Papers in Museum Studies by Sandro Debono
CHAIN 2022 Crisis and Cultural Heritage/ Crisi e Patrimonio Culturale (Conference Proceedings), 2022
Museums have embraced the digital in varied ways slowly acknowledging its relevance and significa... more Museums have embraced the digital in varied ways slowly acknowledging its relevance and significance over time. Its relevance to the museum experience subsequently increased during the Covid-19 pandemic when digital practically became the only medium at the disposal of museums worldwide with which to stay relevant. This paper seeks to discuss in detail the ‘Phygital Museum Scale’ and expand on the five corresponding scenarios originally published by the author in the ICOM peer-reviewed journal Museum International in 2022. It shall discuss the research informing the ways and means how museums pivoted to the digital in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and review in detail the pos- sible application of the ‘Phygital Museum Scale’ for museums at various levels. In conclusion, this paper shall take a case study approach by stress-testing and reviewing the ‘Phygital Museum Scale’ in the case of traditional narratives of museum display generally and predominantly focused on material culture and materiality that informs both container and content.
The paper is a synthesis of the keynote speech delivered at the opening of the CHAIN 2022 conference - Crisis and Cultural Heritage/ Crisi e Patrimonio Culturale organised by the doctoral school of the University of Catania in 2022.
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Custos Divitiarum : festschrift in honour of Joseph Schirò, Malta, 2024
This paper presents a biographical first-hand experience of the thinking, process, and conservati... more This paper presents a biographical first-hand experience of the thinking, process, and conservation framework guiding the restoration of Auberge d'Italie and its adaptive use as a museum. Drawing from archival and secondary sources, the paper charts the history of Auberge d'Italie, with particular reference to its structural stability and the history, both known and as yet unknown, of conservation interventions, happening over the years. By defining the Auberge d'Italie a lieu de memoire, informed by Pierre Nora's concept, this paper subsequently illustrates the ways and means how theory, research and study informed some of the interventions carried out on site.
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Lete e i musei - Modi, forme e ragioni del dimenticare nei luoghi di memoria, 2024
This paper focuses on forgotten publics through the lens of representation as defined and underst... more This paper focuses on forgotten publics through the lens of representation as defined and understood in the case of historic museums and their collections. It charts the dialectic between audience development practices
and socio-museological frameworks understood as the wireframe within which to locate forgotten publics. Two purposely chosen case studies, each of which refers to museums keen on becoming public-centred institutions, shall illustrate the strengths, challenges and opportunities of engaging with ignored publics.
The publication is edited by Prof Nadia Barrella (Universita della Campania) and features the proceedings of a day seminar on the same topic.
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L'Arte che Parla. Radio e podcast per la valorizzazione dei beni culturali, 2024
The concluding remarks of a day seminar on the subject of sound and podcasts in Italian museums h... more The concluding remarks of a day seminar on the subject of sound and podcasts in Italian museums held by the University of Macerata in May 2023.
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The Activist Museum , 2023
A series of conversations curated during the COVID-19 crisis curated by Anne Sofie Norn, Diane Dr... more A series of conversations curated during the COVID-19 crisis curated by Anne Sofie Norn, Diane Drubay and Sandro Debono for the We Are Museums online platform.
From Alaska to Aarhus, Belgrade to Bogotá, participants sought to discover the meaning of resilience for museums through stories told and expe- riences lived within the global museum ecosystem. One guiding question keeps all conversations in focus: how can we build new habits of resilience as the museum ecosystem equips and prepares itself for a post-CO- VID-19 world?
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Nadia Barrella, Gianluca Garelli (2023), Il dono di mnemosine. Dialoghi interdisciplinari su museo e memoria, Luciano Editore., 2023
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Marie Avellino & George Cassar (Eds.), The Creative Economy and Sustainable Museum Development, Kite Publishing , 2022
This chapter explores the potential inter-linkage between creative economy requirements and the M... more This chapter explores the potential inter-linkage between creative economy requirements and the Maltese museum idea in the context of the debate around the new museum definition and the values that it enshrines, particularly with regard to the Kyoto version presented at the 2019 ICOM general conference. It shall explore how the Kyoto 2019 museum definition shares common ground and values with the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and, with this ambition clearly set, discuss and explore how experience economy principles can also contribute to opening up the Maltese museum institution to a broader range of stakeholders. In the process of doing so, this chapter shall also explore points of contact with museological thinking and theory which the Maltese museum ecology seems to lack in general terms. Last but not least, possible regulatory frameworks for Malta’s museum ecosystem shall also be explored.
