Ecomuseum : one of the many components of the New Museology

Abstract

The word "ecomuseum" was created by H. de Varine-Bohan to translate a set of new ideas developed by G. H. Rivière. New Museology gains one of its keywords, but it is very limitative to identify the movement of New Museology exclusively with the dynamics of the ecomuseum. On the contrary, New Museology is a movement of a wide theoretical and methodological range, whose position is still crucial for the effective renovation of all the museums of the 21st century. Today, the clarity of the term seems weak, and more so because of the proliferation of other designations: postmodern museology, critical museology, sociomuseology… In this article I intend to clarify the most important strands of the New Museology. I claim that there is no need to make up a new designation – we shall keep "New Museology" - since its guidelines support either the renovation begun in the 1960s, or the much craved renovation of the 21st century.