On the occasion of the 18-24 May Museum Week, on May 20, 2024, a talk was held at 23.5 Hrant Dink Site of Memory with the participation of former ICOM President Suay Aksoy and Museologist Yeşim Kartaler and moderated by curator Çelenk Bafra. In this talk, the function, role and place of museums in a rapidly changing and transforming world were discussed by mutual consideration of global patterns and practices in Turkey.

Çelenk Bafra started the talk by pointing out the historicity of problematizing the definition of museology and the process of including concepts related to museology in different definitions and shared different examples of digitalization, sustainability, and decolonization processes from around the world. Çelenk Bafra questioned the advantages and disadvantages of physical and digital museums' instrumentalization of technology to offer various experiences to different user groups, and conducted a multi-layered discussion throughout the panel by drawing attention to the “entertainment” oriented activities that have become widespread in museums in the world and in Turkey.

Emphasizing the spatial value of museums and the importance of the collection, which she described as the hallmark of the museum, Suay Aksoy focused on the impact of processes such as digitalization, decolonization and the fight against the climate crisis on museums and questioned how the creation of a collection and its preservation can be ethical. Noting that research, interpretation and exhibition have become more important as the balance between collecting, preserving, researching, interpreting and exhibiting has changed, Suay Aksoy argued that museums should focus on research and learning activities. Suay Aksoy shared her excitement about the great democratization of museums by digitizing collections in high resolution and making them accessible and emphasized the contribution of digital archives to the learning mission of museums by enabling them to easily share detailed and in-depth information that cannot be directly exhibited in museums. Drawing attention to the global impact of events in a world where access to information and news is unlimited, Suay Aksoy emphasized the need for museums to understand, explain and interpret the global network of relations and to do so in partnership with their audiences. Emphasizing that museums that hold authentic material should be in touch with the whole society, not just with their visitors, Suay Aksoy shared her observation that many museums around the world, as institutions that affect all citizens, have turned towards making administrative decisions related to global networks of relations, socio-political and economic realities, and shared her expectation that there will be more examples in Turkey. Suay Aksoy emphasized that museums should not be neutral institutions and concluded her speech by underlining that silence implies consent.

Before moving the conversation to a Turkey-specific evaluation, Yeşim Kartaler stated that she considers museums as the most important public institution and resource, and defines the collection, the main source of museums, as the most fundamental element in establishing a relationship with society and emphasizing that what constitutes a collection and how it is exhibited in a museum has changed with postmodernism. Yeşim Kartaler stated that collecting collections in Turkey started with archaeology, and in her experiences of establishing museums with local governments, collections were reduced to ethnographic materials and the leading perception was that the “old” materials represent the past culture. Yeşim Kartaler emphasized that it is not possible to create a holistic collection in Turkey that will tell the whole story of the community, symbolizing the different elements that make up the community, such as food culture, rituals, and dressing culture, and she advised museums that collect “old” materials to rather conduct research and organize symposiums on the missing areas. Yeşim Kartaler shared her excitement about digitalization bringing democracy to museums, equal and unfiltered access for all, and an increase in sustainable practices. While criticizing how digitalization in Turkey is unduly focused on the use of the latest technology and presented without a purpose, she appreciated the examples where digital tools are used as a complementary element in the story the collection tells. Yeşim Kartaler stated that it is common in public museums to aim to create a new story for political purposes while interpreting collections, as the public institutions do not receive sponsorship and the administration of the institution completely determines the story in museums, she has often experienced censorship in these processes. Yeşim Kartaler emphasized that museums should tell the social, historical and sociopolitical complexities, everything that makes up a society, and that archival work is another area that needs attention in Turkey.