An artistic interpretation of the first museum non-object

Abstract

The integration of contemporary artists' interventions into museum exhibitions and the artistic interpretation of heritage have become increasingly common practices over the last three decades of the 20th century. These creative perspectives often raise questions about dissonant, overlooked, or insufficiently researched heritage, making artistic research projects crucial when exploring the past. Simultaneously, museums, having long-established categories dictating how objects are collected, which reflect once-dominant value systems and attitudes towards knowledge, and with now traditional ways of presenting them to the public - although sometimes too sluggishly, have gradually shifted their focus from solely emphasizing the object to considering its broader context, from a concern for the material aspect to an interest in the immaterial aspect, from preservation for the sake of preservation to the interpretation and representation of heritage in response to social changes. This paper follows the life history of a specific museum object, tracing its journey from the usable to the museum context through the acquisition carried out by the Museum of the History of Yugoslavia in 2010. The paper explores the potential of artistic interpretation in revealing multiple layers of meaning and diverse narratives associated with a single object. By analyzing the video material created by artist Aleksandra Domanović, which presents this object within the museum exhibit, the study also delves into the broader scope of her work, essential for comprehending the entire process of interpretation. Considering that the subject in this case is a non-object, specifically a digital record, the paper addresses the challenges of modernizing the museum's approach to collection practices and the (im) possibility of exhibiting digital objects in the physical space of the museum.