Ideas What will museums be like in the future? Short essay collection by museum leaders and innovators from around the world In issue 10 of Museum Identity magazine we invited museum leaders and innovators from around the world to explore the future of museums. We received a tremendous response. Below are some of the highlights which illustrate the clarity of vision and purpose within the museums sector. Join the project and add your thoughts on the future of museums. Email approx 250 words to info@museum-id.com (mailto:info@museum-id.com) Authentic, Trusted, Accessible by Mark Graham, Director of Research, Canadian Museum of Nature The future is full of tall challenges and that is not a new thing. Some of those are certain, and of the serious-decision-making-new-direction sort. We know this because we can count, and we know the human population is growing faster than we can accommodate. Every economic, environmental and social challenge can be traced in short order to our remarkable ability to reproduce and survive. Considering the road ahead, the museum of the future has important roles to play. Museums are full of trusted evidence (collections) marking time and place that we use to tell stories to remind us of what has happened on Earth, and beyond. It reminds us of the way we live our lives (our cultures), and how millions of other species live their lives. More than ever, we will use that knowledge to be informed, and to nourish our sense of being. The evidence will remind us of what we like and need most, and help us to plan for those things more and better. The collected knowledge will also remind us of the worst we are capable of. If we are wise and strong the knowledge will be used to guard against our failures.
The future museum will provide easy access to its trusted knowledge base, and to the stories to be told. Relevant, successful museums will find affordable, timely solutions for this access, made possible by adapting to ever-emerging technology; a continuing enslavement. Because of their authenticity and new-found accessibility, museums will be the enduring “-pedias”. .......................................................................................................................................................................... The Future is Now by Adam Reed Rozan, Audience Development Manager, Oakland Museum of California For most centenarians, a birthday is a celebrated with family, friends, and the chance encounter on the local news for such a feat. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for museums, our communal super-centenarians, which now, more than ever, believe thinking and acting younger is better, and reinvention is key. This trend started several years ago, and is easily spotted in marketing departments, which are now re-titled with fancy descriptors like audience development. New to this mix is engagement, a role/function which stems from the need to further align curatorial, marketing, and education in an effort to capture the attention of today’s visitors. After all, it’s about the visitors. For museums and museum employees, the debate between objects and visitors will continue to grow - each side believing their argument is right. If the idea of museums being in the “forever” business is no longer a wise business model, what is? The future is a working relationship in which collections become the ‘all-stars’, used as entry points for visitors, including those who may only participate online. By using collections creatively, engaging in the dialogue and activity of today’s culture, while presenting our institutions as thought leaders is a glimpse of a hopeful future. The next 10 years will continue to prove challenging for museums. Today’s issues will not dissipate; if anything they will multiply. Yet, despite such a negative outlook, many museums will thrive, using challenges as opportunities to test new business and engagement models, and, in doing so, meeting the future head on. .......................................................................................................................................................................... Sustainability and Well-being by Tony Butler, Director, Museum of East Anglian Life How different will museums be in the future? On the surface not much. They will still be situated in large buildings, they will still have abundant collections and people will still desire to see and feel the real thing. I hope they will be as diverse as they are now.
The museums of the future that will really connect with their audiences will be the ones which place sustainability and well-being at their heart. They’ll reflect the global challenges of climate change and the decline in living standards with which we are now becoming familiar. Museums should not just see themselves as places for learning or houses of collections but as civic connectors leading the re-imagining of a more liveable world. As more and more public space is privatised museums should realise their advantages as accessible places for encounters. They’ll also be rallying points for the community, leading local campaigns, connecting up civic society groups, using their collections in a more activist way to illuminate local concerns. Alternatively they should realise their roles as places for sanctuary from commercial messages and reflection. Being a high well-being, sustainable organisation isn’t just about programming or collecting decisions. It is as much about institutional behaviour. Museums should be judged on what they are as well as what they do. Ask the following questions: • Do you have people who play a true leadership role in local civil society? • Do local people make decisions both about programming and governance? • Do you actively lead campaigns in your locality based on clearly articulated values? • Have you ever measured the museum’s impact on the environment? • Have you ever shared your assets with community groups and enterprises? • Do you really know how emotionally engaged your users are? Are they happy or sad or are they just indifferent? Embracing these challenges could lead to an invigorating transformation that places museums at the heart of an active public realm with significant benefits for society and museums alike. .......................................................................................................................................................................... Democratisation and Co-production by Iain Watson, Director, Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums Over the next 5 - 10 years, I think, and hope, that the big change in museums will be a further shift in the balance of power between funders and investors, museum staff and volunteers and museum users. The last 20 years have seen great strides in democratisation and co-production, with fantastic exhibitions and projects led by and initiated by user groups. In publicly funded museums we need to see more of a join up between consultation and engagement and the overall strategic direction of the organisation.
