Remembering the Present. The Pandemic in Museum Collections in the Light of Rapid Response Collecting Method

Abstract

Collecting items pertaining to current events, at the very moment they happen, has been known at least since the time after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York in 2001. Such a practice is associated with the Rapid Response Collecting method. The challenge for museums on how to keep track of history happening in front of our eyes was the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Museums, like other cultural institutions in times of lockdown, had to relocate their efforts and switch to virtual activities. The article analyzes the practical initiatives of some museums, namely, two from abroad and two from Poland, to show how these institutions decided to remember the times of the pandemic, thus implementing the strategy of „rapid response” and the principle of participation. At the same time, we would like to prompt reflection on what will remain in our memory following these difficult two years, i.e., what artifacts, situations, and emotions will be associated with the „times of the plague”.