Critique on the Article the Future of Museums

http://www.hastac.org/forums/future-museums

 

This article was very interesting on raising questions that we have been discussing over the semester when having to do with the future of how museums are going to operate. Constantly in class we have discussed what should museums do to help people participate, interact, and learn from museums. Time after time again we keep circling over the same answer we said make museums interactive. People learn more when they are able to be feel and touch.

 

The article mainly points out the easiest way to do this is through the digital world. It shows examples of art galleries and other museums that have been so proactive in the media and have maintained to be so relevant. The article brings up that it is a struggle to fully attain the identity of a museum when it has been publicly opened to the change that medias come with, “at the same time retain their expertise and authority as guardians of our culture and heritage.”

 

However I do not agree with the way that article says the museums are and should change. Instead I think that we as a class came up with a pretty good rubric of how museums should change if they are going to change due to the digital age. We also talked about the disconnect between the public and museums and we came up with a list of how to regain that connection:

 

1) Relate to the visitor explain

 

2) Information is not interpretation, interpretation is revelation through information. We need to able to discuss the information in a way that anyone can understand it

 

3) Interpretation is an art it is hard but can be accomplished by skilled individuals

 

4) The chief aim of interpretation is not instruction but provocation. Learning is best learned when provoked to learn there has to be an excitement there for it.

 

5) A whole rather than a part and address a whole person rather than a phase. Remind people of the bigger picture that is taking place and relate it to whatever is being addressed.

 

6) Interpretation to children should not be a dilution but a fundamentally different approach.

 

I believe that following the rubric that we set up museums can change and maintain their identities of guardians of culture. If they follow this and still use social medias then there is a good chance some of that identity won’t be lost.

 

 

 

Museums Standing for Education?

For me it was interesting taking this class not having a great perspective on what Museums true goals were. Firstly I thought that Museums were just big buildings that were specifically for paintings and art. Things that I thought would never interest me. On the contrary I learned that museums were meant for learning. They stood for houses of physical education things that you could look at and learn from.

 

However, now museums aren’t staying true to their intentions. I say this because through taking this course and reading about strategies and ways to get more people interested and involved it seems that the education aspect of museums is beginning to get lost in the transition. Museums are beginning to become more involved in staying relevant and trying to conform to the new digital age. Which is completely relevant for them if they want to continue being a business, however that only stresses the lack of attention to the education aspect that seems to have gone missing in modern museums.

 

“Digital tools are letting visitors experience objects in new ways.” Says András Szántó who is a writer on The Art Newspaper. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Time-to-lose-control/22092

 

But the new ways that digital tools allow aren’t allowing the objects to be expressed how the original curators intended them to. People just look, they don’t learn anymore. They just look to look because it is what we as a society do we look through pictures not actually caring about what is in them unless we are passionate about them.

 

Although this article was written in 2010 it only stresses how much the time has changed us we are more developed into the digital age taking us further from the purpose of educating and rather focuses on what is in right now.  It begins to pose the real serious question of whether museums are tools of learning or just a big place to put old crap in an organized fashion.

 

Traditional Teachings vs. New Museum Teachings

All semester we have read articles that pertain to how a museum should be curated, how items should be conserved, and how museums need to entertain the public while still trying to educate them. All of these ideas that have been followed by museum majors for a long period of time ever since the shift in museums paradigms after the WWII.  But are these teachings still relevant? Are students learning the “modern” way of running a museums? Museums have changed and therefore so must the teaching styles.

 

The article “The Future of Museums,” found on http://www.hastac.org/forums/future-museums

 

Proposed a very interesting question at the end of their article are students being properly trained for the shift in the modern museums? This is speaking of the new digital age that museums have incorporated into their daily routines. I know that in our own class we have always related most of our teachings to how it is relevant today. Especially when it comes to the social media and how they are such a big part of our society now a days. For example an extinct dinosaur has a twitter page and it tweets daily. This is just an example of the world that we live in.

