Museums as Complex Systems in the Face of the War

Citation

Ivanova I (2023) Museums as Complex Systems in the Face of the War. Museum and Society, 21 (2), pp. 17-23. https://doi.org/10.29311/mas.v21i2.4291

Abstract
Museums lose their conceptual complexity and polysemy under conditions of war, forced confrontation, and struggles for survival, which may lead to a loss of diversity in the long run. Parametric General Systems analysis allows us to consider a museum as a system and to explore substratum, structural, and conceptual types of simplicity and complexity. Such qualitative analysis makes it possible to move the discussion from the ideological and value sphere to the field of rational and science-based justification. This justification, in turn, illustrates why it is important to maintain complex interpretations in Ukrainian museums during the current war.

Keywords
museum; war; complexity; simplicity; substratum; structure; concept; parametric general systems theory; Ukraine

Journal
Museum and Society: Volume 21, Issue 2

• published version