Museum Studies Blog at Tufts University

The next few weeks we will be posting reflections from students who attended the American Alliance of Museums Annual Meeting and Conference, held in St. Louis, Missouri, May 6-10. 

A few weeks ago, at the American Alliance of Museums Annual Conference, I attended a session titled ‘Not One Size: Interactivity at Small, Medium, and Large Museums.’ A panel of museum professionals at museums of each of these sizes outlined multiple types of interactive elements in their museums, describing the context and use of each. While many of us are familiar with interactive elements in museum exhibitions, I found this panel helpful in that it categorized a few different types of these elements and provided simple examples for producing them in museums with a variety of available resources. That being said, I thought I would relay some of their key points to you all!

Touchable Objects: While this is often difficult in museums, touching authentic objects is a great way to enrich the visitor experience. The biggest difficulties it provides involve collections management issues such as cleaning and durability. Important questions to consider include: where and how are people touching? Is there a way to protect a part of the object while allowing visitors to touch a less valuable part of it? The example given by the panel was of an original Apple 1 computer that is encased. Visitors are able to use an Apple 2 computer keyboard, which is much more replaceable, and still get the experience of manipulating the screen of an Apple 1.

Consumable Materials and Loose Parts: Benefits of these interactive elements include the ability of any staff member to easily replace cheap parts. These materials may not be as impactful as authentic, touchable objects, but they can still greatly enhance the visitor experience. A couple examples given at the session include drawing materials and fur pelts.

Social Interaction: This category refers to interactive elements that may or may not include objects but always involve interaction between visitors. Examples of this type include dance sections, lounges with conversation cards, a reproduced 1980’s living room, and a social engineering challenge.

Visitor Response: We are likely all very familiar with this type of interactive element – just think post-it notes. These spaces allow visitors to contribute their own ideas, opinions, or data in response to a prompt and can be done in many effective and creative ways.

Circularity: This can be a trait within multiple types of interactive elements and refers to the capability of an activity to reset itself for new visitors. One example provided by the panel was of a life-size buffalo puzzle. Visitors explore all the organs of buffalo and how they fit together. While this doesn’t reset itself per se, it is equally as fun for visitors to ‘unpack’ the buffalo as it is to put it back together. Thus, it resets itself in that it can be done effectively at whatever stage the previous visitor leaves it at.

Rock Paper Scissors Principle: Finally, the panelists provided an easy way to remember a common-sense concept; that is, that the most robust part of an interactive activity will degrade the least robust part. When thinking about durability, think about what element is the rock, or the paper, or the scissors, and where they are placed within the entire piece. That mental labeling can help construct a more economical, long-lasting activity.

The first post of this new editorial season is going to come from Dominique, discussing three Boston museum exhibits this summer that hone in on social provocation, demonstration, and change. Here is a cursory look at (in my opinion) the most socially contemplative and thought provoking installations and exhibits around Boston this summer, that will call you to stop and reflect upon prevalent topics such as immigration, mental health, and forms of resistance. But hey, if your travels don’t pull you to Boston this summer, this will also provide a basis for these exhibits which you can further explore through the omnipotent internet.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston “I must tell you what I saw” Objects of Witness and Resistance.

On Display until July 30, 2017

This extremely powerful exhibit hosts a wide array of objects meant to provoke conversation regarding genocide, mass violence, and responses to these types of hate crimes around the world. The exhibit expands through millennia ranging from ancient depictions of war and Babylonian deportation to J.M.W. Turner’s Slave Ship to the Armenian Genocide. This exhibit is bold, only housing eight paintings, but it is provocative. The pieces demand discussion and beg to be strung together in a timeline that acknowledges the atrocities and devaluation done to people who fall under the category of “different” or “oppressed” in comparison to the majority population at any given time.

Museum of Science “Many Faces of our Mental Health”

Opens May 27.

99 facial portraits will be on display throughout the summer at the Museum of Science depicting the appearances of those who suffer from bipolar disorder and/or schizophrenia, and individuals who are a support system for those suffering from mental health conditions. The exhibit also features more biological components of mental health, such as DNA models that highlight specific genes and traits, and data that explore findings in professional research regarding mental health. The exhibit balances the more human side of mental illnesses with the biologically based research of diseases, which does an excellent job of encompassing a holistic understanding of mental health.

Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston- Nari Ward’s “Sun Splashed”   

On view until September 4,2017

Jamaican-born artist Nari Ward takes a materialistically fresh approach to the social topics of citizenship, urban spaces, and immigration with his found-object installations. The media in this exhibit is unique to say the least. There is a compilation of photography, sculptures, film, and installations made from shopping carts, and a fire escape. The pieces in this exhibit are meant to be reflected upon from their very material makeup to their spatial placement. What does it mean to be an immigrant? What defines urban life? These are all questions to be asked.

Hopefully these will exhibits will make it on your summer museum list and will evoke a response to the social conversations they are trying to induce.