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Abstract
In order to attract new audiences and increase their relevance to contemporary society, some museums are questioning their traditional role as expert and ‘gatekeeper’ to the knowledge bound up in collections. Sharing authority and experimenting with the conventions of exhibition making may appear refreshing to some, but to others seems simply gratuitous and self-destructive. In 2008, the Manchester Museum (United Kingdom) staked its reputation on an open-ended, dialogic and pluralistic approach to an archaeological ‘treasure’ – the 2000-year-old body of Lindow Man, on loan from the British Museum. The exhibition's unorthodox concept, design and construction polarised opinion amongst staff and visitors, triggering a heated debate about the purpose of museums. Employing Personal Meaning Mapping methodology to measure the impact of the approach on visitors’ learning and enjoyment, this case study shows that challenging convention, though extremely unpopular in traditionalist quarters, can add new layers of meaning to the museum experience.
Acknowledgements
I thank The Manchester Museum, University of Manchester, for supporting this research and for granting permission to publish the results.
Notes
1. www.alchemy.manchester.museum/ (accessed 19 January 2011).
3. www.museum.manchester.ac.uk/whatson/exhibitions/pastexhibitions/revealinghistoriesmythsaboutrace/
4. This was re-designed following the post-opening evaluation meeting to assist with visitor orientation and understanding.
5. Some visitors instinctively seemed to recognise this and happily rooted through the books and folders.
6. Staff were invited through questionnaires to share their views on the exhibition. One senior person wrote: ‘Public consultation is good, debate is good, but in the end the museum has a role and a duty to present the facts as researched and integrated by specialists. This is a university museum, with an academic research, study & teaching role.’
7. The Manchester Museum Strategic Plan 2007–2011.
8. Private correspondence, April 2008.
10. For the Manchester Museum's official statement: www.museum.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/pressreleases/pressreleasesarchive/fileuploadmax10mb,136438,en.doc
11. A letter from a visitor reads: ‘Was this the idea of a work experience kid? Or is there a professional (being paid a lot more money than I earn) coming up with inane ideas like this? It's just awful. Shameful. … When I was there everyone was walking around just looking at each other saying ‘this is absolute shit’. And it is; it's just absolute shit.’ In addition, a member of staff wrote on a questionnaire for this study: ‘The museum needs to learn from the overwhelmingly negative comments that the public made. It cannot afford to put on poorly thought out exhibits and disguise them as “experimental” ’.
12. Seventeen per cent left education at age 16 or under, which might suggest a broadening of the Museum's visitor base, and 32% were still in full-time education, perhaps reflecting the Museum's university status.
13. Morris Hargreaves McIntyre (April 2008) Knowing your Visitors: Visitor Segments at North West Hub Venues, www.mla.gov.uk/what/programmes/renaissance/regions/north_west/news/~/media/North_West/Files/2008/Newsletter_Oct_08.ashx
14. Feedback suggests that certain people excluded themselves from this feature because they felt it was for children.
15. To some degree the sample is self-selecting and therefore may not be representative of all visitors’ experiences. In this kind of research work, with people being approached and asked for their opinions by someone who looks ‘official’, those visitors who find such interactions intimidating will often opt out.
16. Alison James, Visitors’ meaning maps at the Pitt Rivers Museum, www.alison-james.co.uk
18. Part of the Museum's standard evaluation process.
19. Zero was scored when the individual either reported that he or she knew nothing before the visit or had nothing to add afterwards.
21. November 22–28, 2008, timesonline.co.uk/theknowledge
22. Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray: ‘There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.’
23. The Guardian, Saturday November 1, 2008.