Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Is It a Museum? Does It Matter? (And two FREE giveaways!)

 
There is something in the zeitgeist.  Something about trying to pin down the term "museum." (And in a parallel jag, something about the notion of "curator" being watered down and increasingly being twisted into a cheap commercial come-on.)

I recently chaired a session at the annual AAM meeting in Houston on the subject of "Non-Traditional Museums" that you can read more about here and here.  It raised, amongst other issues, how to sort out the notion of on-line or virtual museums, or how to consider a museum of poetry.

The latest issue of NAME's journal, The Exhibitionist (pictured at the top of this post) devotes an entire issue to the subject of "Is It a Museum? Does It Matter?" The issue is excellent by the way, filled with lots of meaty, thoughtful, contentious, messy stuff.  Here's a link to download a sample article PDF.  If you aren't currently a member of NAME (why not?)  keep reading to the end of this post for your chance to win one of two copies of this latest issue that I'm giving away.

And lastly, there is also a very lively discussion about the topics surrounding "Is It a Museum? Does It Matter?" happening right now on the NAME listserv.

But it's a tricky business, trying to sort out whether to call something a museum or not, isn't it?

On one hand, you don't want every roadside attraction or personal collection of knick-knacks to water down the term by calling itself a "museum."  But on the other hand it doesn't seem so long ago that most science centers and children's museums weren't considered "official" museums because they didn't always maintain collections.

In my own current thinking, I'm more concerned about what a creative group of people does, than what it, or others, calls the collective enterprise.  However, the IRS, or funders, or professional organizations seem much less sanguine about such a loose notion of "museum."

AND NOW, THE GIVEAWAY!

What do you think?  Does it matter about what we do (or do not) call a museum? Let us know in the "Comments" Section below between now and June 6th, 2011 and you'll be entered into a random drawing to win a copy of the latest "Is It a Museum? Does It Matter?" issue of the Exhibitionist mailed directly to your door. 

If you're the shy and retiring type, and just want a chance to win a copy without making a comment, then sign up to become an email subscriber to ExhibiTricks between now and June 6th, 2011 by clicking on the link at the top right side of the blog, and you'll also be entered into a random drawing to win the second copy of the latest "Is It a Museum? Does It Matter?" issue of the Exhibitionist mailed directly to your door. 

GOOD LUCK!


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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Adios Hoston! Museum Conference Re-Cap


Best description of Houston's weather: "It feels like you're living in someone's mouth ..."

Heat and humidity aside, I had a great time in Houston at the back-to-back Association of Children's Museums (ACM) InterActivity Conference, followed by the American Association of Museums (AAM) Annual Conference.

I've already posted about some of the early InterActivity news, so let's re-cap some of the transition time between conferences, the early AAM conference takeaways (Full Disclosure: I left a little early, so my family didn't forget who I was!) and some unique Houston sights, like the Art Cars and Art Car Parade, images of which are sprinkled throughout this posting:


Last Gasp for InterActivity 2011 
The final session I attended at IA2011, "Let’s Talk about Risk" was great for two reasons: 1) The topic of "Risk" was intrinsically interesting to me , and 2) The "Fishbowl" format.  Basically, the Fishbowl format is like reverse musical chairs with a starting circle of seated speakers and one empty chair.  Only those in the central circle can speak, but anyone from the audience can come into the empty chair.  Once all the chairs are filled, one person must vacate their chair.

It sounds complicated, but in practice worked great and really elicited surprisingly frank comments as well as a diversity of speakers.  Brava, Kathy Gustafson-Hilton from Hands On! for organizing this panel!  You can get more details about the session at the KidCity Museum blog.



The Menil Collection
After InterActivity finished, I joined several museum pals to visit hands-down my favorite "museum experience" in Houston.  I continue to love the main building (the current "Upside Down Arctic Realities" show was smashing! Unfortunately the on-line materials don't do it justice) and the Rothko Chapel was wonderful as well.  If your travels bring you to Houston, do not miss the Menil.


On to AAM!

