In spring 2012 ICMM’s Executive Council established a workgroup for the purpose of establishing the framework for an ICMM North European network on exhibitions. What follows is the suggestion for the organisation of such a network.

A large number of ICMM’s member museums have opened or are about to open new exhibitions. Thus there are many museums that have current experience with exhibitions and it is natural to use this situation to give staff working with exhibition on all levels a chance to exchange experiences and inspire each other. Therefore it is proposed to hold a workshop with subsequent network meetings on maritime exhibitions.

There already exist a large number of collaborations between museums concerning exhibitions and maritime issues, and there is no need to build large, new organizations. The cooperation should therefore be carried out under the motto "keep it simple".

The specificity of this new partnership is that it -

• Can be used as a platform for recruiting new members for the ICMM.

The limitation to Northern Europe is merely a practical one in order to diminish the transportation time for the participants. We assume that the main numbers of participants will come from UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Poland, Baltic States, Russia, Scandinavia, Faroes and Iceland, but others are of course welcome to join the network.

A workshop over two days will held 7-8 March, 2013 in Göteborg, Sweden, hosted by the newly renovated Sjöfartsmuseet Akvariet. The program will consist of a concentrated course of short presentations of current exhibitions and plans followed by workshops based on participants’ active involvement with feedback on current work. The workshop can be divided by themes, eg. "Permanent exhibitions", "traveling exhibitions", "Empty buildings" or "digital communication". Furthermore there will be visit to the hosting museum. There will be no published report from the workshop, but participants will receive the presentations and a participant list. ICMM's Secretariat assists with the arrangement and practicalities such as room rental, and so on. Each institution will pay for participation.

Subsequently, the network will be maintained by meetings at the participating museums. Any participating museum is required to host a day event for members of the network, either after opening a new exhibition or during planning and building it. The purpose is to give the participants a qualified opportunity to meet frequently and get updated on the latest developments. This model will keep it affordable for both participants and organisers, even with limited travel and conference budgets.

Further information on the meeting will be available in September 2012. Until then, please note the workshop dates. You can indicate your interest now by sending an e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .