Registration does not begin until 02.10.2026 at 08:00. It ends on 12.10.2026 at 23:59.

This course will approach museums as sites of organizational practices and struggles around the (re)presentation, negotiation and reflection of culture.

PART I
The following four distinct themes, which are fundamental to understanding museums as sites of culture and organization, will form the focus of each session:

A) Space and atmospheres
B) Curatorial practices and politics
C) Publics and audiences
D) Digitalization and communications

PART II
Parallel to the lectures, students will form research groups to conduct their own empirical investigations of museums as sites of culture and organization. Groups may focus on specific museums, cases, sites, initiatives, or exhibitions. Fieldwork may include on-site visits, interviews, participant observation, or other qualitative methods. The aim is to explore how the four themes manifest in the practices of museums.

The groups will present their findings at a concluding session, in the form of a mini-exhibition.

The seminar aims to provide students with theories and concepts to understand and reflect (art) museums as paradigmatic cultural institutions and the demands to reorganise how they operate, organize, exhibit and narrate. Empirically, students learn to critically examine the constitution and effects of forms, processes and practices of organizing culture in and through museums and exhibitions.
On successful completion of the course, students should be able to:
- understand and reflect upon the societal conditions for, and the shifts in, processes of cultural organization in and through museums;
- identify and analyse (old and new) forms of organizing culture through the work and practices of museums;
- bring theoretical concepts to bear on real-life examples and practices through observation, analysis and critique.

Further information on teaching evaluation: https://www.leuphana.de/en/teaching/quality-management/evaluation/course-evaluation.html