Current initiatives around impact assessments and public consultations on the expenditure of public money are often either very high level (for example Whole Council level), or very specific (for example at ward level). I am convinced that museums will develop new ways of bringing their users in, not just to plan an exhibition on the story of a particular locality. The permeability of museums and communities to each other will increase. .......................................................................................................................................................................... Collaborations and Imagination by Celia Dominguez, Education and Development Officer, Museum of East Asian Art The future of museums is becoming a balancing act between surviving the devastating consequences of funding cuts and striving to make the best of the creative minds working in the sector. Over time, the image of museums has evolved throughout history. Two centuries ago, the French author and politician Alphonse de la Martine (1790 -1860) said that museums were “the cemeteries of the arts”, you can find similar quotes by John Burroughs (1837 –1921) or J.D. Salinger when he writes in his infamous novel The Catcher in the Rye (1951) “…museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move. …Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you.” Contrary to these ideas of immobility associated to museums we can affirm that, no matter how hard the current situation is, museums are experiencing an exciting and vibrant moment. We proudly belong to one of the few sectors that does not completely stop because of the lack of funds since our capital also relies on so many other aspects such as collaborations, contributions, partnerships etc. The use of imagination in order to get as many visitors involved as possible in what is not now just a “place full of objects” but rather a total vital experience. Therefore it is not the “Big Society” but the passion, creativity and will power of all the professionals in the sector that is going to put the weight on the right side of the balance.” .......................................................................................................................................................................... Reflecting in Real-time by Julie Obermeyer, Curator and Manager, The Peace Museum I work for an independent museum that currently has little technology (display screens, computer interactive consoles, hand-held devices, etc) in its galleries. But increasingly I see museums embracing new technologies and opening up to the idea and practice of more democratically created exhibitions with museum audiences as co-creators. These changes have been taking place for some time and will continue apace into the foreseeable future but what will remain that will distinguish museums from theme parks and entertainment centres is the fact that museums have historically important collections and staff who have the expertise to make creative but informed use of the collections.
With the opening up of museum interpretation by more democratic practices museum interpretation will change quite significantly in the years ahead. Specifically, museums will be able to move further away from having a dominant narrative to multiple narratives which can dialogue with one another and with museum audiences both meaningfully and respectfully. This will in turn affect the content and themes which museums will want to cover and will effectively enable museums to approach subjects and themes which hitherto may have appeared too problematic or controversial for them to want to tackle. This will in turn provide museums with more confidence to respond to and reflect on more contemporary topics, almost in real-time. Contemporary collecting will become more important, too, as museums rise to the challenge of being more responsive to the unfolding of recent events. .......................................................................................................................................................................... Uniquely Placed for Reflection by Richard Freedman, Director, South African Holocaust and Genocide Foundation In South Africa, as we struggle with the legacy of apartheid, including pervasive poverty, racism and xenophobia, the place of human rights and democracy education has assumed added importance. Museums are uniquely placed to engage in using history to reflect on contemporary issues. Using the platform of Holocaust history has proved successful in moving South Africans through time and space, away from the context in which they live, and by so doing to engage with their own history and the issues of our time. The themes that run through the programmes conducted with school and university students, police and correctional services and in-service educators include the fragility of democracy, the dangers of stereotyping, marginalization, apathy and silence, all of which emerge so eloquently from Holocaust History. In a post traumatic society like South Africa there is a need to engage with our own past in order to recognize were we have come from and to find a way into the future. South Africans have not had sufficient opportunities for healing and thus the experience of visits to the Holocaust centre and exposure to its programmes have provided, for many, a sorely needed opportunity to reflect on the deep issues troubling us still. South Africa’s High school curriculum is closely aligned to the National Constitution and Bill of Rights. Teachers are enjoined to infuse human rights awareness into all aspects of the curriculum. The inclusion of Holocaust studies as a mandated unit has begun to have significant impact and has placed our institutions in a unique position to support both teacher training and development of appropriate materials which contextualise the teaching of the Holocaust in South Africa’s own history. The South African Holocaust Centres (we do not refer to ourselves as museums) regard their permanent exhibitions as a teaching tool and we see that through their use as such we will be able in some measure to contribute to nation building. There is much work to be done.
