The purpose of this article is to analyse how the definition of a new
geological era affects muse... more The purpose of this article is to analyse how the definition of a new geological era affects museums. First, we will give an overview of the development of the concept of the Anthropocene and its connections with museums. One of the most obvious responses of museums to the Anthropocene is the concept of sustainable or green museums.
It is a very extensive topic, of which we chose only one part, specifically exhibitions, for analysis. As a case study, we took the If Boxes Could Talk… exhibition in Tartu City History Museums, which was completed as part of the Sustainable and Sustaining Exhibition continuing education course at the Pallas University of Applied Sciences. The exhibition explored, on the one hand, the application of sustainability ideas in the preparation of a practical exhibition and, on the other hand, the mechanisms of creating cultural sustainability using the model of artificial cultures. Anthropocene is a term that captures extremely important aspects of the modern world. The central idea of the Anthropocene is the inseparability of man as a biological being, nature, technology, and culture. Man himself is both part of nature and a creator of culture, a changer of nature, and a victim of technology. In fact, there is no natural environment that has not been transformed by mankind, either on Earth or even in near space. Sustainability and consideration of the environment are deemed to be areas that ensure the seriousness of museums in the 21st century. If we line up the most pressing problems of the present time, we get quite a long list: climate change, the price of energy, war in the middle of Europe, the recession, the pandemic, and the rise of militant nationalism. Apparently, this alarming list can be extended even further. The cluster crisis affects different aspects of the environment and society and naturally also affects museums, where sustainability is both a requirement and a necessity. Designing a sustainable world is, first of all, related to large-scale cultural change. It is not news that a whole series of norms and values characteristic of Western culture are such that they do not fit into a sustainable world and are obviously the main obstacle to the development of such a society. The expectation of continuous economic growth, the desire for an increasingly better and more abundant life, the expectation of continuous renewal, and the glorification of success and competition are still the basic values of our culture. To ensure sustainable development, changing people’s values and behaviours, i.e., culture, is considered one of the key issues. Changing culture is a difficult and confusing task, as culture tends to be inert and rather difficult to change. People want to preserve existing ideas, values, and traditions. Fortunately, the situation is not completely hopeless. The solution is a completely different approach
to the whole bundle of problems. Instead of changing culture, we have to create artificial cultures that meet our wants and needs. It is a radically different solution to the task of culture change. Museums have great potential to become leaders of cultural change. People trust museums and consider them authoritative institutions. However, how to start creating sustainable cultures is still open for the time being. We started by telling stories. We used the concept of artificial culture to describe purposeful cultural change. Artificial culture offers a new conceptual approach to dealing with and practical implementation of cultural change. Instead of changing the existing culture, the focus is on creating a new culture. Artificial cultures have great potential to solve sustainability problems, as they work by changing people’s values and cultures, which are very often the cause of the problems.
Infoteooria ja küberneetika mõju teoreetilisele bioloogiale ongi kas
instrumentaalne või siis üld... more Infoteooria ja küberneetika mõju teoreetilisele bioloogiale ongi kas instrumentaalne või siis üldist metafoorset raamistikku loov. Samas bioloogilise info mõiste kasutamine geenide ning rakkude ja organismide funktsioneerimise kirjeldamisel võimaldab käsitleda kõiki elunähtusi ühtses kontekstis. Läbi informatsioonilise konteksti saab näidata, kuidas molekulid, rakud, organis ja organismid üksteist mõjutavad ning koordineeritult toimivad. Koos tehnoloogilise ja kultuurilise keskkonna muutumisega muutuvad ka kasutatavad metafoorid. Kui 1830. aastatel hakati kasutama sõna „pärilikkus“ bioloogiliste tunnuste kohta, siis nende pärandumise kohta kasutati mõistet „edasi andma“ (passed down), täpselt samamoodi, nagu käsitleti erinevat inimesi puudutavat pärandvara. Kui kasutusele võeti elektriline side, oli üsna loomulik, et pärandumisel toimus tunnuste edasikandumine või transmissioon (transmission). Infoteooria