How are museums uniquely placed to grapple with the scale of the Anthropocene and its demands on the imagination for thinking about the deep past and deep futures? How can museums bring history and lived human experience to a narrative defined by material flows and technological change? How does the concept of the Anthropocene challenge traditional museum modes and practices?

This roundtable explores the power of objects and collections to stir hearts and minds, to engage communities affected by change, and to bring into focus diffuse phenomena such as global atmospheric changes that can only be ‘seen’ and ‘felt’ through their expression in the immediate material world. It also explores the potential for Museums to foster safe public places in which different individuals and communities can come together, share ideas and feelings, and understand the challenges of the Anthropocene.

Each panel member will speak briefly on their current project or special area of research (approx 7 mins each) to set the context for the discussion, including: a new environmental gallery at the National Museum of Australia, the history of a proposed national biological museum, Anthropocene object stories, environmental art and activism, and collaborations between museums and communities.