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contents issue 7
28 10
36 48
04 EDITORIAL Introducing the Museum World Book Collection - with ideas and insights from 100 leading professionals... 06 DON’T PANIC! Museums are in a state of flux but cuts are only half the story. Think ahead advises Paul Fraser Webb 10 LOS ANGELES MUSEUM OF THE HOLOCAUST Architecture and layout of the museum’s new building plays a significant role in visitors’ experiences 12 NEW V&A AT DUNDEE Japanese architects Kengo Kuma & Associates named winner of design competition 14 INTERVIEW: JANE CARDING New CEO of the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada on why she is still optimistic for the future of museums 22 SEX IN THE MUSEUM Lisa Junkin on building relationships and pushing boundaries at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum 28 MUSEUM ARCHITECTURE RETROSPECTIVE - 2 Is the age of landmark museums coming to an end? We look at a decade of remarkable architecture 36 INSPIRE, ENGAGE, TRANSFORM... Peta Motture on meeting the aims for the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries at the V&A 48 SUSTAINABILITY AND MUSEUMS Aaron Pope on the integrated operations, exhibits and outreach at the California Academy of Sciences 60 CONCEPTION NOUVELLE EXPOSITION New Paris-based architects and exhibition design studio formed to create international cultural projects 66 MUSEUMS AND SOCIAL MEDIA Nancy Proctor of the Smithsonian Institution explores new ways of authoring museum experiences 72 PREVIEW: PAUL BELMONDO MUSEUM New sculpture museum opens in the Chateau Buchillot at Boulogne-Billancourt near Paris 86 ADVERTISERS INDEX The leading companies in Museum-iD supplying the international museums and heritage sector 90 MUSEUMS AND ME Brett Mason - Director of Museums Wellington, New Zealand 3
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Publisher / Editor Gregory Chamberlain Creative Director Emma Dawes Design & Production newera media Cover image: © Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust © Museum Identity Ltd 2010. All rights reserved. Printed in England ISSN 2040-736X Subscriptions start at £19.95 - for latest subscription offers visit www.museum-id.com FOR ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES
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Museum-iD is an independent think-tank, ideas exchange and publisher for the international museums community 4
editorial
The primary purpose of Museum-iD is to bring together museums professionals from around the world to discover and share new ideas, make new connections and gain exclusive access to the latest thinking and developments in museums. As the focal point of a global network of like-minded peers, Museum-iD is designed for those interested in a more informal, innovative and international approach to professional inquiry and development. In keeping with our raison d’être in this edition we have an exclusive interview with Janet Carding – new director and CEO of the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada, and publish major features by Lisa Junkin of Jane Addams Hull-House Museum in Chicago, Peta Motture of the V&A, and Aaron Pope of the California Academy of Sciences. Also in this edition, Nancy Proctor of the Smithsonian Institution concludes her three-part essay series on museums and social media, and Brett Mason, Director of Museums Wellington in New Zealand, provides the answers for our regular ‘museums and me’ feature. We also explore how the powerful new architecture at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust plays a significant role in the visitor experience, and preview the sublime new sculpture museum in the Chateau Buchillot at Boulogne-Billancourt near Paris. In addition, part two of our architectural retrospective features a wide-ranging selection of remarkable and compelling museums in Berlin, Toronto, Athens, Kansas, Tallinn in Estonia, and Fjærland in Norway. Drawing on the knowledge of our remarkable worldwide network for the past year or so I’ve been working on a significant new project - the Museum World Book Collection. And after much persuasion and perseverance I’m thrilled to say we are very nearly ready to publish it. In a truly international collaboration the collection comprises nine volumes bringing together the ideas and experience of over one hundred highly-respected museum leaders and innovators based in seventeen countries spread across six continents. For example, there are valuable contributions from eminent professionals working in Columbia, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, France, Sweden, and Poland - as well as many based in the UK and North America. Published between January and April next year the collection builds to become an impressive research library and knowledgebank of ideas. Find out more about the books on our website. I’ve just started work on part two of the book collection so if you’d like to get involved now is the time to get in touch and find out how you can contribute. I’d really appreciate your help and look forward to hearing from you soon. Gregory Chamberlain
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5
DON’T PANIC! Museums are in a state of enormous flux and it’s easy to think the worst. But the cuts are only half the story. Be positive and think ahead advises Paul Fraser Webb
If I could only give one piece of advice to anybody working in a museum at the moment it would be this: spend one hour per week to sit and reflect. Museums are currently in a state of
enormous flux. The local, regional and national structures and programmes that we have become familiar with over the last few years all appear to be under threat. At the moment, there does not seem to be a clear path to the future. In these circumstances it is all too easy to think the worst. Various similes regarding bodily fluids that are (depending on the image) on the walls, the floor, or we are actually in, are now the lingua franca when a group of museum professionals assemble. Perhaps the most potent comparison that I have heard recently is that we are awaiting a tsunami: we know the earthquake has hit, we have seen the sea draw back and we are now sitting in the quiet phase before the wave hits. The trouble is that we do not know how big the wave is going to be. 6
The biggest danger at the moment comes from within. It is all too easy to panic and read the worst into every situation. Our plight is not made any easier by the way our situation is being reported. Journalists who are looking for an easy story and a sensational headline all too often create panic amongst those who should know better – and I count myself as somebody who all too often takes such reports at face value. But look beyond the reports to the primary sources and you will regularly find a more subtle story: a story where a variety of needs are having to be balanced to ensure a stable future within a political ideology and an economic reality that is often being forced upon the people having to make the decisions. It is true that where the cuts are being announced they are hard and deep. The 15% cuts to Renaissance and the sponsored museums may have been less than originally predicted but they are still tough. At the time of writing, the settlement from The Department for Communities and Local Government with each local authority have not been announced. It is undoubtedly true that local authority museums will be hit as hard,
if not harder than the DCMS funded museums. As a discretionary service, museums are more at risk than those services that Local Authorities are legally obliged to provide. Figures for anything between a 30% and 50% cut in funding are regularly cited. However, talking of cuts is only one half of the story. This year’s annual “Curating for the Future” conference, arranged by Renaissance North West, excelled itself in providing an indication of the future priorities that museums are going to have to work with. The ‘Decentralisation and Localism Bill’ is not due to be presented before Parliament until Autumn this year but it is already starting to shape the ways we need to start thinking. The rise of ‘localism’ ran through the core of the day. From this sprang a number of themes: Local Enterprise Partnerships; Local Business
and other bodies are increasingly moving away from being service providers to commissioning bodies. It is also becoming increasingly common for care budgets to be devolved to individual users: an incredible opportunity for museums to get involved. And museums are on an equal footing with other delivery bodies in their ability to bid for this work. In addition to these new ways of working are the more familiar means of securing funding. The Comprehensive Spending Review did confirm the ongoing funding of Renaissance in the Regions. The total cash amount may be reduced by 15% by 2015 but it is still around £40 million that is being distributed across the countries regional museums. It is likely that a greater proportion of this will be available in grant form as the new Core Museum structure reduces the amount of
“the biggest danger at the moment comes from within - it is all too easy to panic” Partnerships; Local Strategic Partnerships; Place Making; the strategic commissioning of local services; and, perhaps most importantly the increasing importance of partnerships. CEO of Creative Concern, Steve Connor’s presentation cut to the quick of how museums needed to embrace the new ways of working. His definition that a “partnership is the suppression of mutual loathing in pursuit of public funding” may be a touch flippant, but it does convey a truth. He emphasized that all partnerships needed to be true partnerships not only with a united sense of purpose but also a common language. It is no use, he said, for a museum to gather evidence of success on its own terms if that evidence is of no value to its potential partners. If a museum wants to gather evidence to impress its potential partners then it needs to use the same criteria of that the potential partner. For example, if you want to work with an NHS mental health unit you need to quantify your successes using their criteria in order to convince them that you are worth developing a partnership with. The potential around the commissioning of such services is enormous. Local authorities
money directly allocated to a small number of museums. Also, the recently announced changes to the National Lottery will mean that both arts and heritage will get an extra £50 million each year. So a general pattern appears to be forming where core funding from the traditional sources is severely at risk, against which there are increased opportunities for project and outcome focused funding that museums have every opportunity to bid for. This will need a change of approach from museum managers. No longer can museums expect a full annual budget from their governing or sponsoring body or department but they will now have to compete for fixed term funding for specific deliverables. Rather than have a single main funder for which it delivers its outputs, museums will have to look for pluralistic funding and a network of relationships and partnerships. This idea is, of course, nothing new and is covered eloquently in Tim Desmond’s article ‘A Republic of Museums’ in the last edition of Museum Identity magazine. This decrease in security may be counterbalanced by an increase in opportunity and will require an increase in 7
entrepreneurialism. As Virginia Tandy, Director of Culture for Manchester City Council said at Curating the Future, you now have the opportunity to “invent your future”, or, as Steve Connor said “You can be the steam-roller or the road”. (Incidentally, I have deliberately not touched on the proposed rise of philanthropy. I do not doubt that some museums will be able to draw in such resources, especially the big name museums and those in London, but I do not expect this to be a nation wide opportunity. I hope I am wrong here) But there’s the rub. In order to secure the project based funding the museum needs to be able to recognise and pursue opportunities. It needs to compete effectively against other organisations that will be bidding for the same money. It needs to have the best expertise in-house if it is going to succeed in this new environment. However, the core services that we
documents. • Have a look at your Acquisition and Disposals Policy. Does it need revising to protect your core assets and identify those objects that do not support your core mission. • Look at your USP. What makes you different? And I’m not only talking about the difference to other museums but also to other service providers that you will be competing against? • Deicide where you want to be in five years time. What will your museum look like? What will it be doing? What sort of projects will you be bidding for? • What resources will you need to deliver your ambitions in five years time? How are you going to protect these during the current round of cuts? • What do you have that you will not need in five years time (or ever)? Can you surrender these during the cuts? • Do you really have to withdraw your core services,
“we all need to clear our minds of our current defensiveness and occasional panic” need to compete effectively are under threat. Which brings me back to my opening statement. We all need to clear our minds of our current defensiveness and occasional panic. We need to calmly look at where we want to be in five years and ensure that we have the resources to meet those ambitions. The phrase ‘doing more with less’ has become a bit of a cliché in the last few months but that does not make it less true, and in order to do that we need to ensure that what we do have is of the best quality. We may end up with fewer resources, but those that we have must be of the highest quality and highly focused. So, when you have found your reflective hour, think about the following: • What is your core purpose? Look at your founding document, your charitable objectives or your mission statement. • Have a look at your Forward Planning 8
or can you get savings through consolidation? • How can you take control of the situation to ensure that you manage any cuts and come out in two years time slicker, more efficient and ready to take on the new funding models? • How can you get your advocacy and evidence ready for your internal and external stakeholders? You’ll need these when you are developing your new partnerships. Of course, this will not guarantee that you will get through the next couple of years unscathed, but it should help you focus on what you are battling to preserve and help you emerge stronger. Good luck! Paul Fraser Webb museum consultant e-mail: paul@paul-fraser-webb.co.uk twitter: @PaulFraserWebb
27255.006_Eccles_Banana_ClaimsEnd_MuseumsID_Dec10_252x182_v1_. 15/11/2010 12:33 Page 1
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Museums, Galleries and Theatres
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Visitor Attractions
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Stately Homes and Castles 9
LOS ANGELES MUSEUM OF THE HOLOCAUST
Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust opened its new home to the public on 14th October. Located adjacent to the park’s Holocaust Memorial Monument and submerged into the park landscape to maintain open space, it more than doubles the previous exhibition space. The Museum has one of the largest green roofs in California Images Š Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust 10
The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust opened its new building on 14 October. The museum, the oldest of its kind in the United States, is the only Los Angeles institution with free admission and a sole focus on the events of the Holocaust. The Museum will teach approximately 40,000 students a year about the Holocaust. The new building, designed by acclaimed architect Hagy Belzberg, has one of the largest intensive green roofs in California and is on track to receive LEED Gold Certification. The design received the Los Angles Cultural Affairs Commission Design Honor Award and the Green Building Design Award. The new architecture and layout plays a significant role in visitors’ experiences as the nine rooms descend and decrease in light as visitors progress towards the darkest part of history. Technology functions as a tool to enhance the experience and takes several forms throughout the Museum including interactive video and audio exhibits.
11
design competition winner for
New V&A at Dundee
The Japanese architectural practice Kengo Kuma & Associates has been named the winner of the design competition for the new V&A at Dundee. Kengo Kuma led one of six proposals shortlisted in an international competition to find a design team to develop a landmark building that will house the V&A at Dundee and form an inspiring anchor for Dundee’s waterfront. The jury panel made their unanimous decision after an extensive process of assessing the designs, interviewing the architects and their teams, and viewing some of their previous work. The public view was also factored in with thousands of questionnaires and comments drawn from the 13,000-plus people who visited the exhibition and those who viewed it online. Detailed design work will continue throughout 2011 and work is projected to start onsite in autumn 2012. The V&A at Dundee is being delivered by Design Dundee Ltd, a ground-breaking partnership between the Victoria and Albert Museum - the world’s greatest museum of art and design - and the University of Dundee, the University of Abertay Dundee, Dundee City Council and Scottish Enterprise.