ja arvutid tõid kasutusele informatsiooni ja koodi mõisted. Lingvistikast võeti üle keele mõiste ja hakati rääkima „geneetilisest keelest“, millest tulenesid omakorda loogiliselt ka sellised mõisted nagu transkriptsioon (algses tähenduses ümberkirjutamine, ümberkirjutus)ja translatsioon (algses tähenduses tõlkimine). Nagu näha on pärandumisprotsessi kirjeldamiseks kasutusele võetud lingvistikast ja infoteooriast pärit mõisted, mida kasutataks metafoorselt ning mis kujundavad selle, kuidas neid protsesse mõistetakse. Metafooride kasutamisel tuleb arvestada seda, et ühelt poolt loovad need uusi võimalusi mingite nähtuste kirjeldamiseks, kuid teisalt jällegi piiravad meie mõistelisi võimalusi ja kättesaadavaid seletusviise. Informatsiooni mõiste kasutuselevõtt geneetiliste protsesside kirjeldamisel avas täiesti uue konteksti ja pakkus hulgaliselt uusi interpretatsioonivõimalusi. Selle edukus oli silmnähtav, kuna neid metafoore kasutatakse bioloogias valdavalt seniajani. Informatsiooniteooriaga seotud terminite metafoorne kasutamine peegeldab seda, kuidas teadlased nendest protsessidest mõtlevad. Infoteoreetilisel käsitlemisel jäävad kõrvale nende protsesside tegelik füsikokeemiline olemus ning esiplaanile tõuseb abstraktne representatsiooniline kirjeldus. Seega on infoteooria kasutamisel bioloogiliste nähtuste kirjeldamisel väga oluline arvestada nii kasutuseolevate metafooridega kui ka tegelike infoprotsessidega elusorganismides. Ehk siis tuleb võtta arvesse nii informatsiooni ontoloogilist kui ka epistemoloogilist rolli teoreetilises bioloogias.
Museums are memory institutions. They serve to collect, study, preserve and mediate to the public... more Museums are memory institutions. They serve to collect, study, preserve and mediate to the public culturally valuable objects related to human beings and their living environment. They bolster the formation of social, communal and family identities; they function as public memory institutions, supporting education and scientific research and, of course, museums provide entertainment and recreation. In this article, we look at museums from the perspective of heritage studies, and for our analysis, we use the following three dimensions: heritage objects, levels of society and processes of heritage management. Our objective is to present a conceptual framework which would highlight more clearly the connections between heritage and museums and which would lay a foundation for interlinking some theoretical concepts from heritage studies and museology and help to improve practical heritage management. Museums and heritage are closely, if not inextricably, linked. A museum’s connection wit...
Ajalooline Ajakiri. The Estonian Historical Journal
The primary task of museums is to preserve museum objects in the form of physical objects. Despit... more The primary task of museums is to preserve museum objects in the form of physical objects. Despite its apparent simplicity and comprehensibility, damage to man-made objects – artefacts – is a complex and complicated field. Damage processes are grouped as being physical, chemical, mechanical, and biological. In most cases, different processes work together, damaging the materials and structure of the artefacts. A number of factors, the most important of which are the composition and structure of materials, environmental conditions, and human impacts, affect damage processes. It is very difficult, and in most cases impossible, to take all these factors into account. At the same time, modelling the aging of museum objects is especially important for their successful preservation. Modelling of damage processes makes it possible to assess the extent of such processes (which objects have been damaged and what the degree of damage is), the speed of damage processes, and thereby changes in ...
The aim of this article is to present a critical discussion of the influence of technology on hum... more The aim of this article is to present a critical discussion of the influence of technology on humans and culture in contemporary Western society. Transhumanism is a philosophical and social movement that believes that the essential features of human life could be transformed and enhanced by applications of science and technology. In this article, I will compare transhumanist ideas about perfecting humans to the views of Roger Bacon, one of the representatives of European mediaeval alchemy. Such a treatment provides a historical background for transhumanist ideas and helps answer the moral and philosophical problems that humans are faced with due to modern technological development. Despite the fact that several transhumanist theoreticians treat it as a secular alternative to religious ideas, we can see that Christian eschatology plays a major role. Both in alchemy and transhumanism, scientific and theological aspects have been inseparably intertwined. Transhumanism can be seen as a ...