.......................................................................................................................................................................... No place for Elitism by Carlos Alejandro López Ramírez, Director, Salsa Museum - Cali, Colombia First of all it is vital to reflect on museums in their own cultural and social context. It will be different for museums in Europe or North America, or as in my case, in South America, specifically in Colombia. The Latin American context is very different, so if the museums here do not become cultural centers where you can integrate education, recreation and preservations, in 15 years there are not going to be any museums. It is vital to show the community that the museum is not a temple or elitist, but a place where they can find leisure activities, knowledge, entertainment, and over all, identification of their own heritage and culture. Therefore, it is very important to have authentic governmental promotion policies for museums. The fight for these rights must be done by the union of the museums administrators and workers; it is fundamental to work in networks and groups to have a real voice. .......................................................................................................................................................................... A Naturally Compelling Future by Sharon Ament, Director Public Engagement, The Natural History Museum In a world which necessitates the navigation of scientific issues for people to live their daily lives and one which has rapidly changing natural resources the future for natural history museums is compelling. As the repository of the world’s natural heritage the collective contribution that the international network of natural history museums can make to some of the most pressing scientific issues of the day is profound. We in London alone have more than 70 million specimens and in European museums it numbers more than 500 million. Each collection has its strengths, built up over hundreds of years, drawn from particular geographies and with particular specialisms. Internationally this represents a rich picture of the world’s natural diversity over time and place; a resource which is drawn on by thousands of scientists each year. The future challenge is to consider it collectively as a shared global resource. To meet this challenge we will need to have stronger collaborations within the museum sector and beyond with universities, government agencies, libraries, digital enterprises and business. Natural history museums are at the centre of public discourse. With the environment high on the agenda I can think of no other part of the museum sector that has the potential to engage at the highest political level and with such potency at the personal level. Looking to the future we will need
to tread a careful path, as trusted institutions we must continue to guard public confidence in our objectivity, whilst putting forward strong views on evolution, climate change and biodiversity loss. Moreover, simply by inhabiting the spaces we do in cities and towns, natural history museums will become even more significant, in the urban lives of the majority of the world’s population where perhaps we are the only connection with the natural environment for people who will never venture into or feel comfortable in the countryside. Due to our roots to the past our contribution to the future is likely to have a greater impact than many of us can currently imagine. .......................................................................................................................................................................... Have a Strong Focus or Struggle by Paul Rowe, Joint CEO, Vernon Systems Every museum needs to develop a clear area of expertise. This shapes their collecting policy and gives a focal point for the public. In their area of expertise they need to be trusted, sharing and engaging. Museums that don’t have a strong focus will struggle to find the resources to manage their collections and will find it difficult to build an audience for their content. The world is changing people look for sources they can trust when they need information, but they are increasingly expecting to be able to re-use that information in different ways, and to be able to discuss the information with the provider and a wider audience. Museums of the future will engage with their visitors in the museum, with the physical spaces outside of the museum and with virtual audiences they build around specific subjects. Conversations between museums and the public help fill the gaps in our stories. Without these conversations museums risk the audience moving on to a new venue. .......................................................................................................................................................................... Evolving for the 21st Century? by Roy Clare, Director, Auckland Museum - Tamaki Paenga Hira, New Zealand Museums face two major challenges: how to collect sustainably; and how to remain relevant. These challenges reflect the abiding principles of museums: collections-centred, audience-focused. No museum can afford to acquire everything that is available. Discernment is crucial, coupled with a rigorous analysis of the collections, focusing both on acquiring and disposing.
Expectations of museums are changing. Leisure time is at a premium. Consumers make choices based on perceived value and potential for excitement. Some museums neglect their collections and become ‘attractions’, losing authority as places of scholarship and learning. Others fail to keep up with changing patterns of use, with risks for viability. Digital media are core to people’s lives, so museums need fluency in that environment too, from promotion and access to engagement. Museum Boards and executives need to: • Drive policies for managing collections. A whole life-cycle strategy should systematically encompass: goal-setting; acquiring new items; caring for collections; making as much as possible available to the public (physically, in galleries; virtually, on-line; and intellectually, through research programmes and published resources); assessing duplication and merit; and enabling disposal. • Really understand their market. Including those people that are neither visitors nor users. Based on that evidence, decision-makers can reach conclusions about the style, pace and nature of programmes. Partnerships can support delivery in more than one location, reaching more diverse audiences, being innovative and generating revenues. The profile of a museum starts with leadership and risk appetite; creative ambition and entrepreneurialism should follow, so that evolution matches public demand. .......................................................................................................................................................................... Leading Social Change by Camilo Sanchez, Museum of Independence, Colombia Museums in the future will have to respond faster to social and economical change. I am writing this while attending at an international museum conference, and I keep hearing byzantine discussions about the rather old conundrum of what is more important between objects or people, or how important, or not, it is to have standards in museums. I really hope that in the near future that kind of discussion will be superseded and we start talking seriously about how to become relevant social agents that can quickly adapt to a world that changes faster every day. I know it might be Utopia, but I would love to see museums become important for communities, not only because they guard their heritage, but rather because they lead social change and become places that help to effectively solve problems (or at least think of solutions) that are becoming sadly recurrent, like economical global crisis, terrorism, rapid climate change, racial discrimination, increasing poverty and crime. That way, people will stop thinking that culture and museums are, like a Dutch politician stated recently, “a left-wing hobby”.
