Meta-Museum: Re-Contextualization of Institutional Collections

About the Project

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This Designmatters studio challenged ArtCenter graduate and undergraduate students to explore the current state of museums and other institutions as they recontextualize their collections to present a more honest representation of history and culture that is not entangled in racism, colonialism, homophobia, sexism and other forms of oppression.

Students were tasked with delving into the details of an exhibit showcasing African peoples opened to the public in the 1960s. Students reframed various aspects of exhibit with cost-effective measures that included new technologies, visual layering and updated commentary offers visitors a more complete view of the history of exhibit along with exploring 1960s attitudes and the ever-changing role of museums in society.

Re-Contextualization of Museums and Institutions of Collections

The rise of museums and institutions of collections can be traced to the Age of Exploration from the 1600-the 1700s, which witnessed numerous expeditions sailing the world in search of new plants, animals ,and peoples. Museums were established to share these “wonders of the world,” much like how World’s Fairs were created to offer the public a chance to “travel the world without traveling.”

Today, museums are faced with the challenge of how to disengage with their past while acknowledging its inequities. Many institutions are embarking on recontextualizing both their brand and exhibits to shine a light on their historic entanglements with racism, colonialism, homophobia ,and other forms of oppression. Crafting these new narratives can be awkward, especially when the museum itself, possibly a venerated institution for decades, can now be viewed as an artifact.

Museum leadership across the country is at a crucial juncture; balancing how problematic histories can be made visible to the public – and will such a change adequately address issues of justice? Crafting new narratives today often involves accessing current technology with an engaging commentary which can provide a non-biased representation of the past. A goal is to offer the public a more meaningful and thoughtful visit that can spur conversation as well as a deeper sense of this place in history.

Research and Project Development

At the online kick-off session, students learned the studio will have two areas of focus: the first half would involve deeply understanding the complicated history of museums and the current contemporary issues they face. Weekly reading, writing assignments, and in-class discussions would provide the necessary context that would later inform their design techniques and choices for their final project.

The second half would offer the students a hands-on experience of how best to recontextualize an exhibit from the 1960s involving the people of Africa. Students will examine the contents and come to understand why curators chose certain artifacts, verbiage, etc. Working in teams, students would explore a wide array of solutions that could run from cutting- edge technology to clear and effective signage.

To start the studio, students shared a personal museum memory; these experiences became a jumping-off point for a whole class discussion on how certain aspects of museum design can create long-lasting and noteworthy memories.

Later discussions helped steer the students to the larger concept of how to critically think about and view institutional collections – including why they were first created and what they can be today. Students learned how museums are often the product of imperialism that reflected the attitudes of the day, i.e., racism, sexism, colonialism, etc. Students were taught that a building is not just a building or a collection of objects but it is often a vehicle meant to persuade the masses toward certain attitudes of taste, class, and society.

Students learned ways to use existing exhibits to illustrate various points of view that may not have been included in their original presentation. These methods and strategies can be done effectively within budget restraints and often do not need to remove or remodel an exhibit (which can be costly) but rather focus on how best to incorporate the existing materials with new supplemental information.

Students were asked to think about and share their personal connections to the land they came from and the land their grandparents were born. Was that land ever colonized by others? Who? Are you descendants of those who did the colonizing or who were colonized? This exercise reminded students of the far- reaching implications of colonialism which modified and/or erased existing cultural touchpoints of clothing, diet, language and even names.

As students examined how other museums are de-colonizing their collections and exhibits, they were challenged to think: How can the voice of the oppressed be heard more in this setting? How can the museum itself be treated as an artifact?

In the following weeks, students read blogs, essays, watched videos about decolonization and researched how to effectively write about Africa and the Black experience. Instructors facilitated lively in-class discussions while students shared personal observations and continued to pose new questions and issues to explore.

Discussions also described how to dissect and present a point-of-view (POV) and how the curator’s intention plays into the overall thinking and implementation. Effective storytelling through technology was a broad topic that students delved into; how to create an honest, understandable narrative yet be true to your POV? How can illustrations, photos, videos, and other visuals “speak for themselves?”

Students chose a exhibit involving the peoples of Africa found in a typical Natural History museum – artifact display, diorama, etc. – which they could transform into a new perspective and new user experience. They examined the current descriptive text, analyzed the contextual text and studied how ancillary objects near an exhibit play into the overall presentation.

Students also considered the display from the point of view of the object as well as how people portrayed in dioramas would feel being represented and exhibited in this current manner. How could that presentation be improved?

While crafting their interventions, students were encouraged to always question how to create an experience that allowed visitors to come to their own conclusions about the exhibit’s objects and depiction of African lives and experiences. Additionally, the understanding that their interventions needed to be affordable invited the students to cast a wide net for creative solutions.

In preparation for the midterm, individual and team assignments became more directed to the actual exhibit methodology: designing an audio tour and wayfinding signage, developing an AR experience, and creating a re-imagined diorama that avoids objectification.

Midterm Presentation

Student teams outlined their original concepts and possible directions in short five-minute presentations at the studio midterm; the goal of the presentation was for the students to gauge responses from subject matter experts which would set them on a path toward the final project. Teams were especially interested in discovering how their POV received by a new audience. Was it compelling? Original? Easy-to-understand? Was it narrow and specific enough to merit further development?

Teams explored what elements of their design thinking resonated with an audience.? What elements are engaging? Is there a direction they should avoid?

In addition to offering their critique, the experts quizzed students about the emotion the team wanted to convey, questions for visitors to think about and refining prompts for deeper storytelling. Experts appreciated how the teams embraced the complexity of the topic and offered directions on the possible next steps. Some of their comments included: “How do we make the invisible, visible?” “What else can we learn from this juxtaposition?” “How can storytelling advance the layering of narratives?”

Following the midterm, student teams addressed the specifics of their project; they refined POV statements to guide their explorations and directed their interventions. Teams assigned themselves design rules (e.g., inclusive, innovative and accessible, etc.) Also, students considered how their project could pose questions to visitors and engage them on a deeper level of reflection and possible action.?

Teams also created style guides, color palettes, expressive fonts, and logos to create a meaningful sensibility to their interventions. They created visual storyboards which helped them imagine the intervention experience through the eyes of the visitor.

Finally, prototypes were crafted that demonstrated their vision of a more equitable museum experience. This vision encompassed a wide range of inventions from analog print material to Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technology.