The last decade brought up multiple challenges in the cultural world that affected and pushed forward a paradigm shift in most open air museums: covering divergent topics, addressing different communities, rethinking representation, digital transformation, adapting conservation and restoration practices to climate changes and extreme weather conditions.
The conference in Romania will try to explore the transformations and transformative role of open air museums, untangling some of the ardent and sensitive issues in the open air museology.
The AEOM 2026 will be also a conference about celebration, marking a double anniversary in the big open air museum family, first, by providing live in person opportunity to remember and celebrate together the 60th anniversary of the founding of our Association. We will be also honouring one of the host museums, Dimitrie Gusti National Museum, toasting for the 90 fruitful years of activity in Bucharest, the bustling capital of Romania.
The topic of the conference invites contributors to explore open air museums from a different perspective: the museum as cultural broker, a trusted intermediary that creates new links, bridges times and cultures, or moderates between groups that are often under-represented or unrepresented in the main narrative of society.