.......................................................................................................................................................................... To Ponder and Participate by Ailsa Barry Head of New Media, The Natural History Museum What is this life if full of care We have no time to stand and stare? This poem, published in 1911 by Welsh poet William Henry Davies, conjures up for me the very essence of a museum - a place to pause, reflect and ponder on the amazing world and universe that we inhabit. In the 21st Century I hope it continues to be as true as it was for the 20th Century. But the 21st Century is a very different environment from that of a hundred years ago, and the museum of the future will require a rethink on how to captivate a generation brought up on gaming and Facebook. Our future visitors will expect to be able to enrich and layer their experience by seamlessly accessing multi-dimensional experiences about the objects around them through a plethora of personal mobile devices. Data about their visit will be captured and analysed in real time, giving a dynamic experience that responds to their needs. And they will want to respond, participate and share their experiences with a global audience as the mood takes them. There will be challenges in meeting such demands. How much museums invest in creating such rich and varied experiences will be a significant consideration, and new partnerships and ways of working internally, regionally and internationally will be key to successful delivery. But in developing such a digitally rich and accessible environment, museums will be able to reach out and engage a broader global community - enabling them to stop, stare, ponder and participate with the world around them. .......................................................................................................................................................................... Change and Variety by Mona Rashid Bin Hussain, Head of Adult and Academic Programmes at Sharjah Museums Department, and PhD Candidate at Leicester University, School of Museum Studies Over the last 40 years almost 40 museums have opened around the United Arab Emirates (UAE). All of them are local government funded and half of them display heritage/history collections that are intended to preserve the cultural identity of the region. 10 years ago the common idea was that museums would display collections intended for the tourist market. Nowadays there is more variety. There are 22 museums in the Emirate of Sharjah and 9 museums in the Emirate of Dubai. Abu Dhabi is currently building a cultural district on Al Sadyaat Island which will include 2 internationally
linked museums, the Guggenheim Museum and the Louver Abu Dhabi. It will also have two national museums, The Maritime Museum and The Zayed Museum. These expansions, part of Abu Dhabi 2030 Urban Structure Framework aim to place UAE on the cultural tourism map. While museums are planned for a diverse population that reflects the large expatriate community of the UAE, the museum planners are researching ways in which a museum visit would become part of the local Emirati culture. Change is already evident with increasing number of studies have shown that people who visit museums in the past are the most likely to visit in the future. This will create a museums lovers’ community and hopefully a place where museums can be places where the community can learn about each other and the world around them. .......................................................................................................................................................................... Museums are Mirrors by Linda Duke, Director, Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, Kansas State University Museums are mirrors. In them we see the history and complicated features of ourselves, we the human beings. It doesn’t matter if the focal subject of a museum is history or culture, science or art, the natural world or the most “unnatural” outcomes of human activity; all museums are about us because we have made them. In their display cases and gallery installations museums show us in tangible forms the qualities of our own perceptions, understandings, and ways of thinking. People are made up of many parts and pieces, physically, intellectually, and emotionally. Some of these parts are not easily compatible – and so we keep them separate, often unconsciously. Museums reflect this tendency; science, art, and history each have their stories. The next challenge for museums is to become places where wholeness can be glimpsed, places that allow us to step above the separate narratives and benefit from the intriguing implications of their contradictions. The really enduring spiritual traditions of humanity have always had paradox at their cores; but they have also taught oneness. Oneness: so simple it hurts; so complex that the logical functions of our minds cannot encompass it. Oneness is a spiritual insight; wholeness is its grounded, material counterpart. My hope for the future of museums is that they will become places that help us sense wholeness so that our science, arts, and history may bring us insight, not simply knowledge. .......................................................................................................................................................................... Flexible and Resilient by Gina Koutsika, Head of National Programmes and Projects, Imperial War Museums My view is that the fundamental components of museums - collections and people - will remain the
same. However, the way we define them has been evolving and will continue to do so to reflect social, political and economic trends. Our mechanisms of acquisition, conservation, access and delivery will also develop to mirror both technological advances and society’s attitudes to leisure activities and learning. Our programme of activities will be more focused on key strategic aims and comprehensive across teams. We will probably become more flexible and resilient, both as institutions and as professionals. We will aim to be integrated and integral to our communities so that we build a culture of sharing and of creating mutually beneficial partnerships. The projects and programmes we prioritize will be increasingly more outwards looking and sustainable. In the very near future, technologies such as cloud computing will change the way we work with each other and with our communities. Social networking will probably become more integrated in the way we operate, form partnerships and position our institutions. We will learn to be creative, effective and happy in an ever-changing environment. Am I too optimistic? .......................................................................................................................................................................... The Future is Interaction by Jakub Nowakowski, Director, Galicia Jewish Museum, Poland Museums that exist today are certainly different in many ways than those in the past. Before, museums were institutions of authority that transmitted specific messages down to the public about the past from behind glass display cases, tape, and “do not touch” signs. Gradually, they evolved into places that invite visitors to participate in an interactive and exciting journey. They have changed from institutions where information was directed in only one way: towards the viewer into institutions that are increasingly creating conversations with the viewer. Visitors are invited to participate, are pulled into the life of the museum, not only as passive spectators, but also as active participants. The Galicia Jewish Museum in Krakow, Poland, is one example of these new dynamic institutions, and has launched a variety of programs for visitors (both Polish and foreign) creating opportunities for them to use the museum space for their own cultural projects like plays, concerts, and temporary exhibitions that contribute to the museum. Through the “Museum Means More”, program the Galicia Jewish Museum held over 200 such events for all age groups.
