ABSTRACT
How will museums think about the relations between objects, concepts and history in the twenty-first century? Will the presentation of history in the museum be different from its twentieth-century form? These questions are pertinent in light of the current trend to dehistoricise museum displays in favour of a purely aesthetic approach. Many new museum displays are rich in objects and light on interpretation: this appears to be based on the dual aims of reducing didactic content and returning power to objects. Such displays – often realised as Enlightenment-style rooms or exhibits modelled on visible storage – fit in with the need to soften the overbearing voice of curatorial authority and to make the interpretive process more open to the visitor. The object alone is believed to be sufficiently powerful to engage the visitor and to prompt him or her to make connections with concepts and with the past. On this basis, objects are increasingly being displayed in a way that is aesthetic, decontextualised and ahistorical.
