CC BY
1
The European Journal of Arts PREMIER
2024, No 2 H
ISSN 2310-5666 ppublishing.org
DOI:10.29013/EJA-24-2-24-27
UZBEK MUSEUMS IN THE ERA OF TRANSFORMATION
Zarina Nuridinova1
1 National Institute of Fine Arts and Design named after Kamaliddin Bekhzad, Uzbekistan
Cite: Nuridinov Z. (2024). Uzbek Museums in the Era of Transformation. European Journal of Arts 2024, No 2. https://doi.org/10.29013/EJA-24-2-24-27
Abstract
The article deals with the issues of changes in museums of Uzbekistan in the era of transformation. The main aspects of using information technologies in the modern museum space are considered. Nowadays information technologies change not only the means of "presenting" the work in the exposition space, but also transform the museum environment as a whole. Keywords: museum, transformation, digital technologies, culture, art, visitor, exhibition, multimedia, platform, visitor
Introduction
Recently, the field of information exchange has undergone significant transformations. The most significant processes are related to the digital revolution, which is directly related to the growing number of media platforms that have opened up wide access to a variety of information sources. The practice of information exchange with the help of digital technologies has involved a huge number of people who have the opportunity to actually "attend" events in real time and feel involved in what is happening. Thanks to the accelerated pace of widespread mediati-zation, cultural life is moving into the digital space, where it is possible to visit a museum or exhibition virtually from the comfort of one's home. The changes associated with the digital environment have caused the formation of a new information culture. Globalization and reduction of spatial and temporal frames, transformation of the audience into users able to indicate their position and in-
fluence the content create new opportunities for information exchange in museums. Communication becomes a process of active and equal interaction between the participants of the process with the help of new types of digital technologies (Ivanova S. V., 2022).
Discussion
Museum activity is directly related to communication, as it is originally based on the activity "to preserve, create, disseminate and assimilate cultural values". Today, in order to meet modern requirements, museums have to look for new forms of their activities and ways to generate interest in their work on the part of the audience. Since digital technologies give museums new opportunities and prospects for further development and transformation (Klementyeva N. V., 2018).
The experience of interacting with digital technologies is in a sense a dividing factor in society, as: those who are able and willing to use such forms of communication in muse-
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ums, and those who are still not ready and therefore do not understand why they need to use modern technologies in museums. There is a situation when, on the one hand, museums have to "keep up with the times" and, on the other hand, are not ready to accept the innovations of modern technologies. The "pressure" of digital technologies is reflected, among other things, in the activities of museums in Uzbekistan. For today it is possible to see how big changes have taken place in the museum sphere in the country in recent years. There is a rather serious transformation of the museum environment and museum space. Many working processes, tools, forms of communication and dialog with visitors are changing. And, very importantly, museums in Uzbekistan are becoming more and more open to modern visitors.
Digitalization (digitization) of cultural heritage can be mentioned as one of the directions of using modern technologies in culture. This direction is developing quite actively in many countries. Also, it should be noted that this sphere has begun its implementation and improvement in cultural projects in Uzbekistan. Modern digital technologies make it possible to realize the dream of many artists to collect all cultural heritage.
Digitization of the collection gives the museum a number of undeniable opportunities such as:
- ensuring the preservation of the museum collection;
- wide access for scientific research;
- informational support of the main exposition, obtaining additional and more expanded information about the exhibited items;
- popularization of the museum collection to attract visitors and familiarization with the collection for those who are physically unable to visit the museum;
- providing access to the museum collection for people with disabilities (Mamon-tova M. S., 2016).
The study of foreign experience shows that today many museums around the world join the global open data movement and provide unlimited access to their archives, photographs, catalogs and other databases. The goals of these projects are to make "digital cultural heritage" accessible. Also, it can be
seen that there are websites of Tashkent museums, where museum collections are published for open and free access. One of such museums is the Museum of Geology, which has made its collection publicly available on its website. This museum has made an illustrated catalog of its collection in online access, where interested museum visitors can see unique ancient exhibits. The purpose of this Internet resource was to create a unified catalog of the museum in electronic format for distribution to the general public. The site of the Museum of Geology is designed according to the theme of the museum, that is, the used illustrations and color scheme is selected by specialists working in this field. Visiting the site of the Museum of Geology initially you can see a convenient and functional "interface", where the queries as:
- "Information about the museum";
- "Home page of the museum";
- "News Column";
- "Department with the halls of the Museum of Geology" (where the visitor can select the hall that he wants to see in this museum and familiarize himself with the content of the exhibits);
- "Gallery";
- "Young Geologist" department;
- "Contact information" for communication with the museum staff.