Top: Winning design by Kengo Kuma. Above images - clockwise from top left: Short-listed designs: Delugan Meissl; REX; Steven Holl; Sutherland Hussey; and Snøhetta Images © Thanks to the architectural practices featured 12
enter the awards for excellence Entry Deadline: Friday 11 February 2011
Celebrating the very best in museums, galleries and heritage visitor attractions. The Museums & Heritage Awards for Excellence provide an unparalleled opportunity to celebrate the wealth of expertise and innovation in this industry. They spotlight the truly exceptional work that goes into creating world-class visitor attractions, providing recognition to operators and suppliers that is much deserved and long overdue. With eleven categories to choose from, the awards are open to organisations of all sizes, regardless of budget and profile. For more information about the Awards and The Museums & Heritage Show please visit: www.museumsandheritage.com or contact us on info@museumsandheritage.com Tel: +44 (0)1905 724 734 Follow us on Twitter @MandHShow and at facebook.com/MandHShow
11 + 12 May 2011 EARLS COURT | LONDON 13
janet carding
Janet Carding is the new Director and CEO of the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada. As such she is responsible for furthering the Museum’s mission, advocating for its ongoing public and private sector support, promoting its research, programs, and collections, and overseeing the management of the Museum’s operations. Ms. Carding is the first woman to be appointed to the position of Director and CEO of the Royal Ontario Museum. Prior to joining the Royal Ontario Museum, Ms. Carding held the position of Assistant Director, Public Programs & Operations with the Australian Museum in Sydney - the country’s preeminent museum of nature and culture. In this role since 2004, Ms. Carding led the museum’s exhibitions, websites, and public programs in natural history, science and culture and was a leading contributor to the Museum’s Revitalization Project. In addition, Ms. Carding taught the Museums and Galleries Administration segment of the University of Sydney’s Museum Studies programme. A museum professional for over two decades, Ms. Carding originally hails from England where she obtained her degree from Cambridge University in History and Philosophy of Science and a Masters from the University of London in History of Science and Medicine. Her career in museology began as an entry-level curator with London’s Science Museum, before moving into the areas of exhibition and programs development. Following her tenure at London’s Science Museum, Ms. Carding was appointed Head of Planning and Development with the National Museum of Science and Industry (NMSI), leading strategic planning and major projects for NMSI’s three museums. 14
Photo © George Whiteside
interview
life-long learner Janet Carding - new director and CEO of the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada - talks to Gregory Chamberlain about her new role, what she intends her legacy to be, why she is still optimistic about the future of museums - and her advice for those joining the museums sector now...
You bring a huge amount of experience and expertise to your new role as director and CEO of ROM – what would you like to achieve for the museum in the years to come and what would you like your legacy to be? The ROM has achieved a great deal over the last decade with the public redisplay of many of the collections and the construction of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. We’re approaching the Museum’s centenary, and I would like my legacy to be that the ROM enters its second century positioned so that it will be thriving for the next 100 years. We’re currently taking stock of the Museum’s collection storage, infrastructure and systems needs, and we will be factoring these into the new plans that I put in place. Alongside dealing with the Museum’s long-term needs, I
think that now is the time to start to focus more on interpreting our wonderful collections, both in the Museum and online, and by doing so raise the profile of our global research and curatorial expertise, and build new relationships with our audiences. What most excites you about ROM and how is it different from other museums? What do you think are its key strengths? The first thing that hit me on arriving in Toronto was the tremendous respect and affection for the ROM within the community. So many people have a story about their first visit to the ROM, whether it was only a few months ago or fifty years ago. It’s very exciting to lead a Museum that is such a key player in the culture of a city, and of a Province. 15
All images © Royal Ontario Museum
The collections, and the diversity of collections is a key strength for the ROM. It is unusual to have a Museum with first-rate natural history collections, and at the same time first-rate cultural collections from across the world. Coming to the ROM from the Australian Museum, it feels a natural progression to move from one museum of nature and cultures to another, but this time the cultural collections include for instance decorative arts and textiles, and for me that range presents new challenges and opportunities. As I get to know the ROM’s staff, I’m also struck by their enthusiasm and expertise, and for me the skills we have at the Museum are every bit as exciting as the collections. With the combination of great collections, a high level of expertise and a community that is engaged, there is the opportunity to produce something very special at the ROM. Your leadership of ROM coincides with very difficult economic times – how do you think this will impact on the funding of the museum and 16
what will you be doing to ensure the financial stability of the institution? I have already mentioned that in Museums we need to be able to think and work long term, and so it’s not enough to focus on fire-fighting all the time, and just work out how to pay next week’s bills. It is important to spot long-term trends and invest in the future, as well as maintaining and operating the organization. I am fortunate in inheriting some firm foundations at the ROM. The Board and previous Director established a great level of philanthropic support from the community through our ROM Governors, and the Ontario Provincial Government has responded as we have demonstrated the impact and value we bring. Over the next few years we will need to work with them both to enhance the broad base of funding for the ROM and, whilst being financially astute, hold firm to the Museum’s purpose. The ROM has been through an important transformation and we will need to demonstrate our continuing
Het PantHeon, Letterkundig MuseuM
o P e r a - a M s t e r da M . n L 17
impact so that we can sustain all the gains that have been made. During difficult economic times that might mean taking things more slowly, so we are careful not to let costs get ahead of income, but we should still be working hard on plans to improve the collections and their interpretation. ROM has gone through a huge transformation moving forward how do you maintain momentum and enthusiasm? Is there a danger of stagnation after such an intensive and extensive project and how do you counteract that possibility and ensure innovation continues? This was a question I asked the staff when I arrived here, as the ROM has been through such a busy time and I expected everyone to be exhausted. But what I’m finding is that during the building work there were many ideas and projects that had to be “parked”, and the staff are now
all will need to get out and demonstrate to our communities that we are valuable and are worthy of continuing support because of what we do to inspire and inform, and the important role we play as custodians of history, culture and identity. In terms of other challenges, I think we are only at the beginning of seeing the changes that the online world will mean for museums and galleries. For instance, we shouldn’t assume that the generations growing up now will feel the same way about material culture as previous ones. I think this is an opportunity and we should make sure we are creating wonderful museum memories for our younger visitors, and giving them skills in how to learn from objects that they can use not just in museums, but to interpret the world around them. The ROM has a great track record in using real objects with our student visitors, and I’m keen that we continue to develop this area.
“I feel very much as though I am still learning new things everyday” coming forward with lots of thoughts for the future, and an enthusiasm for getting onto some of the areas that were simply not possible over the last few years. For instance we have had some great conversations about the potential to improve our online presence, and I think that will be a priority over the next couple of years. In order to gather all the ideas, and agree on some priority areas, I am planning to do some strategic thinking with the staff and stakeholders, and put this all together in what I hope will be an exciting set of plans over the next few months. What do you think are the major challenges now facing museums and are you optimistic about the future of the sector? Funding, and adapting to the changing economic circumstances is probably the biggest challenge that all museums face right now. But, I am optimistic about the future as long as we don’t take for granted the financial support we get from both public funds and philanthropy. We 18
The spread of smart phones and the growth in mobile online technology means that very soon everyone will have all the knowledge of the web in our pockets. Relating an experience already just takes a couple of clicks. Several writers have already noted that we have moved into an era where the museum can no longer see itself as the sole voice of authority about a topic or collection, and that our visitors now expect more than a one-way conversation. Again this is a tremendous opportunity for museums, and there are some interesting experiments going on, but I think we’ll need to think ahead and show how we can adapt in this changing world, so that we are not left behind as irrelevant and old-fashioned. At a time when commentators are starting to speak of people “curating their own lives” – surely we have a great role to play! Since your first job as a curator in England you’ve gone on to enjoy a prominent and successful international museum career – so how has the sector changed in that time, what have you
“It is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day but we could all think more about the balance between continuity and change, both for our museums and ourselves, and work out what new techniques and skills we’ll need in order to adapt for the future” Janet Carding
Photo © George Whiteside
learnt along the way, and what advice would you give to those joining museums today? Globalisation has meant that audiences everywhere have high expectations from museums. Whether I have been working in London, Sydney or Toronto people now expect a high level of customer service, and an experience that is tailored to their needs. Throughout my career I have been fortunate to work with colleagues who have placed a great emphasis on working with your audience, and I think that this visitor-focused approach is even more vital as the growth of online media means that our relationship with our audiences is changing. Within museums I’ve seen that projectbased working, and teams with a variety of specialists working together is now the norm, and this has led to an increasing emphasis on project coordination. But interestingly, while some of the change has been in processes, it seems to me that the key development has been in the people skills that help project teams from diverse expertise learn how to work well together and produce great exhibitions and experiences. Within the sector over the years I’ve recognised the increasing importance of narrative, of telling stories, and seen how those techniques are being used to great effect in non-linear activities such as exhibitions and online. Another
dimension in storytelling is the use of technology, and how many different media are now being deployed to support engagement and learning. One of the reasons I enjoy working in museums so much is the wide palette of different media you get to choose from – including artefacts, words, images, film and interactive exhibits. I feel very much as though I am still learning new things everyday – that’s another thing that is great about the job. If I was just embarking on a career in museums now my advice would be to see yourself as a life-long learner and learn from your audience, your community, and your colleagues. Take advantage of the fact that museums are places with diverse expertise under one roof, and there is a wider sector that is innovating and experimenting. As a starting point now I would say that a curator should have great communication skills, a good understanding of team-working and project coordination and be able to manage a budget, as well as more specialist knowledge. It is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day but we could all think more about the balance between continuity and change, both for our museums and ourselves, and work out what new techniques and skills we’ll need in order to adapt for the future. Janet Carding in conversation with Gregory Chamberlain 19
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Glasnevin Cemetery Museum, Dublin 2010 Thea Award for Outstanding Achievement 20
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Sex
in the Museum
Building Relationships and Pushing Boundaries by Lisa Junkin
“We go to social gatherings, hoping that somehow, with somebody, we can have the real intercourse of mind with mind” – Jane Addams We’ve really done it this time. We brought pornography into the 19th Century historic house museum. And not 19th Century pornography, though of course, we’re fans of that as well. No, this time we brought the real thing, hardcore: dildos, whips, vulvas, cocks of every shape, size, and color, and put it all up on the big screen for the public to view. Call it the dream of a mischievous museum worker. Or, call it a successful outreach plan. Since 2009, the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum (JAHHM), a National Historic Landmark, has hosted the Sex Positive Documentary Film Series (referred to as SEX+++). There we screen 22
documentaries, often graphic and sometimes pornographic, followed by discussions. The series strives to be radically inclusive, incorporating prosex, pro-queer, and pro-kink films and highlighting communities that are often marginalized. This program has become one of the most popular series in the museum’s history and has encouraged the JAHHM staff to reframe our understanding of the relationship between historic house museums and the public. While the content of the film series has at times felt very radical for the museum, the community collaboration has become a best practice. The film series derives from the sex positive movement; a liberation movement rooted in pro-sex feminism, queer theory, and the work of other pro-sex activists such as BDSM practitioners and polyamorous groups. On the whole, the sex positive community seeks to discourage harmful stigmas and stereotypes around sexual behavior and identity including bisexuality, sex work, masturbation, transsexuality, BDSM, etc.
