Presentation on the Asterisk* at the Inclusive Museum Conference Presentation on the Asterisk* at the Inclusive Museum Conference

The Asterisk*, a new tool developed as part of Collecting Otherwise, addresses the need for a more thorough, critical and contextualised way of describing archival objects using new keywords, collection metadata and stories.

The tool can be applied to a wide range of sensitive items, taking into account cultural sensitivity in terms of provenance, different modes of acquisition, cultural or societal representations and non-dominant voices. In its current phase, the Asterisk* project aims to rethink and reinterpret the Nieuwe Instituut’s collection, increase transparency about what is collected, experiment with new approaches to the collection, tell different stories about and across its contents, and create a methodology that can contribute to a more contextualised heritage practice in an ever-changing society.

Development and testing began in 2023, and the project will be officially launched in November 2024, together with the Nieuwe Instituut’s new collection platform. Both projects have been developed under the umbrella of the Disclosing Architecture programme, which concludes at the end of this year.

Anya (Anna) Naumova, Asterisk* Project Manager, will suggest ways to turn such a project into a process and to promote more critical archiving in institutions and archival communities. Lois Hutubessy, Collection System Manager, will talk about the team’s technical journey to develop multivocal inclusion in the Nieuwe Instituut collection using linked open data (LOD) and a collection management system (Axiell).

The Inclusive Museum Research Network was set up in 2008 to make museums more inclusive. The 17th International Conference on the Inclusive Museum (13-15 September) explores this theme with a special focus on intersectionality and sustainable development goals. For more information, please visit the conference website.