Reflecting the Now: Project Management and Contemporary Collecting in a Multi-disciplinary Museum

Abstract

Two million visitors a year pass through the new permanent galleries of the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. This article reflects on the planning and collecting that presaged their redevelopment in the context of twenty-first century museum practice in the UK. We focus in particular on two elements: firstly, the fundamental project management work that underpins any development of this kind. Were established methodologies and practices conducive to open-ended activities like research? Secondly, we ask this question specifically of contemporary collecting in art, and in science. Can the known unknowns and the unknown unknowns of contemporary collecting be accommodated by project management workflows?