November 23, 2019

NACDI Research Fellow, Simge Erdogan (Queen’s University) presented her paper “Potentialities of Museum Diplomacy: Rahmi Koc Museum’s Here Comes the Sun Exhibition” at the Twelfth International Conference on the Inclusive Museum which was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina on November 7-9, 2019. As one of the recipients of the conference’s prestigious Emerging Scholar Award, Erdogan discussed her ongoing Ph.D. research on museum diplomacy and the importance of creating a museum practice based on mutuality, exchange, and collaboration. Erdogan’s paper examines an international touring exhibition “Here Comes the Sun” (2013) as a form of cross-cultural exchange and collaboration between the Goethe Institut Istanbul and Rahmi M. Koc Museum in Istanbul, Turkey. It reveals the complexities and potentialities of museum diplomacy by considering a combination of diplomatic, curatorial, and mission-related factors behind the production and consumption of the exhibition. Through this, the study unfolds the exhibition’s educational messages and design strategies, which were used to convey certain ideas of ‘science’ and ‘education’ to the audience. Placing a particular focus on the Rahmi M. Koc Museum, its motives, benefits and contributions, the study presents museums as key actors of cultural diplomacy who produce important diplomatic outcomes by mobilizing culture and by making important contributions to the creation of intercultural skills, understanding, and knowledge.