A provocative, progressive rejoinder to the status quo, from the perspective of a disrupter and global leader in the museum world.

The challenge to transform museums is unapologetically real and complicated. But everything we learn about reconciliation, science and biodiversity, climate change, and sustainability gives us the confidence and freedom to break through the conventions of the past.

Each essay in this collection emphasises key features that are driving change in museums, such as globalization, society, authenticity, and technology. Each raises anew older themes within the canon of museology: information versus knowledge, diversity and plurality, the unending accumulation of objects and the incompleteness of collections, modes of perception, and insularity. What emerges is a new way of being a museum that is outward looking and global, and which includes chaos and surprise.

Jack Lohman is chief executive officer of the Royal BC Museum, professor in Museum Design and Communications at the Bergen National Academy of the Arts in Norway and editor-in-chief of unesco’s publication series Museums and Diversity. His most recent book is Museums at the Crossroads? (RBCM 2013).

Jack Lohman's profile page

"Great Expectations is written in erudite, yet easy to read language, making it accessible to a broad audience. The author, in his ability to distance himself from his profession, is able to ask questions and offer suggestions that provoke thought about our culture, our museums and the work we are doing." — Muse, the magazine of the Canadian Museums Association