(and non-heteronormative) aspects of our national heroes’ lives are revealed? What is lost when they are obscured? The museum’s spotlight on sexuality and the effective outing of Addams’ same sex partnership led Therese Quinn, a queer educator and activist, to call Hull-House “one of Chicago’s queerest sites,” opening the door for SEX+++ and the continued exploration of sexuality at Hull-House. When we began hosting SEX+++, the museum staff continued to research sexuality at Hull-House, excavating an impressive but largely untold history. One of the residents at Hull-House, Ukrainian immigrant Rachelle Slobodinsky Yarros, Out of the closet and into the public sphere M.D., was a pioneering sex educator who fought While known for its progressive work around to make contraception more immigration, education, labor, widely available, to eliminate peace, and women’s rights, the sexually transmitted disease, Hull-House Settlement is less and for the acceptance of identified with issues of sexuality. female sexual pleasure. With Jane Addams, who is best known the support of birth control as America’s first woman to win activist Margaret Sanger, Yarros the Nobel Peace Prize, realized helped to found Chicago’s first that in order to create the family limitation center, or birth conditions for peace to flourish; control clinic, in 1922. Soon one must begin at home in one’s after, Hull-House’s Mary Crane own community. Addams had Nursery became the site of come to live among Chicago’s another clinic. Yarros argued working-class immigrant that women were “unwilling population on the city’s Near to be subjected to involuntary West Side, and her direct motherhood” and felt they ought experience revealed the links to have “the power of choice.” between peace and education, Lisa Junkin, art educator and activist She advocated for immigrant nutritious food, sanitary streets, women to have better access to fair labor practices, the arts, and sex education and health care a healthy democracy. The Hullwhile staunchly rejecting the eugenics movement, House Museum, located on the campus of the which sought to limit the reproductive rights of University of Illinois at Chicago, preserves and immigrants and people of color. Yarros helped to interprets the history of a community that helped found the American Social Hygiene Association expand the meaning and benefits of democracy and titled a book published in 1933, Modern to include immigrants, women, and people of Woman and Sex: A Feminist Physician Speaks. color. At SEX+++ screenings I share bits of this In 2007, director Lisa Lee asked history with our audience, a truly diverse group the public to consider Jane Addams’ closest of LGBTQ advocates, students, sex workers, relationship, with a reformer named Mary Rozet feminists, transgender and kinky folks, and other Smith. Lee and the Hull-House staff created curious attendees. At its height over 140 people three labels for a portrait of Addams’ long-term have attended the series each month and at partner, each highlighting a different aspect of least 95% of this audience had not visited the the history, and asked visitors to respond to the museum prior to the screenings. Many people labels by choosing the one they preferred. This have told me not only how surprised they were Alternative Labeling Project pushed visitors to to learn about Hull-House’s history around sex consider how historical narratives are produced education, but also how they were impressed to and proliferated. What do we gain when private Activist, writer, and SEX+++ founder Clarisse Thorn describes the mantra of the movement as, “among consenting adults, there is no ‘should.’” The movement aims brings diverse communities into conversation and collective action to ensure that all people have “the freedom and resources to pursue a fulfilling and empowering sex life.” When Thorn and I developed the film series, we at first did not consider asking my employer, JAHHM, to host the program but as it turned out, it was the right fit for many reasons.
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see a museum become an ally for the sex positive community. With film titles like When Two Won’t Do (on polyamory), The Sacred Prostitute, and Private Dicks: Men Exposed, everyone expected some amount of resistance, either from the university or the public. It hasn’t come. By using its institutional privilege and cultural capital, the Hull-House Museum is able to support the sex positive movement, providing resources, public attention, and a space for dialogue. Counterpublics and museum audiences Due to changing values within museums, museum professionals no longer talk of the public, as if there is only one. We now recognize multiple publics—diverse audiences with different needs, interests, and stakes in the museum. In Publics and Counterpublics, Michael Warner expands this understanding to include counterpublics, or groups that have been
ignoring marginalized counterpublics. Museums can and should open their doors to new voices and commit to examine and rethink dominant narratives in history, science, civics, and the arts. As institutions of authority, museums offer needed amplification to these stories. Including counterpublics is not the same thing as efforts to transform counterpublics into normative audiences, but allows and encourages these groups to maintain politics identities that resist and oppose normativity. Significantly, Jane Addams was never afraid of working with stigmatized publics and communities deemed threatening. In addition to organizing unions, negotiating labor strikes, and encouraging debates, Addams encouraged communists, socialists, and anarchists to use Hull-House for meetings, though she identified with none of them. This decision contributed to her becoming a target of the FBI in the 1920s, when she became known as the
“museums - as so-called “neutral” institutions - are often complicit in marginalizing the very publics they should be serving” excluded from the public sphere and are left to create their own spaces, norms, and realities, largely within the private sphere. Examples of counterpublics could include but are not limited to: documented and undocumented immigrants, the incarcerated, youth, the differently-abled, and those with divergent sexual identities or practices such as transgendered or polyamorous people. Counterpublics are rarely considered to be legitimate audiences by museums and other institutions, and so their needs largely go ignored. This means that museums, as so-called “neutral” institutions and agents of “truth” are often complicit in marginalizing the very publics they should be serving. In Making Museums Matter, Steven Weil writes, “In a dozen different contexts, identity and interest groups of every kind insist that the mainstream museum is neither empowered nor qualified to speak on their behalf.” Though some of these groups have rightly formed their own museums and institutions, there is yet opportunity for mainstream museums to stop 24
most dangerous woman in America. As Addams never backed down from her commitment to free speech, dialogue, and allowing dissenting voice to be heard, so too the Hull-House Museum seeks to cultivate this sort of dangerousness. Queer theorists Lauren Berlant and Michael Warner specifically address the oppression created by heteronormativity, demanding for queer counterpublics to be given space and legitimacy. In their essay, “Sex in Public”, they call for society to “support forms of affective, erotic, and personal living that are public in the sense of accessible, available to memory, and sustained through collective activity.” I argue that museums, particularly historic house museums, are an ideal place for this to happen. Where better to explore topics of sexuality than spaces that are already adept at negotiating the boundaries between public and private life? The SEX+++ audience must agree, for it has chosen to remain at JAHHM even after other venues have become available. We received offers to move the program to locations like the Center on Halsted,
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Chicago’s community center for LGBT persons, and received support from and created satellite programming at the Leather Archives and Museum, both of which have superior auditoriums to JAHHM. Resoundingly, the SEX+++ audience said they were thrilled to locate the film series at the Hull-House Museum. They wanted the series to remain at a mainstream location, which would better allow them to challenge heteronormative and sex negative discourses. Negotiating boundaries As a pro-peace, immigration, and women’s rights museum, JAHHM often centers its values within the legacy of our site. With SEX+++, however, this is not entirely the case. Although Rachelle Yarros took a decidedly progressive stance on sexuality, Addams herself did not. This is especially clear in regard to Addams’ view of prostitution, which stands in direct conflict with the sex positive movement’s general acceptance of sex work as a valid option for both work and the fulfillment of desire. In A New Conscience and an Ancient Evil, Addams rails against sex trafficking and prostitution, positioning women as moral guardians of sexual purity and sexuality as proper only within a traditional marital structure. SEX+++ therefore offers us an opportunity to use our site’s history as a counterpoint and opportunity for dialogue, rather than automatically accepting all of Addams values as our own. This may encourage museums and historic sites that would like to offer progressive programming but do not have a progressive legacy. A former plantation would be an intriguing site for a conference on modern day slavery. As with any new relationship, JAHHM’s work with the sex positive community has raised unexpected challenges; for example, should the museum allow the SEX+++ community curators to have full control over the series, even when their choice of the film Graphic Sexual Horror, about a highly problematic bondage pornography website, come into conflict with the museum’s feminist principles? Can or should we seek funding from Playboy when doing so may be unacceptable to the museum’s advisory board? And how, exactly, should the museum respond when two audience members take the call for sexual freedom literally… in the darkened theater during one of our screenings? In my search for answers, I take direction 26
from what is perhaps the most poetic tenet of the sex positive movement: that the negotiation of boundaries is a constant process. Consent is never a one-time decision, but must occur actively and enthusiastically as individuals explore their desires and limitations together over time. Museums and other institutions often seek to avoid conflict, dissent, and differences, but great strength can be found within those tensions and the ability of institutions to be responsive to them. For JAHHM, that means choosing to engage and grapple with the sex positive community rather than the wholesale adherence to identity politics. As many social activists say, the struggle is eternal. The Hull-House Museum definitely struggles with sex positivity as we move toward it. Midwifery and the business of museums Of course, museums must think carefully about social engagement, activism, and how to better serve their constituents. These are questions about the role of the museum, to which I would like offer a story from the early days of the settlement, before residents were clear on the limits of their own business. Addams writes that she and fellow resident Julia Lathrop were brought to a nearby tenement house where a young woman was beginning to go into labor. The young woman could not afford a doctor and her neighbors would not help deliver the baby because it would be born out of wedlock. Addams and Lathrop successfully delivered the baby, but on their return to Hull-House, Addams began to question their decision, saying, “This doing things that we don’t know how to do is going too far. Why did we let ourselves be rushed into midwifery?” Lathrop replied, “If we have to begin to hew down the line of our ignorance, for goodness’ sake don’t let us begin at the humanitarian end. To refuse to respond to a poor girl in the throes of childbirth would be a disgrace to us forever more. If HullHouse does not have its roots in human kindness, it is no good at all.” Thankfully there are now a number of support systems in place for laboring mothers, so museums need not rush into midwifery themselves. More to the point, the story represents an important lesson learned by the Hull-House residents, that the services of the institution should be shaped by needs of the communities surrounding it and not by an abstract vision of the role of institutions in society.
Elaine Heumann Gurian has recently written on the role of museums in piece titled, “Museum or Soup Kitchen”. She argues that museums can better serve the needs of the public, particularly in economically unstable times: “What I am proposing is not ‘‘business as usual’’ - museums cloaked in the name of social good, justifying their pent-up need - but rather transforming currently less-than-useful local institutions into dynamic and community-focused ‘‘clubhouses’’ for building social cohesion, and incorporating social services usually delivered elsewhere, such as job retraining, educational enhancements, and public discourse - in addition to their classic role of collections care, interpretation, and exhibitions”. I believe this vision for a more accessible and service-oriented museum will also transform museums’ traditional business of collections care, interpretations, and exhibitions. Typically,
arts. The museum also brings Addams’ sexuality from margin to center by highlighting Smith in Addams’ recreated bedroom. Never before shown love poems and letters, photographs of the two sharing their lives, and the material residue of their deep commitment are displayed alongside Addams’ most intimate possessions, honoring this relationship as central to Addams’ life and a critical part of what sustained and motivated her work. Because the sex positive community has become entrenched in the work of the museum, there is great potential for expanding the program. SEX+++ audience members have suggested that JAHHM could become the hub location for satellite activities, including book clubs, demonstrations, advocacy work, meet-ups, HIVprevention, and workshops at multiple locations around the city. Our work continues beyond the sex positive community too, as JAHHM has
“how should the museum respond when two audience members take the call for sexual freedom literally” museums maintain control of their content by creating exhibits to their own standards first, and inviting the public to participate via public programming second. By engaging in an authentic partnership with the sex positive community, JAHHM has reversed this model by developing museum content in response to these programs and publics. Once again, it is a lesson Addams learned herself: as she devoted herself to the work of the settlement, she fully expected the upper-middle-class residents of Hull-House, such as herself, to be as transformed by the experience as their immigrant neighbors would be. Thanks to our continued work with the sex positive movement, the new permanent exhibition at the Hull-House Museum embraces topics of sexuality that have previously been overlooked or considered marginal to the museum’s mission. In the new museum, Rachelle Yarros is highlighted and her groundbreaking work in sex education is told for the first time alongside other reformers who worked for labor and immigrant rights, public health, and the
begun to collaborate similarly with other publics, including immigration activists, incarcerated youth, and gang members. In her defense of settlement work, Addams wrote, “the only thing to be dreaded in the Settlement is that it loses its flexibility, its power of quick adaptation, its readiness to change its methods as its environment may demand. It must be open to conviction and must have a deep and abiding sense of tolerance. It must be hospitable and ready for experiment.” What an appropriate call for institutions today. According to this mischievous museum worker, the HullHouse Museum’s collaboration and willingness to engage with the sex positive community has resulted in a more inclusive, more relevant and just museum. It is an institution of which, I believe, Addams would be proud. Lisa Junkin Education Coordinator, Hull-House Museum The author would like to thank Lisa Yun Lee, PhD. and Rachel Rabbit White for their valuable comments and suggestions. 27