 

However I am not trying to critique the world that we live in, I am critiquing the way that museum major are being taught. If this new digital age is going to completely change how we perceive museums then it is time for a change in the way museums are being taught. We might as well teach museums students how to run a successful YouTube channel and what filter to use on Instagram pictures than how to set up an exhibit. There should be more of a stress on being a relevant “hot” museum rather than a museum of learning.

 

Of Heaven and Earth

Over fall break my parents and I went to the Milwaukee Art Museum. As we entered we were first greeted by a museum worker who saw that my parents were taking pictures of the amazing architecture. These workers were all very friendly and willing to help. They even pointed out areas that are great for taking pictures. When walking through the museum, permanent exhibits most were easy to maneuver and well laid out. The overall flow of the museum was straight forward. There are two main isles and one of them leads to the other galleries while the other one holds sculpture and ends at a room for students.

The most problematic exhibit to me was one that happened to be one of their temporary, special exhibitions, advertised on their website as a headliner. It was titled Of Heaven and Earth, 500 Years of Italian Painting. Although this exhibit was one of my favorites because the of the works of art I got to see, it was also the most frustrating. It is an impressive collection that came from the Glasgow Museums. However, for an exhibit that is suppose to be chronological it was very hard to follow. There was often two directions that one could go when entering a new section. The visitor could go left or right and each direction felt like a different time period or topic. Thus, when going through the exhibit my parents and I often got confused about what time period we were in and not sure what direction to go. Often I found myself going from one side to the other to the middle. There was no clear path to the exhibit.

The museum attempted to guide the viewers through wall texts. The exhibit starts out with a wall text describing the overall exhibit and the era. Then moves on to smaller ones throughout the exhibit to explain the different time periods making up the 500 years. These attempted to direct the audience but the route often did not feel natural. This often caused great confusion because I felt conflicted between the various ways to go through the exhibit. The confusion in layout caused the exhibit to feel crowded because there were people walking in different directions. Each person was trying to fine a course. I found myself going through it differently than my parents.  Since, there were labels and bigger wall texts some context was given to the viewers. Mixing that with the odd layout meant that that some sort of knowledge of art from this time period was necessary.

The walls of this exhibition also changed colors a lot. It seemed that each new wall was a different color. At first I thought it was synced with the time period but then it became more and more frequent and no longer fit that pattern. There was often a wall stuck in the middle of the room that had a couple paintings on it as well. This made me even more confused and was never sure when was a good time to look at the middle wall. There was nothing in this exhibit that truly guided the visitor.

Another issue that I had with this exhibition was the lighting. Part of it may have been due to my height and the amount of lacquer that had been put on these paintings as a form of conversation but there tended to be a large glare on most paintings. In my opinion they could have worked to find a way that caused less of a glare. This glare made it really hard to see the details of the paintings and during these 500 years detail was a very prominent part of their painting style.

Even though the exhibit Of Heaven and Earth had many faults it was successful in demonstrating the art the 500 year span.  It also featured big-name artists such as Botticelli and Titian. The collection is made of up of important religious scenes such as the Annunciation, and also secular scenes such as landscapes. Despite all of the frustrations I had with this exhibit it was one of my favorites in the museum simply because the works of art and it did not cost extra to enter. It was a very enjoyable trip to the museum and it was not overwhelming as a whole either. I would suggest going to the The Milwaukee Art Museum to anyone because the building itself is a work of art and you get to see wonderful pieces of art that are prominent in the art history.

The Not-So-Perfect Henry Vilas Zoo

As a kid, I loved going to the zoo. What kid doesn’t, really? The institutions are basically built for children, and yet everyone, big or small, has some level of fascination for exotic animals. A few weekends ago I went to the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison, Wisconsin. My mother had told me she was going to take my grandparents and I jumped at the chance to, in a way, revisit my childhood. I could not wait to experience that sense of wonder again. Now as an adult in museum studies, my perspective and thoughts on zoos have changed.

The Henry Villas Zoo has always boasted about its free admission. This obviously allows for people of all financial backgrounds to enjoy the zoo. The economic aspect of a Zoo is definitely not something I considered when I was little. But a zoo with an admissions price, just like an museum-like establishment, limits and makes elite the people who can visit. The Henry Villas Zoo is sure to avoid this issue as it does not even charge for parking. Free admission has its problems as well though. No admission fees mean less money for the zoo. I can remember many enclosures, such as all of the bears, which were open when I was little, that no longer exist. Donations have to be lucrative.

