Music on Display: Museum Exhibitions and the Politics of Memory

This lecture deals with music exhibitions in various countries, all of which focus on local or national topics. I investigate how the exhibitions contribute to the formation of cultural memory and seek to reveal apparent curatorial intentions. I also investigate the particular ways in which the topics are presented. I adopt a narratological approach and define exhibitions and parts of exhibitions as narratives that are composed of or illustrated by heterogeneous elements. Furthermore, I examine the extent to which emotions are to be stimulated in the exhibitions, for example due to the aura of artefacts. These investigations form part of a larger research project entitled “Music on Display – Studies on the Presentation and Reception of Musical Topics in Museums”, which is affiliated with the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen (Germany).

Andreas Meyer is Professor of Musicology at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany, where he teaches ethnomusicology and “music and media”. He earned his PhD and a postdoctoral degree at the Free University of Berlin. His publications include books and articles on music and musical instruments in West Africa and the Caribbean, features of local pop music, and music exhibitions. His current research interests include transculturation and hybridity, historical ethnomusicology, and cultural memory studies.