In this article, I characterise the definitions of nature and culture by providing examples from ... more In this article, I characterise the definitions of nature and culture by providing examples from nature conservation and conservation of cultural heritage. I also propose how to overcome the distinction of two definitions by using the concept of common heritage. Overcoming the dilemma of nature and culture, at least in heritage management, does not mean developing more clever and ungrounded theoretical constructions but instead creating a practical combination of the two management systems that have been separate so far. Intertwined nature and culture have, therefore, created a whole new environment in which we need to cope as equal participants. Instead of one-sided relationships, either human activity harming nature or nature’s negative effects on humans (natural disasters, zoonotic diseases), we have to cope with a complicated dialogue that presumes both understanding and listening. The relationship between humans and nature, and its reflections and treatments in culture, has differed throughout history and culture. Nature, humans, and culture are constantly changing and developing, and these processes of change are happening concurrently, conditioning and creating each other.
Medical alchemy emerged within the Western alchemical tradition in the 13th–14th centuries. Howev... more Medical alchemy emerged within the Western alchemical tradition in the 13th–14th centuries. However, well-established medical alchemy can be considered the iatrochemistry of the 16th century. In this article, I focus on the continuation of the alchemical tradition in the second half of the 19th century, using the electrohomeopathy created by Cesare Mattei as an example. Electrohomeopathy, also known as Mattei’s treatment of cancer or Matteism, is a form of homeopathy developed by Count Cesare Mattei (1809–1896) in the second half of the 19th century. Because the drugs invented by Mattei had such strength and rate of action that allowed them to be compared to electric current, he called the method electrohomeopathy. They had no other connection to electricity. It is important to emphasize this again, as later interpretations and explanations of electrohomeopathy link the effects of drugs to plant electricity or bioenergy (Odyle energy, organ energy, prana). Electrohomeopathy created ...
The International Journal of Technology, Knowledge, and Society: Annual Review, 2008
The dichotomy of nature and culture has remained for various epoches, and various traditions one ... more The dichotomy of nature and culture has remained for various epoches, and various traditions one of the key ideological oppositions. Today we are living in an age when this distinction seems to be on the brink of extinction. The artificialisation means the ...
Kurmo Konsa was born on the 31st of the August 1965 at Tartu, Estonia. He is an Associated Profes... more Kurmo Konsa was born on the 31st of the August 1965 at Tartu, Estonia. He is an Associated Professor in Chair of Archival Studies at Tartu University. He has an M. Sc in microbiology from Tartu University, and an MA in Book Science from Tallinn University. Kurmo Konsa ...
The purpose of this article is to analyse how the definition of a new
geological era affects muse... more The purpose of this article is to analyse how the definition of a new geological era affects museums. First, we will give an overview of the development of the concept of the Anthropocene and its connections with museums. One of the most obvious responses of museums to the Anthropocene is the concept of sustainable or green museums.
It is a very extensive topic, of which we chose only one part, specifically exhibitions, for analysis. As a case study, we took the If Boxes Could Talk… exhibition in Tartu City History Museums, which was completed as part of the Sustainable and Sustaining Exhibition continuing education course at the Pallas University of Applied Sciences. The exhibition explored, on the one hand, the application of sustainability ideas in the preparation of a practical exhibition and, on the other hand, the mechanisms of creating cultural sustainability using the model of artificial cultures. Anthropocene is a term that captures extremely important aspects of the modern world. The central idea of the Anthropocene is the inseparability of man as a biological being, nature, technology, and culture. Man himself is both part of nature and a creator of culture, a changer of nature, and a victim of technology. In fact, there is no natural environment that has not been transformed by mankind, either on Earth or even in near space. Sustainability and consideration of the environment are deemed to be areas that ensure the seriousness of museums in the 21st century. If we line up the most pressing problems of the present time, we get quite a long list: climate change, the price of energy, war in the middle of Europe, the recession, the pandemic, and the rise of militant nationalism. Apparently, this alarming list can be extended even further. The cluster crisis affects different aspects of the environment and society and naturally also affects museums, where sustainability is both a requirement and a necessity. Designing a sustainable world is, first of all, related to large-scale cultural change. It is not news that a whole series of norms and values characteristic of Western culture are such that they do not fit into a sustainable world and are obviously the main obstacle to the development of such a society. The expectation of continuous economic growth, the desire for an increasingly better and more abundant life, the expectation of continuous renewal, and the glorification of success and competition are still the basic values of our culture. To ensure sustainable development, changing people’s values and behaviours, i.e., culture, is considered one of the key issues. Changing culture is a difficult and confusing task, as culture tends to be inert and rather difficult to change. People want to preserve existing ideas, values, and traditions. Fortunately, the situation is not completely hopeless. The solution is a completely different approach
to the whole bundle of problems. Instead of changing culture, we have to create artificial cultures that meet our wants and needs. It is a radically different solution to the task of culture change. Museums have great potential to become leaders of cultural change. People trust museums and consider them authoritative institutions. However, how to start creating sustainable cultures is still open for the time being. We started by telling stories. We used the concept of artificial culture to describe purposeful cultural change. Artificial culture offers a new conceptual approach to dealing with and practical implementation of cultural change. Instead of changing the existing culture, the focus is on creating a new culture. Artificial cultures have great potential to solve sustainability problems, as they work by changing people’s values and cultures, which are very often the cause of the problems.