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Museum International , 2022
This paper explores the possible spectrum of museum experiences within the remit of the ‘phygital... more This paper explores the possible spectrum of museum experiences within the remit of the ‘phygital’, and how the physical and the digital can potentially interact to define a museum experience through the lens of museum theory. The possible ‘phygital’ scenarios, ranging from what we will term ‘sustained physical’ to ‘autonomous digital’ shall be identified through the lens of a futures literacy methodology. Such a methodology allows us to rigorously anticipate possible future scenarios and is accompanied by a series of case studies that are also representative of such scenarios. Finally, the paper anticipates possible scenarios for the phygital in terms of museums’ goals, objectives and available resources
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Beni culturali - dai depositi alla valorizzazione: Modi, forme, esperienze, norme'. Proceedings of the conference held in Catania (Sicily, February 2020), 2021
This paper seeks to present the ways and means how museum repositories can become alternative and... more This paper seeks to present the ways and means how museum repositories can become alternative and complementary objects-based resources in their own right. My discussion presents a broad overview of the ways and means how the repository idea has evolved in recent times. I also discuss the potential bespoke experiences that may, on one hand, continue to be grounded in the traditional function and purpose of the repository albeit, on the other hand, more empowered by technology, the ambition to democratise and empower accessibility.
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Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals 1 -7, 2021
Rapid Response Collecting has been a most apt methodology with which to document the COVID-19 pan... more Rapid Response Collecting has been a most apt methodology with which to document the COVID-19 pandemic for an increasing number of museums. As the phenomenon unfolded across the globe, museums searched for and head-hunted the truth-revealing objects that could tell the stories and histories of the present to current and future generations. Indeed, the COVID-19 pandemic took Rapid Response Collecting to a higher level. A methodology originally conceived for a sporadic phenomenon happening within a specific context during the early years of the 21st century gained much more traction almost overnight. This paper shall make a case for a better understanding of the potential use and application of Rapid Response Collecting by art museums. It shall look into the defining values of this collections development methodology and how these can be applied and adopted when acquiring works of art. In doing so, it shall seek to understand to what extent the mainstream version of Rapid Response Collecting can be adapted for the needs, purposes and requirements of the art museum.
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NUMERO SPECIALE Atti XV edizione Ravello Lab L'ITALIA E L'EUROPA ALLA PROVA DELL'EMERGENZA: Un nuovo paradigma per la cultura, 2020
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MUSEUMS OUT OF THE BOX - conference proceedings, 2019
In this contribution, originally presented at NEMO's 26th Annual Conference in Valletta, I discu... more In this contribution, originally presented at NEMO's 26th Annual Conference in Valletta, I discuss the main participatory project as a tool for social cohesion.
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Artpaper, 2018
This contribution features reflections on Malta's culture ecology and possible future development... more This contribution features reflections on Malta's culture ecology and possible future developments that might reshape and rethink its current identity.
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Museumskunde, 2018
The vision behind the MUZA project is discussed with particular attention to the community remit ... more The vision behind the MUZA project is discussed with particular attention to the community remit it seeks to develop as its robust backbone. It also seeks to propose a wireframe manifesto for European public art museums.
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This paper was presented at the Valletta 2018 conference held in 2014. It seeks to present the co... more This paper was presented at the Valletta 2018 conference held in 2014. It seeks to present the context for the flagship community project, Naqsam l-MUZA (En. Sharing MUZA) purposely developed for and taken on board by Valletta 2018.
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This paper presents an overview of the MUZA project and its potential legacy to Malta's European ... more This paper presents an overview of the MUZA project and its potential legacy to Malta's European Capital of Culture legacy.
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This chapter discusses the MUŻA project as a case study in the context of participatory art museu... more This chapter discusses the MUŻA project as a case study in the context of participatory art museum interpretation strategies and the tools required to empower critical pedagogy. I focus primarily on defining museum publics, the museum experience itself and how visual literacy can be used to empower critical pedagogy, irrespective of art knowledge levels, and the ever-changing character of contemporary society. I also underpin the potential of the museum experience to inform grounded art history narratives, revisit aesthetic yardsticks and promote social equality at individual and community level.
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This opinion piece makes a case for entrenching access to cultural heritage and creativity in Mal... more This opinion piece makes a case for entrenching access to cultural heritage and creativity in Malta's constitution.
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This commentary concerns the guiding principles of the MUŻA Project, the new national art museum ... more This commentary concerns the guiding principles of the MUŻA Project, the new national art museum project for Malta. It presents a broad overview of the project’s guiding vision and the process, known as community curation, by which this is being implemented and consolidated. The commentary also refers to the in-built education-friendly characteristics of the project and its non-formal education potential. The project is still evolving and this commentary is intended to be read as a stock-take of a process that will become more and more articulated over time as it continues to evolve and develop.
