Trigger warnings: exhibiting sensitive materials

Keynote: Manon Parry (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands), with Evie Numen (Trinity College Dublin)

Panel discussion: Buildings with a complicated history

Chair: Dara Lynne Lenahan (EPIC Design)

Panel: Victoria Northwood & Colin Gale (Bethlem Museum of the Mind, UK), Denise Murray (Metropolitan Workshop), Jennifer Mahony (Waterford Memories Project)

Museums and exhibitions are usually experienced as places of truth, places we visit to gain knowledge about the past or to come to terms with difficult heritage. But how are sensitive materials, such as hospital archives, patients’ belongings, or medical instruments, selected and displayed tactfully? What decisions lie behind the choice of objects that make an exhibition, the language used to present them or the space in which they are displayed? How can we show sensitive materials in a way that is constructive rather than upsetting? Join us on 10 October for an informative and engaging discussion with professionals and researchers in the field of museum ethics and design, as part of the Dublin Festival of History.

The seminar took place on Tuesday, 10 October 2023 to coincide with World Mental Health Day.
 

Article image credit: Alé Mercado