It seems that the future of cultural institutions lies in interaction - and not just through the connections created by increasingly popular modern technologies – but, most of all, by inviting visitors to become involved in the life of the museum – their museum. .......................................................................................................................................................................... Re-invent the Museum by Stuart Gillis, Head of Derby Museums The near collapse of public sector funding leaves (UK) local authority run museums in the tightest of all situations. It is almost impossible for this sector to escape the current unprecedented savagery of cuts. And the introverted economy of local councils can leave managers without the entrepreneurial edge to compete in the harsh new environment. The senior museum professional needs to consider if their part of the organisation has become an outpost of an over-reached empire in semi-terminal decline. If there is a plan to address this – jump on board: shape it; add value to it; do all that you can to maximise your influence. You may not be running the programme, but expand your authority by being the person who spends the most time building support and shaping agendas. It is even better if you can be the person that makes the plan. Start by understanding the power priorities of your local area. Understand where power resides and what is it trying to achieve. Is it about jobs? Is it raising school attainment? Is it a major urban development? And then work out where the museum’s resources (collections, buildings, skills, values) can be best aligned to support this top agenda. At this stage, work with and listen to as many people from beyond the museum as you can. Be prepared to re-invent what a museum is. Do not be swayed by pessimists. Come up with something that is highly relevant to your area; something that looks like part of the solution; something that captures the imagination; something that is too good to be ignored. And then dig-in and fight for it. Our museums carry the incredible story of human creativity, a story often propelled forward through response to adversity. So don’t just aim to preserve our museums. Be inspired to take action by what we hold. We will need vision, bloody-mindedness and a fair slice of luck. But the future of Museums can still be in our hands – if we’re good enough to realise it. ..........................................................................................................................................................................
African Museums in the Next 20 Years by Okpalanozie Ogechukwu Elizabeth, National Museum, Lagos, Nigeria The museums in Africa have come a long way, evolving from museums known only to the indigenous community into museums that are recognised globally because of the rich and unique collections in their custody. The trend of development that is witnessed in African museums in the present day will be sustained in the next twenty years. In years to come, capacity building would have been achieved to a great extent, opening doors to greater impact of the museum on the indigenous communities. These museums will cease to function only as museums where collections are kept and exhibited for the public. The museums will use the tools they have: tangible cultural heritage, to develop the communities in which they exist. The development will cut across different aspects of the community: politics, education, human rights and health. The museums will be working hand in hand with the communities and the communities will feel the positive impact of the presence of the museums. In addition to this, the museums will be in a better position to care for the collections in their custody. The emerging and young museum professionals working currently in African museums are participating in different types of training, workshops, and networking. The result of this proactive approach is museums with better ethical practices and stable collections. In the next two decades, African museums will evolve into museums that will touch the lives and soul of African communities and custodians of stable and healthy collections. .......................................................................................................................................................................... Active Participants & Ownership by Corey Timpson, Director, Design + New Media & Collections, Canadian Museum for Human Rights Museums, now more than ever, are looking for new ways to engage visitors. In a world that is dominated by rapid changes in attention, excessive multitasking, and massive media bombardment, it has become increasingly difficult to engage target audiences in meaningful ways. Yet some basic premises remain. Active participants, collaborators, shared owners, are more likely to care, to feel engaged in something, than those passively standing by. Allowing for personalization is a simple way to attain a more engaged audience – via personalized content or personalized access to content. Providing an opportunity for visitors to engage in dialogue, and for this dialogue to be shared, is personalization taken to the next level.
Where a museum’s interaction model used to be the visitor is informed by the museum, a new interaction model of the visitor is informed by the museum - the visitor informs the museum - the visitor informs the visitor, will provide for greatly increased visitor engagement. The premise is not to ignore or do away with the museum’s responsibility to curate, to be authoritative or be a steward of its collection. While it continues to evolve and rapidly change, technology will be an important facilitator of a dialogic interaction scenario, as museums look to build increased engagement among their target audience in meaningful ways. .......................................................................................................................................................................... Violence & Museums of Conscience by Clint Curle, Researcher, Canadian Museum for Human Rights My particular interest is in museums of conscience. When I think of the role of these museums in society, I always come back to something philosopher Paul Riccoeur once wrote: “there exists a place within society - however violent society may remain owing to its origin or to custom - where words do win out over violence” (Paul Riccoeur, The Just, ix). Museums, of course, are not limited to words alone but have an ever-expanding palette for presenting and representing subjects, and subtle forms of violence can tincture these representations. But the role of the museum of conscience in society fits well with Riccoeur’s insight – a bounded social space where reflection, memory and story win out over violence. I think violence, broadly understood, is always the context and perhaps even the threat that constitutes the museum of conscience. Past violence and the ubiquitous potential for new violence makes the museum of conscience necessary. Riccoeur’s words, however, also raise a concern. He wrote them in reference to a courtroom trial. One of the temptations that museums of conscience face is to function as courtrooms, places where evidence is sifted, perpetrators are sentenced and innocents are exonerated. Museums are not courtrooms, and are ill equipped to provide decisive adjudications of guilt and innocence regarding violence. The task, then, of the museum of conscience is to create social space within which violence can be brought to light, representatively encountered and ultimately decentered, without becoming an ersatz courtroom. Museums of conscience have two potentialities which courtrooms lack; the capacity to foster empathy, and the capacity to stimulate rich conversations within and between people. The mining of these two potentialities as mutually constructive responses to violence, for me, represents the future of museums of conscience.