In the "interface" of the Geology Museum website, special attention can be paid to the column: "department with the halls of the Museum of Geology", because by visiting this column the visitor will be able to see how it looks like, for example: "Hall of ancient mining industries". Here you can find full and detailed information about the expositions of the museum and photos of the exhibit. The convenience of using this site is that people who want to see the exhibits of the museum, but who do not have the opportunity to visit themselves because of the location in which they are located (for example, visitors may live in distant regions of the country), will be able to virtually see illustrations of exhibits. Even if at present on the website potential visitors can only see photos of exhibits, but not 3D copies of the originals that can be viewed from all sides, but perhaps in the future an improvement of this concept is being considered.
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As a modern transformation of museums and exhibitions in Uzbekistan, the project of the Fund for the Development of Culture and Art under the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Uzbekistan can be cited as an example. The Fund for the Development of Culture and Art under the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Uzbekistan is a public institution established for the purpose of improving the effectiveness of the policy of the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the field of culture and art management. This project organized a virtual exhibition of ancient artifacts from the country's museum collection on the Google Arts & Culture platform. These virtual exhibitions allow storing and transmitting a huge amount of information, unlike analog forms. As virtual exhibitions are a digitized form of museum exhibits, which are stored electronically in the database of Internet networks. With the help of digitization it is possible to provide integration of the museum in the information environment, to add interactivity with the help of VR-applications or to analyze user interest to the offered programs. The audience has the opportunity to choose one or another form of leisure organization in accordance with their preferences.
Digital collections and online exhibitions were launched on the platform for the first time in 2019. The Foundation for the Development of Culture and Art became the first partner of the Google Arts & Culture platform from Uzbekistan. The Foundation for the Development of Culture and Art and Google Arts & Culture signed an agreement to host an online catalog of museum collections in Uzbekistan.
The Google Arts & Culture platform offers a variety of tools and content publishing tools to help Google partners share cultural heritage objects online. "Google Arts & Culture" is an online collection of exhibits from 1,200 museums, galleries and other organizations in 70 countries. The service presents an opportunity to visit world exhibitions and study
works of art in the smallest detail. It also features histories and publications on world culture and art, photographs, videos and manuscripts, tours of cities and monuments, and natural wonders.
On the platform "Google Arts & Culture" by searching on the website of the title: Foundation for the Development of Culture and Arts presented - 7 online exhibitions, such as:
- "Saukele and Tobelem";
- "Kurgon Cirog";
- "Civilizations and Cultures on the Silk Road";
- "Uzbekistan: The Road to Samarkand";
- "Makhalla - Urban Rural Life";
- "Backstage of Architecture: State Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan";
- "Aibek House-Museum".
The presence of Uzbekistan's museum collections on Google Arts & Culture will provide an opportunity to expand the boundaries of the multifaceted cultures of the global online platform. With the help of this platform, visitors to museums and exhibitions from anywhere in the world can access the exhibits on display.
Fixing and recognizing the achievements and advantages that Uzbekistan's museums have received to date in the sphere of modern digital technologies, it is also necessary to note the presence of problems that have not yet found their worthy resolution. The most significant of them is that some museums in the country do not have an official website where one can find information about the museum. Also, one can add the artistic design of websites and interactivity, which is very important for museums today.
The above-mentioned aspects have a great impact on the quality of information for museum visitors and interested persons, who certainly have a desire to use Internet resources. Museums of Uzbekistan in the era of transformation have made many innovations that are relevant today.
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References
Ivanova S. V. (2022). Media in the context of communication abundance and the "new normality" // Bulletin of the Voronezh State University. Series: Philology.- № 2.- P. 123-125.
Klementyeva N. V. (2018). Information technology in the modern world museum space//Sci-entific review. Section II. Science and practice. № 1. ID93. 1-8 p. URL: https://cyber-leninka.ru/article/n/informatsionnye-tehnologii-v-sovremennom-muzeynom-prostran-stve/viewer
Mamontova M. S. (2016). The practice of digitizing museum collections (using the example of museums in Yoshkar-Ola) //International scientific journal "Innovative Science".- № 2. ISSN2410-6070.- P. 173-175. URL: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/praktika-otsi-frovki-muzeynyh-fondov-na-primere-muzeev-g-yoshkar-oly
Email: zaranoor@mail.ru
submitted 17.02.2024;
accepted for publication 30.03.2024;
published 22.05.2024
© Nuridinov Z.
Contact: zaranoor@mail.ru
