Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Category
Social Sciences/Humanities
Abstract/Artist Statement
Museums face what has been named the “curation crisis” in a variety of manners. The crisis itself ranges from lack of personnel, funding, depleted storage space, etcetera. The question then presents itself, how do we, as museum professionals, remediate the effects of the curation crisis and prevent it from growing and occurring in new institutions. One such manner must include an increased level of consultation between museum personnel and outside sources. Here, I analyze the uses of consultation in the museum setting, ranging types of museums, and the benefits that may or may not occur in remediation efforts using this method of intervention. Museums must engage in active communication and collaboration with communities, not just of the artifact’s provenance, but also of the local communities which surround the museum. Museums are multidimensional institutions that are meant to play social roles in today’s age. Part of playing this social role includes the need to incorporate the viewpoints of those the collection/ museum is representing. This representation takes many forms, but the end result is that collaboration and consultation has the potential to be mutually beneficial. Museums may use outside collaborators to determine proper storage, catalog description, even as labor, those collaborating with the museum may be able to receive input on revitalization efforts, reconnect with important objects from their past, and make their voices heard. With the Covid-19 pandemic, the use of telecommunication in the museum sector has become normalized. This results in an increased capacity for consultation, and as such, collaboration with outside groups must become part of museum standard practice.
Mentor Name
G.G. Weix
Personal Statement
My work concerns the curation crisis on a whole, attempting to determine potential points of remediation. These points I attempt to identify must be an accessible “fix” for any situation involved in the curation crisis, which may include uncatalogued collections, lack of storage, lack of personnel and education, etcetera. While the museum professions are often constrained by budgets, other methods of intervention are able to be employed with considerable results. The curation crisis means that there are hundreds and thousands of artifacts, artwork, objects, etcetera, in museum basements, storage, private collections that are not able to be utilized to their full potential. This may be due to a lack of cataloguing, but the underlying effect is that humanity will lack any history to be learned from that individual item. Multiplying that effect tenfold, there is a significant amount of history that remains unseen, undocumented, and may be forgotten and deteriorating. The focus of this presentation/paper is to identify the effects of increased consultation on the museum, including both the positive and the negative. I present the point of increased consultation, not only with native populations, but also with communities surrounding the museum. This ensures a level of input that may help remediate the curation crisis in terms of lack of information/ cataloguing, as well as establish relationships with communities which will determine the trajectory of the museum. This will ultimately aid the institution by receiving a level of feedback that will result in a refined visitor experience. This project is the fundamental steps to my dissertation that looks to determine multiple points of remediation that may be applied to any museum institution. Curators are confined by the current theories that underlie preservation and museum work. These theories are currently undergoing paradigm shifts. My goal is to contribute to the new paradigm of curation and collection management in a manner that will facilitate the use of unrecorded collections for years to come.
Who, Me? Yes, You!- Consultation and Collaboration in the Museum as a Form of Crisis Remediation
Museums face what has been named the “curation crisis” in a variety of manners. The crisis itself ranges from lack of personnel, funding, depleted storage space, etcetera. The question then presents itself, how do we, as museum professionals, remediate the effects of the curation crisis and prevent it from growing and occurring in new institutions. One such manner must include an increased level of consultation between museum personnel and outside sources. Here, I analyze the uses of consultation in the museum setting, ranging types of museums, and the benefits that may or may not occur in remediation efforts using this method of intervention. Museums must engage in active communication and collaboration with communities, not just of the artifact’s provenance, but also of the local communities which surround the museum. Museums are multidimensional institutions that are meant to play social roles in today’s age. Part of playing this social role includes the need to incorporate the viewpoints of those the collection/ museum is representing. This representation takes many forms, but the end result is that collaboration and consultation has the potential to be mutually beneficial. Museums may use outside collaborators to determine proper storage, catalog description, even as labor, those collaborating with the museum may be able to receive input on revitalization efforts, reconnect with important objects from their past, and make their voices heard. With the Covid-19 pandemic, the use of telecommunication in the museum sector has become normalized. This results in an increased capacity for consultation, and as such, collaboration with outside groups must become part of museum standard practice.