Pisa, University initiates "Museums Closed Museums Open" observatory to study museums during pandemic

TheUniversity of Pisa has spun off the“Musei Chiusi Musei Aperti” Observatory (with related hashtag: #museichiusimuseiaperti) to document and study the experiences of museums during the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. The initiative is curated by the Laboratory of Museum Culture - MUSEIA of Professor Antonella Gioli of the Department of Civilizations and Forms of Knowledge, and the Observatory’s activities are already online on the Laboratory’s website.

There are three sections into which the Observatory page is divided: “Mapping,” where day by day all museum initiatives are sorted according to their type (there are also focuses dedicated to virtual exhibitions and activities for children); “From Museia,” which describes the Laboratory’s activities in collaboration with partner museums; and "Remix, " a collection of memes, vignettes, videos and assorted materials that “reread” works of art in light of the current emergency.

“The closure of museums,” stresses Professor Gioli, “is producing very interesting experiments with massive use of the web and other channels to convey initiatives, content and products. Our goal is to collect and study all the various forms in which this cultural resilience is expressed.” The initiatives surveyed by the Observatory cover the entire period of the emergency, starting from March 8, the day when all museums in Italy were closed due to the emergency. For each museum, there are articles and images explaining the ongoing activities.

The website of the “Musei Chiusi Musei Aperti” Observatory is updated daily by a working group coordinated by Elena Janniello, thanks to news collected from the web, from museum newsletters, or that is reported daily by operators, visitors, and students. In fact, the Observatory lets people know that any initiative can be reported by sending an email to laboratorio.museia@cfs.unipi.it.

Pictured: the former Salesian convent in Pisa, now home to one of the libraries of the Department of Civilizations and Forms of Knowledge.

Pisa, University initiates "Museums Closed Museums Open" observatory to study museums during pandemic

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