MeLA - European Museums and Libraries in/of the Age of Migration
History of Art has been awarded nearly EUR 400,000 of co-funding by the European Commission 7th Framework Programme (FP7) and the University of Glasgow within the EU-cofunded collaborative project MeLA - European Museums and Libraries in/of the Age of Migration. The goal of MeLA is to develop multi-disciplinary resources for investigating and comparing major European public museums and libraries, and allow them to address contemporary challenges of globalization, European integration, and new media.
History of Art is bringing to MeLA its expertise in museum and art history studies, management and curation of digital assets, cultural heritage informatics. The Principal Investigator for the University of Glasgow is Perla Innocenti, co-Investigators are Dr John Richards and Dr Sabine Wieber.
We are leading MeLA Workpackage 3 EU Transnational Museums and Libraries Network and co-leading MeLA Workpackage 5 ICT Role in Museums, Libraries and Exhibition Design .
MeLA is funded under the Socio-economic Sciences and the Humanities (SSH) Programme, Call: Reinterpreting Europe’s cultural heritage: towards 21st century libraries and museums with the purpose to challenge the traditional idea of museums and libraries as places for consolidation, conservation and transmission of the identity of a dominant social group; and the traditional relationship between these institutions and the society they represent as part of a nation. The project aims to define new strategies for the transcultural organizations of the conservation, exhibition and transmission of knowledge, in ways and forms that are capable of reflecting the conditions posed by the migration of people and ideas in the world and how this has influenced the European Union process over the last 30 years.
With an overall EU contribution of EUR 2.5 millions, MeLA draws on nine project partners:
- CIID - Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design
- Department of Curating Contemporary Art - The Royal College of Art
- Dip. Progettazione dell'Architettura and Dip. Industrial Design, Arte, Comunicazione e Moda - Politecnico di Milano
- Dip. Studi Americani, Culturali e Linguistici - L'Orientale University of Naples
- History of Art - University of Glasgow
- Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona
- Department "Homme, nature, société" - Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle/Musée de l'Homme
- The International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies - Newcastle University
Click here for a news item on the MeLA consortium.
