From the August 21-28th of 2022, the ICOM Prague 2022 – “The Power of Museums” general conference of the International Committee of Museums was held in Prague, the capital of Czech Republic. The ICOM General Conference is the world’s largest platform where the most current issues and innovative solutions in the museum field are discussed. Since 1948, ICOM-International Council of Museums meets the international museum community in one country every three years to discuss critical issues related to museum field, promote cultural exchanges, international cooperation to encourage actions on the local level and raise the social role of the museums. Every three years, General Conference gathers up to 3,000 to 6,000 participants from around the world to attend and participate in debates, roundtables, panel discussions, networking events and cultural activities. Within the ICOM General Conference the latest projects and products of the museum field are presented and demonstrated.
ICOM Prague 2022 also included the election of the ICOM President and governing parts. The General Conference provides museum representatives with a unique opportunity to meet and establish networking with the museum community around the world.
The ICOM General Conference is based on three main directions:
- Reviews of world-renowned experts on multidisciplinary topics of the international museum community;
- Scientific discussions related to theme of the General Conference between the International Committees of ICOM;
- Administrative sessions for the purpose of summarizing, evaluating the actions taken during the last three years to start new working terms.
The uniqueness of the 2022 ICOM General Conference is also in proving the new definition of the museum.
A museum is a not-for-profit, permanent institution in the service of society that researches, collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits tangible and intangible heritage. Open to the public, accessible and inclusive, museums foster diversity and sustainability. They operate and communicate ethically, professionally and with the participation of communities, offering varied experiences for education, enjoyment, reflection and knowledge sharing.
The conference was held in an intensive format from August 21st to August 26th. The conference program included presentations by key conference speakers, meetings of ICOM International Committees, discussions, mentoring sessions, workshops in various museums of Prague. At the DEMHIST session of House Museums, the Director of Tbilisi Museums Union has presented Soso and Kote Tsereteli Memorial House-Museum with the theme on – “House Museum as Lustration”. At the conference discussions issues such as the relationship between museums and society, ICOM’s code of ethics, resolutions, sustainable development of museums, technological development in museum spaces and digitalization of collections, protection of cultural heritage in parallel with an ongoing war in Ukraine have been reviewed. The approval of the new definition of museums was supported by voting of the majority conference attendees. During the conference a new president of ICOM and the new board members were elected, who will lead the activities of ICOM in further years.
Also, within the discussion format of the ICOM General Conference 2022, the ICOM Georgia representatives reviewed Tbilisi Museums Union as associate member candidate, that will be discussed from 2023.