Fictional museum

Initial situation

“Globalization and Cultural Issues in the Middle East: The Rise of an Art and Museum Scene” is a required course in the Master’s program in Middle East at the Global Studies Institute (GSI).

The objective of the course is to provide basic knowledge about the Middle East through an open and multidisciplinary approach. The course focuses on the specific place of the Arab world (and more particularly the Gulf region) in the globalization of the art scene and the impact of this new situation on artistic production, the art market, museums and collections at the regional level. The evaluation of the course was a classic essay-type exam on an open-ended question around the central thesis of the course.

However, the course and exam format did not allow for a sufficiently deep investigation of the issues. It was necessary to find a way to show students the relevance and interest of studying the Middle East through the lens of art and heritage.

Therefore, the teaching was approached from a problem-solving perspective with the goal of getting students to understand the issues in the art scene and to think for themselves. It was also necessary to rethink the teaching in order to reactivate interest and stimulate active participation during the transition to distance learning.

Project implementation

The students, in pairs or alone according to their choice, must write a paper in which they elaborate their own project for a fictitious museum with international visibility. This museum project, like the new museums in the Gulf that were the subject of the course, must become a source of economic diversification and the development of cultural diplomacy.

Students are given a detailed fictional starting question that may, for example, present the advisory needs of a fictional emir wishing to develop a museum. Based on the theory studied in class, the said museum must distinguish itself from the museums with international visibility already present in the region by proposing novelties in terms of collections, activities, marketing, communication, solutions to the health crisis, etc. It must also elaborate innovative strategies for the development of the museum. It must also develop innovative strategies in terms of cultural diplomacy.

In doing so, students are asked to reflect on the mechanisms that govern diplomatic relations and geopolitical and economic dynamics in the Middle East region and to see the importance that cultural and soft power institutions can have in these, if they meet certain criteria.

This evaluation method allows the student not only to assimilate the course material, but also to appropriate it in an active and personalized way.

Thoughts and advice

While changing the research question each year to adapt the course curriculum to changing world events, the project format allows students to mobilize the course material to develop personalized projects. It also allows them to develop a critical eye, to enhance their extracurricular knowledge and to think in terms of problem solving.

In order to enhance the value of the students’ work, the teacher plans to make presentations of the best projects in classical or video format to the following year’s students. This would increase the students’ transversal skills.

Student feedback

“The idea of the museum project to be completed is an excellent assessment format, allowing us to get out of the stressful confines of narrow assessments, allowing us to practice creativity while actually demonstrating that we have assimilated the material from the readings because we have to think through all the possible and potential issues. And the final oral exam gives us the opportunity to argue and relate our real learning from the course. Maddalena’s assistance, her presence and her solidarity and education are also among the strong points of the seminar. It is a course that at first glance is frightening, but one realizes the inestimable value it is worth.” “The seminar is very informative because it’s a subject that you don’t come across every day, even if you’ve already studied the Middle East a lot. It was through this seminar that I became aware of the role that culture and art play in diplomatic relations.”