14th Spring of the Museums: registering digital memories of the pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic brought different crossings to the areas of cultural management – covering artists, producers, cultural institutions and museums. From the challenges reflected in the demands for isolation and social distancing by the pandemic, different practices linked to the digital universe emerged. We used digital netnography, by Kozinets (2014), as methodology to investigate different aspects related to the nature of the digital appropriations undertaken by different museum institutions regarding the production and sharing of memories of the pandemic, focusing on the digital actions of the institutions participating in the event 14th Spring of Museums: Digital World in Transformation , promoted by the Brazilian Institute of Museums (IBRAM), from September 21 to 27, 2020. From the 14th Spring of Museums program with 520 participants, 56 participating institutions were found that made direct reference to the pandemic (46 to the word pandemic and 10 to the word COVID-19), from subgroup of 7 institutions which the results briefly contextualized in this article emerged. In discussions related to the intersections of museums with digital communication, possibilities arise for reflection on the significant role of audiences in relation to museums, and, mainly, on the role related to social participation, collaboration and co-creation; covering new ways of thinking both in museums and in relation to the possible interactions that can be experienced from this process.