As a museum interpreter my job is often to condense countless hours of study, learning, and research into a three minute blurb designed and delivered in such a way that the visitor makes *any* sort of connection with it and hopefully takes even a fragment of it home.
And honestly, that's what 99% of guests want, and that's fine. It really, truly is.
Sometimes a guest responds to the summary with "oh that's really neat, you sure know a lot!" And I smile, and thank them, and mention that the topic is adjacent to my field of study, so I sometimes get pretty geeky about it.
And every now and then they respond "Oooooh, can you tell us more?"
Then I get to *grin* and ask if they're sure, and how much time do they have, and how are their feet feeling, are they good to stand some more or do we need to find a place to sit? And then we're off!
And those are the interactions I live for at work.
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We'll, I've now got a new answer for the fairly standard "What's the weirdest question you've been asked in a museum?"
Work today, guest walks into the gallery.
Me: [give standard, rote greeting which ends with] and please let me know if you have any questions or are looking for anything in particular, I'll do my best to help you out.
Him: Yeah, I do actually. Where's your Wild West stuff? I'm here to see Wild West stuff.
Me: ....?? Ah, sir? This is the [city] city and indigenous history museum. I'm not sure we have what you're looking for?
Him: Nah, you've got to have Wild West stuff.
Me: ...could you please define "Wild West" for me?
Him: Anything west of the Mississippi between 1800 and 1900.
Me: [screaming internally. Because technically. Technically, yes, we are (north)west of the Mississippi and I can talk about history here in that time range. But also no. Just. No.] also [Politely directing him to things that will probably interest someone who wants to learn about cowboys and gold rushes and frontiers, those being other things he cited.]
Please, for the love of all that is good, while we're here in the museum gallery and unless there's a valid concern about your parking expiring or something, do not try to shut your kid up when they're talking to me passionately about their favourite video game.
Why? I promise you, they are learning something. Many somethings! Right now! And making connections! And that's why I'm here! To help that happen!
I swear, yes, I honestly DO want to hear them talk about playing Minecraft. Have some reasons:
- they're passionate about something! Look the world is going to try hard enough to crush that out of them. Let's not start now. Please let me show them that it's okay to be passionate about something.
- that people want to hear them, to listen to them.
- yes! You turn wool from sheep into beds! So do other people! Check out these cool tools that people have used for thousands of years, yes, I want to hear how you think they might work! Do you know any other animals whose fur people have spun? You're right, goats! And also dogs, and camels, and other animals too!
- your favourite thing to do is mine obsidian? Cool! Yeah, falling into the lava sucks, I hate it when that happens. I have some obsidian here, want to see it? Let's talk about what you see and where it comes from and what people have done with it. This rock probably came from [place]. You live there?! Yeah, the place you come from is really interesting!
And please, adults, this whole thing will go SO MUCH more smoothly (and faster) if you can refrain from being embarrassed about your kid thinking a video game is fun.
This free to download comment card is a very interesting idea. As museums and galleries are increasingly being challenged on their traditional interpretation, this is one way to raise concerns by popping something in the comments or donations box.
I'm especially fond of "Totally Impenetrable", which applies to a few art galleries I've been in.
Created by Alice Procter and available (along with other thought provoking things) at https://www.theexhibitionist.org
I’ll be honest...house museums are not usually my thing. Which is ironic considering that’s often the first thing that comes to mind when I people hear that I’m in the historic preservation field. This speaks to the evolution of preservation and how we are working to go beyond the typical conceptions to create a more dynamic, inclusive, and adaptive approach.
The Maine Historical Society is right now the street from Greater Portland Landmarks, so today the interns took a field trip to investigate their special collections library and tour the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow house museum. We were actively looking for the “do not touch” signs once we realized they all had cheeky sayings! MHS also currently has an exhibition on food culture, production, and history in Maine. Not pictured is me sitting in the life-size Ham Italian sandwich that Mainers take great pride in (it sounds just like a normal ham sandwich but I can’t knock it until I try it). In addition to the jumbo plush sandwich (a brilliant idea to encourage social media posts) there were also several tactile displays, including a “guess the smell.” It was a great to see how they’re taking museum interpretation and having fun with it to engage visitors.