The Art Car Parade
I didn't get to see the full-blown parade since I was involved in two sessions (see below) but fortunately I was able to see the Art Car pre-show on Saturday night outside the Convention Center.  BIG, BIG fun!  (Especially that Chicken Car!) The Art Car Parade is put on by the folks from the Orange Show (a local folk art monument) which was also the site of Sunday night's most excellent NAME Party!
 
 
 
"Future of Exhibiting: Voices from Non-Traditional Museums" 
First up, on Sunday afternoon, I was pleased to chair this session presented by he super-smart trio of Ashley Remer, Founder & Head Girl of GIRL MUSEUM,  Maria Mortati, Founder of the SF Mobile Museum, and Jon West-Bey, Director of American Poetry Museum.

Each of these dedicated folks explained why they felt compelled to start "alternative" museums (basic answer: existing museum models aren't flexible enough, or likely to change.)  Unfortunately Maria's show-and-tell props were in her "lost" luggage (that Continental Airlines somehow managed to lose on a direct flight from the Bay Area!) and Ashley was fighting raging flu that she picked up on the flight over from New Zealand. 

But despite these pre-session glitches, the presentations were all amazing, and Jon reminded us that, ultimately, bet on the Athenians over the Spartans every time!

You can get additional session details, and see Maria's presentation by checking out her S.F. Mobile Museum blog posting.



Career Café Idea Lounge: "Slow Exhibits"
On Sunday, from 4:15 pm to 5:30 pm I was the "Provocateur" for a great discussion concerning the notion of "Slow Exhibits."

Taking a page from the "Slow Food" movement and their central tenets of Good, Clean, and Fair; I've been thinking a lot about how we make exhibits, and how we hope people might engage with our exhibits.  Given the rapid-paced and hyper-connected world we live in, are museums responding by creating exhibit spaces and designed environments that do not lend themselves to contemplation and concentration?

As a group, we discussed exhibit environment and design approaches that actually rewarded visitors for slowing down to observe carefully, contemplate, and engage with others.

Along the way we discussed museum "Easter Eggs", the excellent new book "The Convivial Museum" the visualization of the Civil War at the Abraham Lincoln Museum, and much, much more.

It was sharp group, and I appreciated the change from the usual session of "three PowerPoints and a microphone."   (Besides, where else could you learn that the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History in Albuquerque has the "largest collection of touchable nuclear weapons in the world"?)

Happy trails to everyone I met or reconnected with in Houston!  Do you have your own conference memories or takeaways to share?  Let us know in the "Comments" section below.





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Friday, May 20, 2011

Some ACM InterActivity Recap



I just wanted to recap some ACM InterActivity highlights for those of you not fortunate enough to join us in Houston:

PECHA KUCHA
Wednesday's Pecha Kucha evening was a smashing success!  Nice turnout and stellar presentations in the 20 X 20 format.  A few of my favorites included:


Jen Alexander's Sink Story
For those of you who didn't quite catch the installation date of the exhibit, here's Jen's last slide.





I also loved Aaron Goldblatt's zen-like approach to the Pecha Kuch format, in his set of evocative slides about the rewards of carefully observing the world around us.




But definitely the belle of this year's Pecha Kucha ball, was Sari Boren and her talk about the "Ukelele Experience" which culminated in a ukelele sing-a-long featuring Sari's international public performance debut on ukelele!

My sincere thanks to all of this year's ten amazing presenters!  If you'd like to join in next year's fun, feel free to contact me. (Also if anyone has pictures or video of the event, please contact me as well.)


DIY EXHIBITS
I also really enjoyed presenting a rapid prototyping clinic during the "DIY Exhibits" session on Thursday.

We gave groups of attendees the challenge of creating a "bridge exhibit" prototype using only simple materials like paper, tape, rubber bands, and paper clips in about 45 minutes.  Every group performed like true "Office Supply Ninjas" as you can see from the images below and at the top of this posting.



Well, I'm off to the Exhibit Hall, but I'll try to post again before I leave Houston.

