Dottie,
our museum, the Old York Historical Society, experimented with this idea a
few years ago. The curator and the director invited a dozen members of the
community to choose objects in our collection. These people were selected to
represent different elements in the town: police, town hall, hospital,
school, etc. Each person wrote a short label explaining their choice, and
the curator wrote a more "traditional" label about the object. This exhibit
was popular because each "amateur curator" invited his/her friends (some of
them had never come to our museum before).
Anne Poubeau
Education Director
Old York Historical Society
P.O. Box 312
York, Maine 03909
(207) 363 4974 x.12
fax: (207) 363 4021
www.oldyork.org

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Dottie Miles
Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 2:06 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] "community curators"


This is a fantastic topic.  Unfortunately I have not read the article, but I
would like to contribute a few observations of my own.

Perhaps we should approach this topic thinking of community members filling
a participatory role, rather than curatorial?

It is important to note that museums are thought by many to be places for
the elite.  The tone of some museum environments lack warmth, deliver an
authoritative voice that is not accessible or intriguing to many
audiences—even those who patronize museums.  “…Critics [have] interpreted
museums not as educational institutions but as instruments for disseminating
the ideology of the dominant culture” (Museum News, 1996). It is difficult
for museums to reach members of the community who feel threatened by the
ideas and issues discussed in the museum forum. I believe, this stigma will
continue if museums do not look outward to the community for council and
participation.

One way to make people feel as if they are participating is to give them an
opportunity to tell their own story or allow for the community to actively
participate in the design and creation of the exhibit.

For my current thesis, I am working to design a program to engage the teen
audience in the development of an exhibition.  I have studied Teen Chicago,
an exhibit developed by the Chicago Historical Society--there is an example
where teens interviewed Chicagoans to develop exhibit content.  CHS, Tamara
Biggs stated in an article about guerrilla exhibits recently, “You go from a
museum where people don’t really have a voice and become a museum intently
interested in what the visitor has to say—and, indeed, lets them say it”
(Exhibitionist, 2005)

If museums are for the public, should an opportunity be extended to
community members or visitors to inform or influence exhibition content? As
museum professionals, we are facilitators providing a forum for discussion.
Why not include the visitor or other community members in this work?

Just some thoughts.  Feel free to contact me off list if you would like to
discuss my thesis or further discuss this issue.

Dottie Miles
www.dottiemiles.com

From: Donald Myers <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: "community curators"
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 09:21:52 -0600

Dear Regan,

Thank you for your comments.

I think Christian's comments were about how generally ill-informed many
members of the public are upon arrival at exhibitions and, therefore, how
ill-suited they would be for explaining objects.  Of course, it all depends
on what sort of objects are being displayed and what the aims of the
exhibition are (as your comments suggest).  But all too often people will
think they can interpret objects just as well as anybody else, and that's
insulting to the education, training and experience of the professional.  In
art, for instance, there is often a general sense that interpretation is
mostly about one's own individual feelings, which for much of the history of
art is just plain wrong.

While visitors' perspectives can certainly be very interesting, enlightening
and, in some circumstances, crucial, they can also be just incorrect, and,
it seems to me, there are always some facts that are basic and need to be
understood before any further consideration can be made--otherwise, it all
becomes pointless flights of fancy.  But, again, it really depends on the
type and aim of the exhibition.

And, while it's unfortunately true that curators can get it wrong and
mislead visitors, that's just an error on the part of certain curators and
not a condemnation of the whole process.  It doesn't stand to reason that,
because some curators make mistakes, we should just leave it to
visitors--who typically have a much less developed base of knowledge
regarding the objects being displayed--to do the job.  To reduce it to
absurdity, that would be like NASA deciding that, since there have been
serious problems with the shuttle program, they will get, say, local
mechanics to maintain and repair the shuttles.

The model of the authoritative expert can be very problematic, but the
opposite extreme, where each person is as capable as the next of
interpreting, also has many problems.

Well, I've rambled enough!  Thanks for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Don Myers

Donald Myers
Director
Hillstrom Museum of Art
Gustavus Adolphus College
800 West College Avenue
Saint Peter, Minnesota  56082

(507) 933-7171
(507) 933-7205 fax





On Feb 28, 2006, at 4:47 AM, Regan Forrest wrote:

>
>
>Dear Christian,
>
>Regarding your comment:
>
><<<For all people promoting such an idea I would just suggest: Visit
>incognito an exhibition of any kind (art or other), listen to the
>visitors and their remarks. I do this as often as I can. You will be
>surprised... It very, very often starts with nonsense, wrong object
>identification, goes to false historical remarks, and ends in wrong
>connections to present and future. >>>>
>
>Apologies if I'm mistaken, but it appears that you are blaming the
>visitor for misunderstanding displays. Surely, if visitors are
>consistently getting it "wrong", it is more likely to be the fault of
>the curators and interpreters for not communicating effectively and
>helping visitors make the connections they intended?
>
>Regarding the wider point of your posting, I think it boils down to
>authorship: visitors have the right to know whose perspective they are
>reading (even if it is the "default" curatorial one). If it is clear
>whether something is a "curatorial" perspective, a "community"
>perspective or other, I can't see a problem: visitors can make up their
>own minds. Indeed when different perspectives on an object are shown,
>and these are clearly attributed, it can lead to a fascinating display.
>I've seen examples where different curators, from different backgrounds,
>have all contributed to object interpretation for the same exhibition,
>along with artists and community members. I thought it was very
>effective.
>
>
>Best Regards
>
>Ms Regan Forrest
>Senior Consultant (Interpretation)
>Haley Sharpe Design
>Leicester, UK
>
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Donald Myers
Director
Hillstrom Museum of Art
Gustavus Adolphus College
800 West College Avenue
Saint Peter, Minnesota  56082

(507) 933-7171
(507) 933-7205 fax

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