CALL FOR PAPERS – COMCOL Annual Conference 2014
Collecting and collections in times of war or political and social change
Celje, Slovenia, 3 – 6 December 2014

Conference partners:
National Committee of ICOM Slovenia
Museum of Recent History Celje – department School of museology Celje

The aim of COMCOL is to discuss the theory, practice and ethics of collection development. One of the issues is the social context of collection development, in particular the impact of prevailing ideologies. The 2014 annual conference is the last of a series of three conferences in which COMCOL explores this issue from different perspectives.  In 2012 (Cape Town) we discussed how the concept of utopia influenced (and influences) the forming of collections. In 2013 (Rio de Janeiro) we discussed the re-interpretation of older collections, focusing on exhibitions as medium for re-interpretation. In 2014 we would like to explore the triangular relationship between ideology, institutional mission and collection profile. In particular we would like to explore how museum missions are influenced by changes in political ideologies and regimes, and to what extent collection profiles are adapted to the new missions.

During the conference we would like to focus on theoretical views and different recent and contemporary examples. Since in recent decades significant regime changes took/are taking place in different parts of the world, we would like to ask participants to look at the impact of changing ideological perspectives on the formation and development of collections. Furthermore, the conference takes place in the year in which the start of World War I is commemorated – a war that had a huge impact on political developments in Central Europe and in other parts of the world. How did museum collections respond to the aftermath of the turmoil of war, and how are they being used in today’s commemorations?
We invite papers from researchers, museum professionals and students that address the impact of changing ideological perspectives on the formation and development of collections, including, but not limited to, the following topics:
The triangular relationship between political & social ideology, museum mission and collection profile.
The adaptation of museum missions to ideologies and adaptation of collection profiles to new missions.
Using collections to memorialize WW I.

Abstracts for presentation:
Presentations should be 20 minutes in length. Please send a200-300 words abstract, a short biographical note and contact details to: comcolcelje@gmail.com  by March 15, 2014. The proposals will be reviewed by a working group. Successful proposals will be acknowledged by May 1, 2014.

Conference information:
More details on the COMCOL Annual Conference are soon available on the COMCOL website.