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Sunday, May 15, 2011

Houston ACM and AAM Preview! (Plus Slow Exhibits "Sneak Peak")


Thousands of intrepid museum folks from around the world will soon be heading to Houston, Texas to attend the two back-to-back conferences being held by the Association of Children's Museums (ACM) and the American Association of Museums (AAM) respectively.


I'll be chairing and/or presenting at several sessions during my stay in Texas, so stop by to say hello (or just heckle from the cheap seats!)  Here's my presentation calendar:


Wednesday, May 18th 
Boot Stompin' Pecha Kucha Evening Event
Start your trip to ACM's InterActivity conference with a bang by attending the FREE Boot Stompin' Pecha Kucha event!  I'll be both hosting and presenting this year.

This year's Pecha Kucha evening event will run on Wednesday, May 18th from approximately 8:00 - 10:00 p.m. at The Heritage Society at Sam Houston Park.  We've got a great group of presenters lined up, a cash bar, and drawings for valuable prizes (no joke!)  

(Wondering what the heck Pecha Kucha is?  It's a fun and fast-paced evening of folks presenting topics they're passionate about in a format of 20 slides of 20 seconds for each slide.  Here's a great video from author Dan Pink that gives an example of Pecha Kucha.)




Thursday, May 19th 
ACM InterActivity Conference


MORNING
On Thursday morning, from 10:45 a.m. to 12:00 noon, I'll be speaking as part of  the "Technology in Children’s Museums" session, currently slotted in the "Windowbox" room.

I'll be sharing the dais with Julia Griffey from Webster University, and Brad Larson, President of Brad Larson Media.  We'll be covering some interesting territory, so come join the conversation!

 
AFTERNOON
Thursday afternoon from 3:00pm to 4:15pm,  I'll be presenting a hands-on prototyping clinic during the "Do It Yourself (D.I.Y.) Exhibits" session in the "Cottonwood" room.

Fellow presenters Becky Lindsay, of MindSplash Design, and Deb Dunkhase from The Iowa Children’s Museum will lead off by discussing the "Why" in DIY Exhibits, and then we'll finish the session with some down-and-dirty exhibit prototyping.




Sunday, May 22nd
Shifting gears now to AAM, I'll be chairing one session and presenting another at the Career Café Idea Lounge, both in the afternoon.

      
"Future of Exhibiting: Voices from Non-Traditional Museums" 
First up, from 1:15 pm to 2:30 pm on Sunday,  I'm pleased to be chairing this session presented by Ashley Remer, Founder & Head Girl of GIRL MUSEUM,  Maria Mortati, Founder of the SF Mobile Museum, and Jon West-Bey, Director of American Poetry Museum.  

They'll be slicing up the many ways to think about what a "museum" is,  based on their own experiences running decidedly un-traditional museum organizations.


Career Café Idea Lounge: "Slow Exhibits"

On Sunday, from 4:15 pm to 5:30 pm in the Convention Center, Room 370 B, I'll be hosting a round-table discussion about the notion of "Slow Exhibits."

Taking a page from the "Slow Food" movement and their central tenets of Good, Clean, and Fair; I've been thinking a lot about how we make exhibits, and how we hope people might engage with our exhibits.  Given the rapid-paced and hyper-connected world we live in, are museums responding by creating exhibit spaces and designed environments that do not lend themselves to contemplation and concentration?

So we'll be talking about and considering design resources and environmental cues that reward visitors for slowing down and engaging more carefully with exhibition spaces and objects --- and actually taking the time to enjoy their experience and create lasting memories.


So that's it for me.  I hope to meet or reconnect with many of you in Houston, and for those not able to make the trip to Texas, stay tuned to the blog, or my Twitter feed (@museum_exhibits) for sporadic updates from the conferences and environs!



