The Making of the Cabinet Part II: Activity Table

Abstract

In The Cabinet, the gallery devoted to seventeenth-century collecting, a table with a cast bronze top with three small cases stands under the window. It unites activities with museum displays, encouraging visitors to explore the gallery narrative and themes through hands-on investigation. This article discusses the thinking behind and commissioning of this activity table which was conceived with one of the project’s target audiences in mind – family groups.

Keywords:

• activity table
• collecting
• curiosity
• learning
• play
• families

Notes

1. See for example, Simon. The Participatory Museum; Borun, “Why Family Learning in Museums?,” pp. 6–9; Fritsch, Museum Gallery Interpretation.

2. ”Visualising Knowledge in Early Modern Europe,” Friends Lecture Series, organized by Professor Joanna Woodall and Dr Eric Jorink at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, Spring 2013.

3. In this article, the first-person plural refers to the colleagues from the Learning Department who worked on this project: Lucy Trench (Lead Educator), myself (Assistant Educator) and the Europe Galleries Concept Team (see LE Miller, ‘Luxury in Europe’, this issue.).

4. Schepelern. “The Museum Wormianum Reconstructed.”

5. Ibid.

6. Andrew Lacey. Artist and Independent Scholar at https://www.andrewlacey.com/andrewlacey.com/home.html

7. Alexis Snell: https://www.pickledink.com/alexis-snell.html.

8. Hooke, Micrographia.

9. Morris Hargreaves McIntyre, “Europe 1600–1815.”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nadine Langford

Nadine Langford is an Interpretation Officer at the V&A. She joined the Europe 1600–1815 project in 2011 as the Assistant Educator. She has a BA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College London and an MA in Cultural Heritage Studies from UCL. She has a particular interest in developing interpretation for families and is currentlyworking on the V&A’s new Photography Centre and an exhibition about Winnie-the-Pooh.[email protected]