A WELL-TOLD STORY… WILL COVID-19 TEACH US TO LISTEN TO A CITY?

Abstract

As a result of the pandemic, in March 2020, world museology was cut off from the direct contact with their public. Owing to the introduced regulations, Polish museums were closed down on three occasions (14 March – 4 May 2020, 15 Oct 2020 – 31 Jan 2021, and 20 March – 4 May 2021). When searching for new forms of activity, in 2020, museums made an enormous technological progress, and mastered numerous new competences allowing them to move in cyberspace with ease. The pace at which they introduced various ‘online’ formats is worthy of appreciation. Presently, the time has come to ask whether the effectiveness in reaching the public via such means truly contributed to consolidating a strong bond with them. In order to get the answer to this, it is necessary to critically assess the museum efforts, which will not be possible without researching into the Polish public over that period. Wishing to voice my opinion in the critical discourse on the museums’ activity during the pandemic, I have decided to share my experience from a selected activity of the Museum of Krakow: I have presented the effects of the social Programme titled ‘Stay at Home and Tell Krakow’ (#zostanwdomuiopowiedzkrakow). The Museum created this programme convinced that a city dweller, exposed to the oppression of the pandemic will feel the urge to share his or her experience. Apparently, the appeal made by the Museum of Krakow was eagerly responded to. The Museum received ‘stories’ about the pandemic in different formats: prose, poems, diaries, visual arts, and even musical pieces and artifacts. The results of the ‘Stay at Home and Tell Krakow’ Programme are currently hard to sum up, however, what seems a valuable and worth analysing experience is the focus of residents’ attention on the Museum which they considered an institution trustworthy enough to entrust it their private, often intimate reflections on living through that challenging period.