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas, United States. In June 2007, the Nelson-Atkins unveiled a boldly transformed campus with the opening of the Bloch Building - a significant work of contemporary architecture by Steven Holl Architects that is woven harmoniously into the surrounding landscape of the Kansas City Sculpture Park. Slender and elongated, the majority of the Bloch Building exists underground along the east side of the original 1933 Nelson-Atkins Building. Rising from the building’s 840-foot expanse are five freestanding structures or “lenses” that emerge from the ground. Internally, the lenses create vaulted ceilings and cathedrallike spaces. Externally, they ascend out of the ground as sculptural interventions, playing with the landscape and engaging visitors both inside and out to partake in the architectural experience. The Bloch Building features a stunning lobby and soaring curved walls. Image: Both buildings at night from the J. C. Nichols Plaza (north). Courtesy of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art © Timothy Hursley, 2006
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museum architecture retrospective part 02 Continuing our look at some of the most remarkable museum architecture from the past decade - from the iconic to the sublime... 29
Neues Museum, Berlin, Germany. Built between 1843 and 1855 according to plans by Friedrich August Stüler, a student of Karl Friedrich Schinkel, the museum was closed at the beginning of World War II and was heavily damaged during the bombing of Berlin. The rebuilding was overseen by the English architect David Chipperfield and the museum officially reopened in October 2009. It received the 2010 RIBA European Award for its architecture. The rebuilding work was done within the framework of the Masterplan for Berlin’s Museum Island with a cost of approximately €295 million for the Neues Museum. The northwest wing and the southeast facade, which were completely destroyed in the war, were reconstructed according to Chipperfield’s plan, in a manner close to their original layout in the museum building. Images: Above and below left: Treppenhalle - Staircase Hall. © Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz/ David Chipperfield Architects. Photographer: Joerg von Bruchhausen. Below right: Griechischer Hof - Greek Courtyard. © Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz/ David Chipperfield Architects. Photographer: Christian Richters
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The Norwegian Glacier Museum (Norsk Bremuseum), Fjærland, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. Not really from the past decade but we just had to include this museum in the feature. The Norwegian Glacier Museum opened in 1991. However, in 2002 a decision was made to build an extension. Sverre Fehn, the Norwegian architect who was responsible for the original design was asked to design it. In 2006 Sarner - a UK based museum design company - were commissioned to create the experiential attraction based on climate change. ‘Our Fragile Climate’ opened in July 2007. Image © The Norwegian Glacier Museum
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Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn, Estonia. Opened in 2006. The museum is the largest of its kind in the Baltics and is one of the five branches of the Art Museum of Estonia. The main collection covers Estonian art from the 18th century onwards, including works from the occupations period (1940–1991) and showing both Socialist Realism and Nonconformist art. Temporary exhibitions include both foreign and Estonian modern and contemporary art. Kumu is an abbreviation of the Estonian “Kunstimuuseum” (art museum). Kumu received European Museum of the Year Award 2008 by European Museum Forum. Architect Pekka Vapaavuori. Image © Kaido Haagen
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The Acropolis Museum, Athens, Greece. With a total area of 25,000 square meters, with exhibition space of over 14,000 square meters, ten times more than that of the old museum on the Hill of the Acropolis. The new Museum offers all the amenities expected in an international museum of the 21st century. Architects Bernard Tschumi with Michael Photiadis. Completed in 2007. Image © Acropolis Museum
The Gardiner Museum, Toronto, Canada. One of the world’s pre-eminent institutions devoted to ceramic art, The Gardner Museum underwent a renewal project in 2008/ 2009. The extension builds on top of the original structure, designed by Keith Wagland in 1984. Located across from the Royal Ontario Museum, it remains one of the city’s finest examples of modernist architecture. Image © Shai Gill 34
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V&A’s Medieval & Renaissance Galleries. Š V&A images www.alanwilliamsphotography.com
Preserve, Connect, Peta Motture on meeting the aims for the Medieval & Renaissance Galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum 37
‘Art isn’t just entertaining or decorative. It is life-giving. Whatever its medium, in the hands of a great master art puts us in touch with a truth about our world, our desires, our culture and ourselves’. These are the words, not of an art historian, but of Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, in response to seeing the Sistine Chapel tapestries reunited for the first time with the Raphael’s cartoons on which they were based. He sums up the significance that art can have on human existence and in everyday life. In so doing, he highlights one of the challenges faced by today’s museums and galleries in presenting great works of art, with all the associations carried in their imagery – religious, cultural, historical - to make them accessible and inspiring to a diverse audience. These challenges were tackled in the redevelopment of the Medieval & Renaissance Galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum, which opened in December 2009. More than seven years in the making, these galleries explore the art, design and culture of Europe between AD 300 and 1600, through the Museum’s world-class collections. The £31.9 million project involved a vast range of people from both within and outside the Museum to bring it to fruition, drawing on their diverse skills and expertise. At the heart of the project lay the collections themselves, the scope of which make them an unparalleled resource for the study of artistic production and culture in the period. Ranging from exquisite early jewellery to the High Altar chapel of the conventual Church of Santa Chiara in Florence, they include numerous outstanding individual pieces, such as the ivory book-cover from the Lorsch Gospels, about 810, and Donatello’s bronze ‘Chellini Madonna’ of about 1450. Equally central are the Museum’s audiences, whose needs and interests informed how the displays were put together and interpreted. The galleries were designed not only to encourage visitors to enjoy these exceptional works of art for their beauty and craftsmanship, but also to provide an insight into the context in which they were created, together with the people who made and owned them. This essay outlines how the V&A team approached the development of these new galleries and considers how successful we have been at meeting our aims and objectives. The idea to redisplay the Italian Renaissance galleries had long been on 38
V&A’s Medieval & Renaissance Galleries. Onyx screen with Christ on the Cross, about 1250, Italy, probably Tuscany. Painted wood (poplar). Bought with the aid of contributions from the Bequest of Dr W.L. Hildburgh FSA and the Associates of the V&A. Devotion and Display 1300-1500. © V&A images www.alanwilliamsphotography.com
the Museum’s agenda. While the Northern Renaissance galleries and the Medieval Treasury had been reinterpreted in the 1980s, the Italian rooms had changed very little since they were set up in the 1950s, and, despite some low-budget improvement along the way, they were in desperate need of a complete recasting. The notion of bringing together the medieval and Renaissance collections to tell a coherent story for the first time – highlighting the interconnections across the timespan - was first mooted in 2000. Thanks to the generosity of a like-minded sponsor, a Concept Team was set up in July 2002, consisting of four curators and an educator, initially under the leadership of Malcolm Baker. They were joined in due course by others, including several curatorial specialists seconded part-time to the project. The galleries
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were divided up between focussed teams, each led by a member of the Concept Team, who together formulated the framework and content for the galleries. The goal was to present the Museum’s holdings in an exciting, meaningful and accessible way. Several key aims were identified: to preserve the collections through conservation, as well as through environmental and photographic provision; to make physical and intellectual connections, and to inspire, engage and transform people through their experience of the collections, enabling them to learn at their own pace both within and beyond the galleries. The team was given a free hand to establish how to organise, present and interpret the material, with only one proviso – they had to build on the achievement of the recently-opened British Galleries, which had won critical acclaim for its award-winning thematic approach. The British
designers and manufacturers. Although they are remarkably diverse, they do not, therefore, allow a comprehensive picture of the period, and we did not attempt to present one. It was important to keep abreast of developments elsewhere in the UK, Europe and beyond, and visits to diverse exhibitions and museums also provided insights into effective means of introducing unfamiliar cultures and concepts. Occasional visits abroad included a factfinding trip to North America, which culminated in a seminar at the Clark Institute at Williamstown, Massachusetts, with curators, academics and students participating. Significantly, discussions took place with the Museum of London and The British Museum, both of which were planning their own medieval galleries, so as to ensure that the projects complemented each other rather than competed. Pilgrimage, for instance, is an important story for this period, but the British
“the aim was to make physical and intellectual connections” Galleries heralded the Museum’s FuturePlan, an on-going programme of restoration, refurbishment and redesign of its galleries and public spaces. FuturePlan has provided a wealth of experience on which to draw, fostering the exchange of ideas across the different projects. Initial proposals developed through robust discussion, debate and consultation. Brainstorming sessions teased out the key overarching ideas and the different ways in which they might be addressed. Alongside the exploration of historical content and narrative, the collections themselves were interrogated, aided by the specialist curators. This brought to light some of the less well-known aspects of our holdings, such as the archaeological material from Egypt displayed in the subject on ‘Adorning the Dead, 300-800’ in the gallery on Faiths and Empires 300-1250. We were governed to some extent by the nature of the collections. The V&A’s holdings were not gathered specifically to tell the story of art and culture in Europe, but as exemplars for 40
Museum is better placed to tell it than the V&A. The Museum’s holdings were supplement by comparatively few additions, notably a changing display of early manuscript material from The British Library and strategic loans from The British Museum, The National Gallery and others. Consultation continued throughout the gallery development. This included a series of workshops to debate some of the over-arching issues that were considered to be of central importance both in terms of current trends in scholarship and for an understanding the period. Among these was the inter-connection between the sacred and secular, as well as issues of chronology and of the shifting geo-political map, and the question ‘what we mean by art?’ An Advisory Committee was also set up, comprising eminent scholars and educators with whom we discussed our proposals in the early stages of development. Together with the collections themselves, our audiences were central to the project. For the
Above: V&A’s Medieval & Renaissance Galleries. Donatello and the Making of Art 1400-1500. © V&A images www.alanwilliamsphotography.com
Right: V&A’s Medieval & Renaissance Galleries The Rise of Gothic 1200-1350. © V&A images www.alanwilliamsphotography.com
purposes of planning, the V&A divides its audience into Families, Schools, Creative Industries, Individual Adults, Adult Groups and Students. A gallery project of this scale is intended to offer something to appeal to everyone, catering for a range of learning styles. Having an educator as part of the team from the outset – a practice that has become the standard for all V&A gallery projects – ensures a focus on the provision of learning opportunities. Visitors were consulted directly through a series of quantitative and qualitative evaluations, including a series of focus groups. There were asked what they thought of the current displays and invited to comment on proposals for the themes and topics. Some fundamental questions were posed, such as ‘what do you understand by the terms ‘medieval’ and ‘Renaissance’? Perhaps not surprisingly, many were uncertain about the timeframe of the medieval period, but they were clear that it was dark, desolate, full of plague, mud, war and feudal lords who abused their tenants. It was
generally not a period that produced art. They were far more confident about the Renaissance period: at around 1400, the sun came out, and people walked by the Arno drinking wine with Michelangelo. It was a time of great artistic innovation and enlightenment. So, it was evident that we were faced with various challenges in deciding upon our approach, not least to dispel the popular representation of the medieval period as one of little artistic merit. Due to the complexities of covering 1300 years of European history, we decided to modify the British Galleries’ approach to suit the needs of these particular collections. Each gallery is designed like a room in an exhibition, with its own narrative and date range, such as Faiths & Empires 300-1250, the Rise of Gothic 1200-1350, Renaissance Art and Ideas 14001550 and A World of Goods 1450-1600. The overlapping chronology highlights connections across the time span, and allows more room for the greater numbers of objects surviving from the 41
later periods. Taking into account the nature of the collections and criticism of previous displays, some of our most important or fascinating objects are presented individually to give them prominence. The Medieval & Renaissance Galleries, however, retained the basic organisational approach used in the earlier project of creating a series of subject displays, each based on one of four themes. Although research had shown that few visitors to those galleries noticed the themes, they provided a helpful organising principle for the curators. The four themes – Styles, Uses & Contexts, Continuity & Change, and Makers & Markets - were chosen to address some of the questions asked by visitors as well as to highlight relevant issues. There are nonetheless pros and cons to the thematic approach. On the one hand, grouping objects in this way provides a context that assists in opening up complex ideas to those who are new to the subject. On the other, it demands a fairly fixed design and a certain amount of flexibility is therefore sacrificed. When it came to putting the ideas into physical form, first and foremost, the objects themselves had to look stunning. The conservation of many of the pieces transformed their appearance as well as our understanding of them, and often informed the approach to their display. Pragmatic decisions also had to be made if the galleries were to be delivered on time, so while many objects were thoroughly investigated, both in terms of conservation and curatorial research, others remain projects for the future. In addition, as is often the case, new questions often arose in the course of solving others. It was also necessary to balance the needs of the objects with that of the carbon footprint by pursuing an environmentally-friendly approach to the conditioning of the galleries. The design team was led by the innovative architects, MUMA, who shared the vision of placing objects centre stage and who arrived with a number of ideas for transforming the spaces through sensitive intervention. Their proposals opened up the building, making it fully accessible for the first time, and transforming a rather unprepossessing back-of-house zone into an exciting new daylit space where we could take a different approach to the displays. They reclaimed areas of the Aston Webb building (opened in 1908) that had originally been designed as gallery but never used as such. By imaginatively 42
V&A’s Medieval & Renaissance Galleries. Faiths and Empires 300-1250. © V&A images www.alanwilliamsphotography.com
