Does War Belong in Museums? : The Representation of Violence in Exhibitions

Presentations of war and violence in museums generally oscillate between the fascination of terror and its instruments and the didactic urge to explain violence and, by analysing it, make it easier to handle and prevent. The museums concerned also have to face up to these basic issues about the social and institutional handling of war and violence. Does war really belong in museums? And if it does, what objectives and means are involved? Can museums avoid trivializing and aestheticising war, transforming violence, injury, death and trauma into tourist sights? What images of shock or identification does one generate - and what images would be desirable? Editorial Content Does War Belong in Museums? The Representation of Violence in Exhibitions Introduction DOES WAR BELONG IN MUSEUMS? Museums and the Representation of War IF WAR DOES BELONG IN MUSEUMS: HOW? Military Museums and Social History DISPLAYING WAR Contents and Space: New Concept and New Building of the Militärhistorisches Museum of the Bundeswehr From Technical Showroom to Full-fledged Museum: The German Tank Museum Munster The Museum of Military History/Institute of Military History in Vienna: History, Organisation and Significance THE BEAUTY OF WAR AND THE ATTRACTIVITY OF VIOLENCE The Concept for a New Permanent Exhibition at the Museum Altes Zeughaus About the Beauty of War and the Attractivity of Violence The Bomb and the City: Presentations of War in German City Museums THE TRAUMA OF WAR AND THE LIMITS OF MEDIA War in Context: Let the Artifacts Speak War Museums and Photography The Monument is Invisible, the Sign Visible. Monuments in New Perspectives MILITARY HISTORY, WAR MUSEUMS AND NATIONAL IDENTITY Politics of Memory and History in the Museum – The New “Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War” in Minsk/Belarus Framing the Military-Nation: New War Museums and Changing Representational Practices in Turkey since 2002 Contributors Presentations of war and violence in museums generally oscillate between the fascination of terror and its instruments and the didactic urge to explain violence and, by analysing it, make it easier to handle and prevent. The museums concerned also have to face up to these basic issues about the social and institutional handling of war and violence. Does war really belong in museums? And if it does, what objectives and means are involved? Can museums avoid trivializing and aestheticising war, transforming violence, injury, death and trauma into tourist sights? What images of shock or identification does one generate - and what images would be desirable? With contributions by Robert Ehrenreich, Gorch Pieken, Jay Winter and others. Museum,War,Conflict,Exhibition,Violence,Cultural History,Museology,Memory Culture Die Leitfrage dieser nun in Neuauflage erscheinenden soziologischen Analysen von Wissenschaft, Universität, Professionen richtet sich auf die Entstehung der modernen Form dieser Funktionsbereiche: - die disziplinär differenzierte Wissenschaft und die zugehörigen Erfindungen Publikation, Spezialisierung und Gemeinschaftsbindung; - die wissenschaftliche Universität des 19. Jahrhunderts, die Forschungsuniversität ist und dies als kulturelle Matrix allen universitären Geschehens einzurichten versucht; - professionelle Handlungssysteme in Recht, Medizin, Religion und Schulerziehung, die die Bearbeitung der Lebensführungsprobleme eines inklusiv erweiterten Publikums mittels professioneller Spezialisierungen auf Ungewissheit organisieren. Biographical note: Wolfgang Muchitsch studied History and English in Graz and Oxford. After graduation, he worked as a university lecturer and project leader in Britain, Northern Ireland and Austria. From 1992 to 1995 he worked for the Department for Planning and Organisation Development of the University of Graz. From 1995 onwards he was responsible for art management in the office of the First Deputy Governor of Styria. He has been the scientific manager of the Universalmuseum Joanneum GmbH since January 2003 Biographical note: Rudolf Stichweh ist Dahrendorf-Professor für "Theorie der modernen Gesellschaft" an der Universität Bonn und Direktor des "Forums Internationale Wissenschaft Bonn". Bei transcript ist von ihm erschienen: "Niklas Luhmann - Wirkungen eines Theoretikers" (1999, als Herausgeber) sowie "Inklusion und Exklusion. Studien zur Gesellschaftstheorie" (2005, 2. Aufl. 2013) Review text: Besprochen in: H-Soz-u-Kult, 10.10.2013, Christian Hirte