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Sunday, May 8, 2011

Look for the Verbs: An Interview with Rachel Hellenga


Rachel Hellenga has spent over twenty years working for museums big and small, East, West, and in the middle, including The Computer Museum in Boston, The Tech Museum in San Jose,  the Chicago Children’s Museum, and most recently at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, where she served as the Creative Director for Science Storms, a 26,000 square foot exhibition on the topic of physics and chemistry.  Rachel is currently serving as the Director of Program Services at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center in Skokie, IL, where she oversees the Exhibits & Collections, Education, and Marketing departments.  

Rachel was kind enough to share her insights for the interview below:


What’s your educational background? 
I got a B.A. in Psychology and Social Relations from Harvard, with the emphasis on Social Relations! I learned as much from the other students as I did from the professors. People were doing so many ambitious things that I was inspired to embark on adventures I might not have tried otherwise—like spending a summer in a commune in Mexico endorsed by B.F. Skinner. I went there to study the dynamics of a “Walden Two” simulation and it was quite an experience.

I still have a lasting interest in behavioral psychology which has helped me with exhibit planning and evaluation. It comes in handy in data collection and analysis, but more broadly, it helps me to strategize how to evoke specific behaviors from visitors in a gallery based on design choices. The psychology studies also led me to value multiple learning styles—I try to avoid falling into the trap of thinking, “well if this exhibit appeals to me it will work for everyone else.”



What got you interested in Museums?
I grew up in a town with barely 30,000 people and no museums, unless you count Carl Sandburg’s birthplace. When I was ten my Dad spent a sabbatical at the University of Chicago and we lived directly across the street from the Museum of Science and Industry for a year, back when admission was free. I pretty much lived there after school and knew the place like the back of my hand. It was good timing, as that’s about the age when girls typically get turned off to science.

I didn’t give any thought to working in a museum until I graduated from college and landed an interview at The Computer Museum through the “old boy network”—one of my former college roommates had an older brother who had also been at Harvard, and his roommate was looking for a research assistant. I landed a job working on an exhibit about the history of computers and never looked back.



How does working with teams to create exhibits inform your design process ? 
I can think of a few individuals who are so creative they could sit alone in a cubicle and generate amazing ideas like laying perfectly formed eggs. My approach is more of a magpie strategy, gathering shiny ideas from all over and weaving them together.  I loved the movie The Usual Suspects, in which the protagonist (Kevin Spacey) spins an incredible yarn based on scraps of ideas printed on coffee mugs and pinned on bulletin boards. Some of the best exhibits I’ve worked on came out of brainstorming sessions where there was so much back and forth you really couldn’t point to one person in the room and assign credit for the idea.

I’ve also seen great exhibits and programs come out of sessions that veered into silliness and had us laughing till tears ran down our cheeks. Where there is humor, creativity is not far behind. One rule improv artists live by is to accept the propositions of their partners no matter how crazy—and great exhibit teams work along similar lines. Instead of critiquing the last person’s suggestion, build on it and take it somewhere new. Sometimes you have to get really far out and then reel things back in again to land on a viable idea.



Tell us a little bit about how your “non-museum” skills/activities inform your exhibit design work?  I put a lot of energy into learning several languages while living in Italy (in high school on another of my Dad’s sabbaticals), Mexico (that summer in the commune) and France (as a nanny after college).  It’s been very satisfying any time I get to use those languages on the job, whether it’s something small like sitting in the sound booth coaching a bilingual narrator or something big like traveling to Italy to negotiate the loan of artifacts from the Museo Galileo. I have been a very strong advocate for bilingual multimedia on all of my projects because I believe in showing respect for other cultures by doing what we can to be accessible in other languages.



What are some of your favorite resources for people interested in finding out more about exhibition development?   Getting to Yes by William Ury, and all of his books, really—they can be extremely helpful in the exhibit design process. Negotiating with colleagues, managing creative conflicts, respecting different communication styles, working to understand points of view that at first make you want to say “that’s the stupidest thing I ever heard”—all of that can be just as valuable as the mastery of specific content knowledge or design skills when you’re planning an exhibition.