The Henry Vilas Zoo has other problems as well. I found handicap accessibility to be lacking. My grandpa is essentially bound to his wheelchair. I pushed him around a lot myself that day. The Henry Vilas Zoo can congratulate itself on not having any stairs, however, there are many little aesthetic hills. Pushing my grandfather up a hill is not exactly easy. If it had just been my grandma with him, there is no way she would have been able to get my grandpa everywhere. The hills are inconvenient for families with young children as well. I saw many parents pushing strollers. And while pushing a baby or toddler is no where near as strenuous as pushing a grown man, the incline is still inconvenient. Unlike at an actual museum, which is indoors, different levels can not be conquered by elevators. The problem continues though as strollers are not even allowed into some of the special houses, i.e. the primate house. (My family and I took our chances with bringing in the wheelchair, however.)

It is perhaps understandable, though, that the pathways aren’t perfect as unlike museums, zoos house, care for, and thus pay for, living animals. This creates a whole new set of issues. It was impossible not to notice how pathetic the animals’ enclosures looked. Whether the animal was small or large, their enclosure looked way too small. One of the most disturbing enclosures was the giraffes. Their enclosed space was small and the ground was completely dirt. The only interruption of the flat dust was a tall metal pole with hay at the top…not a very majestic sight. The tiger enclosure was filled with foliage. But, when we were looking at the tiger, he was just constantly pacing back in forth, clearly not happy. The experience of seeing a tiger on the prowl was exhilarating, but the limited space was not able to be overlooked. So how ethical is it really to keep animals in small cages for the amusement of little kids? Even though some animals are protected by being in the care of humans, animal sanctuaries are arguably a much more comfortable and humane place for animals.

All of the issues are things I have only considered about zoos as an adult. As a kid, the Henry Vilas Zoo was just a fun place to go to and be amazed by amazing creatures. It is maybe unfortunate that the magic of the zoo has been demystified for me. For now, though, there will still be plenty of blissfully ignorant children going to the Henry Vilas Zoo and having the time of their lives.

MPM: Website vs. Museum

By Matt Meade and Danny Quijas

The Milwaukee Public Museum was an interesting experience. Though we both could not make the trip, Danny and I put our thoughts together to come up with a review of the website and physical museum

In terms of the website, it is actually quite impressive. It is very appealing and up to date. The colors and pictures provide a visually appealing layout for the viewer and the tabs at the top make for easy navigation. The research and collections department provide solid information for anybody looking to build knowledge or just to view images of collections. The website does a great job of combining both the images and text to create a nice balance for the viewer. It was interesting to see several images of the exhibits we actually seen in person. The comparison was something we had to make note of.

During our visit to the Milwaukee Public Museum we were able get a glimpse of some artifacts both first hand and behind the scenes, also. Being able to go back into the collection rooms with all the artifacts that are housed in three rooms was one of the most interesting parts. One of the best rooms was the mammoth room. It was amazing not only because it had the remains of the mammoth in it, but because it also had the skulls and a variety of osteological artifacts that most people aren’t able to see.

Furthermore, actually seeing the exhibits was fun and the most memorable. Being able to have bugs crawl onto your hands and to see all the bones that they had on display, especially the massive whale.

Also, the behind the scenes material was wonderful. It was cool to be able to look into places that many people do not typically get to see when visiting a museum. We got a true sense of the under the radar business that needs to take place in order to allow a museum to be run. For example, the botany department was interesting because of the special Native American plants that they held. The department with the all the bottled up fish and amphibians was kind of creepy but is something that is tough to find anywhere else. They even had a narwhal horn and it was awesome. We also got to be see the behind the scenes of the taxidermy. Things that would never get shown on their website reinforce the idea of how much better it is to see things in person.

