On 9 September 2020, the multimedia press centre of the international information agency Russia Today became the venue for an international online discussion on the topic of “Museums of the World: the New Reality Online and Offline” organized by the multimedia service Okko.
The role of moderator for the discussion was taken by Federica Rossi, a professor at Florence University, a historian of art and architecture. Representatives of leading museums in Russia and Europe participated: Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage; Marina Devovna Loshak, Director of the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts; Maria Anatolyevna Dmitrenko, head of the Russian Museum’s Information and Communications Service; Pavel Sergeyevich Prigara, General Director of the Manege Central Exhibition Hall; James M. Bradburne, General Director of the Pinacoteca di Brera and Biblioteca Braidense in Milan; Brendan Ciecko, CEO of Boston-based Cuseum, a technology start-up that helps museums accelerate visitor engagement; and Alena Vladimirovna Vinokurova, curator of cultural projects for the multimedia service Okko.
According to research carried out by UNESCO and the International Council of Museums (ICOM), almost 90% of museums, or over 85,000 institutions, closed their doors for various periods during the crisis, Their return to life was lightning-swift thanks to online formats.
In a live broadcast, the participants discussed how museums had coped with enforced closure, what projects they implemented during the pandemic, what non-standard forms of interaction with the public became the new reality for the existence of high art and how the world’s museums have united their efforts in the return of visitors. The speakers gave a high assessment to the importance of global international partnership in the present conditions, announcing current plans for exhibition activities and the exchange of collections, and to the role of online work as an equal participant in the popularization of high art.
In his contribution, Mikhail Piotrovsky emphasized: “Offline is becoming a luxury. Websites should prepare people ahead of a visit. Then they will ‘read’ the museum slowly and calmly. Through our work in the Internet, all our visitors should come prepared. By combining online and offline, we can provide for the accessibility of the museum in the very best sense of that word.”
A recording of the discussion is available here.