I keep multiple copies of two books on my shelf at work and ask all of my teams to read them: Try It! Improving Exhibits Through Formative Evaluation by Sam Taylor and Exhibit Labels by Beverly Serrell. In particular I point them to sections of the Exhibit Labels book that talk about using a “Big Idea” to guide exhibition development.

As for online resources, I find YouTube can be useful no matter what topic you’re researching, and if nothing else, it can add a little levity to your design process! An engineer on Science Storms used to send along serious missives claiming to present a new angle on a chemistry or physics topic and it would be some crazy explosion video from Youtube.



What do you think is the “next frontier” for museums?
Thinking about this in the context of science centers and children’s museums, I would say that one trend I would predict for the “next frontier” is a move away from computer kiosks in favor of more emphasis on stuff that visitors can see, hear, feel, smell and even taste (I’m thinking of the Liberty Science Center’s Cooking exhibition).

We can’t compete on interactivity alone, as families now have access to a level of home entertainment media that boggles the mind, from the quality of the graphics to the full-body interactivity to the sophistication of the physics underlying the game play. A typical game for a PlayStation, Wii, Knect, or Xbox retails for under $50 but represents hundreds of thousands of dollars in development costs. Nevertheless, people are still motivated to leave their high-tech family rooms to immerse themselves in a unique environment or to see something real.

In my current position at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center (IHMEC) I see the emotional impact of standing inside an authentic German rail car after watching videos of local survivors who experienced the train journey to a concentration camp, survived the Holocaust, and eventually made their homes in the Chicago area. It’s a very different experience from looking at pictures or video of the same content the Internet. That’s why people are still willing to get off the couch and visit a museum. They value authentic experiences.

The late Peter Anderson, a friend and mentor who played leading roles in the Ontario Science Center, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, and The Tech Museum in San Jose, used to say that people come to museums for “real objects, real processes, and unique environments.”  I believe that his philosophy is never going to go out of style.  In the next few decades, I think that a “back to basics” approach will be delivered with a new twist. I had the privilege to work on the Science Storms exhibition at the Museum of Science and Industry, where the architecture of the timeless building contributed to the overall appeal of the exhibition.

But the buzzing activity of the space is very different from the opposite wing of the museum featuring a series of impressive historic airplanes suspended overhead. Evidence Design led the design of this aesthetically gorgeous and immersive physics emporium replete with rainbows, lightning strikes, and a 3-story funnel of mist simulating a tornado, and it’s worth leaving the comforts of home to experience it.

Technology and interactivity are here to stay, but I hope to see the technology become more invisible and the interactivity become more authentic and substantive. During the Science Storms project I coined the term “hybrid exhibits” to describe components that give visitors the ability to manipulate and experiment with the physical environment but which are driven by technology that takes a back seat to the phenomenon.

Visitors can not only feel the mist and air movement as they stand in the tornado, but they can use a series of levers to manipulate fans that change the shape of the funnel. When they rotate an enormous prism to catch sunlight streaming through a skylight and create a rainbow, they are focusing on the prism and the rainbow, not the electronics making the experience possible. They use a touch screen to vary the amount of fuel feeding a live fire and to control the volume of water or mist interacting with the fire, but they are watching the fire and the water, not the screen.

Similarly, a touch screen is the tool visitors use to vary the length and amplitude of a wave with some precision before sending it across the length of a 30-foot tsunami tank, but the primary focus is the action in the tank. An explanation of the phenomenon is presented only after the visitor’s curiosity is piqued. I see the science center field moving away from computer kiosks with a primary function of delivering information, no matter how well-packaged, and toward technology that is almost invisible to the user as it plays a supporting role in their experimentation with things they can see and touch.



What are some of your favorite museums or exhibitions?
Reflecting on Peter Anderson’s push for real objects, real processes, and unique environments: to choose a unique environment, I would say the Butterfly Haven at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum is wonderful.  As for a real object, I was really struck by the Iron Lung on display at the St. Louis Science Center. A polio patient would lie prone inside this long, tubular machine pretty much 24/7 in order to breathe—talk about an evocative artifact. It creates such vivid imaginings about what life must have been like for the person and prompts conversations about the history of medical technology. Very memorable.