.......................................................................................................................................................................... The Museum of Tomorrow by Jean-Yves Gallardo, Director of Communications, The National Museum of Art, Architecture & Design, Norway ‘Forum artist’ is the name the architect Klaus Schuwerk has given his winning proposal for a new building to house Norway’s National Museum, due to open in 2017. As a name for a museum it is well suited to our century. In planning the museum, we try to imagine how art and audiences might come together five years from now, in an institution that not only houses and cares for a collection, but is also a meeting place of major social significance. In brief: a forum for the arts. The museum of tomorrow should be able to satisfy the diverse approaches to time and space that its visitors are likely to apply; some will have just fifteen minutes to spare, some a couple of hours, while others will want to spend a whole day there. Should the museum be a white cube for contemplation, a black box for meditation, or a forum for production? Gaining space and functionality is not enough. Added value lies in creating an environment where it is good to be, an arena for interaction between artwork, visitor, museum and society. .......................................................................................................................................................................... Promoters of Global Dialogue Nick Poole, CEO, The Collections Trust Society needs museums to provide stability and context. People need museums to provide meaning, identity and entertainment. Industry needs museums to support innovation & development. For these reasons, I see a tremendously positive long-term future for museums worldwide as drivers of economic tourism, agents of social change and promoters of intercultural dialogue and tolerance. The initial, disruptive generation of technologies will recede, leaving the museum of the future as a fundamentally and naturally hybrid organisation combining collections, technologies and relationships to engage new audiences. There will be less emphasis on digitising everything, and more on delivering value and lasting impact through integrated services. I can foresee that the definition of ‘museum’ will become blurred – with an increasing number of heritage attractions and public-facing services which package heritage in new ways. While this will create a more competitive environment for individual museums, it will also help with the current
oversupply of skilled museum practitioners. It will also provide us with new strategies to address the perennial challenge of stored collections and the relative lack of display space in our museums. The international museum community is hardworking, professional and dedicated. Collectively, we perform an essential social, economic and personal role. Even though there is a profound lack of recognition of this from Governments in some countries, the value of museums is in the hearts and minds of the public they serve. Museums will continue to adapt to reflect the needs of their communities, and I am tremendously excited about what they have the potential to become. .......................................................................................................................................................................... Future of Museum Architecture by Ulf Grønvold, Senior Curator, The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo In 1792, three years into the French revolution, the National Convention in Paris decided that a state museum should be established in the Louvre. Museum galleries had been part of royal residences for several centuries, but it was in the first decades of the 19th Century the museum was developed as a building type. For the next hundred years museums were built to more or less look like palaces. With the arrival of Modernism a new concept was introduced: The informal museum pavilion in an idyllic park. Modern architecture is often at its best in a virgin situation when it doesn’t have to relate to a demanding historic context. And the Kröller Müller Museum in the Netherlands and the Louisiana in Denmark illustrate the success of this approach. Starting with Ronchamp by Le Corbusier architecture became a giant version of modern sculpture. Guggenheim in Bilbao was celebrated as the museum of decade, but when Frank Gehry repeated the same shapes everywhere, it became too private a vocabulary, it was his signature and not buildings based in a lager social context. The 21st Century should be a period of sense and sobriety. Museums are monuments of lasting values, and our buildings should express that without going back to the metaphor of the palace. We need museum buildings that belong to their location and their community, not the ego of a Star architect on a brief visit. .......................................................................................................................................................................... Global Museum Community by Lucy Hockley, Adult Education Officer, Weald & Downland Open Air Museum A favourite quote of mine is ‘not to know what happened before you were born is to remain forever a child’ (Cicero). Museums have fantastic learning potential and can broaden their visitors’ horizons. This should be shared as widely as possible and explored more fully in the future.
On the other hand, a term often used in the press, ‘community’, is not generally one of my favourite words. Yet, I feel the term ‘museum community’ is used accurately and a just cause for pride at my current organisation, and I’m sure this is the case in many other museums. Issues around well-being and social involvement with heritage organisations are due further future consideration. In the future I’d like to see museums working in innovative, imaginative ways whilst retaining their core principles. In-depth research and specialist knowledge is vital to underpin other museum activities. Volunteering roles will need to reflect changing models of work to engage wide sections of society and enable people to continue to contribute at different life stages in a way that suits individuals. As funding cuts continue to be felt and organisations adapt, they will need to search for new sources of income but should resist being overly swayed by funder’s objectives or short-term agendas. Of course museums must show their relevance to society, but they can’t try to be everything to everyone. Social media and other technologies will encourage museums to form links with others and increased international co-operation is the way forward. .......................................................................................................................................................................... Digital Impact on Museums by David Masters, Lead Consultant, Imagemakers Museums will continue to evolve and respond to their social, cultural and economic context. New social paradigms, such as the widespread adoption of social networking, together with everchanging visitor expectations and the opportunities presented by digital media, will all impact on museums. The near universal adoption of smartphones, for example, will require a considered response, with apps produced for permanent and temporary displays and collections. Computer 3D modelling and animation will vividly bring objects to life. But there will also be a digital backlash, with some people visiting for an ‘authentic’ encounter with a collection. Curating will increasingly include digital resources, which will be accessed and interpreted on-site and on-line. People will become more involved in the curatorial process through social networking and crowd-sourcing activities. The use of digital media will still be balanced with more traditional forms of display and interpretation, both to meet audience expectations and due to the cost implications of digital technology. Environmental design standards will become more widely adopted, with an emphasis on re-use, modular design, recycled materials, and low energy IT.