Infoteooria ja küberneetika mõju teoreetilisele bioloogiale ongi kas
instrumentaalne või siis üld... more Infoteooria ja küberneetika mõju teoreetilisele bioloogiale ongi kas instrumentaalne või siis üldist metafoorset raamistikku loov. Samas bioloogilise info mõiste kasutamine geenide ning rakkude ja organismide funktsioneerimise kirjeldamisel võimaldab käsitleda kõiki elunähtusi ühtses kontekstis. Läbi informatsioonilise konteksti saab näidata, kuidas molekulid, rakud, organis ja organismid üksteist mõjutavad ning koordineeritult toimivad. Koos tehnoloogilise ja kultuurilise keskkonna muutumisega muutuvad ka kasutatavad metafoorid. Kui 1830. aastatel hakati kasutama sõna „pärilikkus“ bioloogiliste tunnuste kohta, siis nende pärandumise kohta kasutati mõistet „edasi andma“ (passed down), täpselt samamoodi, nagu käsitleti erinevat inimesi puudutavat pärandvara. Kui kasutusele võeti elektriline side, oli üsna loomulik, et pärandumisel toimus tunnuste edasikandumine või transmissioon (transmission). Infoteooria ja arvutid tõid kasutusele informatsiooni ja koodi mõisted. Lingvistikast võeti üle keele mõiste ja hakati rääkima „geneetilisest keelest“, millest tulenesid omakorda loogiliselt ka sellised mõisted nagu transkriptsioon (algses tähenduses ümberkirjutamine, ümberkirjutus)ja translatsioon (algses tähenduses tõlkimine). Nagu näha on pärandumisprotsessi kirjeldamiseks kasutusele võetud lingvistikast ja infoteooriast pärit mõisted, mida kasutataks metafoorselt ning mis kujundavad selle, kuidas neid protsesse mõistetakse. Metafooride kasutamisel tuleb arvestada seda, et ühelt poolt loovad need uusi võimalusi mingite nähtuste kirjeldamiseks, kuid teisalt jällegi piiravad meie mõistelisi võimalusi ja kättesaadavaid seletusviise. Informatsiooni mõiste kasutuselevõtt geneetiliste protsesside kirjeldamisel avas täiesti uue konteksti ja pakkus hulgaliselt uusi interpretatsioonivõimalusi. Selle edukus oli silmnähtav, kuna neid metafoore kasutatakse bioloogias valdavalt seniajani. Informatsiooniteooriaga seotud terminite metafoorne kasutamine peegeldab seda, kuidas teadlased nendest protsessidest mõtlevad. Infoteoreetilisel käsitlemisel jäävad kõrvale nende protsesside tegelik füsikokeemiline olemus ning esiplaanile tõuseb abstraktne representatsiooniline kirjeldus. Seega on infoteooria kasutamisel bioloogiliste nähtuste kirjeldamisel väga oluline arvestada nii kasutuseolevate metafooridega kui ka tegelike infoprotsessidega elusorganismides. Ehk siis tuleb võtta arvesse nii informatsiooni ontoloogilist kui ka epistemoloogilist rolli teoreetilises bioloogias.