developing the curatorial brief, MUMA also married the physical with the intellectual. For example, the glass roof of the gallery entitled ‘Inside the Church’ was modified so as to evoke an ecclesiastical space while providing a suitable environment to show light-sensitive altarpieces. Similarly, a dynamic link was made by piercing a hole in the wall between two galleries, connected by a fifteenth-century balcony, allowing visitors to walk from the Renaissance interior to look down onto the Renaissance courtyard and garden display below. The need for variety in pace and mood, important for sustaining any visitor’s interest, is reflected in both the architectural design – such as smaller, darker galleries contrasting with larger, lighter spaces - and in the individual displays. At times objects of one type or material are massed together, at others diverse objects are brought together to tell a particular artistic or cultural story such as ‘Metalworkers and Enamellers 8001250’ or ‘Marriage & Motherhood 1430-1550’. The displays are all founded on historical and art historical research, and while the narrative is undoubtedly one of the elite, given what has survived, there was a conscious attempt to present the more everyday wherever possible. For example, a Venetian platform slipper, or piannelle, which might have been worn by either a courtesan or a courtly woman, is juxtaposed
The National Maritime Museum ’s ship model collection at Historic Dockyard Chatham
... the art of keeping art
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with child’s leather shoe found in a London plague pit. Similarly, the design was influenced by the historic context. For example, MUMA chose to diffuse the daylight into the gallery entitled Devotion and Display 1300-1500 through onyx screens inspired by medieval alabaster-clad windows, providing both a beautiful and practical solution to display. Placement and relationships can go a long way towards evoking context or direct engagement with the objects, whether an artefact is placed high as originally designed to be seen or instead positioned to offer a rare opportunity to examine it at close-quarters. In order to establish those decisions, mock ups with templates and the objects themselves, as ever, proved invaluable. In addition, previous displays and exhibitions had proved useful testing grounds. Team members curated two related exhibitions during the course of the project, one of which, Depth of Field: the place of relief at the time of Donatello, was proposed by the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds with that purpose in mind. In the gallery on Donatello and the Making of Art 1400-1500, where the role of the artist and of the meaning of images form the focus, the Leeds ‘Virgin and Child wall’ morphed into the ‘Virgin and Child niche’ in London, and white walls create the feel of a modern art gallery. However, there is a significant difference between a temporary exhibition and a permanent gallery display. Galleries are not only planned for the long view - these have an intended life-span of 25 years - but the story they tell is based around the permanent collections, rather than bringing together the ideal companions to make a particular point. Nevertheless but equally significantly, the galleries (like an exhibition) are not the same as a book. Here, scholarship has to be worn lightly - presented in a way that is accessible to those who are new to the subject primarily through visual means and in three dimensions. A fiftyword label text can make only one or two points, so it was important to provide opportunities for further exploration and discovery, including
V&A’s Medieval & Renaissance Galleries. Day-lit gallery – Living with the Past. © V&A images www.alanwilliamsphotography.com 44
high- and low-tech interpretation, such as films, interactives and gallery books. New approaches supplemented previous templates, including a collaboration with the Royal College of Music to transcribe and record music specific to some of the objects, funded by an Arts and Humanities Research Council Knowledge Transfer Grant. Specific objects, replicas and materials can be handled and there are two discovery areas and a study zone. However, gallery texts remain the primary source of information, and it was therefore crucial to ensure that these were as widely accessible as possible. Two currents emerged as running throughout the galleries – the constant reference to the past, especially the classical past, and the developing attitudes of the Church and devotional practice. These issues can seem remote today and the latter raised the issue of how people would respond in what has been described as an increasingly secular society. Among those consulted were different faith groups, including those that had no specific faith, were consulted to discover their responses both to the imagery and to the manner in which Christian doctrine and beliefs were expressed in the interpretative texts. Roman Catholics, for example, did not like the use of the past tense when referring to beliefs that are still held by those that practice that faith and they pointed out, for instance, that Mass was celebrated not performed. Those from non-Christian backgrounds did not automatically understand the imagery or the practices in which the objects played a part. Their comments were all taken on board and where appropriate texts were adjusted. Some rituals, like the Mass, are explained in separate gallery books. The religious texts were checked by a Roman Catholic priest to ensure they were historically correct and appropriate for today’s audiences. How successful, then, have these galleries been in meeting the aims to tease out such issues, and to challenge many popular misconceptions about the period? Does this fresh view inspire, engage, connect and even transform our visitors? Do the displays meet that balance between content, interpretation and design – so important in any museum but crucial for the national museum of art and design? One way to measure this is through press and visitor response, together with nomination for awards. At the time of writing, the galleries have 45
won several and been short-listed for additional awards from different disciplines, notably design innovation and sustainability. The response of the press, peer groups and audiences has been overwhelmingly positive. For example, Richard Dorment in The Telegraph gave a five star rating and found it ‘a joy to report a complete success with the museum’s new medieval and Renaissance galleries…where every effort is made to give a feel for a church interior or Renaissance study without turning the galleries into a succession of stage sets’. Waldemar Januszczak in The Sunday Times was excited by what he called the ‘brave’ approach of challenging preconceptions about ‘medieval’ and ‘Renaissance’. He proclaimed that the galleries ‘are not only beautiful, they completely rewrite the history books’, in addition to being ‘Stunning. Spectacular. And even awesome’. The initial response of visitors has been
were unhappy with aspects of the labelling which, despite the care that went into their design, required rethinking to improve on their placement and legibility. While sharing not only the basic organisational approach, but also many of the aspirations of other gallery teams – such as ‘less is more’, listening to the visitor – these galleries have their own feel. The team was able to look with a critical eye and to discover not only the triumphs of other displays at the V&A and elsewhere, but also their shortcomings. It is essential that future curators do the same, just as we can now look back on the Medieval & Renaissance Galleries and acknowledge where we would, in an ideal world, have done things differently. Each gallery demands its own approach and while a certain consistency is helpful to the visitor, variety, individuality and a sense of discovery are essential. The Museum has already embarked
“gallery texts remain the primary source of information” equally encouraging. By March 2010, the galleries had an estimated 359,900 visits, representing 44% of total visits to the Museum during this period (826,900). Summative research supports a strong measure of successfully achieving the aims, with high percentages of visitors agreeing that the galleries ‘provided a framework to view and learn more about the medieval and Renaissance period’, that they ‘illustrated what the art and objects of the period meant to the people of the time’, and to a lesser extent ‘illustrated the interconnectivity between the medieval and Renaissance periods”. In addition and significantly, numerous visitors have chosen to offer independent feedback to express their enjoyment of the beauty and content of the exhibition. In acknowledging the complexities of the narrative, some suggested audio guides and curator tours will shortly be available online and to download via the wireless system in the gallery onto a mobile phone or similar device. However, even visitors who were delighted with the displays 46
on planning for the new galleries devoted to Europe 1600-1800, the next in line of the Art and Design (or, in one sense, ‘cultural’) galleries. It will continue to be essential to follow the general principles of uniting intellectual rationale with design and interpretation, and today those go beyond the gallery itself, via the website, the events programme and a variety of publications. In this way visitors can continue to play an active role in the Medieval & Renaissance Galleries, contributing to films for the web, the blog (which has tracked the progress of the project) and via social networking sites. The challenge for future historic galleries is to develop new ways of inspiring us to engage with how relevant the past and its art can be for our lives in the 21st century. Peta Motture Chief Curator, Medieval & Renaissance Galleries Victoria & Albert Museum
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Sustainability
at the California Academy of Sciences
The California Academy of Sciences was formed in San Francisco in 1853, with a mission to promote science through exhibition, education and research. The building and most of the exhibits and collections at the original downtown location were destroyed by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, whereupon the Academy re-established itself in Golden Gate Park in 1916. During the ensuing decades the Academy expanded its facilities, exhibits and programs, becoming a world-class natural history museum, aquarium and planetarium. Over time the buildings and infrastructure deteriorated, and 48
the effects of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake precipitated a review of the institution’s infrastructure, completed in 1992. The review concluded that the Academy facility was no longer safe and needed to be rebuilt. Over the next decade the vision of the new Academy took shape. Numerous community groups, members, staff scientists, futurists, planners, and museum and aquarium professionals were asked by the Academy’s senior leadership, “What should the Academy of the 21st century look like?” The Academy’s mission is to “explore,
The seven hills on the living roof are a nod to San Francisco’s hilly topography. Photo © Tim Griffith
Aaron Pope on integrated operations, programs, exhibits and outreach explain and protect the natural world,” and one of the clear directives that emerged from this discovery process was that the new facility, and the organization itself, must position itself as a sustainability leader to continue fulfilling its mission. The new Academy needed to not only minimize its own environmental impact, but also make a statement about the importance and viability of building and operating sustainably. The selection of Renzo Piano as the new building’s principal architect in 1999 helped to cement this direction. Renzo’s vision was of a building intimately connected to the surrounding
environment and its natural weather systems. He pictured lifting up a slice of Golden Gate Park and tucking the new Academy building underneath. He envisioned expansive walls of glass and clear sightlines throughout the building to blur the boundaries between the interior and the outside park. Integrating this vision with the exhibitry needs of the Academy resulted in a design for the world’s largest, LEED platinum certified public building. The Academy closed its doors to the public in Golden Gate Park at the end of 2003 and opened its temporary transition facility in 49
the spring of 2004. Groundbreaking for the new facility occurred in September 2005. After two years of construction and one year of exhibit completion and fit-out, the new Academy opened to the public in September 2008. In its first two years of operation, the new Academy welcomed nearly 4 million visitors. Facility overview The principal aquarium exhibitions feature a Philippine coral reefs, rainforests of the world, the Northern California coast, and a southern swamp. Other exhibitions showcase the Academy’s longstanding and ongoing research in the Galapagos Islands and Madagascar, and a series of renovated dioramas present the diverse habitats of Africa. There is also a major exhibition area that focuses on global climate change. A combination
Academy’s energy use significantly. Advanced features help the Academy conserve water as well. The building reduces potable water use through low-flow fixtures, waterless urinals, use of Golden Gate park groundwater to water its living roof and landscaping, improved aquarium life support systems, and by piping in saltwater for the aquarium directly from the Pacific Ocean, just a few miles away. The improved life support systems ensure that aquarium water can be recycled many times before disposal. The living roof reduces storm water run-off by more than 14,000 cubic meters (3.6 million gallons) per year, as well and provides habitat for a range of local animal and plant species. Recycled materials also play a big part in the building’s story. Over 90% of the demolition
“all departments are involved to some extent in green efforts” of interpretive methods are used throughout the facility, with an emphasis on person-to-person interactions, live animal presentations and interactive technologies. Topped by a one-hectare (~2.5 acres) living roof, the building employs a wide range of energy saving materials and technologies. The roof is bordered by a glass canopy containing 60,000 photovoltaic cells, which produce up to 8% of the Academy’s annual power needs and prevent the release of over 55.5 tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year. Radiant floor heating reduces heating energy needs, while heat recovery systems capture and utilize heat produced by HVAC equipment. The undulating roofline draws cool air into the building and naturally ventilates the adjacent exhibit spaces through automatically controlled skylights, and at least 90% of the regularly occupied spaces have access to natural daylight and outside views. These features combine to help lower the 50
waste from the old Academy was recycled in local construction projects. In the new building, recycled steel was used for 100% of the building’s structural steel. At least 50% of the wood was sustainably harvested and certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. The insulation in the walls is made from recycled blue jean scraps, a renewable, cotton resource that is non-toxic. The building’s concrete is composed of 50% industrial by-product. Construction project managers Don Young and Associates (San Francisco) estimated that the incremental construction costs associated with the green design were about 5%-10% of the total construction costs. An exact figure is impossible to determine since the building was designed from the ground up to be sustainable, and there are no comparable, conventional museum/aquarium/ planetarium facilities to use as a baseline. The Academy building is receiving a high level of attention from the media and visitors
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The original colonnaded entrance to Steinhart Aquarium was recreated, as well as the popular Swamp tank, which houses alligators and alligator snapping turtles. Photo Š Tim Griffith
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because of its cutting-edge, green design. According to visitor surveys, the architecture itself is the second most popular draw for visitors, ahead of the planetarium and natural history museum. Investing in such a high-profile design has proven to be a sound decision from the standpoint of the Academy’s attendance goals, but a less tangible benefit has been to showcase what is possible in the field of green building design. By providing transparency and communicating design weaknesses as well as strengths, the Academy strives to offer practical guidance and inspire future efforts. As a stateof-the-art, and in many ways experimental, facility, the building incorporates many innovative features that have not been implemented before. Most of the building’s systems are performing as intended, but there have been some unintended results, and the Academy is making every attempt to pass these lessons along to other, interested parties.
