Join the House of European History’s symposium, “Museums and the Throwaway Culture”, exploring an initiative of ten partner museums committed to transforming their institutional practices and raising awareness about the historical and contemporary significance of waste.

This is the culmination of a transnational partnership that began in 2021 and concludes in early 2024. During this time, the partners have delved into the issue of rubbish from various perspectives, documenting, connecting objects, interviewing people, and sharing expertise. The symposium will share knowledge and insights gained during this multi-year, transdisciplinary cooperation, with a wider community of museum professionals and interested parties.

During this full-day event, we will engage in a broad conversation about our societies’ entanglements with the environment. We will kick off discussions with short case studies from partner museums and guest organisations. The day will also include a guided tour of the exhibition Throwaway – the history of a modern crisis.

To participate, please register by January 10.

Preliminary programme:

1. Museums as repositories

Case Study 1

Ecological collection management: preventive conservation at the Volkskundemuseum in Vienna – Astrid Hammer

Case Study 2

Accumulating everyday objects: the Ettore Guatelli collection – Sandra Ferracuti

Case study 3 (tbc)

Resourceful people from the past: self-made objects in the National Ethnographic Museum Warsaw collection – Paulina Zomer

Case study 4

Outdated, asleep or dangerous? Uncertain routes of museum remains and socialist memorials – Theodora Nastase and Bogdan Iancu, Romanian Peasant Museum

2. Museums as makers

Case Study 1

An exhibition on rubbish that does not create too much rubbish: Throwaway Exhibition – Christine Dupont, House of European History

Case Study 2

Learning to cut the environmental cost: “Waste Age” Exhibition – Justin McGuirk, London Design Museum

Case Study 3

Inexpensive, practical and… sustainable exhibition production – Urška Repar, Museum of Recent History Celje

3. Museums as activators

Case study 1

Advocating for the role of museums in the sustainable transition – Julia Pagel, NEMO – Network of European Museum Organisations

Case study 2

Influencing consumer behaviour – Sustainability in practice at the Estonian National Museum – Tenno Teidearu

Case study 3 (tbc)

Thematic focus on sustainability in exhibitions programming – Museum of European Cultures

4. Outside the museum walls

Sustainable heritage regeneration in the city – Centrinno Project

• Revaluing craft and craftsmanship (Amsterdam)
• Changing the urban food system (Paris)

Contact for more information:  info-throwaway@europarl.europa.eu