NEMO European Museum Conference 2024: Setting the stage for dialogue on museums and polarisation

Directors of national umbrella museum organisations had the added opportunity to join a special session developed specifically with their challenges in mind. The 2024 edition of the Directors’ Meeting allowed for participants to discuss and exchange about political influence. Later all participants had the opportunity to meet other attendees and make new connections in a guided networking session before enjoying the local cuisine at evening reception, hosted by the Brukenthal Museum.

The official conference programme on 11 November began with a warm welcome from NEMO Chair Petra Havu and the conference host Ciprian Stefan, President of the National Network of Romanian Museums, who also conveyed a message from Romanian Minister of Culture Raluca Turcan. Sabine Verheyen, First Vice-President of the European Parliament, joined virtually to greet participants.

Meta Knol, an advocate for the transformative role of museums in society, followed with an inspiring keynote speech that set the tone of the conference by underscoring the urgency of addressing polarisation head-on. Her presentation ‘Shifting narratives: Towards the museum of the future’ encouraged museums to look beyond their traditional roles as guardians of the past. She proposed that museums embrace a ‘time traveller’ perspective to explore future-oriented narratives, directly addressing global issues such as social inequality, migration, and climate change. Knol highlighted the potential of museums to foster long-term change by working closely with communities to counteract polarisation and disinformation. She challenged the audience by asking if we are prepared for a future that lies beyond four years of project planning or a political term? Although the future is the result of our actions, people tend to ‘outsource’ the future since it feels so far away. She urged us to 'Make a habit of uniting things that shouldn’t be separated' and encouraged interconnected relations to create change and a future without polarisation and populism.

After a quick intervention by Elaine Manley (The National Museum Ireland), who explained a hands-on exercise that will turn views and opinions by the conference participants into an art piece, the fist panel discussion started. Moderated by Lars Ebert from Culture Action Europe, this panel highlighted the complex and often precarious position museums occupy in polarised societies. Elena Polivtseva (Culture Policy Room) joined digitally to discuss how the platformisation of culture has fragmented audiences, turning cultural institutions into battlegrounds for ideological disputes. Joshua Robertson from the UK Museums Association presented alternative pathways for museums to foster anti-racist and decolonial futures, arguing that traditional methods may no longer suffice. Mirjam Wenzel from the Jewish Museum in Frankfurt reflected on the rising anti-Semitism across Europe and how war has further deepened societal divides, presenting challenges for Jewish museums.

Tabita Juravle (Imperial War Museum) took the stage for a brief intervention on discrimination and the representation of Roma communities in Romania, highlighting museums as potential changemakers in public discourse. In total, five short interventions will be featured throughout the conference, each by recipients of NEMO’s travel grant for young museum professionals.

Can we talk? 

An intervention by Francesco Castiglioni (Galata Maritime Museum and the Museum of Italian Emigration) opened the afternoon programme with a powerful poem about migration and the Mediterranean Sea. Eva Koppen (Freelance museum sector consultant) then opened the next session, which explored museums' potential to bridge divides by strengthening connections with underrepresented communities. Speakers shared a range of perspectives, from Cristina Toma's work at Romania’s National Museum of Maps and Old Books in creating spaces for Ukrainian refugees and working with communities to Anders Bettum's efforts at the Intercultural Museum in Norway, which aims to highlight the experiences of asylum seekers. E-J Scott (Museum of Transology) discussed the role of museums in fostering inclusive spaces amid a charged political landscape, drawing from guidance developed to support trans inclusion in cultural institutions.

NEMO Secretary General Julia Pagel took a moment to share NEMO’s new resource ‘LGBTQIA+ inclusion in European museums: An incomplete guideline’. NEMO encourages museums and their professionals to use this report as a roadmap for becoming more inclusive institutions where everyone feels welcome. Next to an overview of relevant policies, the guide presents potential scenarios that highlight common challenges museums may encounter when implementing such policies. Since the guidance is ‘incomplete’ and a work in progress, NEMO invites you to contribute by sharing policies from your country and scenarios of developing more inclusive museums. 

Julia Pagel was joined on the stage by Arent Boon who shared some insights from carrying out the research for NEMO; from conducting interviews, analysing policy documents to writing the final text.

Before wrapping up the first conference day with a reception at the Casa Artelor, participants got active in one of four workshops or by joining a tour. Workshop topics ranged from exploring dialogue-building techniques and constructive conversations with Asla Heikkari’s (The Finnish Postal Museum) ‘Timeout dialogue’ to designing accessible and inclusive future cultural centres in Ece Özdil's (Jüniör) ‘Let's ACT!’ workshop.

Additional workshops explored themes including the autonomy of museums in the Netherlands and Belgium with Vera Carasso (Dutch Museums Association) and team members at FARO, the Flemish Institution for Cultural Heritage; Olga van Oost, Henrike Radermacher and Roel Daenen. The fourth workshop dealt with the future of ethnographic museums by engaging with Gen Z, led by Marianna Berényi and Borka Bazsó (Museum of Ethnography). A tour of Sibiu’s Contemporary Art Festival added a local flavour to the afternoon programme, showcasing Romanian and international artists exploring themes of boundary-crossing.

NEMO's European Museum Conference 2024 is co-organised together with the National Network of Romanian Museums, the ASTRA Museum and thanks to co-funding by the European Union.