the patron’s expectations. In some cases the museum could benefit from the museum store, due to the stores’ possibility of improving upon the museum visit, or making a profit usable in other museum activities. The source material was gathered from the websites of international and national organisations within the museum field. Material was also gathered during interviews with museum store managers in Stockholm. The theory used was cultural economics and consumption studies. The method for this essay was interviews, minor field studies, linguistic analysis. The focus of this essay was how the museum store is governed. The essay does not, for example, research how the museum visitors or museum patrons experienced the shop. This is a two years master’s thesis in Museum and Cultural Heritage Studies

The purpose of the research study was to find about who the National Museum visitors are and what is their five reasons and motives to visit the National Museum. To get a better understanding about finding out who are the National Museum visitors a qualitative method was used in the form of a questionnaire that dealt with questions about the respondent’s demographic background and open questions related to finding out more details about the respondents’ reasons to visit the National Museum that is an art and design museum. The data that was gathered from the questionnaire was analysed through the use of a thematic analysis to find specific themes based on the female and male respondent’s answers. The results indicate that most of the respondents who took part in the questionnaire on the 5th of April 2019 at the National Museum are a mix of female and male between the age 20-72 years from Sweden and other countries, all of them have a higher education (High School, Bachelor and Master Degree) and have studied art, history of art or design. The reason that many of the respondents choose to visit the museum and what attracted them to the National Museum was foremost for they all share an interest in art and design. The National Museum itself is an interesting place to be at because many of the female and male respondents have an appreciation in the art and design collections and exhibitions that is displayed at the museum. The National Museum offers a free admission and entry so many of them could visit the museum either by themselves or with a companion, and many of the respondents like how the National Museum teaches history about the art and design.

The sinking of the RMS Titanic has achieved a difficult feat ��� it has remained culturally relevant. The dedication of the general public to understanding Titanic is evident in many avenues of popular and consumer culture. For those individuals who did not get enough of the 1997 Titanic movie, there are numerous Titanic museums and attractions to visit. What interests me as a scholar of historic dress is that the 1997 film is often used as a lens through which the historical events are interpreted and understood. More specifically the character of Rose (from the 1997 Titanic movie) has been translated from a film character to a living history character. Rose has become an integral part of the marketing and exhibiting techniques at some Titanic museum attractions. The purpose of this research was to conduct an introductory exploration of the role of film costume iconography in learning about a historical event and the development of a personal connection with an iconic character in the context of that event. Four permanent Titanic museum attractions were selected as sites of study: museum attractions in Branson, Missouri; Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; Orlando, Florida; and Las Vegas, Nevada. A total of 32 participants were included. Both museum attraction visitors and staff participated in this study; twenty-nine participants were classified as visitors and three participants were classified as staff. Phenomenological and inductive approaches were undertaken. Qualitative (personal phenomenology, phenomenological interviews, and brief participant observation) data collection techniques were employed. Both descriptive and experiential phenomenological and narrative approaches were combined to analyze the resulting data. I utilized a descriptive phenomenological method outlined by Giorgi and Giorgi (2003), and I made modifications to the procedure to fit the unique needs of my data. Data collection occurred in two phases at each location. In phase one, I participated in personal phenomenology during a visit to each museum attraction. In phase two, I collected data with participants. Data collection with visitor participants occurred in three stages: (1) pre-museum attraction visit interview, (2) the participant visited a Titanic museum attraction, and (3) post-museum attraction visit interview. I collected data with each staff participant during one interview. The findings of this study revealed that there are many perspectives from which to tell the story of Titanic and help museum attraction visitors learn the history of the ill-fated ship. I found that Rose did not factor into the decision of the participants to visit a Titanic museum attraction. If a participant learned from or about Rose, she did not factor into the learning or personal meaning-making process until he or she was inside the museum attraction. It was more common for participants to relate to the historical events of Titanic through the movie as a whole, as opposed to the specific character of Rose. The scenario of including a Rose living history interpreter as part of the lived experience of a museum visit elicited a wide range of reactions from participants. It was more common for participants to oppose the presence of a Rose living history interpreter than favor her presence. Several participants reported instances when they drew a spontaneous connection to the movie or were reminded of the movie in their own mind. Several participants used the movie as a foundation to build further historical understanding about Titanic. Some participants used the movie as a source of comparison to explore or confirm the accuracy of the movie. The primary difference in the museum attraction experience for visitors who had not seen the movie was that they encountered difficulty in relating and paying attention to any content or reference to the movie. A general phenomenological structure was formed from the data. As part of this study, I sought to further expand the body of literature that applies visual rhetorical theory and semiotic theory to dress and costume. A discussion of the resulting theoretical implications is included. An outcome of the phenomenological data collection and analysis was a list of recommendations for future practice specifically related to the display of dress and costume in both Titanic museum attractions and museums in general. I conclude with recommendations for future research and a reflective summary. / Graduation date: 2013

