Galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM)

Post-neutrality in Libraries, archives and museums

VELUX FONDEN core-group programme

Contact: Nanna Kann-Rasmussen

Libraries, archives, and museums (LAMs) in Denmark and the Western world are undergoing a notable transformation from alleged neutral cultural institutions to actively addressing societal issues, a phenomenon this project terms "post-neutrality". We analyze the ongoing transformation from various perspectives, to create a conceptual framework for more productive discussions on cultural institutions. The research explores practices and legitimacy in LAMs, considering their relationships with the public and stakeholders. This project contributes to a nuanced understanding of emerging institutional shifts and legitimacy concerns. It aims to pioneer a conceptual framework integrating critical theories, public administration research, and cultural policy research to comprehensively understand the evolving role of cultural institutions, positing that they are transitioning from static roles to dynamic actors embracing responsibility.

Libraries, archives, and museums as key pillars of modern European democratic societies?

CEMES Øresund network

Contact: Hans Dam Christensen or Nanna Kann-Rasmussen

This network seeks to examine how public libraries, archives, and museums (LAMs) are addressing contemporary challenges faced by European liberal democracies. In an ideal scenario, these institutions serve as promoters of democracy, offering trustworthy information accessible to all, irrespective of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, race, age, disabilities, political opinion, or faith. However, Europe currently confronts critiques of deliberative democracy, marked by anti-globalist movements, urban-rural polarizations, regional conflicts, and nationalism influenced by populist political philosophies that overlook fundamental democratic norms. We will explore how LAMs are responding to the challenges of technological, political, and social changes. The focus is on understanding their successes and challenges in fulfilling their mission as key pillars of European democratic societies. We aim to analyze how these institutions contribute to democracy, citizen engagement, and public participation across Europe, emphasizing their work and engagement in communities. Reach the network’s homepage.

Culture Sustain

DFF – Explorative Network

Contact: Hans Dam Christensen

The network’s activities is grounded on the constitutive hypothesis that museums’ core tasks have an impact on cultural sustainability and therefore our overall research question is: How can cultural sustainability be used theoretically and methodologically as a cultural political parameter for identifying this impact? According to international research, cultural sustainability adds a fourth dimension to the three traditional dimensions of sustainability (economic, social and environmental). The term is by no means unambiguous but can be understood as the adhesive that binds the other three dimensions together. Not many empirical studies that combine cultural sustainability and museums have been carried out and none at all in Scandinavian museums. Consequently, the aim of this network’s research activities is to promote high quality research that unfolds the Scandinavian perspectives on cultural sustainability based on comparative analysis of selected museums of all categories in Scandinavia.

Heritage Practice Communities in a digital world

Research foundation Flanders: Scientific research network

Contact: Henriette Roued

This network, involving diverse disciplines such as critical heritage studies, archaeology, computer science, museology, sociology, digital humanities, and archival studies, aims to explore heritage practice communities (HPCs)in a digitized world. Focusing on specific case studies, it seeks to analyze and conceptualize the heritage practices of communities, groups, and individuals (CGIs) and critically examine institutional methodologies for engaging with them. The research agenda will contribute to disciplinary knowledge in the wider heritage sector, particularly in relation to cultural policy and public participation frameworks, fostering conceptual and methodological progress. Public participation in citizen science is a longstanding practice in both cultural and research institutions, but less understood are informal HPCs detached from institutional interaction. While voluntary associations alongside scholarly research have existed for centuries, recent decades have witnessed significant changes due to the institutionalization of heritage practice and the rise of social media and digital tools. Unlike citizen science, HPCs, like hobby metal detectorists, family history groups, and industrial heritage groups, independently set their research agenda. Understanding HPC dynamics is crucial in heritage, impacting long-term preservation and accessibility.

The future of cultural policy

DFF – Explorative Network

Contact: Nanna Kann-Rasmussen

The purpose of The Future of Cultural Policy Network is to raise the fundamental research question: What are the aims of cultural policy today, what rationales and normative justifications underlie them, and what means can be used to achieve the desired goals? To do so, the network brings together Danish cultural policy researchers with special knowledge about cultural management, digital culture, cultural economics, participatory culture, audience studies and cultural evaluation with scholars from the Nordic and Anglo-Saxon countries to develop a strong, interdisciplinary research environment to analyze and discuss cultural policy in Denmark with comparable international cases and with policy makers.