Programs, Past Meetings

XXIII, Chicago, 2018: Relevance of Collections

SUNDAY, 14 October, Adler Planetarium
10:00 - 14:00 Registration & badge pick-up Free museum exploration and sky shows at discretion w/ conference badge*
*Complimentary tickets to sky shows and to the Atwood Sphere to be requested at the box office.
All sessions in Johnson Family Star Theater unless otherwise noted.


14:00-14:15 : Welcoming remarks
Andrew Johnston (Adler Planetarium)

14:15-16:00 Session 1. Thinking relevance through object histories
Chair: Andrew Johnston

Russel Lee (Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum): "Lippisch DM 1, Museum Artifact Reassessed" abstract

Dag Andreassen (Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology): "The Hofgaard machine: Prototype of an ingenious invention, or just a piece of metal scrap?" abstract

Dirk van Delft (Rijksmuseum Boerhaave / Leiden University): Dirk van Delft (Rijksmuseum Boerhaave / Leiden University: "How science works: the 'failure' of MiniGRAIL" abstract

16:00-16:30: Coffee break

16:30-18:00 Session 2. Bringing collections to life
Chair: Pedro Raposo (Adler Planetarium)

Erin Gregory (Ingenium Canada, Canada Aviation and Space Museum): "Game On: Using Digital Technologies to Bring Collections to Life"

Carlene Stephens (Smithsonnian National Museum of American History): “'Hear My Voice': Learning from Alexander Graham Bell’s Volta Laboratory Sound Recordings" abstract

Frode Weium (Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology): "Making silent artifacts speak: Tinfoil recordings, digitization projects, and the relevance of collections" abstract

18:00-19:00 Gallery tours

19:00 - 21:00 Conference dinner

MONDAY, 15 October
8:00-9:00 Breakfast

9:00-10:30 Roundtable. Art and Artifact: Collections, Museum Practice, and the Aesthetics of Science and Technology
Chair: Pedro M. P. Raposo

Claudia Swan (Northwestern University)
Jennifer Nelson (School of the Art Institute of Chicago)
Jonathan Tavares (Art Institute of Chicago)

10:30-11:00 Coffee break

11:00-12:30 Session 3. Material Culture, Education and Narratives
Chair: Andrew Johnston

Nicolas Robin (University of Teacher Education St. Gallen, Switzerland): " Object-based Science Education, Artefacts and Material Culture in Science"

Tim Boon (Science Museum Group): " Objects or Narratives? The (Ir)relevance of Collections at the mid 20c Science Museum" abstract

Kimon Keramidas (New York University): "Telling the Sogdian Story: Collaboration and Digitization as Practice Through Political Barriers and Over Distance" abstract

12:30-14:00 Lunch

14:00-15:30 Session 4: Building and (re)contextualizing collections
Chair: Alison Boyle (Science Museum Group)

Frank Dittmann (Deutsches Museum): "Experts, wish lists and collections. How the collection of electrical machines at the Deutsches Museum came together" abstract

Elizabeth Pope (Art Institute of Chicago): "From Primitive Art to the Arts of Africa and the Americas: the Changing Presentation of the Art Institute’s Collection of Non-Western Art" abstract

Cathleen Lewis (Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum): "The Changing Meaning of the National Air and Space Museum’s Spacesuit Collection" abstract

15:30-16:00 - Coffee break

16:00 Adler Planetarium welcome (Definiti Theater).
Michelle Larson (President, Adler Planetarium)

16:05-17:00 - Museum updates (Definiti Theater)

17:00-18:30 Special session (Definiti Theater): Enlivening collections: digital access, citizen science, and immersive visualization at the Adler Planetarium
Chair: Andrew Johnston
Chris Helms, Jessica BrodeFrank, Samantha Blickhan, Mark SubbaRao (all Adler Planetarium)

18:30 Dinner on your own

TUESDAY, 16 October
8:00-9:00 - Breakfast

9:00-10:45 Session 5. Artifacts and collections across boundaries
Chair: Tim Boon

Roman Artemenko (Polytechnic Museum, Moscow): "Polytechnic museum in the XXI century. Making path to the future" abstract

Sandra Senra (University of Porto, Portugal): "Design objects in museums: different lenses, (re)new objects" abstract

Alice Cliff (Science Museum Group): "Collections and everyday life: an interdisciplinary approach to objects and practice" abstract


10:45-11:15 - Coffee break

11:15-12:45 Session 6. What to collect, what for, for whom?
Chair: Martin Collins (Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum)

Tacye Philipson (National Museums Scotland) :"A retrospective look at contemporary collecting" abstract

Lisa Nocks (IEEE History Center): "What Shall We Do with all this Cool Stuff?" abstract

Tanner Woodford (Chicago Design Museum): "What's Worth Preserving? A Collection of Letters from the Chicago Design Museum" abstract


12:45-13:00 Final remarks Johnson Family Star Theater

Afternoon: free museum exploration and sky shows at discretion w/ conference badge*
*Complimentary tickets to sky shows and to the Atwood Sphere to be requested at the box office