Museum in Public: Revisioning Canada's Royal Ontario Museum

A Museum in Public argues that museums often serve as a boundary zone between the public and corporate interests, and that achieving political publicness through transparent, open, and democratic communicative action is challenging.

Format: Hardback
Length: 136 pages
Publication date: 20 August 2019
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Not content with the notion that museums have made significant strides in becoming representative, relevant, and open in their preoccupations, A Museum in Public argues that the purported public nature of their institutional role remains merely rhetorical. This book critically examines museums as institutions within the public sphere, questioning the assumptions made about their public operations.

Using the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), Canada's largest museum, as a case study, the book delves into the public nature and political dynamics of the ROM as it completed a multi-million dollar architectural project and embraced a new vision for the museum. By providing an engaged cultural analysis of how publicness is reflected in the attitudes and behaviors of management, staff, and visitors, Ashley contends that museums often serve as a boundary zone between the needs and concerns of the public and ideas of publicness that align with corporate and managerial interests and practices. The book challenges the reader to critically evaluate whether the ideals of contact zone and engagement are practically achievable within an administrative setting, offering insights into how museums can achieve political publicness through transparent, open, and democratic communicative action.

A Museum in Public cuts across disciplines, appealing to academics, researchers, and postgraduates in a wide range of fields, including: museum studies, heritage studies, cultural studies, cultural policy, public policy, political science, sociology, geography, architecture, art history, public history, tourism studies, and cultural management.

Weight: 298g
Dimension: 144 x 224 x 8 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781138579262