The Museum – the Storytelling Institution in Society. What the Museum Can Tell Us about the Society and Social Relation?

In contemporary world the museum plays new and crucial role. The idea of narrative museum is crucial for understanding the role of this institution for the social and cultural relations between people, institutions, nations and states. I am going to dedicate my presentation to the narrative museum as an object which very actively take part in construction of dialogue and social negotiation of meanings of history, partnership between countries and ideas.

The new model of narrative museum is very strongly connected with new technologies and the medias. The new museum model is like a book that tells stories, events, predicts the future. It involves not only rational thinking, but also people’s emotions. Thanks to technological possibilities, it creates the atmosphere and atmosphere of another world. The main idea of my presentation is that the narrative museum tells the story. It is storytelling institution. It is space of encounters. This is spaces of various types of relations like institutional, interpersonal, international, intergeneration or intercultural relations. The museum as a social space demands the presence of the recipient. The narrative museum need “readers” to tell the story.

In my presentation I am going to concentrate on some examples of the museum storytelling model which are extremely popular in Poland. Presently we observe the process of social narrative and negotiation of history in Poland. Here are some examples of such institutions that have a huge impact on society: The Museum of the Second World War, The European Solidarity Centre, The Frederic Chopin Museum, The John Paul Institute, The Museum of Polish History, The PRL Museum.

I attempt to explain what this museum model tell us about the society.