“This is the Kind of Museum I Want to Make!”
News of Japan’s disasterous earthquake/tsunami has me google-searching museums to see if there’s any news of what is affected and unaffected. I’m relieved to read from several museum that they are OK and their employees and guests were unharmed. I also came across this wonderful list by Studio Ghibli’s Executive Director, Hayao Miyazaki, noted Japanese animator. It brought a smile after reading too much sad news. I hope it does the same for you.
This is the Kind of Museum I Want to Make!
A museum that is interesting and which relaxes the soul
A museum where much can be discovered
A museum based on a clear and consistent philosophy
A museum where those seeking enjoyment can enjoy, those seeking to ponder can ponder, and those seeking to feel can feel
A museum that makes you feel more enriched when you leave than when you entered!
To make such a museum, the building must be…
Put together as if it were a film
Not arrogant, magnificent, flamboyant, or suffocating
Quality space where people can feel at home, especially when it’s not crowded
A building that has a warm feel and touch
A building where the breeze and sunlight can freely flow through
The museum must be run in such a way so that...
Small children are treated as if they were grown-ups
The handicapped are accommodated as much as possible
The staff can be confident and proud of their work
Visitors are not controlled with predetermined courses and fixed directions
It is suffused with ideas and new challenges so that the exhibits do not get dusty or old, and that investments are made to realize that goal
The displays will be…
Not only for the benefit of people who are already fans of Studio Ghibli
Not a procession of artwork from past Ghibli films as if it were “a museum of the past”
A place where visitors can enjoy by just looking, can understand the artists’ spirits, and can gain new insights into animation
Original works and pictures will be made to be exhibited at the museum
A project room and an exhibit room will be made, showing movement and life (Original short films will be produced to released in the museum!)
Ghibli’s past films will be probed for understanding at a deeper level
The cafe will be…
An important place for relaxation and enjoyment
A place that doesn’t underestimate the difficulties of running a museum cafe
A good cafe with a style all its own where running a cafe is taken seriously and done right
The museum shop will be…
Well-prepared and well-presented for the sake of the visitors and running the museum
Not a bargain shop that attaches importance only to the amount of sales
A shop that continues to strive to be a better shop
Where original items made only for the museum are found
The museum’s relation to the park is…
Not just about caring for the plants and surrounding greenery but also planning for how things can improve ten years into the future
Seeking a way of being and running the museum so that the surrounding park will become even lusher and better, which will in turn make the museum better as well!
This is what I expect the museum to be, and therefore I will find a way to do it
This is the kind of museum I don’t want to make!
A pretentious museum
An arrogant museum
A museum that treats its contents as if they were more important than people
A museum that displays uninteresting works as if they were significant
Ghibli Museum, Mitaka
Executive Director
Hayao Miyazaki
Display Patterns at the Met
Gary Tinterow. Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (via).
Here’s another report on a DeFINE Art lecture, Gary Tinterow on “Building the Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.” Tinterow is the Engelhard Curator in Charge of the new Department of Nineteenth-Century, Modern, and Contemporary Art. His voice sounds remarkably like John Malkovich’s, but without the arrogance.
It’s interesting to hear how a museum established in 1870 carries out the mission of the founding members. Each slide presented a capsule of the collection’s evolution through time. The early galleries featured elaborately framed paintings stacked like puzzle pieces in salon-style displays, as seen in the homes of New York collectors in the 19th century—framing choices reflect their personal tastes. Tinterow says, “filling in the gaps between collections… is what we do at The Met.” It is apparent that curating is seeing relationships between the works. Today, the modern paintings are organized by artists’ rooms, but a glimpse through the doorway connects to another piece related to and honoring the collector/donor.
Tinterow describes the early history of the museum as a repository for the community’s interest in European art. Only recently has it started acquiring the works of living contemporary artists. Some work is too expensive to purchase with limited budgets. Damien Hirst’s The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, for instance, was merely on loan for three years. He notes that borrowing is another way of displaying contemporary art if the funds aren’t available. Besides collectors’ bequeaths, The Met believes that deaccessioning funds allow for new purchases to fill in the gaps for a well-rounded collection. There is controversy surrounding deaccessioning, so the museum looks to this option only if the donor allows it.