An example of this type of lesson, one that any future green museum design teams would be wise to consider, is the reality that passively cooled spaces lack the necessary temperature and humidity controls to properly display museum collection specimens. As a result, a significant portion of the Academy exhibit resources over the past two years have been spent retrofitting a large, HVAC controlled exhibition space, as well as building many smaller, individual climate controlled specimen cases. Sustainability goals Sustainability can be defined in many ways, and the Academy felt the need to publically define its understanding of the concept. Soon after opening, a “sustainability statement” was crafted and approved by the Academy’s senior leadership
commitment to sustainability. The culture and internal practices mirror that commitment in the areas of energy, water, waste management, transportation, purchasing and food. Academy programs highlight the living world and its connection to the changing global environment. Academy research focuses on the origins and maintenance of life’s diversity, and its expeditions roam the world, gathering scientific data to answer the questions, “How has life evolved, and how can it be sustained?” The Academy’s specific sustainability goals have evolved into prioritizing sustainable operations, developing programs and exhibits to help the general public understand sustainability and to empower them to make changes in their own lives, acting as an advisor for other organizations to help reduce their environmental
“the architecture itself is the second most popular draw for visitors” team and Board of Trustees. This statement was published on the Academy website in 2008, where it has been available ever since. Academy Sustainability Statement: Sustainability is often defined as meeting current human needs without endangering our descendants. There is a broad, scientific consensus that our current environmental demands are unsustainable, causing climate change, degradation of natural habitats, loss of species, and shortages of essential resources. The California Academy of Sciences’ mission to explore, explain and protect the natural world compels the Academy to engage in scientific research relevant to sustainability, to raise public awareness about these urgent problems, and to minimize its own environmental impact. The Academy’s green building signifies its
impact, and disseminating the Academy’s sustainability efforts internally and externally. Sustainable operations Although not every sustainable building project will benefit from a complex certification process such as the US Green Building Council’s LEED program, going through LEED’s New Construction certification process played a crucial role for the Academy by providing it with an existing framework during the design phase. It supplied a check list and a series of concrete performance targets to work towards, negating the need for the Academy to come up with standards on its own. In a similar vein, the Academy is currently pursuing another type of LEED certification, Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance (O&M), to fine-tune its sustainable operating practices, as well as demonstrate its continuing environmental commitment to the world. LEED O&M certification standards cover a wide array of operational 53
The new Academy faces the de Young museum, with the Music Concourse in between. Photo © Tim Griffith
areas, such as water use, energy use, landscape management, pest control, purchasing, and waste management. All certified facilities must apply for recertification at least every five years, encouraging ongoing stewardship. While the one-and-a-half year LEED O&M certification process will not be completed until 2011, the Academy has already made many commitments in the past few years to reduce its environmental impact. Some examples are: • Choosing not to sell or provide plastic, bottled water • Partnering with restaurant partners who prioritize local, organic and seasonal ingredients • Requiring on-premise caterers to adhere to strict sustainability guidelines • Sourcing aquarium animals and food supplies from sustainable sources • Minimizing the amount and impact of printed materials sent out for marketing purposes • Incentivizing staff and visitors to use public transportation • Continually expanding energy use reduction strategies • Continually expanding potable water use reduction strategies • Reducing, reusing and recycling exhibit materials whenever possible
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Sustainable operations are not only part of the Academy’s core mission - they also deliver many other benefits, including: the long-term financial benefits of adopting efficient technologies; an increased credibility for the institution’s sustainability messaging; the setting of a positive example for others to follow; and increased visitorship and public support. Internal culture An empowered, supportive Academy staff is essential for operating sustainably. Fostering a “culture of sustainability” inside the institution has been an ongoing process, involving staff training on sustainability basics, staff-wide communication emails, utilization of San Francisco municipality staff expertise, greenthemed staff events, and an active Greenteam with an open-membership policy. A quarterly, half-day sustainability orientation session is now mandatory for all new Academy staff members, and more experienced staff members are also encouraged to attend. The Academy recognizes that successfully nurturing staff excitement and participation on sustainable issues will require constant efforts to shape and improve the internal culture of the Academy. All departments are involved to some extent in green efforts, and so future initiatives must continue to reach out to all staff members.
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A winding ramp allows visitors to explore the different levels of the rainforest. A 100,000-gallon Amazon Flooded Forest tank graces the bottom of the exhibit. Photo © Tim Griffith
Public programs and exhibits Like many museums, the Academy’s reputation as a trusted source of information provides a much great opportunity to protect the natural world, through public programs and exhibits. Sustainability education is integrated into many exhibits and visitor amenities throughout the Academy. In the aquarium, signage highlights the serious threats that the oceans face, and showcases inspiring local conservation efforts underway across the globe, from San Francisco to Indonesia. At the Building Green exhibit, visitors can learn about the sustainable design of the building and how similar strategies can make their own homes more efficient. Restroom messages remind visitors to conserve water and offer inspirational quotes. The living roof railing graphics explain the benefits of living roofs for 56
buildings. And in the climate change exhibit, interactive tools and activities empower visitors to become part of the solution. This environmental focus is also woven into the Academy’s public floor staff presentations, audio tours, behind-the-scenes tours, handouts, intern and docent programs and neighborhood outreach. The various initiatives contribute to a multi-layered approach, intended to help the Academy reach the widest possible audience and have the largest impact. Another of the Academy’s goals is to help foster a sense of connection between visitors and the environment. In today’s society, there is a growing chasm between many people’s modernized, urban lives and the natural world. The Academy’s exhibits and programs attempt to bridge that gap by providing inspiring experiences
for visitors who would not otherwise get the chance to develop an emotional attachment to the wild places of the Earth. With no emotional attachment, people are unlikely to prioritize protecting the natural systems which actually support humans and all other forms of life. Teacher institute on science and sustainability One of the most successful, and potentially impactful, sustainability programs at the Academy is the Educational Department’s Teacher Institute on Science & Sustainability. Numerous indicators point to a lack of effective scientific and environmental education in America’s schools. The institute was created to help fill that void, by recruiting and training teachers to develop and deliver strong formal education curricula on these important topics.
and operational best practices, as well as offers to join steering committees. A significant portion of the Sustainability Department’s bandwidth is currently devoted to handling as many of these requests as possible, and the Academy is considering how to increase its capacity in this regard. Conclusion The California Academy of Sciences views sustainability as a journey, more than a destination. There is no such thing as a perfectly sustainable museum. All institutions have an environmental impact, and are forced to balance their resource usage with their core mission and visitor needs. At the Academy that means questioning what is possible, trying out innovative ideas, and being committed to constant improvement. The
“there is no such thing as a perfectly sustainable museum - all institutions have an environmental impact” Each cohort of 3rd – 5th grade teachers, selected from a large pool of applicants, is enrolled in a 2-year program. The program offers in-depth workshops, offsite visits, and a 2-week summer session. Topics covered include climate change, energy use, green building design and food choices. Sustainability consulting Since opening, the Academy has been gratified to receive thousands of requests for guidance on sustainability issues. There is a constant, and seemingly inexhaustible, demand from other institutions, schools, government agencies and private corporations for information on how the Academy approaches sustainability. These come in the form of requests for specialty tours, speakers for events and conferences, interviews, exhibit and program content details,
Academy has succeeded in establishing itself as an industry leader in sustainability, but its ongoing commitment implies that it has only begun to realize its potential, positive impact on the world. Aaron Pope Manager of Sustainability Programs California Academy of Sciences
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conception nouvelle exposition
STUDIO ADELINE RISPAL PARIS - FRANCE New Paris-based architecture and exhibition design studio formed to create international cultural projects A new Paris-based designers - Studio Adeline Rispal - was founded this year with a focus on cultural projects and museum scenography. Principal Adeline Rispal qualified as an architect in 1981 and worked on the architectural and museographic project for the Institut du Monde Arabe from 1982 to 1988. In 1990 she was a founding partner of Repérages Architectures, which she ran until 1996. Adeline specialises in complex cultural heritage projects and her work includes major projects in Europe, Russia, the United States, Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. Sonia Glasberg began her career in 1993 as a scenographer for the cinema and theatre. In 2000 she graduated from the Ecole d’architecture de Paris la Villette as an architect. From 2003 to 2008 Sonia was a Project Manager in the Museography section of the Louvre DAMT and was responsible for the museography of the 60
new Venus de Milo and Parthenon galleries. In 2009, she joined Repérages Architectures and this year co-founded Studio Adeline Rispal with Adeline Rispal and Alain Dupuy. Alain Dupuy is an engineer and designer specialising in all fields of multimedia. Taught in the USA, in 1986 he founded Innovision, an engineering and multimedia design company that has worked on many international museum and research projects. He has played an active role in major international competitions with Adeline Rispal, including World Trade Center Memorial Museum in New York, and Museography of the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Studio Adeline Rispal employs a core creative team of around ten people comprising architects, interior designers, graphic artists and designers. www.adelinerispal.com
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Musée de l’Armée, Paris In 2003, Adeline Rispal/Repérages Architectures submitted the winning design for the €10m restructuration, renovation and exhibition design of the east wing of the Musée de l’Armée, housed in the Hôtel National des Invalides, Paris. The transformation was part of the vast ATHENA renovation programme, which converted this museum of artefacts into a museum of the history of the French army - from the Middle Ages to the present day. ATHENA IV involved the renovation of the east wing of the museum and sought to create thematic displays devoted to the history of the Invalides and the Musée de l’Armée and to renovate the buildings and exhibition design of the Modern Department - from the reign of Louis XIV to the fall of Napoleon III. Benjamin Mouton, architectin-chief at the Department of Historical Buildings assigned to the Invalides, and Adeline Rispal jointly suggested recreating the partitions that existed in the 17th century, when a broad central corridor ran through the retired soldiers’ rooms, which occupied three of the wings around the courtyard called the Cour de la Valeur. At different intervals, partitioned spaces highlight outstanding elements of the programme. In response to the Ministry of Defence’s commission to convert the museum of artefacts into a history museum, the approach adopted was to specialize the space and facilitate the legibility of the interaction between the different sections of the army. The intention behind the systemic character of the museographic approach is to enable the public to choose the type of visit they prefer. Broad showcases, based on an 87-centimetre anthropomorphic grid pattern, contain the prestigious collections lined up in an orderly fashion that recalls troops on the march. Mirrors at the back of the showcases multiply the number of uniforms to produce a mass effect and to show the soldiers from all sides. The showcases pass through the partitions between the rooms, either virtually or in actual fact, to express army corps moving across ever vaster stretches of land. Photos © Luc Boegly
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Venus de Milo and Melpomene Gallery, Louvre. In 2007 Sonia Glasberg was commissioned by the Musée du Louvre to head the museographic studies for the renovation of the rooms housing Classical and Hellenistic Greek art. The renovation programe was intended to improve the exhibition conditions of the Venus de Milo, one of the museum’s masterpieces seen by four million visitors a year. The space was inaugurated in July 2010. Photo © Antoine Mongodin
National Museum of Qatar, Doha, Qatar Associated exhibition designers and lead firm of Jean Nouvel’s museography team: Studio Adeline Rispal. With multimedia engineering and design by Innovision. In the building designed by Jean Nouvel, a long desert rose resting on Doha Bay, the museographic project intends to highlight Qatar’s tangible and intangible heritage, in both the museum itself and on a nationwide scale. The design of the exhibition rooms proposes visions of a pensinsular country heavily influenced by the duality of desert and sea. The permanent collections are intended to be installed like nomads encamped in their natural environment. One of the museum’s objectives is to encourage people to collect and facilitate the transmission of this oral heritage so that it may act as a creative source for future generations. Due to open in 2014. Photo © Studio Adeline Rispal
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Odyssee 21 – Sea, Science and Sustainable Development Centre and Museum, Le Havre, France Exhibition design of the permanent galleries in Jean Nouvel’s building. Odyssey 21 explores global maritime activity and captures the invisible elements of the world of the sea and international ports. Data is received from marine, terrestrial and satellite observatories and in the exhibition spaces visitors are provided with interactives that help them understand how the system of maritime transport works and the means available to man for adapting this system to strategic, climatic, economic and technical variables. Photo © ginger / Studio Adeline Rispal
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museums & social media In earlier articles, I argued that as we begin to design interpretation and information systems for the museum in the age of social media, the distributed network can serve as both an inspirational metaphor and a practical model to suggest new ways of authoring and supporting museum experiences that are: • conversational rather than unilateral • engaging rather than simply didactic • generative of content • open-ended rather than finite and closed • sustainable across platforms and time …and that become ‘smarter’, more effective and useful the more they are used: rather like Pandora or the Amazon recommendations system – increasing the quality of both the visitor experience and the online museum itself. Like the Internet, the Museum as Distributed Network is enhanced, not diluted, by multiple voices and authors. It also supports the three key metrics that most accurately measure the museum’s success vis-à-vis its core mission and responsibility to the public good: 1. Quality: the museum’s mission to collect, preserve and present invaluable artifacts and the key stories, ideas and concepts that represent the best of human culture 2. Relevance: the museum’s responsibility to make its collections, content and activities accessible to the broadest possible audiences 66
3. Sustainability: the museum’s enduring obligation to deliver both quality and relevance in its collections forever But development and management of the rhizomic museum requires powerful tools for making the ever-increasing data and metadata of assets, interpretations and interpreters findable, and for connecting communities of interest in meaningful ways across oceans of content and contributors. Here is one vision of how a distributed network approach can be deployed to foster and support mobile experiences of the museum both on-site and beyond that deliver on the museum’s mission and core metrics. Mobile social media Thinking of mobile as social media means going beyond the audio tour and ‘visitor services’ models for mobile websites and apps. Designing what I and others have called an ‘un-tour’ begins with asking what audiences want to know about our collections, exhibitions, research and scholarship (both on-site and beyond the museum’s wall) and not with what we want to tell them. By responding first to the questions that visitors ask of the museum, we are able to use mobile solutions to engage them more fully and immediately, and with longer-lasting effects. Most importantly, we can help connect communities of interest and facilitate conversations among our audiences as well as with the museum itself, turning the mobile experience into mobile social media.
