This book explores¿at the macro meso and micro levels and in terms of qualitative as well as
quantitative studies¿the current and future role of museums for art and society. Given the
dynamic developments in art and society museums need to change in order to remain (and in some
ways regain) relevance. This relevance is in the sense of a power to influence. Additionally
museums have challenges that arise in the production of art through the use of permanent and
rapidly changing technologies. This book examines how museums deal with the increasing
importance of performance art and social interactive art artistic disciplines which refuse to
use classical or digital artistic media in their artistic processes. The book also observes how
museums are adapting in the digital age. It addresses such questions as How to keep museums in
contact with recipients of art in a world in which the patterns of communication and perception
have changed dramatically and also Can the art museum as a real place be a counterpart in a
virtualized and digitalized society or will museums need to virtualize and even globalize
themselves virtually? Chapters also cover topics such as the merits of digital technologies in
museums and how visitors perceive these changes and innovations. When you go back to the
etymological origin the Mouseion of Alexandria it was a place where - supported by the
knowledge stored there - art and science were developed: a place of interdisciplinary research
and networking as you would call it today. The word from the Ancient Hellenic language for
museum (¿¿¿S¿¿¿¿) means the house of the muses: where the arts and sciences find their berth
and cradle. With the Wunderkammer the museum was re-invented as a place for amazing for
purpose of representation of dynastic power followed by the establishment of museums as a
demonstration of bourgeois self-consciousness. In the twentieth century the ideal of the
museum as an institution for education received a strong boost before the museum as a tourism
infrastructure became more and more the institutional economic and political role-model. This
book is interested in discovering what is next for museums and how these developments will
affect art and society. Each of the chapters are written by academics in the field but also by
curators and directors of major museums and art institutions.