Kara Walker at the Met: After the Deluge, installation view, 2006.
In recent years, Tinterow has invited artists such as Kara Walker to interpret the collection. Additionally, the rooftop provides a unique space for displaying and viewing contemporary art like the work of Jeff Koons, which Tinterow says is “appealing to the public.” As a curator, he focuses on the museum’s display patterns. It is clear that his curatorial practice considers that the collection is connected by place—whether to the artist, the work, the collector, or where it was made. One thing that struck me was the frequent comparison to the MoMA’s practices. There is a competitive tension between the two institutions that is worth looking into as a footnote.
While this is a nitpick, I found it surprising that Tinterow used the artist’s name in plural form to describe the number of works in the museum’s collection. Art historian Thomas Crow believes that this act does an injustice to the work. In The Intelligence of Art, Crow writes:
The simplest act of substitution is to put the name of a maker in the place of his or her work, which amounts to a paraphrase in itself … All paraphrase sets aside the original: To put the name in place of the painting is to remove it from immediate consciousness; to narrate the life of an individual is an act profoundly different from looking into a painting and one that cannot be conducted simultaneously with it. To substitute a temporal narrative, already present in a name, for the physical work of art is to give up those features of the thing that were transient and unrepeatable, bound to a moment that is irrevocably ended.
On the other hand, the lecture was directed towards Savannah’s art community, which is comprised of students, professors, and locals. Paraphrasing - though it is derogatory - is simply a way to communicate with the public.
In closing, I’m so glad I attended the lecture because it was a completely different historical and curatorial perspective of The Met than I am familiar with. Even my professor, Alexandria Pierce, was surprised because she couldn’t find an in-depth history of the material. Every tidbit of antiquity left his lips with a slight smile of passion. I wish the images from the slideshow were accessible because I would like to illustrate these points. Afterward, I very much wanted to wander the galleries again! But I’m still waiting for the accessibility of teleportation.
P.S. It’s worth reading a two-part interview with Tinterow (part 1, part 2) by ArtInfo’s Jason Edward Kaufman.
The Changing Role of Art Museums
Pipilotti Rist at The Museum of Modern Art. Photo: Anne Helmond.
Beyond exhibition and education, the role of the art museum is to build a seminal collection worthy of study and conservation. However, recent declines in funding and attendance set arts administrators on edge. They fear museums are not communicating with the public and losing audience-base. Historian Thomas Crow observes in The Intelligence of Art that the ascension of art tells of a catastrophic conclusion where society no longer endures it, asking why we are in this current state. He suggests that, to make art history accessible, a new approach is necessary to relate the present to the past. Getting beyond the reductive inclination of examination is the first step to understanding art, and change is not accounted for by anxiety and tumultuousness. Just as art history is confronted with this challenge, art museums must also respond to the sea of change.
In light of this dilemma, there are two significant considerations. Institutions must first engage audiences with a whole new experience, reshaping themselves into places of visual and sensory experience. Linda Duke, Director of Audience Engagement at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, believes “A museum visit isn’t a lesson, it’s an experience.” Art history offers critical and scholarly understanding, but providing this information doesn’t motivate an emotional response in the ‘novice viewer.’ Exhibitions aren’t just about chronology, geographic locations, and movements. Museums must broaden the viewer’s expectations and spectrum of perception through a holistic approach. For example, PBS’s television series Art21 sets the pulse for behind-the-scenes access to contemporary art practices. Museums have the potential to provide this type of insight with artist-in-residence programs and incorporating the strategies of alternative art spaces. Granting visitors a glimpse into the creative process instills meaningful relationships with art objects.