Museums are memory institutions. They serve to collect, study, preserve and mediate to the public... more Museums are memory institutions. They serve to collect, study, preserve and mediate to the public culturally valuable objects related to human beings and their living environment. They bolster the formation of social, communal and family identities; they function as public memory institutions, supporting education and scientific research and, of course, museums provide entertainment and recreation. In this article, we look at museums from the perspective of heritage studies, and for our analysis, we use the following three dimensions: heritage objects, levels of society and processes of heritage management. Our objective is to present a conceptual framework which would highlight more clearly the connections between heritage and museums and which would lay a foundation for interlinking some theoretical concepts from heritage studies and museology and help to improve practical heritage management. Museums and heritage are closely, if not inextricably, linked. A museum’s connection wit...
Ajalooline Ajakiri. The Estonian Historical Journal
The primary task of museums is to preserve museum objects in the form of physical objects. Despit... more The primary task of museums is to preserve museum objects in the form of physical objects. Despite its apparent simplicity and comprehensibility, damage to man-made objects – artefacts – is a complex and complicated field. Damage processes are grouped as being physical, chemical, mechanical, and biological. In most cases, different processes work together, damaging the materials and structure of the artefacts. A number of factors, the most important of which are the composition and structure of materials, environmental conditions, and human impacts, affect damage processes. It is very difficult, and in most cases impossible, to take all these factors into account. At the same time, modelling the aging of museum objects is especially important for their successful preservation. Modelling of damage processes makes it possible to assess the extent of such processes (which objects have been damaged and what the degree of damage is), the speed of damage processes, and thereby changes in ...
The aim of this article is to present a critical discussion of the influence of technology on hum... more The aim of this article is to present a critical discussion of the influence of technology on humans and culture in contemporary Western society. Transhumanism is a philosophical and social movement that believes that the essential features of human life could be transformed and enhanced by applications of science and technology. In this article, I will compare transhumanist ideas about perfecting humans to the views of Roger Bacon, one of the representatives of European mediaeval alchemy. Such a treatment provides a historical background for transhumanist ideas and helps answer the moral and philosophical problems that humans are faced with due to modern technological development. Despite the fact that several transhumanist theoreticians treat it as a secular alternative to religious ideas, we can see that Christian eschatology plays a major role. Both in alchemy and transhumanism, scientific and theological aspects have been inseparably intertwined. Transhumanism can be seen as a ...
In this article, I characterise the definitions of nature and culture by providing examples from ... more In this article, I characterise the definitions of nature and culture by providing examples from nature conservation and conservation of cultural heritage. I also propose how to overcome the distinction of two definitions by using the concept of common heritage. Overcoming the dilemma of nature and culture, at least in heritage management, does not mean developing more clever and ungrounded theoretical constructions but instead creating a practical combination of the two management systems that have been separate so far. Intertwined nature and culture have, therefore, created a whole new environment in which we need to cope as equal participants. Instead of one-sided relationships, either human activity harming nature or nature’s negative effects on humans (natural disasters, zoonotic diseases), we have to cope with a complicated dialogue that presumes both understanding and listening. The relationship between humans and nature, and its reflections and treatments in culture, has differed throughout history and culture. Nature, humans, and culture are constantly changing and developing, and these processes of change are happening concurrently, conditioning and creating each other.
Medical alchemy emerged within the Western alchemical tradition in the 13th–14th centuries. Howev... more Medical alchemy emerged within the Western alchemical tradition in the 13th–14th centuries. However, well-established medical alchemy can be considered the iatrochemistry of the 16th century. In this article, I focus on the continuation of the alchemical tradition in the second half of the 19th century, using the electrohomeopathy created by Cesare Mattei as an example. Electrohomeopathy, also known as Mattei’s treatment of cancer or Matteism, is a form of homeopathy developed by Count Cesare Mattei (1809–1896) in the second half of the 19th century. Because the drugs invented by Mattei had such strength and rate of action that allowed them to be compared to electric current, he called the method electrohomeopathy. They had no other connection to electricity. It is important to emphasize this again, as later interpretations and explanations of electrohomeopathy link the effects of drugs to plant electricity or bioenergy (Odyle energy, organ energy, prana). Electrohomeopathy created ...
