Between meaning culture and presence effects: contemporary biomedical objects as a challenge to museums

The acquisition and display of material artefacts is the raison d’être of museums. But what constitutes a museum artefact? Contemporary medicine (biomedicine) is increasingly producing artefacts that do not fit the traditional museological understanding of what constitutes a material, tangible artefact. Museums today are therefore caught in a paradox. On the one hand, medical science and technologies are having an increasing pervasive impact on the way contemporary life is lived and understood and is therefore a central part of the contemporary world. On the other hand, the objects involved in medical diagnostics and therapies are becoming increasingly invisible and intangible and therefore seem to have no role to play as artefacts in a museum context. Consequently, museums are at risk of becoming alienated from an increasingly important part of contemporary society. This essay elaborates the paradox by employing Gumbrecht’s (2004) distinction between ‘presence’ and ‘meaning’.     

从“不确定性”走向“确定性”——历史与实践向度中的风险与安全

在现代性社会中,人类的存在与发展渗透贯穿着风险的在场,风险意识重构着历史实践的认知状况,它使得存在的世界进入到破碎和断裂的不确定性镜像中,强化了存在的灾难临近感。寻求安全成为人类主体性存在的基础和条件,实现安全的意义构架则成为存在自身合目的性价值的践履。风险的存在与安全的价值诉求之间存在着张力,构成了当代社会的客观现实,在两者彼此互动,相互博弈中,历史向前进步。