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Conclusions of the 16th Forum of Maritime Heritage of the Mediterranean
New Maritime Heritages, New Horizons for Museums
The 16th Forum of Maritime Heritage of the Mediterranean took place from the 4th to the 5th of October 2010 in Palamós, Spain. The Forum was organised by the Museu de la Pesca -Fishing Museum-, which also counted with the collaboration of the Association of Mediterranean Maritime Museums (AMMM) and the presence of the schooner Santa Eulàlia of the Museu Marítim de Barcelona at the port of Palamós.
The Forum focused this year in making a reflection on how to find ways so that museums widen their goals and tackle new challenges related to maritime affairs with a new heritage approach. The curators of today no longer centre their focus on collections and museum buildings, that is, in integral conservation, documentation, study and diffusion of tangible, buildings and intangible heritage in general. Museums have evolved and matured. They belong to a new century. It may be true that some museums do not have the means to fulfil their objectives; do not have the knowledge to work at the same level as other museums; or that their outputs may not be as successful. However, new working basis are settled. Today, not a single museum professional doubts about the importance and the extraordinary cultural value of floating heritage; of traditional know-how and knowledge on maritime topics; of working and navigation objects; or of buildings and spaces related, just to quote some examples.
A key question was posed in relation to whether museum professionals had reached the top line of knowledge regarding maritime heritage, and whether we should look for new
Focuses, approaches, for new challenges and synergies.
The forum was structured in three sessions introduced each by a key speaker who presented a conceptual framework. Following the initial welcoming form local authorities, the general key speech of the Forum was made by Dr. Xavier Roigé, Professor of Cultural Anthropology at the University of Barcelona (UB), and Vice-Dean at the Faculty of Geography and History of the UB. His speech centred on the changes of the world socially and economically, and how museums coped with this evolution. He mentioned what people expects from museums, and what their own values are today (being global but looking for a local identity and thus being sensitized towards “heritage and tradition”. He also mentioned how progress affects museums, according to their size, classification or mission, -a local museum, a national museum, an ecomuseum, etc.
This presentation was followed by the first session “New Heritages” introduced by Dr. Eliseu Carbonell, Researcher at the Catalan Institute of Research on Cultural Heritage. He gave an overall view on the different perceptions that the contemporary society has and had in relation to heritage and how this heritage is enlarged today to other elements. The maritime museums of Pesaro, Torroella de Montgrí and St. Feliu de Guíxols presented their experiences related to innovative new projects.
The second session “New Public and Users” was introduced by key speaker Dr. Gabriel Alcalde from the Catalan Institute of Research on Cultural Heritage. On this occasion, the speech centred on the strategies of maritime museums to reach public, be it new or not, be it a large part of the public or a segment; or how to make people participate in the projects of the museum; or how online communication and interactive involvement affects museum public. During this session participants learned about best practice of other AMMM museums, such as that of Cesenatico and Palermo, Istanbul, Rovigno, L’Escala, and La Valletta.
The third session “New working opportunities” was presented by Franca Acerenza, Responsible for collections and didactics at the Mu.Ma museums of Genoa. She dealt with management and staff related; on how today museum hierarchy tends to disappear and new profiles need to be incorporated in museums according to new action lines planned, i.e. new technologies. She also mentioned how legally the profile of curator is not even clearly identified, even the Italian Parliament does not recognises intellectual profiles. The case of young students with concrete university profiles, who assist temporally museum staff, was also tackled. Further to this presentation, the museums of Pirano, Paulilles, Lloret de mar, Palamós and Seixal gave full detail of their best practice related to widening horizons for working opportunities.
The Forum closed with the final speech of Dr Joan Ll. Alegret, Director of the Chair of Maritime Studies at the University of Girona and the Town Hall of Palamós. He focused on the case of the Museu de la Pesca and their innovative approach they are working on to sensitize citizens on the value of fishing and fish. To end the Forum participants visited a building located at the port, next to the fish market, where the culture of marine gastronomy will be key to raise the awareness of society on the need to preserve maritime activity and learn about fish species, from a culinary perspective.
