Visual Culture and Hybrid Practices in Digital Public History: Contextualizing the "Frames of Reconstruction" online exhibition

Abstract

The article draws upon the practical experience of the authors with researching,developing, and curating the digital historical content for the onlineexhibition Frames of Reconstruction. In its first part, it reflects uponthree main theoretical issues related to the realm of contemporary publichistory. Firstly, it investigates the open borders between the disciplines ofacademic and public history to position them in a dialogical relationship.Secondly, it pays attention to the importance and roles of visuals and thepossibilities which the study of visual sources brings into public historyprojects. The iconosphere is discussed not only from a theoretical point ofview, but also serves as the methodological grounding of the article. Lastly,the theoretical section opens up some basal theoretical and methodologicalquestions brought to the area of public history by the extensive processof digitization. In relation to the online exhibition Frames of Reconstructionit mostly responds to the conceptualization of digital public history as offeredby Serge Noiret (2018) and Andreas Fickers (2022) through his conceptof digital hermeneutics. The analytical part then revolves around the criticalexamination of the authors' own practical experience in the field of digitalpublic history. Particularly, the collapse of the roles of researcher and curatoris discussed along with the request for sustainability, transnationality, anddemocratic educational potential which can be seen as specific in the caseof the medium of online exhibition.