// PROGRAM 

BeMuseum 2019
FRIDAY 11 OCTOBER 2019 
ADAM - BRUSSELS DESIGN MUSEUM
Place de Belgique 1 Belgiëplein
1020 Brussels

10:00 - 10:15 
Introduction

Welcome word by Arnaud Bozzini (ADAM–Brussels Design Museum Director)

10:15 – 11:30 // PANEL
Lessons learned on repatriation of collection items // presented by FARO

In recent years, the call for restitution of collection items has been louder than ever. There was research in France by Felwine Sarr and Bénédicte Savoy, guidelines were published in the Netherlands, as in Germany. What impact do these actions have ? How do Belgian institutions relate to this theme? We investigate the debate about restitution since 1945, discuss recent developments in a number of European countries and adress questions about provenance research.

10:15 – 11:30 // WORKSHOP
From the classroom to the museum... and back again // Presented by WEZIT-Mazedia

Imagine a visit at your museum that would be entirely dedicated to the education of a younger audience.
With this workshop, you will imagine an educational route that would engage students actively into learning perspectives.
You will start by putting yourself into a younger visitors' shoes and ask yourself how to facilitate your learning experience at the museum. Through this specific workshop, we will explore how to open up perspectives and provide new trends for a new educational approach. At the end of this collaborative workshop, participants will make mini group-presentations and we will deliver a tangible document, that can be of use in the short term and for the long run!

11:45 - 13:00 // PANEL
Digital Strategy
// presented by PACKED/VIAA

In 2013 John Stack, previously head of Tate online, started asking himself the question: “What is the position of ‘digital’ within the museum?” and came to the conclusion that these days, digital is not simply a concern of the ‘digital department’ but permeates all areas of work in the museum, be they marketing, audience development, business development, etc. Inspired by Tate, PACKED – Center of Expertise for Digital Heritage for Flanders and Brussels, started accompanying heritage organizations to develop a holistic digital strategy. This entails formulating their goals in terms of content, heritage communities, revenue and organization. At the same time, they were asked to determine the measures of success they would like to achieve. Finally, they were asked to identify indicators which will allow them to measure whether they are realizing those goals. In this segment PACKED/VIAA will cover what constitutes a digital strategy and why it is important, after which we will open the floor to organizations which have formulated a digital strategy for their own organisation.

11:45 - 13:00 // WORKSHOP
Digital innovation in Museums: How to navigate our world of new technologies  and bring the visitor experience back at the heart of the process?
// presented by HOVERTONE

The digital revolution is transforming many aspects of our daily lives and our expectations towards the mediation tools that are found in museums and public spaces. It is also transforming professions, hybridising traditional crafts (print, textile, woodworking, etc.) and digital practices (software design, audiovisual design, video mapping, etc.) more than ever before. Over the last few years, Hovertone has taken a unique place in the exhibition design ecosystem, as a tangible interaction design agency capable of inventing cutting-edge technologies and integrating them in sensible poetic immersive experiences for the people. The goal of this workshop (in collaboration with MuseumLab, Mons) is to give museum professionals solid tools to decode our current digital technological revolution. We show concrete cases where we did not put technologies at the forefront for the sake of it, but at the service of a purpose, grounded into the targeted mediation and the overall visitor experience.

14:20 - 14:30 // Museum Pass Musées — First results, to a statistical analysis of cultural consumption in Brussels // presented by Julie van der Heyden (director)

14:30 - 15:45 // PANEL
Curating the museum through Instagram
// presented by BRUSSELS MUSEUMS

It’s a fact, visitors to exhibitions are increasingly sharing their experiences online, particularly through the social media app Instagram, primary means for museum visitors to communicate their opinions via images taken on their ubiquitous smartphones. While exhibitions tend to become defined by their 'Instagrammability', how do the museums choose to curate their content accordingly on the app? Does it reflect the identity of their institution IRL or do they create a new reality of sorts? What if this leads to unrealistic expectations? Maybe Instagram even changes the way exhibitions are created? Three museum experts present a case study and discuss the matter.

14:30  // WORKSHOP
MAD LAB 

This workshop aims to think about the environmental impact of exhibitions and installations in your cultural venues.
Together, we will identify your recurring waste streams and analyze your needs to see if opportunities exist to recycle your waste.
A waste is a precious resource when optimally transformed to meet one of our needs. This is the work of our designers.
This workshop will be given in French but everyone is invited to practice the language of their choice.

16:00 — 17:15 // PANEL
Museum turns green: A late realization in Belgium
// presented by ICOM WALLONIE-BRUXELLES

The realization that museums are sources of carbon emissions and waste producers too, and that they have to be active players in these fields and not just explaining climate change and its causes in their exhibits, is just beginning around the world and in Belgium. Museums are indeed important carbon producers whether because of old non-insulated buildings, huge spaces, and non-recyclable (and not recycled) materials used for the exhibits. For instance, ICOM set up a working group on sustainability only in September 2018 and Belgian initiatives to promote the reuse of materials and exhibition structures are quite recent. And even if some museums have obtained labels rewarding their efforts in the fields of energy and the use of resources, most of them are just a huge energy leakage and important partner of landfills. This panel will propose an overview of initiatives around the world and in Belgium in this field and will present concrete examples of waste reduction implementation as well as methods to achieve a carbon-neutral use of resources.

16:00 // WORKSHOP
3D virtual reconstructions: experience or heritage tool? // presented by VISUAL DIMENSION

Interactive 3D virtual reconstructions of historical sites are often considered for creating visualisations and public experiences.  However, a good virtual reconstruction is a synthesis of many tangible and intangible cultural heritage elements, brought together under one common interpretation. Through the ever increasing online accessibility of all these elements, a virtual reconstruction is in the first place an outstanding research and communication tool amongst experts, but can also be at the same time the basis for an appealing VR experience, 3D print or social media asset.  This workshop shows the workflow to reach this double goal and discusses with the participants how this can be integrated in cultural heritage institutions.

17:15 - 17:30 
Conclusions