Abstract / DOI
The Role of Contexts in Museums. Since the middle of the 19th century, objects which had lost their contexts in the church settings that formerly housed them have been transferred to the museums of the various dioceses. The growing collections are extremely diverse, ranging from liturgical vessels to furniture, pilgrim’s badges to venerated icons, historical documents to African masks. At the Art Museum of the Archdiocese of Cologne, Kolumba, this older inventory convenes with modern and contemporary art. In the museum’s annually changing exhibitions, the objects’ narrative potential, their topicality, and their aura come to the fore. New contexts are created which emphasize questions more than answers. A virtual tour through two rooms of the exhibition The subtle interplay between the I and the me (2020–2021) illustrates possibilities that arise from such staging.