What makes museums special 2004

The 1st Kenneth Hudson Lecture on the occasion of the European Museums of the Year Award

Superficially the world of museums seems buoyant; their growth continues worldwide, and they are usually built by an architectural star. The October 2001 issue of ARTnews in its global survey alone listed £2.8billion worth of new museums, refurbishments and extensions. And that figure even omitted a large number of UK novelties. Why is there this curious burst of new museums? In urban regeneration the use of culture is now a central part of the toolkit whether as in the building of cultural centres or in the form of activity programmes. Yet this rush of activity masks a deep sense of disquiet on the cultural front. What does this growth say about the situation of culture? What values are being asserted? Is it all a matter of image transformation and tourist attraction? Or are the new cathedrals of the post-industrial age? What is the source of this disquiet?