The ICOM COMCOL 2023 Taiwan Annual Conference concluded on Oct. 26. Museum workers from 27 countries joined the conference in Taipei and they collectively resolved to establish contemporary collecting practices that are human-centric in order to strive for heritage justice based on principles of solidarity.
This conference was co-organized by the ICOM International Committee for Collecting (COMCOL), the National Taiwan Museum (NTM), and the Chinese Associations of Museums (CAM), and was attended by ICOM Vice President Inkyung Chang, COMCOL Vice President Danielle Kuijten, and NTM Director Hung Shih-yu (洪世佑). Nearly 300 attendees joined the conference, physically or virtually.
As the first international event after ICOM’s redefinition of museum last year, the 2023 Taiwan Annual Conference is of great significance globally. The organizers welcomed comments on the “impulse on the future of contemporary collecting practices” from the public and outlined a vision for the development of museum collections.
In the closing ceremony, COMCOL Vice President Kuijten said that this conference has planned a variety of formats such as speeches, paper presentations, workshops, and highlight sessions to promote two-way interactions rather than one-way lectures so that the communications can have a multiplier effect. She also mentioned that one of the objectives of this conference is to rethink how museums can connect people and communities to their past, present, and future, in ways that are accessible, inclusive, and with care.
Meanwhile, NTM Director Hung said that Taiwan has hosted eight ICOM conferences starting in 2006 and contributed to the 2019 and 2022 conferences with close to 100 paper presentations and participants. He added that the intensive discussions at this conference helped to build international museum networks, and its ending is just a new beginning for more collaborations.
To see the highlights of this event, please visit https://www.comcol-taiwan.org/.