ABSTRACT
Geoffrey Swinney, a researcher affiliated with the National Museum of Scotland, conceptualises museum catalogues as ‘meta-objects’, ‘collections of collections, an archive of an archive’, that is, as both a museum object and a working tool. Swinney is arguing that the catalogue both is an object in its own right and provides knowledge regarding the collections. Contexts are ascribed to museum objects through the documentation practice, making some realities more probable than others, affecting the object’s museological performativity. In the museum ledger, the object is defined through the term ‘spoon’ and given a unique number to identify it in all museum practices. On the catalogue card, the object’s definition, material and technique are presented as keywords, one word per category and one category per line: ‘Spoon’, ‘Birch’ and ‘Stained’. The description of the spoon is placed in two different tabs: ‘Description’ and ‘Information’.