in the third and final installment of her essay series on museums and social media, Nancy Proctor, Head of Mobile Strategy & Initiatives at the Smithsonian Institution, explores new ways of authoring and supporting museum experiences
1. Data capture and feedback tools The foundational functions of mobile social media therefore include tools that capture data and feedback from visitors on where they go, what they see, and what questions they ask. Analytics and metrics reporting on their usage are key to understanding where further support, in the form of content or other responses from the museum, are required to reply to and further stimulate visitors’ interest. Search facilities for collections and exhibition content, as well as interactive maps, can be important interfaces to helping visitors find the content that responds to their questions and interests. Most importantly, the un-tour should include commenting, collecting and sharing functionality that enables visitors to save, annotate and redistribute their experience and insights to others. For those who may not be prepared to register their comments on a museum’s displays for all the world to see, Facebook-style functionality, that allows visitors to select the audiences who can see their contributions to the mobile conversation, can be an important feature as well to help them join the conversation in a comfortable and ‘safe’ way. 2.Facilitating conversations within communities of interest The museum can help communities of interest form around objects and exhibits by facilitating the conversation, both directly with individuals and among audience members. The Australia Museum, for example, has started creating
Facebook pages for specific objects from its collection which take on personalities and their own voices, engaging people online in a surprisingly passionate and lively dialogues. The subject expert who speaks through the museum to respond to questions or correct misinformation is both just one voice and a privileged node in the peer-to-peer network of the conversation. The museum’s subject experts are uniquely placed to identify and leverage opportunities in the community’s conversation to take the participants to new levels of understanding, and to introduce new concepts and content that they may otherwise have remained ignorant of – without shutting down conversation by playing the role of ‘sage on a stage’. In this respect, the value and ‘intelligence’ of the conversational network increases with use. It’s therefore important for the museum not to be stingy, or to skimp on their participation in these conversations with quality content and timely dialectic input. 3. Creating personal adventure, surprise & serendipity By playing to the museum’s strengths in providing niche content and expertise, mobile social media has the potential to stimulate the wonder and the passion of the direct encounter with the physical museum for audiences using mobile platforms both on-site and beyond. Locationbased technologies have the ability to put content and interpretation in the world in surprising and serendipitous places, giving the visitor a powerful 67
experience linked to the museum despite the absence of the actual artifact. Augmented reality – overlays of text, images, or video on the ‘real’ world seen through a mobile device’s camera – can bring not just information but haunting memories and emotions to everyday scenes: see, for example, the Museum of London’s Street Museum app which overlays the streets of London with images of those same locations from the 18th century and beyond at their correct geospatial coordinates, so that visitors can literally stumble upon the Great Fire of 1861 at London Bridge, suffragettes on Downing Street forty years later, Holborn Circus during the Blitz or hippies in Hyde Park in 1970. Similarly, Layar exhibitions presented by the Stedlijk Museum on Museumplein in Amsterdam and a ‘usergenerated’ augmented reality exhibition of digital art within MoMA’s galleries – unauthorized but also unopposed by the museum – created new
a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Thinking holistically about the museum as a network through its content rather than through the technology also avoids building orphans or ‘one-offs’ that are difficult and even impossible to maintain as platforms evolve or become obsolete over time. Above all, iterative development is key to sustaining the content and the conversation over time, allowing it to grow and change with the museum’s audiences as well as new scholarship and acquisitions. Instead of simply publishing the same content in multiple places as in the ‘multi-platform’ model, museums can adopt a distributed network approach to cross-platform design for a more sustainable model for building mobile experiences that are also more responsive, meaningful and relevant to different audiences and their interests. Employing the principle that
“from we do the talking to we help you do the talking” ways for museum visitors to engage with the collections and the idea of curation both inside and beyond these museums’ walls. Mobile social media referral and review services such as Foursquare and Gowalla incorporate gaming elements that can be adapted by the museum to create cultural tours and routes of discovery, with ‘badges’ and other virtual rewards for fulfilling tasks. But for many the simple pleasure of encountering others with similar interests can be enough to inspire enriching exchanges both among visitors and with the museum on the model of the best Twitter list. 4. Connecting the nodes In the museum as distributed network, every platform is a community, not just a point for content publication and distribution. By combining established social media platforms like Flickr, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter with mobile social media and analog content and publications built by or for the museum in particular, we can create 68
the best way to learn is to teach, design based on the distributed network model turns visitors into docents and ambassadors for our museums by facilitating and fostering communities of interest around our content and collections. The ‘untour’ of the rhizomic museum takes the mobile experience from headphones to microphones, “from we do the talking to we help you do the talking.” (Anderson 2009) Nancy Proctor Head of Mobile Strategy & Initiatives Smithsonian Institution
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Paul Belmondo Museum - France 72
PREVIEW: New sculpture museum in the Chateau Buchillot at Boulogne-Billancourt near Paris The new museum, designed by ChartierCorbasson architects, is housed in the Chateau Buchillot at Boulogne-Billancourt near Paris. Built in the 18th century, the Chateau consists of a main building with two wings opening onto a main courtyard. It is a historic monument, located in Edmond-de-Rothschild Park, which is itself listed. The work of sculpture Paul Belmondo is not well-known and is revealed and explained through sketches and references to the techniques used. The collection consists of a series of busts, sculptures, medals and drawings. Much of the collection is displayed in a series of niches that help frame the works and provide multiple points of view and opportunities for discovery.
Images Š Romain Meffre and Yves Marchand 73
awards for excellence museums and heritage
The Museums & Heritage Awards for Excellence continue to grow in stature, attracting ever increasing numbers of entries year on year. It has become increasingly evident, since the launch of the awards 9 years ago, that the quality of this inspirational sector is simply outstanding and it is fully anticipated that 2011 will prove to be no exception. Never before have these Awards been so important. Against a backdrop of challenging times, they offer an unique opportunity to celebrate achievement and to applaud the outstanding work of this sector. Broadcaster and comedienne Sue Perkins will be hosting the Awards Ceremony which will take place at Church House, Westminster on Wednesday 11 May. Bringing together more than 300 leading museum professionals, the Museums & Heritage Awards are an event not to be missed.
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For 2011 there are ten categories to choose from, all of which have been designed to provide opportunity for all projects no matter their size, scale or budget. The judges of these prestigious awards will be looking for evidence of ‘outcome, creativity, relation to objective and cost effectiveness’. Short-listed entries will show all of this but the winners will also have to demonstrate something extra - true excellence. Entry details for the 2011 Awards are available to download here: http://www.museumsandheritage.com/ awards Museums & Heritage Show +44 (0) 1905 724734 info@everyevent.co.uk www.museumsandheritage.com
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dulwich picture gallery new entrance and shop
Lumsden at Small Back Room has created a new shop and entrance for the Dulwich Picture Gallery in preparation for the 200th anniversary of the South London based public art attraction. Appointed in June this year by Gallery director Ian Dejardin, Small Back Room are known for their knowledge and expertise within the museums and heritage sector. Led by Callum Lumsden – whose previous work includes Tate Modern, British Museum, Natural History Museum, London Transport Museum - and more recently Shakespeare’s Globe brand redevelopment and website and the Wellcome Trust’s custom made retail units - the team set out to move the existing shop, which had been housed at the entrance, to its own dedicated space in the side gallery and, as originally intended, restoring the natural pathway approach up to the Gallery. Taking cues from the building, designed by Sir John Soane in 1811, the new shop features the Greek key graphic pattern known as ‘running dog’ throughout various touch points. Furniture and fixtures used as merchandising units within the shop are influenced by Sir John Soane’s home, such as the legs on tables that match those on the architects’ own sofa. Artist palettes act as plinths for the various 76
products on display. Corner units in the shape of easels, are backed with a printed graphic using crops from the Gallery collection. The shop now sells an expanded range of goods not previously available, such as limited edition prints, jewellery, ceramics, soft furnishings, books and hand-made Christmas decorations and is set to become a shopping destination in its own right. Moving the retail offer to its new home has allowed Callum and the design team to make more of a feature for the entrance. The new entrance provides improved ticketing facilities as well as room to cater for a new state of the art audio-visual guide programme ready for the Gallery’s 200-year celebrations in 2011. A striking, specially designed (by Small Back Room) large vivid green sofa invites people to dwell in the entrance space, rather than pass through. The bespoke desk, where the use of mirrors underneath give the impression of it ‘floating’, multi-tasks as a serving station for the various events that are now planned. The large entrance doors mirrors the style and colour of the Gallery’s mausoleum, which has four sarcophagi containing the bones of the gallery’s founders. The pictures of these founders frame the entrance to the Gallery. www.smallbackroom.co.uk
Callum Lumsden, creative director at Small Back Room; “This has been a wonderful challenge. We were determined to respect the beautiful original architecture of the building, but at the same time we wanted to do something modern. We feel we have achieved this through sensitive but witty references to the many lovely details and icons. Working with Ian Dejardin and his team has been an absolute pleasure, Ian is extremely passionate and well-informed and his enthusiasm and knowledge has helped us to create something that is really quite special.�
Lumsden at Small Back Room 5 Wootton Street, London SE1 8TG +44 (0)20 7902 7600 a.vyner@smallbackroom.co.uk c.lumsden@smallbackroom.co.uk www.smallbackroom.co.uk
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Glasnevin Museum interactive timeline
The new museum at Glasnevin cemetery, Dublin, explores the development of modern Ireland through the seven generations of people buried there. The cemetery is the final resting place of a ‘Who’s Who’ of Irish historical, political and artistic figures from the last 200 years, as well as over one million ordinary Irish
men, women and children. The immersive City of the Dead exhibition includes the stories of gravediggers and body snatchers, burial practices and religious beliefs as well as presenting the meticulous archives, which record the details of every single person buried in the cemetery. A highlight of the museum is a unique, ten-metre long, interactive timeline table which contains the stories of almost 200 of the most interesting people buried in the cemetery. Each individual’s story is entered on the timeline at the date of their death and can be accessed by touching the surface of the table, allowing visitors to read a full biography as well as viewing relevant images, documents and film clips. Martello Media +353-1-2844668 peterw@martellomedia.com martellomedia.com
Cost-effective Collection Management eHive, the world’s first ‘software as a service’ collection management system, provides small to medium organisations with a costeffective way of cataloguing their collections and presenting them online. The web-based system provides significant potential for IT cost savings, allowing more funds to be directed toward essential museum operating costs. Champs Chapel Museum of East Hendred, Oxfordshire, is a volunteer-run organisation with collections of archives, heritage objects and photographs. eHive has enabled the Museum to publish their collection online, and has resulted in a reduced IT budget, as their eHive subscription covers costs related to running the system, performing upgrades and backing up data. eHive is an ideal solution for small
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museums like Champs Chapel Museum of East Hendred. eHive’s cataloguing screens are simple and intuitive to use. The web-based cataloguing system makes it easy for museum staff or volunteers to catalogue museum collections. Outsourcing the technical aspects of maintaining a collection database and online presence is an effective use of museum funding resources. The eHive subscription covers storage space, hosting, server backup, public access and ongoing development of new functions. An entry-level account is free. For further information see www.ehive.com
Heritage Deserves Intelligent Storage
• • • • • • •
Each Qubiqa mobile storage solution is unique and designed especially for your organisation’s specic requirements. Qubiqa’s unique Air Filter extracts the surrounding air, cleans it of dust particles and then circulates the cleaned air back into the environment—ideal for keeping artefacts in optimum condition. Shelf support bars (rather than clips) enable quick and easy adjustment of shelf heights thus giving maximum usage of every square metre of storage. Qubiqa’s unique air circulation carriage parking feature (electronic system) keeps your valuable collection in a healthier environment. The ultimate system in terms of exibility and sustainability – it’s easy to relocate, re-congure, add to or upgrade. Protect your delicate collections - with the electronic system, smooth running carriages glide in a cascade fashion. Unlike a mechanical system they are not in contact with adjacent moving units. They will not jolt suddenly when starting, and come to a gradual halt without bumping into the next bays. A range of shelves, drawers and accessories, along with static shelving, widespan shelving and pallet racking to full your requirements (inc. painting storage, plan chests, map drawers, textile roll storage, garment hanging rails)
Don’t just take our word for it – here are some quotes from our satised customers: “The product is reliable, robust and very user friendly, so good that we are pleased to recommend it to anyone who is looking for such a product.” “The system has consistently lived up to our expectations.” “Many thanks for providing a rst class shelving system. It does everything you said it would.” “….we were extremely impressed with the quality of the product which looks very contemporary and stylish.” “I am very impressed and the space you have saved us is fantastic.” Glasgow Museums Resource Centre * Preston Hall Museum * National Railway Museum * Northumberland Museums Service * Wedgwood Museum * East Riding of Yorkshire Archives & Museum Service * Glasgow School of Art
Qubiqa is the result of a merger between NORDPLAN and UNIVEYOR 01444 237220 salesuk@qubiqa.com www.qubiqa.com 79 Nordplan_heritage_A4_12/8/10.indd 1
12/08/2010 16:32
royal botanic gardens kew archive research centre
The new 5,000m2 extension to the Royal Botanic Gardens - Kew’s historic Herbarium, Library, Art and Archives, designed by Edward Cullinan Architects, is using Bruynzeel Compactus storage systems to maximise storage capacity for Kew’s priceless collection of plant specimens, archives, books and illustrations. Kew’s Herbarium is an active research centre and its collection of some 8 million preserved plant and fungal specimens are used by scientists researching plants, fungi and their ecosystems. Kew’s Herbarium has to accommodate the 35,000 - 50,000 new specimens that are brought back or sent to Kew every year by botanists from their expeditions around the world. Linking the climate-controlled archive to the naturally lit research spaces was a key concept for the building so that the scientists could work in close proximity to the collection. The new wing is connected to the existing Herbarium by a timber and glass drum incorporating the stairs and a reading room.