I would say that a “real process” on display was the bell curve exhibit in the Charles and Ray Eames Mathematica exhibit, which I remember from my days as a ten-year-old touring the Museum of Science and Industry. The exhibit dropped balls from a chute centered at the top of a pinball machine interface, and as they fell they piled up in the form of a bell curve. I was inspired to count M&M’s in each bag to see if I could find a bell curve in the data—which I did. Then I moved on to see if there might be a bell curve in the number of seconds between hiccups. I’m sorry to say that I never found out the answer, because for about five years, any time I got a case of the hiccups I was so excited at the opportunity to take data that the hiccups vanished.  I’d say that bell curve exhibit had a lasting impact!



What advice would you have for fellow museum professionals, especially those from smaller museums, in developing their exhibitions? Search for authentic connections to your exhibit subject, and avoid the temptation to convey lots of facts about your exhibit subject using computer-based trivia games or lengthy labels.  Over time I have learned to focus on verbs and personal stories, not facts.

When we were designing an exhibit about genetic technology at The Tech Museum, we looked for the verbs: what do experts in the field of genetic technology spend their time doing?  We wanted to engage visitors in replicating, as authentically as possible, the actions of these experts. We weren’t as concerned about conveying what experts know. One exhibit component lets visitors don lab coats and goggles and insert real DNA into bacteria. They can also stand behind a podium and deliver a speech for or against growing hearts in pigs for implantation in humans. Or they can play the role of a genetic counselor at an interactive station, running genetic tests and advising the parents—the visitors get very invested in the stories and outcomes. Exhibits do a better job when they engage the senses and the emotions, and when they engage visitors in experimenting or problem-solving—once you have their attention they will absorb just the facts they need to solve that problem or satisfy their curiosity. This was a dominant approach in Science Storms as well.

When transitioning from a science center to IHMEC last year, I sought out Dan Spock of the Minnesota Historical Society for advice. He told me to look for the personal stories, and to bring those out. As a matter of fact, IHMEC does feature a very compelling series of personal stories of survivors who settled in the Chicago area, woven throughout the permanent exhibition in the form of videos. I agree with Dan that history exhibits are more likely to make a personal connection and to be memorable if they focus on stories first.

To his advice I would add--look for the verbs. I’d like to see more opportunities in history museums for visitors to mimic the actions of historians, analyzing multiple sources of information that might corroborate or contradict each other. There are valuable skills and to be learned that way. I got a fresh perspective on the American Revolutionary War when I was asked to present a report about at my high school in Italy: my primary reference was a history book published in Britain, and the book’s version of events presented Americans as irresponsible subjects who just didn’t want to pay their taxes. It was the first time I realized that much of history is in the eye of the beholder!

I’ll give you one more example of verb vs. facts: when designing an exhibit about inventing at the Chicago Children’s Museum we took a similar approach— we didn’t pack the exhibit with facts about famous inventors or inventions. We identified what inventors do, then focused our energy on evoking inventive, problem-solving behavior from our visitors. For example visitors designing a flying machine that can stay in the air as long as possible when dropped from the top of a 50-foot tall conveyor belt. That was fifteen years ago and the exhibit turned into a classic—every once in a while I’m startled to turn a corner and find it in yet another museum when I’m visiting for a conference. Focus on the verbs and you’ll design a winner every time!



Thanks again to Rachel for taking the time to share her thoughts with ExhibiTricks readers!



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Monday, May 2, 2011

Exhibit Designer's Toolbox: Inventables


Who wouldn't love a website that provides cool stuff like Soft Gel Magnets or Glow-In-The-Dark Thread?   Inventables is just such a website, and it's been great fun trying out their stuff for new exhibits and prototyping projects.

The clean and simple Inventables website gives you examples of new and interesting materials (with specs!) to investigate,  as well as a nice search feature that lets you sort materials by qualities like "sticky" or "magnetic".

So what are you waiting for?  Head over to Inventables and start gathering some good stuff to experiment with!




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