Editorial
It is what you do with your space that counts
This issue of Museums Journal shows that, despite the financial challenges facing the sector, there is still a strong desire to develop capital projects. In Scotland, there are huge museum and gallery schemes in Aberdeen, Dundee, Dunfermline and Glasgow.
In Manchester there is Home, which has been formed from the merger of the city’s Cornerhouse centre for contemporary art and film, and the Library Theatre Company. Their £25m purpose-built venue will open in May. Also in Manchester, the Whitworth Art Gallery will unveil its £15m redevelopment this month.
In London, the extensions of the Tate Modern and Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) will be completed in 2016 and 2017 respectively, while the new home for the Design Museum will open in the former Commonwealth Institute in 2016.
There is a debate to be had about the merits of embarking on major capital schemes at a time when revenue funding is getting ever tighter.
But many of these projects, such as Aberdeen Art Gallery and the Whitworth, are about making existing buildings work better. Others, such as the V&A extension, are designed to build on the growing importance of temporary exhibitions in recent years.
Whatever the aims, there is no doubt that the public is attracted to new cultural spaces, as shown in our feature on museum and gallery architecture.
But impressive architecture is not enough, as Victoria Pomery, the director of Turner Contemporary, points out in relation to cultural regeneration in Margate. The physical spaces are vital, but it is what you do with them that really counts.
People are drawn to extraordinary spaces, but they want extraordinary experiences as well, as Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall has shown ever since Louise Bourgeois became the first artist to take over the space in 2000.
Whether it’s providing a simple day out where a family can spend time together or it is an experience that will stay with someone forever, museums of all sizes can have a real impact on people’s lives. And it is ambitious and exciting exhibitions, events and learning activities that keep them coming back for more.
Simon Stephens, acting editor, Museums Journal
simon@museumsassociation.org
www.twitter.com/simonastephens
In Manchester there is Home, which has been formed from the merger of the city’s Cornerhouse centre for contemporary art and film, and the Library Theatre Company. Their £25m purpose-built venue will open in May. Also in Manchester, the Whitworth Art Gallery will unveil its £15m redevelopment this month.
In London, the extensions of the Tate Modern and Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) will be completed in 2016 and 2017 respectively, while the new home for the Design Museum will open in the former Commonwealth Institute in 2016.
There is a debate to be had about the merits of embarking on major capital schemes at a time when revenue funding is getting ever tighter.
But many of these projects, such as Aberdeen Art Gallery and the Whitworth, are about making existing buildings work better. Others, such as the V&A extension, are designed to build on the growing importance of temporary exhibitions in recent years.
Whatever the aims, there is no doubt that the public is attracted to new cultural spaces, as shown in our feature on museum and gallery architecture.
But impressive architecture is not enough, as Victoria Pomery, the director of Turner Contemporary, points out in relation to cultural regeneration in Margate. The physical spaces are vital, but it is what you do with them that really counts.
People are drawn to extraordinary spaces, but they want extraordinary experiences as well, as Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall has shown ever since Louise Bourgeois became the first artist to take over the space in 2000.
Whether it’s providing a simple day out where a family can spend time together or it is an experience that will stay with someone forever, museums of all sizes can have a real impact on people’s lives. And it is ambitious and exciting exhibitions, events and learning activities that keep them coming back for more.
Simon Stephens, acting editor, Museums Journal
simon@museumsassociation.org
www.twitter.com/simonastephens