Hosts:

• The National Museum - The Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, Oslo, Norway in cooperation with the
• West Norway Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, Bergen and the
• North Norway Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, Trondheim

Programme

Saturday, 3 September 2005

Sunday, 4 September 2005

Monday, 5 September 2005

Tuesday, 6 September 2005

SECOND PORTION OF CONFERENCE - EXCURSION TO THE NORTH
Wednesday, 7 September 2005

Thursday, 8 September 2005

Friday, 9 September 2005

Sailing to the Art Nouveau city of Ålesund, the city of roses Molde, Kristiansund, the Geiranger fiord to Trondheim. According to National Geographic Traveler magazine, this is the most spectacular seatour in the world. On board of the ship all meals will be provided. Ballroom dancing in the evening

Saturday, 10 September 2005

Sunday, 11 September 2005

Free program and return home.

Topics

Are we collecting too much of the wrong thing?

1. ISSUES BEHIND COLLECTING
   The problem of our rapidly growing collections - not least of all our 20th-century craft and industrial design holdings - is that most are going into storerooms, thus giving many museum a financial burden that is increasingly a great challenge. Most institutions are unable to raise money for extending their storage and staff for these expanding collections, so there should be a limit of the size of decorative art museums. We collect not least with the purpose of securing objects that we find of value for the next generations. Documentation of our material, cultural heritage, however, could also be conducted by collecting drawings, photography, advertisements, reviews in newspapers and other ephemera.
   
   
2. THE DIALOGUE BETWEEN EDUCATION, INSTALLATION AND PERMANENT COLLECTIONS
   Do we want to educate our constituency as was the case when the museums were founded in the nineteenth century or will we follow the picture galleries and provide the visitor with a nice experience with a little information in order not to disturb the aesthetic show or challenge the public in any way? Could there be a way to approach this problem other than the expensive reinstallations of our permanent collections which currently seems to be the conventional wisdom as a panacea for our declining numbers? What many smaller museums need is perhaps a closer connection between research and what is put out on exhibit. We need to look at our permanent collections and find the many different stories that can be told by these objects.
   
   
3. CRITICISM AND SELF-CRITICISM: HOW DO WE STIMULATE OUR FIELD?
   We all know that the media only publishes information on certain exhibitions. Could we be more active in writing small articles for some of the newspapers? We all like to have our research printed in the leading journals, but if we want to attract visitors to our museums, we should perhaps do both. Another issue in our field is criticism. In the decades around 1900, curators, craftsmen and teachers at the design and architectural schools were not afraid advocating and criticizing contemporary design - as a matter of fact many found it their duty to do so in order to promote "good taste." Today we have learned to be objective, or neutral, on such issues and only indirectly indicating what our thoughts about quality by way of the objects we include in exhibitions and permanent collections. We are a very silent - and too politically correct - community. Could we perhaps change this?
   
   
4. INTRODUCTION, CONTINUATION AND REVIVALS: PROBLEMS IN DOCUMENTATION
   Today we can readily see how objects from the 1940s-1960s are still being produced or are now being reproduced. This is, however, not a new phenomenon. Although this situation does not allude to the Renaissance or neoclassicism, but rather to the fact that many objects have been made over the course of very long periods, for example, porcelain and silver in the rococo idiom were made far into the neoclassical period. As to our own time, we have a problem concerning the documentation of the "style" of our time. Shall we still treat the decorative arts and design from the art-historical point of view, according greater significance to the first example made rather than later versions and how should we address and document the later versions of these first examples?
   
   
5. UTILIZING THE RESOURCES WE WORK SO HARD TO COLLECT AND PROTECT - OUR PERMANENT COLLECTIONS
   Many members note the diminishing amount of funding within their own institutions as well as the general reduction of outside financial support as well. At the same time, traveling exhibitions have witnessed an astounding rise in costs for packing, insurance and shipping. This is a pattern that is not likely to change and one that ultimately will have serious consequences for our museums. Should we not be looking at our own permanent collections as a resource for new and imaginative exhibitions that can remain within the four walls of our institutions? If we spend so much thought and money on adding to these collections, then why does no much of this material remain in storage, decade after decade? We must find ways to reinvigorate our museums through a more active use of these collections - or at the most, the collections within our own, respective regions. Members should offer examples of the methods they have devised for better exploiting their permanent holdings through reinstallation of their collections, or the assembly of small exhibitions that explicate certain themes and ideas.

Many members note the diminishing amount of funding within their own institutions as well as the general reduction of outside financial support as well. At the same time, traveling exhibitions have witnessed an astounding rise in costs for packing, insurance and shipping. This is a pattern that is not likely to change and one that ultimately will have serious consequences for our museums.

June 2005