The International Journal of Technology, Knowledge, and Society: Annual Review, 2008
The dichotomy of nature and culture has remained for various epoches, and various traditions one ... more The dichotomy of nature and culture has remained for various epoches, and various traditions one of the key ideological oppositions. Today we are living in an age when this distinction seems to be on the brink of extinction. The artificialisation means the ...
Kurmo Konsa was born on the 31st of the August 1965 at Tartu, Estonia. He is an Associated Profes... more Kurmo Konsa was born on the 31st of the August 1965 at Tartu, Estonia. He is an Associated Professor in Chair of Archival Studies at Tartu University. He has an M. Sc in microbiology from Tartu University, and an MA in Book Science from Tallinn University. Kurmo Konsa ...
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Papers by Kurmo Konsa
geological era affects museums. First, we will give an overview
of the development of the concept of the Anthropocene and its
connections with museums. One of the most obvious responses of
museums to the Anthropocene is the concept of sustainable or green museums.
It is a very extensive topic, of which we chose only one part,
specifically exhibitions, for analysis. As a case study, we took the If
Boxes Could Talk… exhibition in Tartu City History Museums, which
was completed as part of the Sustainable and Sustaining Exhibition
continuing education course at the Pallas University of Applied
Sciences. The exhibition explored, on the one hand, the application of
sustainability ideas in the preparation of a practical exhibition and,
on the other hand, the mechanisms of creating cultural sustainability
using the model of artificial cultures.
Anthropocene is a term that captures extremely important aspects
of the modern world. The central idea of the Anthropocene is the
inseparability of man as a biological being, nature, technology, and
culture. Man himself is both part of nature and a creator of culture,
a changer of nature, and a victim of technology. In fact, there is no
natural environment that has not been transformed by mankind,
either on Earth or even in near space. Sustainability and consideration
of the environment are deemed to be areas that ensure the seriousness
of museums in the 21st century. If we line up the most pressing
problems of the present time, we get quite a long list: climate change,
the price of energy, war in the middle of Europe, the recession, the
pandemic, and the rise of militant nationalism. Apparently, this
alarming list can be extended even further. The cluster crisis affects
different aspects of the environment and society and naturally also
affects museums, where sustainability is both a requirement and a
necessity.
Designing a sustainable world is, first of all, related to large-scale
cultural change. It is not news that a whole series of norms and
values characteristic of Western culture are such that they do not
fit into a sustainable world and are obviously the main obstacle to
the development of such a society. The expectation of continuous
economic growth, the desire for an increasingly better and more
abundant life, the expectation of continuous renewal, and the
glorification of success and competition are still the basic values of
our culture. To ensure sustainable development, changing people’s
values and behaviours, i.e., culture, is considered one of the key issues.
Changing culture is a difficult and confusing task, as culture tends
to be inert and rather difficult to change. People want to preserve
existing ideas, values, and traditions. Fortunately, the situation is not
completely hopeless. The solution is a completely different approach
to the whole bundle of problems. Instead of changing culture, we
have to create artificial cultures that meet our wants and needs. It is
a radically different solution to the task of culture change. Museums
have great potential to become leaders of cultural change. People trust
museums and consider them authoritative institutions. However,
how to start creating sustainable cultures is still open for the time
being. We started by telling stories. We used the concept of artificial
culture to describe purposeful cultural change. Artificial culture
offers a new conceptual approach to dealing with and practical
implementation of cultural change. Instead of changing the existing
culture, the focus is on creating a new culture. Artificial cultures
have great potential to solve sustainability problems, as they work
by changing people’s values and cultures, which are very often the
cause of the problems.
instrumentaalne või siis üldist metafoorset raamistikku loov. Samas
bioloogilise info mõiste kasutamine geenide ning rakkude ja organismide
funktsioneerimise kirjeldamisel võimaldab käsitleda kõiki
elunähtusi ühtses kontekstis. Läbi informatsioonilise konteksti saab
näidata, kuidas molekulid, rakud, organis ja organismid üksteist mõjutavad
ning koordineeritult toimivad.
