Convener: Sarah
Punshon
Participants: Ellis Kerkhoven, James Hadley, Joanne Hartley,
Nathan Curry, Tiphaine, Mary Swan, Dodger Phillips, Roses Urquhurt, Sarah
Corbett, Isabel Carr, Malwina Chabocka, Gary Horsman, and others…
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or
recommendations:
Quite a lot of specific projects mentioned / described:
Sarah Punshon’s Natural History Museum projects
(forthcoming); Ellis Kerkhoven’s possible British Museum musical for children;
Tangled Feet’s Croyden Clock Tower project (14-16 March); Sarah Corbett’s
experiences working as an Explainer at the NHM and current experiences at
Museum of London; Emily Chapstick’s workshops at various museums; Proteus
Theatre’s current project at a living history museum; and many more.
Big questions & issues:
Museums often want to cordon off a corner, or put a show in
an auditorium – controlled, much more manageable. But why turn a bit of a museum into a
theatre? How might we make work in the
gallery spaces? How to deal with huge
practical issues?
Interaction / overlap between Interpreters/Explainers and
actors – what does each do best? NB
Money: museums often don’t have much.
Linked issue: volunteers often do a lot of interpretation.
International Museum Theatre Alliance – should we all join
that and make it better?
Individual passions – engaging people with small stories,
specificity. Sharing a passion, live, in
person, is incredibly engaging.
The Object is central.
Can we turn the objects into celebrities by putting them into a
show? Objects have been touched by the
living – who, why? When we touch them
now, what do we do with them?
Investigate!
Museums finding it hard to trust / understand artistic /
theatrical approaches. An artistic
project unlikely to connect with everyone
– museums v worried – want everything to be accessible to everyone.
The power of the curator: expert knowledge is what’s valued
– temples of expertise. Is it only
valuable if it gets across “facts”? Many
(most?) visitors want factual content too.
Ownership. Is a
visitor’s interpretation as valid as the expert’s? If a kid in Investigate at the NHM examines a
bone and decides it’s from an elephant, and actually it’s from a fish, is that
valid? Do we need to ‘correct’ them?
What about fakes? The
Museum of Jurassic Technology – a fake museum, curated by a man taking it
completely seriously. Or Movieplex by Nutkhut – a fake museum about a man who
never existed.
An experience like “The Unbelievable Truth” – a red herring
in each gallery room – find the “fact” that’s actually wrong.
Capturing the imagination: unexpected enhancements of
emotional reactions. Cabinets of
wonders. Power of the imagination: Night at the Museum surely influential
in so many London museums now having sleepovers and lates. Ditto Doctor Who – capture imagination and we
want to find out facts.
What do visitors come to the museum feeling passionate about
already? Example of elderly museum
visitors to a 1950s reconstruction, putting a gramophone record on and
dancing. How to encourage more of
this? How to document this?
Invisible theatre: performers as visitors, commenting loudly
on all objects, playing with ignorance – gathering a following.
What about visitors as performers? Moving through spaces – eg Mike Nelson show
at Tate, moving through “taxi waiting rooms” – apparently getting lost and
ending up “backstage”. Going to secret,
backstage places would be really exciting in a museum!
Choices: most museums are too big to see all of – how can
visitors choose an exciting route through a museum? Adventures, discovery, track down an object
that’s been part of a performance?
Bringing things to a
museum – perhaps swapping it for something already there. Geocache-ing.
No comments:
Post a Comment