Reflexões sobre o museu virtual

The paper analyses some relationships between Museology and the concept of virtual – using, as object of analysis, the virtual museum. Pierre Lévy defines ‘virtual’ according to the vocabulary of philosophy, as something that is not static. The origin of the term would be the Latin virtualis, derived from virtus, that signifies force, potency: the tree, for example, would be virtually present in the seed. The virtual is in process, implies complexity. It is problematic and circumstantial. It does not bring solutions, but problems, since it contains a degree of indetermination. It implies freedom, being understood as a permanent ‘to-be’. Virtual would thus be something that is in constant process of change. Therefore, it might be asked whether the internet, as a medium of manifestation, would be the unique qualifier of the virtual museum.The approach is complemented with the analysis of two examples of existing museums: the Museum of the Person (Museu da Pessoa, Brazil) – as an electronic virtual museum, webmuseum or cybermuseum, existent only in the internet; and the Temporary Museum of Permanent Change, in Salt Lake City, Utah (USA), as a museum organized out of the internet