Conference Program
Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).
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I.01. Can Universities Help to Solve the Crisis in Democracy? Location: Geologia e Mineralogia (CU005): Aula "Sergio Lucchesi" Convenor(s): Liviu Matei (King's College London, United Kingdom); Roberta Piazza (Università di Catania); Mauro Palumbo (University of Genoa, Italy); Antonio Uricchio (University of Bari, Italy); AnnaFausta Scardigno (University of Bari, Italy) | |
| Presentation 6 | |
The Shared Construction of a Diffused University Museum as a Participatory Device 1: Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Italy; 2: Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Italy This paper analyzes the case study of MuDiB, the Diffused Museum of the University of Milan - Bicocca, as a tool for activating university participation and fostering connections with the local community (Boylan, 1999). Within the objectives of the third mission, one of the key aspects is the valorization and dissemination of knowledge. At the same time, the cultural and social mission is well-realized through the full promotion of cultural events, as well as the creation and management of museum hubs. The case of the University of Milan-Bicocca is unique in that, as a young university, founded in 1998, it never considered having a museum as a specific institution. Over the years, however, the presence of several collections deposited within the various Departments has become increasingly recognized. In particular, thanks to BiPAC, the Historical, Artistic, and Cultural Heritage Research Center, founded in 2017 and comprising a representative from each Department, a process of initial information gathering has begun, which has led to the uncovering of this hidden heritage. Over time, an increasingly detailed cataloguing process has been undertaken, leading to the identification of the initial nucleus of the collection of MudiB. The museum, founded in 2023 (Capurro, Zuccoli, 2023), is characterised by its role as a university museum, a local museum, and a diffused museum (Drugman, 1982, 2016). These characteristics make it an ideal place to implement the objectives of the Third Mission. As a university museum, it studies, preserves, and publicises the University's collections, housed in the various departments, highlighting their historical significance in relation to the university's three core activities: research, teaching, and the Third Mission. As a local museum, it fosters connections with the neighbourhood and the city, not forgetting that this campus was born from a project that prioritised the relationship between the University's spaces and the Bicocca neighbourhood. As a distributed museum, it does not concentrate the collection in a single exhibition space, but rather enhances the objects present in the various departments, maintaining their connection to the various disciplines to which they are connected. The museum carries out many different activities, from cataloging to the placement of works within the university context, from the creation of new exhibition spaces with significant objects that narrate the history and research of the Departments, to the organization of an annual exhibition and the promotion of a photography competition for the university population and the general public. All activities are documented and evaluated both numerically and qualitatively. The museum's choice is to fully adhere to the ICOM Prague 2022 definition: "A museum is a not-for-profit, permanent institution in the service of society that researches, collects, preserves, interprets, and exhibits tangible and intangible heritage. Open to the public, accessible, and inclusive, museums foster diversity and sustainability. They operate and communicate ethically, professionally, and with the participation of communities, offering diverse experiences for education, enjoyment, reflection, and knowledge sharing." From this perspective, the university and its museums can become a crucial point of discussion, exchange, and collective construction of social knowledge (Colazzo, 2002). | |
