Theory Reflections

Seeing as its a new year, we have a new theme to ponder on our ‘theory fun fridays’ (as I still like to call them!). With this change in mind, I can’t help thinking back to our lectures about ‘The Museum’ last term. The series has definitely raised many lasting questions for me about the role of the museum, and how curator’s inevitably shape the narrative of what we see in a gallery space through their display choices, how things are labelled, the objects that are included…and what is left out! I think Emmanuelle was definitely provoking us to feel cynical and to take on a questioning mindset when we visit exhibitions. At first I was a little unsure how to react- I didn’t want to ruin the enjoyment of going to museums to be inspired, explore and simply SEE by constantly looking at things through a skeptical, critical mindset. Some elements of the lectures just seemed so depressingly negative! But at the same time, it felt empowering to be encouraged to question the narratives we are presented with. To think: who has decided that this is the story I should see? Why have they told the story in this specific way? Does this mean I have the whole picture, or do I need to look further?  If the Museum’s role is to educate, then surely taking this inquisitive approach as a visitor allows us to become much more informed. By actively engaging with the narrative in the space, and consciously considering the curator’s choices, surely we can learn more, find deeper inspiration and ultimately actually enjoy the experience more than if we simply go to observe, passively accepting and quickly forget what we’ve really seen. The idea of ‘mining the museum’ is actually quite exciting! 

In light of this, I started reflecting again on an exhibition I recently went to: ‘Hello My name is Paul Smith’ at the Design Museum. I liked how the Curator’s hadn’t attempted to control and confine the visitor by restricting how you moved around the space. Although there were different themed areas in separate rooms, they surrounded one central ‘hallway’ filled with photos from Smith’s own personal collection. This meant that from the entrance, you could then access any area at any time. As a result it didn’t feel like a linear, set narrative was being forced on you- the visitor could chose the order of the story, and easily return to a space if they wanted to re-engage with the ideas being explored there. Rather than presenting an overly clean, simplified and sanitised story of Smith’s work, the exhibition covered his whole creative process. Some fashion exhibitions and retrospectives seem to focus primarily on displaying countless beautiful final outcomes, but here rooms were made into reconstructions of Smith’s messy office and studio, with only a small area dedicated to showing a selection of finished garments. I thought this worked to give much more of an interesting insight into the process behind Smith’s work. As a result, I felt I understood his finished pieces better, as we’d been given a view into the thinking, struggles and development that led up to it. 

In summary, a few mantras I'll take away from last term's theory are: be inquisitive, question things...and if a museum tries to control and confine you- attempt walking around the exhibition backwards just to defy their prescriptive narrative!