Preview: A handful of highlights to experience at Future Museums Congress Blooloop

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Future Museums Congress will gather leading planners, directors, curators, conservators and managers in the cultural capital of the Middle East – Abu Dhabi.

Book your delegate place now to take advantage of the early-bird 20% discount and see the ‘Planning your Trip’ section of the website for the latest air fare and hotel deals.

Congress passes available from US$220

Go to www.FutureMuseums.com/register to book your place now

Highlights you can experience at the Congress:

Investigate the icons – Wilfried Siepel who ran Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum for eighteen years, or Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovski whose father ran the Hermitage from 1964 until 1990, with Mikhail himself taking that role since 1992, or Madame Irina Antonova who has been director of the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow since 1961.

Prioritise planning – come and meet Gail Dexter Lord of Lord Cultural Resources, Canada, which has managed over 1, 700 projects, in 45 countries spread across all six continents. Gail co-authored with Barry Lord The Manual of Museum Exhibitions, The Manual of Museum Management, The Manual of Museum Planning, The Cost of Collecting and has published numerous articles on museum topics. Hear from Thomas Sevcik of Arthesia, based in Zürich and Los Angeles, about innovative projects such as Volkswagen’s Autostad.

Research the region – hear from the ICOM UAE Director Eng. Rashad Mohammed Bukhash, from Roger Mandle the Executive Director of Qatar Museums Authority, from Alessandro Goppion of Goppion SpA in Milan on the master-plan for the renovation of the Cairo Egyptian Museum, from David Wright of Arts Architecture on the master-planning of a Cultural Centre and other projects in Oman, or Stephen Greenburg of Metaphor on the master-plan for the Topkapi Palace and the strategic vision for Sur-i Sultani peninsula in Istanbul, or listen to Omarakhan Massoudi the Director of the National Museum of Afghanistan and Pamela Erskine-Loftus, the founding Head of Interpretation Education at the Sharjah Museums Department.

Managing new media – come and learn from Nancy Proctor, Head of New Media Initiatives at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, or Jasper Visser, head of web services and innovative technology at the Museum of National History in the Netherlands, or Alain Massé who is at the forefront in the development of Québec Canada’s new-media industry.

Training techniques – Danielle St.Germain-Gordon, of the American Association of Museums will be running sessions, some in Arabic. Hear from Gerri Morris of Morris Hargreaves McIntyre, who has delivered training programmes in the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Slovakia and Hong Kong.

Make an exhibition of yourself – A series of British companies as part of the ‘Experience UK’ will present all that is best in design and delivery of museum experiences; Chick Russell of Chick Russell Communications (CRC) was senior writer-producer at Walt Disney Imagineering and managed Tokyo DisneySea that draws over 10 million visitors per year and has just completed the ‘Wizarding World of Harry Potter’ an advanced new flying ride system at Universal’s Orlando Resort. Or Bart Dohmen, Managing Director, BRC Imagination Arts BV, Eindhoven, The Netherlands reaching new parts in developing the Heineken Experience in Amsterdam and the Technology Museum of Thessaloniki, Greece; Ian Moorhead of the Taylor Group, Canada will discuss the Magic Planet in the UAE, Leo Land in Thailand and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

Scintillating science – Sharon Ament, Director of Public Engagement at London’s Natural History Museum will show how its new Darwin Centre pushes the boundaries of what it means to be a museum, exposing the world of science to the public and effortlessly engaging them in the most complex of issues. Come and see what’s happening with Marie-Sophie Mugica of Universcience, Paris and Wayne LaBar of the Liberty Science Centre of New Jersey.

Restoration and conservation – come and see Prof. Dr. Joost M.A. Caen of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Conservation Studies in Antwerp, Belgium – Joost is a specialist in glass conservation or Anna Catellani the Chief Conservator at Ateljé Cattelani in Stockholm, Sweden where they have recently restored works by such artists as Salvador Dali, Lucio Fontana, Henri Matisse, Rene Magritte, Pablo Picasso and Tiziano Vecellio (attributed). Anna Catellani is educated in the Italian tradition of conservation and restoration of cultural heritage with clients including The Museum of Modern Art, The Maritime Museum, The Swedish Academy, Home of the Nobel Prize, and Karlberg Castle. Meet Sandra Smith, the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Head of Conservation since 2003 highlighting how the appropriate use of conservation knowledge helps a museum to deliver an inspirational visitor experience in a sustainable way.

Small but suggestive – Hear why Dr. Hartmut Prasch, Director of the Museum of Folk Art & Tradition in Austria believes that the big ideas are born in small museums.

Coming from America? – Dr Anan Ameri, the Director of the Arab American National Museum (AANM) will present the only museum in the United States dedicated to telling the story of Arab Americans.

Technology matters, yes it really does! – our technology showcase will highlight the latest techniques and technologies, systems and solutions. Find out about all the latest visitor systems from Matthew Petrie of Fusion Analytics, Philippe Druez of The 8ighth Day, Christopher Bazley of Antenna Audio… Multimedia applications from Jörg Engster of InformationsGesellschaft and Bernd Fürbeck of MediaScreen Bildkommunikation… 3D vision for heritage preservation and museum security from Sergey Suhovey of Artec Group Russia … Learn how to transfer museum know-how into a service brand from Dr. Daniel Fritsch and Dr. Katharina von Chlebowski of Museum & Service… Find out how you can deliver kinetic, immersive, and theatrical lit environments from Steven Rosen of Available Light… get insight into the future of showcases from John French of Click Netherfield, Markus Militzer of MBA Design & Display and Peter Hohenstatt of Goppion… Fred Meyvaert of Meyvaert Glass Engineering will show how they engineer in glass… Rob Green of ISIS will discuss the use of RFID in museums… Darin Freitag of Synthescape will address the issue of surrogacy and digital images.