From the field to the museum. A contemporary example of cooperation between academy and museum

Abstract

The article presents a concrete example of field research, emphasising the usefulness of the collected field material for museum applications and pointing out potential areas of cooperation and exhibition opportunities. The example discussed refers to the 2019 field research in the Dobrzyń Region, more precisely in the Rypin district, which involved almost 80 interviews. The research dossier was archived and used to create a permanent exhibition in the Dobrzyń Land Museum in Rypin. This example shows how a museum can make use of the results of ethnographic research, and how it is the only medium that can reflect the field purport of the communities studied because of its exhibition potential. Unlike the academy, a contemporary museum is much better able to articulate to its advantage the emotional, sensory, affective, non-textual, material, corporeal and nostalgic developments that accompany the research situation and the local community's relationship with things. From this perspective, the collaboration between the academy and the museum, and its continuation in contemporary conditions, seems mutually beneficial and necessary.