Second, it’s vital for museums to adapt to changing technology by expanding the art-historical canon to include new media art. Since the 1960s, rapid technological advances have allowed for an influx of digital and interactive media. Today artists such as Natalie Jeremijenko, Patricia Piccinini, and Eduardo Kac utilize new media to question and explore cultural implications of science and technology. Embracing this emerging art form can provide valuable admittance to the art of today through examination of relationships between art and society. Work of this nature is often reliant on viewer participation, encouraging intuitive and reciprocal exchanges—enhancing the viewer’s overall experience.
Museums cannot be one-sided institutions; sustainability is dependent upon responding to shifting trends. They can harness ‘new media’ through integrating portable devices into exhibitions, adding virtual galleries to augment collections, presenting symposiums and workshops, filming events, and, most importantly, communicating what the museum is doing. As cultural institutions, they have the potential to transcend traditional roles of preservation, conservation, and education—to function as a third place. Playing an active role in building the community can simply be giving visitors free Wi-Fi access or incorporating a coffee shop and library. Museums of the future must be innovative, multidimensional, and active.
Free Wi-Fi at MoMA. Photo: Anne Helmond.
Homespun Museums
Too often do we take for granted the organization of a museum’s collection. When the success of an organization is significantly due to preservation of a legacy and storage is not an option, displays are filled to the brim with donations of personal memorabilia, family heirlooms, and rare artifacts—each bearing a story. This is mostly seen in the case of small nonprofit organizations or what I call homespun museums. I’ve visited a few of these nonprofits, though mostly related to aviation or space exploration. After talking with volunteers and taking my time to explore the collection, I noticed that financial support comes from retired aviators and family members entrusting their donations. The small size of the museum lends the illusion of a mom-and-pop establishment, which is more an asset than a limitation. (This can also be experienced in small artist-run alternative spaces.) Especially because the volunteers are eager to narrate their own personal anecdote for their favorite exhibit.
Below are a few images of the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum in Titusville, Florida, which houses and restores vintage aircrafts and is home to the TICO Belle. I visited the Warbird Museum last September where I was given an exclusive tour of the museum and its restoration hangar. It is a rare occasion to be offered a museum tour by a passionate volunteer. Jason Davis, a helicopter instructor, showed me around for over an hour answering every question I threw at him. More pictures can be seen here.
Another recommendation for a homespun museum is the U.S. Space Walk of Fame also in Titusville. Placing emphasis on the American Space Worker, this museum was founded by NASA employees who dedicated their lives to space exploration. Though there are only a few rooms to peruse, the collection is impressive because the items donated include volunteers’ own personal effects from spacesuits, helmets, and other memorabilia to models and launch consoles. Spacesuits and other uniforms are surprisingly not encased in glass displays (excluding the glove pictured below), which allows a closer examination than any display at the Kennedy Space Center.
A Conversation with the National Air & Space Museum’s Senior Curator, Tom Crouch
Tom Crouch and Jia Sun Tsang examining Chesley Bonestell’s “Lunar Landscape” (July 2005). Credit: Eric Long.
Speaking with Tom D. Crouch is much like engaging in a nostalgic conversation with a well-liked relative. I had the pleasure of interviewing him last week about his thirty-year career with the Smithsonian Institution. Dr. Crouch is Senior Curator of Aeronautics at the National Air & Space Museum (NASM) who’s authored fifteen books on the history of flight—including my favorite, Aiming for the Stars: The Dreamers and Doers of the Space Age.
Unlike other boys growing up near Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, he realized that—rather than be a pilot—he wanted to be a historian and work at a museum. And so it goes. Crouch studied history at Ohio University and graduated with a BA in 1962. He continued on, receiving his masters from Miami University and finally his doctorate from Ohio State University. At twenty-three (and as the only person on staff), Crouch directed the Neil Armstrong Air & Space Museum. He planned exhibitions and borrowed artifacts directly from the Smithsonian. After developing a professional rapport, the Smithsonian offered him a job and he’s been there ever since.
It is no surprise that when asked what his favorite moment in Air & Space history is, Crouch replies, “December 17, 1903.” On this day, Wilbur and Orville Wright made history with the first flight. Although he’s written five books on the Wright Brothers, including The Bishop’s Boys, Crouch is most interested in the process of invention rather than the invention of the airplane itself. Needless to say, his passion for flight is undeniable.