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Books by Sandro Debono
With a foreword by Eminent Professor David Abulafia, 2020
Published by Midsea Books, this second edition of the exhibition catalogue features most of the c... more Published by Midsea Books, this second edition of the exhibition catalogue features most of the content of the first edition but rethought akin to a documentation project. Additions include photographic documentation of the exhibition itself, curatorial notes and commentaries on the design concept and an essay by architect Tom Van Malderen on the exhibition design itself. The preface and foreword have been written by HE the President of Malta George Vella and eminent Professor David Abulafia, author of key reference publication about the Mediterranean and its histories who acknowledged the exhibition as ‘highly original and thought-provoking’. The cover features a detail from a watercolour by British nineteenth-century artist Edward Lear at Palazzo Falzon Historic House Museum in Mdina.
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Papers in Museum Studies by Sandro Debono
The paper is a synthesis of the keynote speech delivered at the opening of the CHAIN 2022 conference - Crisis and Cultural Heritage/ Crisi e Patrimonio Culturale organised by the doctoral school of the University of Catania in 2022.
and socio-museological frameworks understood as the wireframe within which to locate forgotten publics. Two purposely chosen case studies, each of which refers to museums keen on becoming public-centred institutions, shall illustrate the strengths, challenges and opportunities of engaging with ignored publics.
The publication is edited by Prof Nadia Barrella (Universita della Campania) and features the proceedings of a day seminar on the same topic.
From Alaska to Aarhus, Belgrade to Bogotá, participants sought to discover the meaning of resilience for museums through stories told and expe- riences lived within the global museum ecosystem. One guiding question keeps all conversations in focus: how can we build new habits of resilience as the museum ecosystem equips and prepares itself for a post-CO- VID-19 world?
Books by Sandro Debono
The paper is a synthesis of the keynote speech delivered at the opening of the CHAIN 2022 conference - Crisis and Cultural Heritage/ Crisi e Patrimonio Culturale organised by the doctoral school of the University of Catania in 2022.
and socio-museological frameworks understood as the wireframe within which to locate forgotten publics. Two purposely chosen case studies, each of which refers to museums keen on becoming public-centred institutions, shall illustrate the strengths, challenges and opportunities of engaging with ignored publics.
The publication is edited by Prof Nadia Barrella (Universita della Campania) and features the proceedings of a day seminar on the same topic.
From Alaska to Aarhus, Belgrade to Bogotá, participants sought to discover the meaning of resilience for museums through stories told and expe- riences lived within the global museum ecosystem. One guiding question keeps all conversations in focus: how can we build new habits of resilience as the museum ecosystem equips and prepares itself for a post-CO- VID-19 world?
The exhibition presented a series of dialogues between artists of different generations featuring works put together in meaningful dialogues, each standing for a given narrative or facet. The dialectic between past and present, paradoxically juxtaposed across media, strove to achieve a constellation inspired by Warburg’s Mnemosyne Atlas where polarities are exposed and inferences underpinned across time. When read together as one experience, the constellation of displays and objects proposed new readings of art histories connecting the present and past.
The catalog has been reviewed in the Maltese art journal Treasures of Malta (Spring 2020) by Giovanni Bonello.
These paintings have been studied individually within the repertoire of stylistic attributions and the town’s history. They have as yet to be studied as a group commissioned by powerful patrons in response to a historic event and their significance as altar paintings.
This paper shall review the significance of this group of altar paintings and rethink their purpose, interpret details and propose new readings. It shall also articulate and underpin the significance of this cluster of commissions which can rightly be recognised as atypical paintings in Maltese art history.
Caravaggio’s Maltese period lacks a theoretical background. The Mediterranean frontier, a political and culture rift between two civilisations, defined the role and significance of the island of Malta then the last catholic outpost surrounded by hostile territory. The geographic context of his works, painted on the frontier between Islam and Catholicism, must have construed a crusading environment which Caravaggio could have well absorbed and reacted to albeit subconsciously. His paintings show distinctive characteristics, unique to his Maltese period in content and significance.
This paper suggests a theoretical model for the study of Caravaggio’s Maltese phase. It shall underline the significance of his chosen symbols and conventions which feature in his paintings, the interpretation of his chosen subject, and the influence which the Malta context may have had on his art in comparison to the works he painted in Rome, Naples and Sicily.
This paper explores the duality of the exhibitions’ complex narrative bridging politics and art history. It also reviews the genesis of 20th century Caravaggio studies and the ways and means how this was acknowledged within the Anglo-Saxon world of academia over time.
The two works featured in the exhibition 'MEDITERRANEO IN CHIAROSCURO - Ribera, Stomer e Mattia Preti da Malta a Roma' held at Palazzo Barberini in Rome on the occasion of the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the European Union (2017).
The paper was presented at the international conference 'Camillo d’Errico (1821-1897) e le rotte mediterranee del collezionismo ottocentesco' held in Matera in November 2016.
Metamorphose e prosegue in tutta la nuova comunicazione di cantiere museale partecipato realizzata appositamente per questa fase transitoria. Il numero 01 ne traccia il percorso e ci conduce verso la meta del 2025 quando il Museo verrà riaperto completamente rinnovato.