Naked Science: The Survival of Research in Museums

16:30 – 17:30 (May 21)
Moscow Museum
Cinema

#museum_and_science


Roundtable Discussion

Russia’s museum research efforts remain in a protracted crisis since the drastic 1990s reduction, never fully recovering. Remnants of former science-centred museum work does continue, through institutional inertia or individual enthusiasm. However, museum science operates outside institutional attention, without systemic support or conceptual framework.
This does not constitute an isolated issue but, instead, a systemic risk: without scientific foundations, museums lose their long-term visions, with exhibitions turning reactive and opportunistic, collections stagnating. The institutional purpose of museums is reduced to that of mere a storage facility. Meanwhile, it is research — not just preservation — that animates heritage and sustains museum relevance.
However, the future of museum science is immense. It has the potential to bridge academic and civic science, fuel interdisciplinary projects, and pioneer new forms of scientific communication, but it requires a clear vision, focus, and institutional commitment to realize this promise.

• How to reconstruct museum research functions?
• Which traditions and practices merit preservation versus obsolescence?
• What tools/partnerships can help museums rebuild scientific capacity — from academia to civic science, from grants to digital platforms?

Moderator:
Ivan Dementyev, Deputy General Director for Research Activities, Transport Museum

Speakers:
Yulia Kupina, Director, Russian Ethnographic Museum
Dmitry Mukhin, Head of the Scientific and Exhibition Department, Semenkovo Museum
Natalia Nikiforova, Scientific Secretary, Peterhof State Museum Reserve