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An upstairs Dwelling House room at Canterbury Shaker Village provides Shaker-style clothing for children to try on. I love dress up nooks, but in this one no labels welcomed visitors to try on clothing. Many of the other items in the village had labels that read “deny thy temptation”:
Since:
a) visitors familiar with historical museums are conditioned not to touch objects and
b) all visitors have been told frequently throughout this museum not to touch objects,
I felt that a "please touch” label would have been useful here.
[A cubist-inspired painting of a woman swimming with a illegible label placed to the left.]
Source: Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
Opinion: Labels, in general, were too small. The font size forced visitors to walk very close to the paintings to read the label then move back to view the artist’s large canvases.
Unrelated: The security was less intimidating than in many other art museums I’ve been in, but the ICA is sorely lacking in seating.
How Text and Display Might Keep Museum Fatigue Away!
While I was researching mobile museum education (another blog entry for another day), I found an interesting article on SF Mobile Museum's blog. THanks SFMM!
MUSEUM FATIGUE. Been there, talked about it lots. This article in The Australian offers some more insight on the topic: Too Much For The Brain To Take In.
A few thoughts:
1) I like the bit about how contemporary art frequently strives to stand out and grab our attention by becoming more flashy and vibrant. I'm not sure I agree that such art fails to create a transformative or meaningful experience for people, but I do find it unfortunate that contemporary exhibitions often have no text panels or context. As though the show-stopping qualities of these pieces speak loudly enough for themselves. Well that's rarely the case isn't it, and we know how alienated we can feel when we're not in on the joke.
2) According to the director of Bath's Holburne Museum, most visitors find their personal discoveries to be their favourite memory of a museum visit, rather than the highlighted or showcased works of art (slightly self-defeating). What does this mean for guided tours, and how can we improve self-guided learning strategies in museum interpretation?
3) The challenge apparently is in finding the correct spacing, or rhythm, of an exhibition. How do we encourage more time spent with individual works? "Spaces without work are as critical as the paintings", says the Holburne director. Insert cafe. Garden. Atrium. Continue with fresh perspective.
4)We all look and experience differently, and there's no right answer. So what gives!
Which [I think] brings me to my visit to Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam!
I went to the massive Boijmans in the afternoon, after visiting two other museums, and I kept it together! Like no coffee breaks, minimal yawning, and rapt attention. Here's why...
The place has an incredible collection, with over 3,000 paintings from the 15th century to present day. While I loved the New Energy in Design and Art exhibition, I was mostly captivated by The Collection Enriched - the temporary display of Boijmans' permanent collection.
I love how the museum rearranges its permanent collection every two years, offering a new perspective on its narrative and dusting off some works of art that were previously in storage. I think this tradition of switching things up every now and then has allowed for some exciting and way more dynamic interpretation.
While the collection is displayed in the weird old building of the Boijmans - cramped, identical (crazy mirror-image) corridors and rooms with no windows and low lighting - there is a light atmosphere in the gallery spaces because of the text panels.
Really, you ask? Can the text make such a difference? I say YEA, it totally did. Look at this panel, situated outside the "Rejects" room:
The tone of voice is casual, catchy, and completely accessible. And most of all, the meta-textual element of exposure that the Boijmans is employing presents the museum as an active participant and role player in the history of these art works: how and why they were collected and displayed, and in this case shown above, why they didn't work with the big picture.
I find this provides a whole new layer of experience for the visitor by deconstructing these institutional decisions. As a visitor myself, I learned much more about a painting's value, context, and place in the museum, rather than passively skimming over some blurb about the period of Dutch realist paintings in whatever century it came from.
And this also kept me awake:
This post might have been a bit scatter-brained...lots of thoughts going on at once.
But if you're anywhere near Rotterdam, be sure to check out The Collection Enriched before April 2013!
