Open AccessA WELL-TOLD STORY… WILL COVID-19 TEACH US TO LISTEN TO A CITY?
Author(s) -
Michał Niezabitowski
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
muzealnictwo
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.101
H-Index - 1
eISSN - 2391-4815
pISSN - 0464-1086
DOI - 10.5604/01.3001.0015.0303
Subject(s) - appeal , the arts , pace , visual arts , musical , cyberspace , media studies , pandemic , covid-19 , history , public relations , sociology , political science , the internet , art , law , geography , medicine , geodesy , world wide web , computer science , disease , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty)
As a result of the pandemic, in March 2020,world museology was cut off from the direct contact withtheir public. Owing to the introduced regulations, Polishmuseums were closed down on three occasions (14 March– 4 May 2020, 15 Oct 2020 – 31 Jan 2021, and 20 March –4 May 2021). When searching for new forms of activity, in2020, museums made an enormous technological progress,and mastered numerous new competences allowing themto move in cyberspace with ease. The pace at whichthey introduced various ‘online’ formats is worthy ofappreciation. Presently, the time has come to ask whetherthe effectiveness in reaching the public via such means trulycontributed to consolidating a strong bond with them. Inorder to get the answer to this, it is necessary to criticallyassess the museum efforts, which will not be possiblewithout researching into the Polish public over that period.Wishing to voice my opinion in the critical discourseon the museums’ activity during the pandemic, I havedecided to share my experience from a selected activityof the Museum of Krakow: I have presented the effects ofthe social Programme titled ‘Stay at Home and Tell Krakow’(#zostanwdomuiopowiedzkrakow).The Museum created this programme convinced thata city dweller, exposed to the oppression of the pandemicwill feel the urge to share his or her experience. Apparently,the appeal made by the Museum of Krakow was eagerlyresponded to. The Museum received ‘stories’ about thepandemic in different formats: prose, poems, diaries, visualarts, and even musical pieces and artifacts.The results of the ‘Stay at Home and Tell Krakow’ Programmeare currently hard to sum up, however, what seems a valuableand worth analysing experience is the focus of residents’attention on the Museum which they considered aninstitution trustworthy enough to entrust it their private,often intimate reflections on living through that challengingperiod.