Overall, there will be further emphasis on improving access, establishing meaningful narratives for collections and displays, story-led interpretation, and environmental responsibility. .......................................................................................................................................................................... Collections and Communities by Tracy Puklowski, Senior Operations Manager, Collections and Research, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Museums build their reputations around their collections, and the knowledge and experiences that those collections generate. However, without recognising the real and ongoing connections between collections and communities, museums are only telling half the story. For this reason, I believe that one of the futures of museums (for there are many) revolves around the notion of shared authority. Rather than giving up curatorial authority, shared authority enhances curatorial knowledge by recognising the significant impact communities (and particularly source communities) can have on our understanding of the collections that we keep in trust on their behalf. In turn, communities benefit from the knowledge that museums build around collections. Objects need multiple and varied voices to tell their stories fully. Source communities, particularly, have social, spiritual, and innate connections to objects – and they accordingly have a right to define that knowledge, and how it is used. This requires the creation of fully reciprocal partnerships between museums and communities, as well as processes that are transparent, accessible, and flexible. Shared authority requires museums to rethink their role as guardians of collections. Rather than being about guarding or owning collections, guardianship is about using and holding collections responsibly, and this includes the obligation to find new ways of sharing collections - intellectually, physically, and virtually. Without learning how to explore, understand, and enhance the connections between collections and communities, museums will tell limited stories and consequently limit their futures. .......................................................................................................................................................................... Guided Tours by Robots? by Lin Stafne-Pfisterer, Museum Educator, Munch Museum, Oslo, Norway The future of the museum, I think, will move in parallel directions. Increased digitalisation in all areas of life is already changing museum reality. This will be even more important in the future. Recently, I listened to a science researcher telling children about their digital future. He convinced them, that in 50 years, a robot will wake up the children in the morning, and assist families at home.
We’ve heard this before, but these days we see mechanical human look-alikes being developed. Transferred to the museum, it is maybe not that far out to imagine a robot giving a guided tour presenting art works in a museum. Still, I believe that the digital development will bring exclusivity to museum experiences with personal guides for smaller groups. The handmade art work will perhaps be given an almost reliquary-like value in a growing digital society. Increased development of digital material for exhibitions is perhaps most interesting when recreating the past: creating virtual versions of destroyed buildings, sculptures and artist’s homes that are materially lost. The growing “edutainment” functions of museums will probably continue, but I hope research based museums will have more sustainability bringing valuable content to their visitors. Last, but not least, I think we will see much more participation from museum visitors, who will be actively involved in the exhibition processes. .......................................................................................................................................................................... Culture of Digital Creativity by Steph Mastoris, Head, National Waterfront Museum, Swansea If the study of the past teaches us anything it is not to trust predictions for the future! So my thoughts about the future of museums are really more about how I feel and hope current technological developments will shape them over the next few decades. Of course, in any institution worthy of the name “museum” the prime resource is its collections. It will be fascinating, therefore, to see how these artefacts will be made available and experienced as the digital age progresses. While the ease of physical and virtual replication will increase and become more sophisticated, the “magic” of experience of the original, real artefact is bound to become more important to people. In this way we should all be winners. Such increased access to collections is also bound to improve interpretation. Indeed, the very media that will allow artefacts to be accessed remotely will also provide limitless possibilities for dynamic, user-driven interpretation. Already we are experiencing how sophisticated, multi-layered narratives can be delivered through digital media. And what is equally exciting is that such information uses (in fact demands) material from a wide range of traditional museum disciplines. Digital interpretation is bound to create more joined-up working by museum professionals, so the future museum is surely going to be not only multi-disciplinary, but inter-disciplinary. ..........................................................................................................................................................................