Overall, it is much better to be able to see things in a physical representation rather than having to see things through a computer screen. It becomes more memorable and allows certain exhibits to trigger emotions. When an exhibit can trigger the emotions of its audience, it becomes significantly more memorable and exciting.

A Surprising Trip to the Angel Museum

Recently some of the class went on a field trip to the Angel Museum in Beloit. The museum is housed in a historic church, built in 1914, and is run with the help of Joyce Berg. The majority of the objects being shown are from her own collection, and that’s why she wanted to open the museum, to show the world the largest collection of angels. Though it might seem like an odd theme to focus on with a museum, the collection shows such a varying amount of angel figurines that it becomes a fascinating place to explore.

As we walked into the museum we were greeted by Joyce Berg in an angel costume. This is her typical attire, and as she later explained, she’s gone through numerous costumes- all including a halo, wings and dress.  The museum is one room with around 6 x-shaped display cases, all sides showcasing shelves of angels in all shapes, sizes and materials. The collection ranges from angels of the month to an angel smoke alarm to a garfield angel. Each shelf holds,depending on size, 25-40 angels. Towards the front of the room was the donated collection of Oprah’s black angels. This is one of the more popular aspects of the museum, although Oprah herself has never been there. She also has a collection of magazine and newspaper articles about the museum- all focusing on the odd idea of housing an angel collection.

After visiting the museum I decided to look at the website to see how the it was represented on the internet. I was unable to see many pictures of the collection and the website mainly focused on events that are held at the museum as well as ways to volunteer. There is also a video of Joyce Berg talking about the museum and it’s start, but again there is hardly any footage of what the museum looks like. I would suggest adding some pictures or talking about some of the odd items that are housed to attract more visitors. It’s hard to draw attention to a museum that houses an odd collection. It’s more of a tourist destination than a place to visit often for townspeople. Joyce Berg mentioned how the majority of their collections are out on display so there aren’t really new items to see each time one visits. It’s good that the website focuses on events though, being that this is a good community draw to the museum.

While the museum might sound like an odd stop for some, I think the visit was definitely worth it. I had no idea how many variations of angel figurines are out there and it was surprising to see them all in one place. This museum is unexpected- which is a great way to reel people into visiting. So many times you go to a museum and you know exactly what art pieces you’ll be seeing or what kind of science you’ll be learning about. collector museums ultimately make you interested in the variations of stuff that is out there. It makes you take a second look at objects you might normally see as junk or clutter. That’s what makes this kind of place special, and it’s definitely worth checking out.

The Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland

The Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame is probably the most well known and popular place in Cleveland for people visiting the city. A tribute to and museum for everything relating to rock’n’roll, it’s an incredibly popular place to visit for anyone who enjoys the genre of music. Growing up in Cleveland, I’ve visited the Rock’n’Roll hall of fame too many times to remember. My school would take us there every other year in elementary and middle school, and since the museum would have a new exhibit or two every month or so, I also went whenever a particular exhibit caught my eye. Having been there so many times I feel comfortable saying that while the museum does do many things right, there is at least one major flaw with it.

Before going into that though, I’ll give a brief description of it’s layout. One thing that immediately catches your eye when arriving at the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame is it’s shape. Much like the Louvre, the museum is a giant glass pyramid, a design choice I’ll talk about a bit more later. Inside the museum there are many permanent exhibits and 2-3 temporary ones at a time. In the basement, and the largest floor of the museum, there are movies on the history of Rock’n’Roll that you can watch, an exhibit on different cities and the music they produced, and an exhibit on the origins of rock’n’roll. Along with this are also displays of some of the museums collection of famous instruments and outfits from performers, and props from famous shows. On the museum’s first floor is a permanent Beatles exhibit, and an exhibit on contemporary rock’n’roll artists. A spiraling ramp takes you up to the second floor and the inside of this ramp contains plaques for all the hall of fame inductees. The second floor is where the temporary exhibits are usually contained. The third and final floor is where the hall of fame’s most popular attraction is. Here there are dozens of headphones attached to the wall, and at each one, you can listen to the entire collection of music by any artist that has been inducted into the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame. Many people have spent hours at this section of the museum.

The Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame does many things right in my opinion. It works closely with local school districts to allow kids from all over Cleveland to come visit very cheap, it constantly has new, interesting exhibits on display, and the museum has been very beneficial to the city of Cleveland thanks to the number of visitors from elsewhere in the country that it attracts. Other things it could do better though. Those in charge of choosing who is inducted into the rock hall have been accused many times of letting personal politics influence their decisions. The yearly induction ceremony for the rock hall, an event that attracts thousands each year, is rarely held in Cleveland, often being held in other cities instead even though it would be a boon to Cleveland’s economy for it to be held in the city. The museum’s design itself is also often criticized. While definitely making it interesting to look at, the pyramid design of the museum had severely restricted the amount of floor space it has to display it’s collection. All in all though, I think the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame is greatly beneficial to the city of Cleveland, bringing in tourists year round, and providing an interesting, educational, and fun environment for kids in the city to visit.

My Visit to the Charlestown Naval Yard

My visit to the Charlestown Navy Yard is one I will not soon forget. I remember walking up to the gates and being so excited to see the USS Constitution the oldest active ship in the United States Navy and the oldest active ship in the world. Perhaps the yard is mot famous for building the USS Constitution a ship that has many tales associated with her great name. She fought in the War of 1812 where she and her crew captured numerous merchant ships and fought in several major battles.

Some background on the Navy Yard, the earliest shipbuilding activity began during the Revolutionary War. The land for the Navy Yard however, was not purchased until 1800. The first ship to be built there was the USS Independence. The Yard, was mainly used for repair and not shipbuilding.

(The USS Constitution headed for port)

I arrived to the Navy Yard via cab. I had decided to visit the USS Constitution Museum earlier that day. The museum is an interactive look at what the daily life of a sailor was like during the War of 1812. It also contained some awesome information and activities about the War of 1812.I had heard the museum was very interactive and I was super excited to see how it was. One of my favorite exhibits was one where you had to “load a cannon and fire it at an enemy ship it was really fun watching the little kids do it.

The major portion of the interactive exhibit called “All Hands on Deck: A Sailor’s Life in 1812 ” was housed upstairs. The majority of this exhibit was upstairs. It began with you “meeting” with a recruiter to determine your readiness for battle. The next  step was getting your seabag full of your uniforms. The kids were able to try on the uniforms to see what they were actually like. The next step in the process, was determining how you would spend your pay. You could buy extra blankets, hard tack, or even a pair of dress shoes that would last you the entire time you were out at sea. A lot of times the  men only took along necessities and nothing more. SO having a bit of hard tack would be a real treat.

Continuing on the next stop was the sleeping quarters. I thought this was the best part. (I had been on my feet all day at this point.) They had all of the hammocks lined up just like they would have been in the bottom of the ship. I definitely took a nap here; it was super dark and calming. Then after you left that area, you headed over to learn how to hoist a sail; It was really funny watching adults do this. The arguments that happened were quite comical.

From there you reach the end of the exhibit which tells you all about what happened to real sailors on the USS Constitution. Some of the men had amazing stories. My favorite tory was one where after he was dismissed from the Navy he loved the ocean so much that he joined a group of pirates and wa subsequently arrested for his crimes. One sailor was murdered during a game of cards. I thought it was really cool to see what life after the Navy was like.

I think that the Museum was excellent. It really helped you understand the hardship that the sailors went through on a daily basis. I think that this is definitely a must see when you are in Boston either by yourself or with your family. It was a truly awesome museum. I loved the museum and how interactive it was even better than I expected!

The Subversive Museum

Many people, when they imagine a museum, will imagine something like the Field Museum in Chicago or the Louvre. In most visitors’ minds, a museum is a place of dignity and culture, which makes statements about civilization (either western or a specific nonwestern cultural group) and offers visitors some mode of experiencing or learning something through artifacts or pieces of art. Typically, there is an aspect of museums all museum-goers expect, and that is truth. We expect that a painting from the Renaissance is a genuine Renaissance painting, that the Chumash arrowheads are genuine Chumash arrowheads, and that the ancient bog mummy is really an ancient bog mummy. The museum, we expect, is a place of authenticity.