In parallel to the celebration of the Forum, where all Mediterranean maritime museums convene, the Annual General Assembly of the Association took place. Many new projects were proposed for the new future and it was decided that the 17th Forum would be organised in Pesaro, Italy, coinciding with the International Summer School, an event that will bring together students, universities and maritime museums.
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The Mediterranean Maritime History Network celebrated its 2nd Conference " Making Waves in the Mediterranean "
A group of historians working on Mediterranean maritime history met at the Third International Congress of Maritime History in Esbjerg (Denmark), in August 2000, and decided on a number of measures to try to bring scholars working in this area of study closer together.
The principal aim of the MMHN is to act as a clearing - house for the exchange of information concerning research currently underway relating to Mediterranean maritime history topics. The MMHN centres on the period from the thirteenth century to the twentieth century and subscribes to a wide concept of maritime history to include the following categories:
1. The use of the resources of the sea and what lies beneath it, including fishing and related activities, and the economic and social life of the communities dependent upon them.
2. The sea as a means of communication, namely the carriage of people, goods and ideas, and the structures associated with this phenomenon, such as ports and the communities within which these are lodged. This category is the broadest in maritime history and includes: sea-borne trade; shipping in all its facets, as well as ancillary institutions such as insurance, finance and registers; navigation; sea-related labour; island and port communities; and so on.
3. The sea as a medium for the projection of power. This means naval power, strategy and technology; government policies relating to the control of the sea and its resources; as well as commerce-raiding, corsairing and piracy.
4. The use of the sea for scientific purposes via oceanography, climatology and so on, as well as government policies regarding marine science and technology in a historical perspective.
5. The sea as a space for leisure. This refers, first and foremost, to the Mediterranean 's premier economic activity, namely tourism. The sea and the coast conceived as a regenerative environment and a focus for recreation in general and the practice of aquatic sports in particular.
6. Last but not least, the sea as a source of inspiration in culture and ideology: this includes, for example, the role of the sea in art and literature, as well as the sea in a nation's self-image.
In May 2006 the MMHN celebrated its second conference at Messina/Taormina, Sicily . Over 100 papers by researchers from Algeria, Australia, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the Ukraine, and the USA dealing with a range of aspects of the maritime history of the Mediterranean were on the programme on this occasion. This constituted a threefold increase on the number of papers presented in Malta four years previously.
The conference was particularly notable for the number of young researchers participating with contributions on some very novel areas of study, the informal and enjoyable atmosphere which permitted scholars to renew friendships and make new acquaintances, and the superb Sicilian hospitality and cuisine. Reduced versions of the papers are gradually being placed online at http://home.um.edu.mt/medinst/mmhn/academic_programme.html
Hard copies of the proceedings of all papers are to be published in Italian while a special issue of the University of Malta 's Journal of Mediterranean Studies (Vol. 16, No.2, 2006) will bring together a selection of the papers in English and French. 9/06 |
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Technical Conference on Maritime Subjects held in Portugal
On 28 February 2008, the Ecomuseu Municipal do Seixal, in collaboration with the Instituto de Museus e da Conservação and the Museu de Marinha, hosted a technical conference on maritime subjects and counted with the participation of a great number of museums and cultural entities related to the maritime sector.
The objectives of the meeting were to exchange experiences on maritime museum programs with the aim of activating joint work and a stable cooperation network; to share know-how to enhance methodology, in general, and particularly focused on documentation and information as tools to protect and valorize tangible and intangible maritime heritage; and finally, to debate on transversal actions related to natural and cultural heritage, as means to attain a sustainable environment.
The first session of the conference dealt with the role of communities when dealing with the recognition of maritime cultural heritage and the way in which museums selects and includes this heritage into their collections. The second session centered on the different ways in which museums collaborate with other partners and what type of communication actions should be developed to effectively reach the public.
The third session was entitled “Action lines in network”, and related to concrete actions and means of finding funding to work in cooperation at a local, national and international level.
The Ecomuseu Municipal do Seixal emphasized on the need to foster dissemination and communication between museums and proposed the elaboration of a calendar on museum activities to enhance information among maritime museums and related institutions.
For further information: ecomuseu@cm-seixal.pt
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