MA in Expanded Museum Studies

The newly established Expanded Museum Studies MA programme at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna offers a field of study and research towards redirecting the notion of the museum and its practices. In searching for the museum’s potential developments and alternative sustainable concepts, one leading question is: What will the museum of the future look like?

Since its creation, the museum has been in a state of continuous change and, thereby, not free of contradictions. As a preserving, researching, and educational institution, the museum is also a place of encounter and entertainment within the context of an ever-evolving society.

Expanded Museum Studies critically addresses these challenges in theory, discourse, and practice on the basis of interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary practical approaches that reflect, amongst others, museology, art, and cultural studies, conservation, and methodological developments. Key interrogations include: Is the institutional model of the museum as Occidental blueprint established in the 19th century still legitimate? What kinds of changes are necessary to ensure the relevance, credibility, acceptance, and function of the museum in the face of diversity, the global, decolonization, accessibility, digitalization, and sustainability? How is it possible to do justice to the contents of a museum and combine this in a way that is compatible with the demands of various audiences, the institution itself, and its staff?

For more information about Expanded Museum Studies, a link to the curriculum and application procedures for winter semester 2022/23 please visit here.

Please contact Expanded Museum Office for additional information about our programme & admission: expanded_ms [​at​] uni-ak.ac.at.