The museum of objects
„If museums seek to reduce this distance between person and thing, if displays and interpretations are constructed in such a way as to facilitate a wider or deeper sensory and emotional engagement with an object, reather than simply enable intellectual comprehension of a story or set of facts presented by the museum and merely illustrated or punctuated by the object, might visitors actually be enabled to appreciate more aspects of both the objects and its story?“ (p. 9)
Discussed text: Dudley, S. (2012). ‘Encountering a Chinese horse. Engaging with the thingness of things’. I Dudley, S. (red.), Museum Objects. Experiencing the property of things. Oxon & New York, Routledge
In the beginning of the text, Sandra H. Dudley tells a story about her surprising and memorable encounter with an object in a museum – a majestic and beautiful Chinese horse. She didn’t expect to see something like this and when she did, she was moved to tears. There was no immediate need to read the accompanying information, which was safely “hidden” from the eyes in the museum guide.
The ready interpretation wasn’t right there. Instead, there was freedom to form her own relationship with the object, to try and attune to it.
Dudley calls for a different approach in museum exhibition design: visitors should have the possibility of engaging with the objects in a more direct way, to experience some of their “magic”. By a direct engagement, she doesn’t mean that people should be able to touch museum objects. But there should be less obstacles standing in the way of visitors’ own imagination. If you put a long text right in front of it, possibly even covering a small part, how are you supposed to fully focus on the object? Your experience will be affected and shaped because of the interpretation or story at hand. The objects shouldn’t be just illustrations or mere punctuations for what the curator wants to tell you. They should have their own right to tell you something!
It might sound a bit ridiculous, but it makes total sense. We do not live in a world created by our knowledge and background, we live in a world full of objects. Because of our background and knowledge (and lots of other things I don’t care to mention right now) we see the world in a certain, our very own, way. But that does not mean that we cannot experience objects - at least partly - as they are. Let’s illustrate this with a quote by Dudley:
“Two different people (…) [will respond] to the same object in different ways, (…) but for both of them, part at least of their engagement with the object will be determined by its material characteristics - their reactions would not be as they are (whatever they may be), if the object were not what it is.” (p. 7.)
Somebody might object that the primary role of museums is to educate. But Dudley doesn’t condemn the traditional educational experience, she just places another one next to it - but equally as important. Because you can also learn something new if you try to see the object as it is there, right in front of you. The experience might be a personally transformative event that can have a big effect on you.
Museums should give visitors the opportunity to have a two-way relationship with the objects.
