How to Approach the Design of an Ethnological Museum

We understand an "ethnological museum" as an institution where ethnological heritage is preserved, represented, and managed. This classification may include regional museums, archaeological museums, anthropology, ethnography, and memory museums in real places or ecomuseums.

In Europe, the birth of such museums often originates in private collections of art and objects from other cultures, considered "exotic" and belonging to primitive societies. Fortunately, approaches and collections have diversified over the decades, including local folklore, traditional culture, popular arts, and tangible and intangible heritage.

Ethnological museums play a crucial role in understanding and appreciating cultural diversity. They are institutions dedicated to preserving, researching, and exhibiting the material and immaterial culture of different societies. These spaces present artefacts and traditions and should foster intercultural dialogue and reflection on identity.

Design in museums is not merely aesthetic; it is a powerful tool for communicating messages, generating emotions, and facilitating the understanding of cultural heritage. In ethnological museums, the museographic approach becomes particularly relevant.

Traditionally, ethnological museums were presented as exhibitions of diverse objects and typologies ordered by chronology and provenance. The design of ethnological museums has undergone significant evolution over time, reflecting changes in museum practices, as well as attitudes towards cultural heritage and represented communities.

New museological perspectives and critical views on cultural colonialism offer opportunities to present different narratives and approaches. From the early cabinets of curiosities to contemporary museums, design has shifted from being purely expositional to focusing on public engagement, cultural contextualisation, and the inclusion of multiple perspectives.

For decades, the direct relationship of ethnographic museums with anthropology has turned them into a reflection or extension of theoretical research. However, the museum is not a document but a place where the public, the original pieces, and experts can meet and interact.

This enriching exchange goes far beyond the museum's vision as a static place that nullifies its collections by isolating and confining them for their conservation. Some trends advocate for the museum in the service of the idea rather than serving the object. Even more widespread is the vision of the ethnological museum as a place of questions, debates, and cultural democracy, exploring the present, the past, and the future.

Another prominent new approach for ethnological museums is to act as laboratories, emphasising their research function and fulfilling a role as a centre for social research, thought, and community dynamisation.

In all these cases and uses, museography and exhibition design reflect the trend of each ethnological museum. How are the pieces presented? Do we have areas of active participation? Do we appeal to the visitor's critical thinking and emotions? What is the route during the visit?

Every ethnological museum poses a series of practical and ethical challenges and dilemmas, from selecting and presenting sensitive objects to representing minority cultures.

Addressing these challenges with sensitivity and respect is essential, as well as involving the represented communities in the design process and adopting ethical approaches at all project stages. For example, collaborating with represented communities ensures that the museum accurately reflects their values and perspectives.

By presenting new languages, themes, and perspectives, opportunities for inclusion and social innovation arise. In this sense, the participation of the museum's local audience is indispensable to keep the museum alive and active within the community. Ethnological museums can transform and have a significant role in contemporary societies.

Some inspiring examples demonstrate how innovative design can transform the visitor experience, promote diversity, and contribute to the development of local and global communities.

One historically most influential ethnological museum worldwide was the Musée de la Civilisation, inaugurated in 1988 in Quebec, Canada. It defines itself as a "place of knowledge and ideas, a museum with rich collections, an educational and memory centre." It seeks to provide a dynamic vision of the human experience as a whole, focusing on the reality of Quebec and the cultures that have interacted with the region throughout history.

One of its inaugural exhibitions was Mémoires, which offered a glimpse of often-forgotten objects and showed the past. This made it clear to the visitor that this memory is not the past itself but a reading of it, as nothing is free from interpretations and biases.

From Quebec to Valencia, we want to highlight the Museu Valencià d'Etnologia (L'ETNO), chosen as the best European museum in 2023. Its director, Joan Seguí, believes a good museum "makes you question and discover things you don't know." "If we have generated a reflection at the end of the visit, we have achieved our objective."

L'ETNO's permanent exhibition "It's not easy to be Valencian, neither Valencian woman," winner of the EMYA (European Museum of the Year Award), gathers everyday objects from different periods through which the social evolution of Valencian society is shown.

Short but concise texts accompany impressive scenographies that bring the content closer in a sensory and direct way, but they are not devoid of criticism. For example, a telephone booth is used as a resource to talk about migration, or the image of a homeless woman sleeping on a bench represents the problem of loneliness in contemporary society, poverty, and social exclusion.

Over the past fifty years, many ethnological museums have become more open, critical, and social entities. In the current context, there is hardly room for cabinets of curiosities that bring together objects of various typologies and origins without providing more profound readings about them. One main challenge is ensuring that these institutions are genuinely linked to current society and the global challenges of citizens, both those around them and those from other parts of the world.

It is impossible to simplify and provide a single answer to achieve a successful ethnological museum; what is clear is that they are institutions susceptible to changing views and political uses but also to becoming forums, meeting points, and enriching places. Global museographic trends such as interactivity and interdisciplinarity mainly affect ethnological museums. We can expect a greater emphasis on co-creation with the represented communities, digitising cultural heritage, and the adoption of sustainable design approaches that reflect the changing values and needs of our globalised society.

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