Era of the Virtual Museum by Christine Conciatori, Content Project Manager, Canadian Museum for Human Rights In an era where technology and new media seem to evolve faster than we can keep up, what is the future of the museum? We are already living in the era of the virtual museum. Museums are not made of just bricks and mortar. Technology has been entering museums for a number of years already and has changed the face of these institutions. Touch screens and interactivity are now common parts of a museum visit. Furthermore, museums around the world are now accessible on the web and social media is now a part of daily museum life. Visitors, experienced and knowledgeable with technology, expect museums to follow these trends. They want opportunities to interact with museum content. Visitors’ expectations for rapid change are also increasing. Museums have to address these expectations by being increasingly dynamic. Museums are also increasingly becoming overt places of dialogue. New technologies are a wonderful way to reach visitors. But, as with any mean of communication, even the best technology has its limitations. Museums must stay relevant to the society of which they serve, they must also work to expand their reach. Using the web, museums can reach a wider audience, and within this audience, touch a segment of people who have not traditionally been museum goers. However, using technology cannot be simply motivated by the desire to have a “cool app”. Technology is not a goal in itself. It offers a powerful medium to deliver a message, content to the visitor, in person or virtually. The pressure to attract new visitors forces museums to try to be more “seductive”. New technologies may be part of the answer; however, it cannot be empty and devoid of substance. Without a solid message, technology merely becomes a gimmick. The message is what sets museums apart. .......................................................................................................................................................................... Human Rights and the Environment by David Fleming, Director, National Museums Liverpool The only thing threatening a bright future for museums is museum people themselves, should they fail to persuade the politicians who provide most of the funding for museums that in doing so they are supporting something that has fundamental social and educational importance. Over the past twenty or so years, museums have begun to come into their own, worldwide, as cultural phenomena that play a number of roles: they have educational power; they have social impacts; they have economic impacts. Museums are valued in all countries for at least one of these
roles, and in some countries they are valued for all of them. Consequently, the future for museums should consist of playing these roles, which will vary, obviously, depending upon local circumstances. The most exciting and valuable role that museums should develop is fighting for social justice – through campaigning for human rights and protection of the environment, and through championing inclusivity. Museums are there to serve the whole of society, and they need to work hard to serve marginalised groups and individuals, not be content with super-serving traditional museum-going audiences. Funding for museums will ebb and flow, as ever, but a commitment to social justice is the best way in the long term to secure financial support from the rest of society. It’s a commitment that will always be needed, and will always be valued. .......................................................................................................................................................................... Rethinking the Museum by Alex Saint and Steve Connor, Independent consultants and co-authors of Rethinking The Museum In Rethinking the Museum, a series of thinkpieces commissioned by NW Fed, we look forward to the year 2030. Read it, debate it, it’s complex and impossible to summarise in a few words. So let’s just take one idea forward here.... We progress the idea that a visit to a museum should be like getting a rush of the hormone oxytocin the cuddle chemical or empathy-drug - and deliver an extraordinary group hug. Museums as the virtual equivalent of the social-media network, joined-up, connected, commissioned delivery agents for social change, trusted, healing fractures, glueing, bonding - and above all developing our individual and community capacity for real empathy. Indeed, we’d argue even more strongly now that the desire to create a developed capacity for human empathy should the principal purpose of museums – raised collective empathy and conscience is crucial for the successful re-engineering of our ecologically and economically fractured society, our best way out of seemingly unsolveable social and political drift and rift. So, in our oxytocin-charged museum, collections are used to foster an understanding of the histories and ideas that matter – of suffering, of self-expression and of achievement, and also to elicit a positive response, to prompt creative conversations, and draw out the desire to share and build a better world, locally and globally. Are these Museums of Social Justice, or Social Enterprise? We prefer to call them Museums of Empathy, which work as hard to bring about a change in attitude or
behaviour in the mainstream visitor, the corporate supporter, the cross-sector partner as they do with the disenfranchised communities and individuals that so many museums seek to engage, but too often with limited real or lasting impact. .......................................................................................................................................................................... To Be Part of the Solution by Peter Stott, Team Leader Heritage, Falkirk Community Trust Here’s the ICOM definition of a museum: ‘A museum is a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, study and enjoyment.’ ICOM acknowledges that the definition of a museum evolves ‘in accordance with the realities of the global museum community’. In other words museums themselves need to evolve to survive and prosper in their changing ecosystem. There is increasing and, despite the efforts of governments, increasingly unavoidable evidence to demonstrate what the change in the ecosystem consists of – resolving the interconnected system of climate change, resource scarcity, failing economic models and social injustice. An accumulating array of cultural bodies – for example Culture Futures, Royal Society of Arts, Museums Association, Mission Models Money and Visual Arts and Galleries Association – recognise, first that economic policy which tries to reignite the growth and consumer-based economic model is folly on a monumental scale, and second that the cultural sector can be part of the solution to the problem if it takes two things on board: • That the cultural sector can engage with people’s imaginations to facilitate the behavioural change necessary for sustainable living • That the bricks-and-mortar institutional models of delivery created by the passing ecosystem will not suffice as the basis for prospering in the emerging ecosystem. This is the ‘big project’ of our era. So what would the next evolutionary stage in the definition of a museum look like? Here’s a proposal: ‘A museum is a public, collective process by which people are enabled, through understanding their relationship to the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment, to contribute to the long-term well-being of communities and sustainability of environments, globally and locally.’
.......................................................................................................................................................................... Join the project and add your thoughts on the future of museums. Email approx 250 words to greg@museum-id.com (mailto:greg@museum-id.com)
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