But what of places which do not quite fit with the idea of a museum as pillars of dignity and authenticity?

Recently, I read a book titled Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder: Pronged Ants, Horned Humans, Mice on Toast, and Other Marvels of Jurassic Technology by Lawrence Weschler, the 1996 winner of the Pulitzer for non-fiction. The book discusses the Museum of Jurassic Technology, located in Culver City, Los Angeles. I was interested not only because I like museums but also because, as a Los Angeles native rather proud of her awareness of the more obscure Los Angeles points of interest, I had never even heard of the Museum of Jurassic Technology, despite it being located a mere twenty minutes from my uncle’s house.

The Museum’s Storefront

The book itself begins as a discussion on the museum and its creator, David Hildebrand Wilson. The museum was created in the style of early European cabinets of curiosities, featuring an array of strange artifacts from across the world. Weschler describes some of the museum’s exhibits: a species of African stink ant afflicted by a spore which hijacks ant’s brain and causes it to grow a horn-like growth that then explodes to release more spores to infect other ants; humans with horns; and fruit pits carved into intricate sculpture.

Carved Fruit Pit on Display

The oddest thing about the Museum of Jurassic technology is that, while it is a museum, not all of its holdings are legitimately what they portend to be, and the museum makes no distinction between those and the ones which are real and “true.” The horned ants, for one, are not a fabrication. The Deprong Mori, bats alleged by the museum’s web feature to emit x-rays rather than high-pitched clicking for echolocation, are in fact inauthentic.

The Stink Ant of the Camaroon

While Weschler’s book did a lot to educate me on the topic of this strange place, I wanted to know more. Stranded two-thousand miles away from Los Angeles in the middle of the Midwest, I could not exactly make a visit, so I turned to articles and reviews posted online and scoured the museum’s website.

As a place designed as a cabinet of curiosities, the museum seems to ignore the majority of a century’s worth of museological developments. Cabinets of curiosity were created as places full of artifacts lacking defined categorical boundaries, including archaeological finds, artwork, relics, items of natural history, geological specimens, and ethnographic pieces. These objects were frequently fakes placed in the cabinet with little scholarly intent. Today, museums love boundaries; everything has its provenience, and God forbid something fake be presented as real. The Museum of Jurassic Technology, while designed as a cabinet of curiosity, introduces itself on its website as “an educational institution dedicated to the advancement of knowledge and the public appreciation of the Lower Jurassic.” It does not define “Lower Jurassic,” which helps to clue any potential visitor into the idea that a visit to this “museum” is not going to resemble a visit to the Museum of Natural History. It makes one almost wonder why it’s considered a museum in the first place.

The Museum of Jurassic Technology is something of an experiment in presenting the authentic and the inauthentic as equally true to demonstrate an idea far larger than “Look at all these items; aren’t they interesting?” The point of the museum is best expressed by Edward Rothstein for his feature on the museum in the New York Times: “This is actually a museum about museums. It takes the forms of one—the lighting, the labels, the scholarly references—and uses them to inspire wonder not just at the objects (real or invented) but at the nature of museums themselves, the way they select items from the world and allow us to recognize them as strange and wonderful.”

The Museum of Jurassic Technology challenges the preconceived model we have of the authentic museum, but it also manages to transcend the cabinet of curiosities by speaking to a human truth. Rothstein notes in his feature a “devout homage being paid to the world and to what we make of it.” It is a celebration of the human by subverting human preconception. It’s a place meant to inspire thought and appreciation of the things humans do and how we display those things. While many of its holdings would be considered fakes, they are not fakes in the context of the Museum of Jurassic Technology; they are items made by humans and presented in a way that is surprisingly honest within the context of the point the museum is trying to make.

In the twenty-five years of the museum’s existence, the museum’s status as a whole mish-mash of subversion, oddness, and honesty has allowed it to develop something of a cult following. Museum studies students regularly make pilgrimages to it. I myself, as a Los Angeles native, am planning to make my own pilgrimage when I return home for winter break, and I’m excited to see this place I’ve read so much about in person.