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Bruynzeel installed Compactus mobile storage systems in six large rooms within the new extension, with all of the running rails installed in the concrete floor during construction. The system has a positive centre drive that enables multiple units to be moved from one handle, which has pleased archivist Kiri Ross-Jones. A window into one of the rooms allows a view of the artwork and storage facility from the public reading room. A similar Bruynzeel system in the rare books room houses the earliest printed book in the collection from 1485, “Ortus Sanitatis” (the Origin of Health). Collections of information, photographs and a vast range of books and boxes are easily accommodated on Bruynzeel’s mobile shelving sytem in the Archive and Modern Records store. All of the Bruynzeel shelves are height adjustable to accommodate the seven million varying sized records and some of the racks are lockable to restrict access. Bruynzeel’s Compactus mobile storage was also installed in the three rooms that house
the Herbarium specimens. Plant samples are freeze dried for four days at minus 40oC before being boxed, catalogued and placed on the Bruynzeel shelves. With two teams, preparing 400 boxes of specimens a week, it will take a year to complete the work. Bruynzeel’s Compactus range is designed to optimise the storage capacity of any given area. Consisting of double-sided shelving units mounted on carriages that run on floor rails, it compresses the footprint of a storage area by having only one “floating” aisle instead of a series of fixed aisles. Bruynzeel offers individually designed systems for each customer, with Compactus shelving systems available in a range of colours.
Bruynzeel Storage Systems Murdock Road, Dorcan, Swindon SN3 5HY T: +44 (0)870 2240220 enquiries@bruynzeel.co.uk • www.bruynzeel.co.uk
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scott polar research institute & museum In 2010 the Scott Polar Museum in Cambridge reopened its doors to the public after extensive renovation. The Museum is housed within the Scott Polar Research Institute established as the Nation’s memorial to Captain Scott & his colleagues. The Museum collection features artifacts from the Heroic Age of Polar Exploration as well as paintings, drawings, cine film and daguerreotypes and other material relating to Polar history, science and art. As part of the renovation Ocean Design provided a varied storage facility based on a mobile system to include shelving, drawer storage, picture racking, cantilever and textile racks. Following a detailed collection survey the system was developed to provide maximum collection care whilst making best use of the space available. In addition a new mobile At some point most museums become aware that they are running out of useable floor space for storage. Collections need to be safely stored and displayed. A Qubiqa mobile system can give 3 x the storage space and has many features and benefits to help keep your collections in optimum condition. Off site storage can be the right solution and Qubiqa offer a range of solutions. Qubiqa is the ultimate system in terms of flexibility and sustainability – it’s easy to relocate, re-configure, add to or upgrade. Qubiqa is your professional partner in every aspect of customising efficient and intelligent museum storage and optimised routines.
system was installed in the Research Institute Archive increasing the storage capacity by over 50%. Ocean Design have also recently completed mobile storage facilities in the newly renovated Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and the Holburne Museum of Art in Bath. Ocean Design • 07801 642112 • humphreys. martin@gmail.com
intelligent museum storage solutions
Qubiqa Ltd • +44 (0) 1444 237220 salesuk@qubiqa.com • www.qubiqa.com
library & archive relocation project A £165 million refurbishment of Manchester’s Town Hall complex is about to begin. Harrow Green has been awarded the contract for the provision of decant and relocation services for the project. The initial phase will be to remove the entire book and archive stock to offsite storage to allow for the major refurbishment to take place. The Library stock comprises in the region of 4,000 linear metres of archives and 36,000 linear metres of books on shelves, 82
as well as a wide range of material stored in chests and cabinets - and comprises in excess of a million volumes. The move requires specialist handling, project management and relocation of a wide variety of unique and valuable documents. It commenced early in March 2010 with completion in July. The collection will be returned in 2013/14. www.harrowgreen.com
Collection & Space Surveys ~ Design Layouts ~ Feasibility Studies ~ Installation & Project ManagementÂ
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hull history centre NEW ARCHIVE STORE Housing the former Hull City Archives, Local Studies Library and University Archives, the new Hull History Centre building has been specifically designed to provide a readily accessible service for a wide audience. Benefitting from a grant of £7.7m from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the innovative building, designed by Pringle Richards Sharratt, is a partnership project between Hull City Council and the University of Hull. An unusual yet attractive aspect of the design is the enclosed yet visible arcade which provides an intermediate space that is a transition from the streets of the city centre and has been incorporated to tempt people to explore the History Centre and engage with its collections. Behind the arcade on the ground floor, public areas include a large library and reading room together with a lecture theatre, seminar rooms and state of the art conservation facilities The archive itself, which conforms to BS5454:2000, is on the upper floor. Allowing for expansion over the next thirty years, 13,000 linear metres of storage have been provided within 11 different areas. This storage is principally in the form of mobile shelving to ensure that available floor space is fully maximised. Prior to commencement of the building’s construction, Forster Ecospace Ltd worked
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closely with the two partners in the project and carried out detailed surveys of their current holdings to help determine the types of storage required. After preparing their initial proposals, and following a vigorous selection process which involved the project managers, the architect and the client, Ecospace was recommended to the main contractor for the building as the shelving supplier of choice. The archive contains a wide variety of items so various accessories have been incorporated within the shelving to house these. They include drawers for film media, pigeon holes for plate glass negatives and pull-out reference shelves to facilitate retrieval of items within the stacks. Shelf depths vary and although the majority of stored items are in archive boxes which
are stored on 400mm deep shelves, shelves for books ranging in depth from 250mm to 800mm have also been provided. To house the Council’s very large quantity of A1 & AO plans, 800mm deep shelves have been fitted within bays 1200mm and 1500mm wide. Ecospace worked closely with the main contractor, ISG, to complete the project on time and on budget and, since opening to the public on 25th January 2010, the Hull History Centre has had over 13,000 visitors. FORSTER Ecospace Masons Gate, Townsend, Marsh Gibbon, Bicester OX27 0EY +44 (0) 1869 278002 sales@ecospace.co uk • www.ecospace.co.uk
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advertiser index All Signs ..........................................89 Antenna Audio................................04 ATS Heritage...................................75 Beck Interiors..............................OBC Ben Gammon.................................89 Bright3D.........................................59 Centre Screen................................39 Collections Mobility......................IBC Dataton..........................................90 Ecclesiastical insurance...............09 Ecospace........................................87 Electrosonic...................................69 The Exhibition Factory...................31 Harrow Green.................................61 ISO..................................................58 Machine Shop................................71 Martello Media..............................20 Meaco............................................25
Meyvaert Glass Engineering........IFC Mobile Scanning Company...........90 The Museums & Heritage Show...13 Nash Partnership...........................21 Newangle........................................71 Ocean Design.................................83 Oh Design.......................................89 OPERA AMSTERDAM......................17 Paragon..........................................77 Philip Simpson Design..................90 Protean Design UK........................90 Qubiqa............................................79 Reier Showcases...........................43 Small Back Room..........................79 Spiral Productions.........................35 Surface Impressions.....................89 Universal Fibre Optics...................70 Vernon Systems.............................65
advertise in museum-id Museum-iD is the leading global brand providing high-quality content for the international museums and heritage sector. Read by thousands of decision-makers and budget-holders in museums around the world, each editon of the magazine provides an inspirational and provocative mix of ideas and opinions from prominent and influential professionals working in leading organisations. Museum-iD is the centre of a global network of like-minded peers who work together to provide exclusive access to the latest thinking and developments in museums. Join us in helping to shape the future of museums and make new connections with interesting and interested people. To discuss how we can help you reach the international museum community - and how we deliver unbeatable value and quality - please contact us for further details: 07983 511048
www.museum-id.com 86
Storage systems for Museums, Galleries, Archives and Libraries • Mobile, static and library shelving • Picture racking (pull out and mobile) • A wide range of accessories to facilitate storage of virtually every type of object • Comprehensive services for planning, layout design and installation • ‘Specials’ manufactured to meet specific project design needs • Completed projects include:
The National Museum of Wales Wolverhampton Art Gallery The Jewish Museum Hull History Centre
Jersey Museum Bedford Museum Ashmolean Museum BBC London
Tel.: 01869 278002 Fax: 01869 278003 E-mail: sales@ecospace.co uk www.ecospace.co uk 87
simple creative effective Philip Simpson Design specialise in graphic design for the arts, cultural, museum and heritage sectors. We have a track record for delivering award-winning interpretations in stimulating and accessible ways. Working across literature, brand development, web design and creative graphic communications, we build strong client relationships and deliver on their aspirations.
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Dataton PICKUP™ The most intuitive audio guide around A trim 45 g, packed with features. Top quality audio. Built-in loudspeaker or headphones. Multiple tours and seamless updates. Point, click and simply enjoy the tour‌ www.dataton.com/pickup
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MUSEUM graphic dESign 15/10/09 11:50:56
Ben Gammon Interpretation & Evaluation Helping you create amazing exhibitions, events and websites for your visitors Interpretation planning, training and visitor research
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MUSEUMS AND ME
Brett Mason, Director, Museums Wellington, New Zealand suppose I think of museums as a boom business. I am not overly concerned by the economy as I have always worked in the cultural sector in some form and I have as of yet to work for an organisation that is funded to its potential. So for that reason the economy is somewhat irrelevant as we always have to work smart to achieve everything we dream of doing.
What made you want to work in museums? I didn’t consciously make the choice to work in museums. I applied for a job as a marketing manager for my present employer and half the role was marketing a children’s creativity centre, which included a touring national theatre company, and the other half was marketing a museum. I originally saw the role as extending my experience in the cultural sector. However once I started working in the role I saw that a contemporary approach to a museum and its role brought together all the areas I had previously worked in. This was performance in theatre, dance and music, storytelling, writing and publishing, film making both in front and behind the camera, and marketing and administration. What a great place to work, it has changed my life! Are you optimistic about the future of museums? Absolutely, I truly believe we are in one of the best positions for cultural institutions. The contemporary hunger for getting to know about the past is growing daily. Our role though is to take the past and show how it can help us make decisions for the present as well for the future. I
What do you want your museum to achieve? I want the group of museums, Museum of Wellington City & Sea, Cable Car Museum and Colonial Cottage Museum, to each define their area of interest loudly to our community. Ultimately I want them to be essential for their own reasons to our Wellington community. I hope we can be seen as continually raising the standard and quality of museum experience in Wellington and beyond. When a visitor comes to one of our museums we set out to entertain and/ or surprise and/or challenge that visitor in some way. Our goal is to be recognised as the best little museum(s) in the world. What can other museums learn from you? We are an organisation that is quite small so we make quick decisions and can change our approach without it being to the detriment of our programming or our resourcing. We pride ourselves on the way we work with all people whether they are suppliers, visitors or partners. In other words, our work relationships are important and I believe that shows in what we do for the public right down to the level of how we meet and greet our visitors. I think our brave work on collection management and planning will in the future be a benchmark case study - but only if we carry through our intentions.
In the next edition... Contribute to Museum Identity magazine. Please get in touch with your ideas and suggestions for articles and features in the next edition. email: greg@museum-id.com subscribe today www.museum-id.com
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JUST LAUNCHED: www.lending-for-europe.eu Where you can find up to date information about the “mobility� of museum collections - the borrowing and lending of cultural objects - within the European Union. On this website you can find relevant information about aspects of: lending, borrowing, non-insurance, indemnity, insuance and immunity from seizure in general, as well as various guidelines, standards, publications, contract templates, legislation and more.
1001 Inventions - Istanbul Foundation of Science, Technology & Civilisation
1001 INVENTIONS - ISTANBUL 1001 Inventions is part of a unique global touring educational project which reveals the rich heritage that the Muslim community shares with other communities in the world. The exhibition is the first of its kind to communicate Muslim Heritage using a hands-on, interactive approach. Beck Interiors were commissioned to undertake the entire fabrication and installation of this exhibition which included static models, scenically treated structures, backlit graphic applications, multi-sensory interactive exhibits, audio-visual displays and lighting. The Exhibition is split into seven areas of Science – Market, Everyday Life, School, Hospital, Town, Universe and World. Each area highlights the various influences Muslim inventions have had on society today which is also showcased in the exhibition through the Orientation Film starring Oscar winning actor Sir Ben Kingsley. Amongst the varied scenic and interactive elements on display stands the ‘Elephant Clock’. At over five metres tall this fully operational, elaborate time telling device activates every half hour displaying the workings of this ancient clock. The exhibition is scheduled to tour globally visiting science centres and museums across the World in the coming years.
MUSEUM FABRICATION, INSTALLATION & PROJECT MANAGEMENT SPECIALISTS VICTORY HOUSE, COX LANE, CHESSINGTON, SURREY, KT9 1SG +44 (0)20 8974 0500
WWW.BECKINTERIORS.COM