Paper short abstract:

In this paper we focus on how Estonian museums have interpreted the materiality of the modern kitchen and how kitchens are represented in displays. In the centre of analysis are interrelationship between museum space and exhibition design, material objects and mediated kitchen materialities.

Paper long abstract:

A renewed interest in material culture has been evident in European ethnology during the last decades. The focus has shifted towards studying how people interact with things, creating worlds of practice. The crucial importance of human relationships and behaviours with the material world has been underlined, preferring the concept of materiality as it describes an open dimension in cultural processes rather than delineating a category of objects (Daniel Miller, Elisabeth Shove, Sarah Pink). Most of kitchen research have dealt with the design or cooking practices, while less light has been shed on how kitchen materiality affects or reflects everyday practices.

In Estonian ethnology there is a small number of studies discussing kitchen culture from the viewpoint of rural architecture, urban home decoration, and food culture. Due to heritage policies shaping museum collections kitchens have received less attention than other rooms of the home. Documentation of lived kitchen interiors and kitchen practices is fragmentary.

In this paper we want to focus on how Estonian museums have collected and interpreted the materiality of the modern kitchen and how kitchens are represented in displays. We examine temporary kitchen exhibitions as well as kitchens as part of the permanent exhibition. The study relies on interviews with museum curators and researchers as well as analyses of museum displays (objects, plans, photos, texts etc.), programmes and events. We focus on interrelationship between museum space and exhibition design, interpretation and presentation of material objects related to the kitchen and mediated kitchen materialities.