Can Natural History Museums help save the World?
Debate in the auditorium at Geological Museum:
Can Natural History Museums help save the World?
Join the debate at the Natural History Museum of Denmark, in which four directors from international leading museums will present their visions of the role of the modern natural history museum. The panelists will answer your questions and together we will discuss the museums’ responsibility in times of change.
As challenges to Earth’s biodiversity and climate accelerate, natural history museums face new challenges as well. Should museums be neutral institutions dedicated to researching, managing and developing unique collections, and to communicating our knowledge of the natural world? Or should museums also take on an active role and adopt policy positions and support citizen agency?
We ask the question: How does a modern natural history museum navigate in times of change and evolve from being institutions where extinct species are preserved in alcohol, to becoming active agents who take a stand? Can we contribute to the preservation of living nature on a global scale, as well as the overall conditions for life, and how do we engage and empower citizens to do the same?
Panel:
- Lori Bettison-Vargas, Director at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles
- Kirk Johnson, Sant Director of Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, Washington DC
- Johannes Vogel, Director General of the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin.
- Peter C. Kjærgaard, Director of the Natural History Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen
After the debate the museum will serve a Friday afternoon beer.