Koos tehnoloogilise ja kultuurilise keskkonna muutumisega muutuvad
ka kasutatavad metafoorid. Kui 1830. aastatel hakati kasutama
sõna „pärilikkus“ bioloogiliste tunnuste kohta, siis nende pärandumise
kohta kasutati mõistet „edasi andma“ (passed down), täpselt samamoodi,
nagu käsitleti erinevat inimesi puudutavat pärandvara. Kui
kasutusele võeti elektriline side, oli üsna loomulik, et pärandumisel
toimus tunnuste edasikandumine või transmissioon (transmission).
Infoteooria ja arvutid tõid kasutusele informatsiooni ja koodi mõisted.
Lingvistikast võeti üle keele mõiste ja hakati rääkima „geneetilisest
keelest“, millest tulenesid omakorda loogiliselt ka sellised mõisted nagu
transkriptsioon (algses tähenduses ümberkirjutamine, ümberkirjutus)ja translatsioon (algses tähenduses tõlkimine). Nagu näha on pärandumisprotsessi
kirjeldamiseks kasutusele võetud lingvistikast ja infoteooriast
pärit mõisted, mida kasutataks metafoorselt ning mis kujundavad
selle, kuidas neid protsesse mõistetakse. Metafooride kasutamisel tuleb
arvestada seda, et ühelt poolt loovad need uusi võimalusi mingite nähtuste
kirjeldamiseks, kuid teisalt jällegi piiravad meie mõistelisi võimalusi
ja kättesaadavaid seletusviise.
Informatsiooni mõiste kasutuselevõtt geneetiliste protsesside kirjeldamisel
avas täiesti uue konteksti ja pakkus hulgaliselt uusi interpretatsioonivõimalusi.
Selle edukus oli silmnähtav, kuna neid metafoore
kasutatakse bioloogias valdavalt seniajani. Informatsiooniteooriaga
seotud terminite metafoorne kasutamine peegeldab seda, kuidas teadlased
nendest protsessidest mõtlevad. Infoteoreetilisel käsitlemisel
jäävad kõrvale nende protsesside tegelik füsikokeemiline olemus ning
esiplaanile tõuseb abstraktne representatsiooniline kirjeldus. Seega
on infoteooria kasutamisel bioloogiliste nähtuste kirjeldamisel väga
oluline arvestada nii kasutuseolevate metafooridega kui ka tegelike
infoprotsessidega elusorganismides. Ehk siis tuleb võtta arvesse nii
informatsiooni ontoloogilist kui ka epistemoloogilist rolli teoreetilises
bioloogias.
geological era affects museums. First, we will give an overview
of the development of the concept of the Anthropocene and its
connections with museums. One of the most obvious responses of
museums to the Anthropocene is the concept of sustainable or green museums.
It is a very extensive topic, of which we chose only one part,
specifically exhibitions, for analysis. As a case study, we took the If
Boxes Could Talk… exhibition in Tartu City History Museums, which
was completed as part of the Sustainable and Sustaining Exhibition
continuing education course at the Pallas University of Applied
Sciences. The exhibition explored, on the one hand, the application of
sustainability ideas in the preparation of a practical exhibition and,
on the other hand, the mechanisms of creating cultural sustainability
using the model of artificial cultures.
Anthropocene is a term that captures extremely important aspects
of the modern world. The central idea of the Anthropocene is the
inseparability of man as a biological being, nature, technology, and
culture. Man himself is both part of nature and a creator of culture,
a changer of nature, and a victim of technology. In fact, there is no
natural environment that has not been transformed by mankind,
either on Earth or even in near space. Sustainability and consideration
of the environment are deemed to be areas that ensure the seriousness
of museums in the 21st century. If we line up the most pressing
problems of the present time, we get quite a long list: climate change,
the price of energy, war in the middle of Europe, the recession, the
pandemic, and the rise of militant nationalism. Apparently, this
alarming list can be extended even further. The cluster crisis affects
different aspects of the environment and society and naturally also
affects museums, where sustainability is both a requirement and a
necessity.
