The ‘Museum’ Event: Considerations on the theoretical field of Museology (1955-2015)

Abstract

For many years we have been defending the idea that Museum is not only an institution but has to be apprehended in process, as a phenomenon, flux, or event. In the contemporary knowledge environment it is imperative that the Museum can be perceived beyond its institutionalized form: only by doing so we will be able to understand with a minimum precision and depth the new forms through which it unveils and the relationships established between this phenomenon and the recent social representations. This article presents some reflections on the theme, as from the analysis of authors of the museum field (campo museal, or champ muséal), trying to identify the necessary fundaments to such formulation with a special emphasis in the theoretical-philosophical arguments, as well as in the arguments based in the theory of communication – from which Museology has been structured as a disciplinary field.