This thesis investigates the factors that influence whether visitors to art exhibitions experience accessible introductory art labels or not. From the need of making art exhibitions and their communication available to more people of society the aim with this study is to increase awareness about the factors that influence accessibility and generate ideas about useful theory concerning accessible labels. By connecting theory concerning the purpose of art exhibitions, the social context of art exhibitions, orientation and disorientation and different views related to exhibition labels the author, by influence from the swedish Special pedagogy educational authority (Specialpedagogiska skolmyndigheten) accessibility model ”tillgänglighetsmodellen”, creates a accessibility model concerning the context of introductory art labels. The study gathered material from visitor interviews and observations from two different art exhibition institutions in Stockholm: Bonniers Konsthall and Spritmuseum, one art gallery and one cultural museum with an art exhibition feature. The analysis from the field work then formed the content of the accessibility model concerning the context of introductory art labels. As a background to the ideas behind the labels interviews where also performed with personnel in command of the communication concerning the labels. The results show that the visitors experience of accessible introductory art labels can be related to physical, social and pedagogical factors. Where the physical factors included reading situation, placing, lighting and soundscape. The social factors included other visitors, the willingness to ”do things right” and disorientation, confusion and uncertainty. The pedagogical factors included legibility, readability and well worth reading. The study also shows that the visitors pre-knowledge of art and habit of visiting art exhibitions could influence the visitors experience of accessibility. Where visitors without pre-knowledge about art history in the art gallery Bonniers Konsthall all found the texts non-accessible depending on a mix of physical, social and pedagogical factors. At the cultural museum Spritmuseum however visitors without pre-knowledge of art could find the text accessible. There a positive experience of the reading situation, including lightning and few other visitors, made visitors feel that the text where more accessible even when they experienced some difficulty with the accessibility related to pedagogical factors like text length. The study shows that the different factors of accessibility related to introductory art labels interacted and influenced the overall experience of text accessibility. This is a two years master's thesis in Museum and cultural heritage studies.

This thesis presents a case study conducted at the Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm, focusing on the digital tools and implementations within the exhibitions of the museum. It aims to explore the perspectives and interactions on digital tools and implementations of both museum employees, and visitors, examining the potential discrepancies that may arise. The study falls within the field of Digital Humanities, with a specific emphasis on the impact of new museology and digital applications within cultural heritage institutions. To establish a comprehensive understanding of the subject, varying ethnographic methodologies are employed. Interviews have been conducted with employees at the museum to investigate their understanding and planning regarding the use of digital tools and implementations in their exhibitions. Additionally, interviews with visitors as well as on-site observations were conducted to provide insight into visitor experiences and interactions with the digital tools and implementations. Lastly, one participatory observation during a tour of an upcoming exhibition was performed to add perspective from the professionals of the museum. The findings reveal that digital tools and implementations are highly regarded as invaluable assets by the Museum of Ethnography. However, the thesis finds that the diverse professional backgrounds within the museum staff adds complexity to understanding the digital tools and implementations, which affects the staff’s ability to find harmonious solutions for problems of accessibility of the tools. Visitors tend to find direct interactions, such as games or educational movies, more accessible and easier to engage with, while immersive sounds and projections may go unnoticed. The study contributes to the existing body of knowledge in Digital Humanities by expanding the knowledge about the effective utilization of digital tools and implementations in cultural heritage museums, through this case study. It serves as a guide for other GLAM institutions, offering new diverse perspectives of both museum professionals and visitors.

Cette recherche cherche à comprendre comment le musée d'art de l'université du Ceara (MAUC) est devenu un nid de frelons. Afin d'étudier ce phénomène, nous avons analysé les cinquante premières années de sa trajectoire (1961-2011), en partant de l'intrigue sur les modèles de musée en dispute à la fin du XXème siècle dans la ville de Fortaleza, et aussi à parti des controverses autour de sa mémoire. Nous avons organisé notre récit en Neuf temps pour neuf Atlas, en analysant ce nid de frelons de l'intérieur et de l'extérieur, en le prenant à l'envers à rebrousse-poil. Pour cette raison, nous présentons le MAUC au travers de ses coulisses, en observant par-derrière les vitrines quels sont les caractéristiques et les mouvements propres de cette désignation. Pour nous, un musée nid de frelons est traversé par la mise sous silence, en même temps qu'il développe des pratiques communautaires et collaboratives qui sont constitutives de sa trajectoire, contribuant à l'élaboration conceptuelle élargie de ses processus curatoriaux. Dans cette thèse, nous démêlons les aspects conceptuels qui justifient la création du MAUC. Au travers d'une lecture de la circulation de savoirs, d'œuvres d'art et d'exposition nous établissons une cartographie des réseaux de relations mobilisés par ce musée au travers de son programme structurel. Nous enquêtons sur les possibilités de création artistique dans l'espace physique du musée et sur les dimensions de collaboration proposées par l'institution en ce qui concerne la fabrique d'expositions et d'œuvres d'art. Nous cherchons aussi à identifier les formes de voir et d'être des visiteurs dans le MAUC au travers du regard des photographes de vue d'exposition. / This research sought to understand how Museum de Arte da Universidade do Ceara (MAUC) has become a Hornets House. In order to elaborate this explanation, we observed fifty years of it history (1961-2011), starting from the intrigue about the museum models in dispute in the late twentieth century, in Fortaleza city, as well as about the controversies involving its memory. So we organized our narrative in Nove Tempos para Nove Atlas, trying to analyze this Hornet House inside out, against the grain, and for this reason we present the MAUC through it scenes, watching from behind the windows, which are the characteristics and movements to this adjective. We understand that a Hornets House Museum goes through silence, while develop community and collaborative practices that take part of its history, contributing to the broad conceptual elaboration of its curatorial process. In this thesis we unfold its conceptual aspect that justified the creation of MAUC. We traced through a reading on knowledge circulation works of art and exhibitions, a mapping of relationships networks mobilized by this museum through its structural program. We investigate the possibilities of artistic creation in the physical museum space and the dimensions of cooperation proposed by the institution regarding expositions and works of art. We also try to identify the ways of seeing and being of the visitors at MAUC through the eyes of photographers while viewing exposures.