Designing a sustainable world is, first of all, related to large-scale
cultural change. It is not news that a whole series of norms and
values characteristic of Western culture are such that they do not
fit into a sustainable world and are obviously the main obstacle to
the development of such a society. The expectation of continuous
economic growth, the desire for an increasingly better and more
abundant life, the expectation of continuous renewal, and the
glorification of success and competition are still the basic values of
our culture. To ensure sustainable development, changing people’s
values and behaviours, i.e., culture, is considered one of the key issues.
Changing culture is a difficult and confusing task, as culture tends
to be inert and rather difficult to change. People want to preserve
existing ideas, values, and traditions. Fortunately, the situation is not
completely hopeless. The solution is a completely different approach
to the whole bundle of problems. Instead of changing culture, we
have to create artificial cultures that meet our wants and needs. It is
a radically different solution to the task of culture change. Museums
have great potential to become leaders of cultural change. People trust
museums and consider them authoritative institutions. However,
how to start creating sustainable cultures is still open for the time
being. We started by telling stories. We used the concept of artificial
culture to describe purposeful cultural change. Artificial culture
offers a new conceptual approach to dealing with and practical
implementation of cultural change. Instead of changing the existing
culture, the focus is on creating a new culture. Artificial cultures
have great potential to solve sustainability problems, as they work
by changing people’s values and cultures, which are very often the
cause of the problems.
instrumentaalne või siis üldist metafoorset raamistikku loov. Samas
bioloogilise info mõiste kasutamine geenide ning rakkude ja organismide
funktsioneerimise kirjeldamisel võimaldab käsitleda kõiki
elunähtusi ühtses kontekstis. Läbi informatsioonilise konteksti saab
näidata, kuidas molekulid, rakud, organis ja organismid üksteist mõjutavad
ning koordineeritult toimivad.
Koos tehnoloogilise ja kultuurilise keskkonna muutumisega muutuvad
ka kasutatavad metafoorid. Kui 1830. aastatel hakati kasutama
sõna „pärilikkus“ bioloogiliste tunnuste kohta, siis nende pärandumise
kohta kasutati mõistet „edasi andma“ (passed down), täpselt samamoodi,
nagu käsitleti erinevat inimesi puudutavat pärandvara. Kui
kasutusele võeti elektriline side, oli üsna loomulik, et pärandumisel
toimus tunnuste edasikandumine või transmissioon (transmission).
Infoteooria ja arvutid tõid kasutusele informatsiooni ja koodi mõisted.
Lingvistikast võeti üle keele mõiste ja hakati rääkima „geneetilisest
keelest“, millest tulenesid omakorda loogiliselt ka sellised mõisted nagu
transkriptsioon (algses tähenduses ümberkirjutamine, ümberkirjutus)ja translatsioon (algses tähenduses tõlkimine). Nagu näha on pärandumisprotsessi
kirjeldamiseks kasutusele võetud lingvistikast ja infoteooriast
pärit mõisted, mida kasutataks metafoorselt ning mis kujundavad
selle, kuidas neid protsesse mõistetakse. Metafooride kasutamisel tuleb
arvestada seda, et ühelt poolt loovad need uusi võimalusi mingite nähtuste
kirjeldamiseks, kuid teisalt jällegi piiravad meie mõistelisi võimalusi
ja kättesaadavaid seletusviise.
Informatsiooni mõiste kasutuselevõtt geneetiliste protsesside kirjeldamisel
avas täiesti uue konteksti ja pakkus hulgaliselt uusi interpretatsioonivõimalusi.
Selle edukus oli silmnähtav, kuna neid metafoore
kasutatakse bioloogias valdavalt seniajani. Informatsiooniteooriaga
seotud terminite metafoorne kasutamine peegeldab seda, kuidas teadlased
nendest protsessidest mõtlevad. Infoteoreetilisel käsitlemisel
jäävad kõrvale nende protsesside tegelik füsikokeemiline olemus ning
esiplaanile tõuseb abstraktne representatsiooniline kirjeldus. Seega
on infoteooria kasutamisel bioloogiliste nähtuste kirjeldamisel väga
oluline arvestada nii kasutuseolevate metafooridega kui ka tegelike
infoprotsessidega elusorganismides. Ehk siis tuleb võtta arvesse nii
informatsiooni ontoloogilist kui ka epistemoloogilist rolli teoreetilises
bioloogias.