Tom Crouch with the Wright Flyer. Credit: Photo by Carolyn Russo, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
As a curator, Crouch’s goal is to focus on specific topics that touch on a broader theme. In his opinion, exhibits aren’t a good means to give detailed information. They aren’t like writing books. However, they are a good way to give an introduction and an overview. Exhibitions aren’t just about dates and chronology, but the bigger picture of what you want the viewer to walk away with. Therefore, he says, “I have to worry about what I want to say!”
Determining a specific topic is crucial. Next, there are many parameters to account for such as considerations of budget, timeline, spacial restrictions, and resources. Once the details are in place, Crouch develops a script for the exhibition. Scripts are similar to proposals, but are used to outline the narrative of the exhibit. This includes images, artifacts, and audio and visual elements. After a script is written and approved, Crouch works with a team of designers, educators, and project managers to complete the project.
One of the biggest obstacles in dealing with museum exhibitions is resources. In his words, Crouch says there’s “never enough people and never enough money.” Exhibitions are not the product of individuals, they are collaborative by nature. It takes a combination of both public and private funding and talented teams to produce a single exhibition.
Eileen Collins, Annie Leibovitz, photograph, 24 x 20 inches, 1999. Credit: National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
One collaboration in particular is the Smithsonian’s traveling exhibition “NASA | Art: 50 Years of Exploration” featuring 73 works of art by Andy Warhol, Annie Leibovitz (above), Nam June Paik, Norman Rockwell and more. Since ownership of NASA’s art collection is split between NASA and NASM, Crouch partnered with NASA’s curator Bertram Ulrich to create the exhibition. The National Air and Space Museum is the final destination of the exhibit, which can be seen on view starting May 2011 in Gallery 211.
While most major exhibits happen once per five years, Gallery 211 changes about two times per year (more than the other rooms) and is devoted to exhibiting artwork. According to Crouch, their choice of art is defined fairly broadly. In the past, this room has displayed the artwork of astronaut Alan Bean, “Star Wars: The Magic of Myth”, and an exhibit dedicated to the TV Series Star Trek. Currently on display in Gallery 211 is “Beyond: Visions of Our Solar System” (below), Michael Benson’s re-visioning of images taken by NASA’s robotic space probes.
Installation view of “Beyond: Visions of Our Solar System” exhibition.
I asked Crouch if the National Air and Space Museum has any plans to collaborate and share with contemporary art museums and he answers, “Sure.” But, as stated before, the museum has a broad view of art. Crouch doesn’t mention specific upcoming collaborations. The Smithsonian’s traveling exhibitions are mostly seen at science and history museums. However, one exhibition in particular, “In Plane View: Abstractions of Flight” has traveled to the Wichita Art Museum. “In Plane View” is an exhibition of 56 large-format photographs (see detail below) taken by NASM photographer Carolyn Russo emphasizing the aesthetics of airplane design with tight crops and abstracted compositions. (NASM published an art book to accompany the traveling exhibition.)
Photograph of Luftwaffe Fighter Wing 301 on a Focke-Wulf Ta 152 H from the exhibition In Plane View. Credit: Carolyn Russo, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
There’s more to curating than planning exhibitions and managing the collection; public outreach is also valuable. Crouch stresses the importance to “reach out beyond the walls of the museum.” He speaks at conferences celebrating aviation history, educates visitors of the museum with lectures and live Q&A’s, and more recently, participated in Ask a Curator Day. It’s his job to research and publish books and articles relating to the history of flight such as the birth of aeronautical engineering and aspects of the airplane. He also writes articles for the museum’s magazine Air & Space, writes blog entries for the NASM, and stays current with younger generations through the use of social media like Twitter.
Wrapping up our conversation, my last question for Tom Crouch is If given a seat on the last Shuttle mission, would you take it? After a brief pause he answers, “I suppose so.”
Interview conducted on September 28, 2010. © Whitney Dail 2010.
