Museums and galleries are increasingly providing informal spaces for visitors to reflect
on what they have seen, talk to others about their experiences and take part in playful and unstructured activities.
These areas are different from traditional learning spaces in that their purpose isn’t necessarily to increase an individual’s knowledge of a subject, but let them use the space as they wish, even if that is for a quick snooze.
The beanbags, sofas, armchairs and chaise longue in the Wellcome Collection’s Reading Room, which has been refurbished as part of the gallery’s £17.5m revamp, are all part of this.
While the Reading Room and library still cater for the needs of serious academic researchers, there are also playful activities for other visitors. People can send postcards to any country in the world, for example.
Simon Chaplin, the director of culture and society at the Wellcome Collection, says: “Writing a postcard is a delightfully old-fashioned thing to do and it has historical resonance. It is sometimes nice to do things that are playful and fun and that is all they are.
“I think what is important about the activities in the Reading Room is that they are
really prompts – they are spurs to people. Nothing in there has a learning outcome. There is nothing in there designed to teach you something – they are all just diverting things to do.”
There are several spaces throughout the London-based Wellcome Collection that are designed for people to interact and talk about their experience of the galleries.
The provision of such spaces was partly inspired by the appetite for exchanging ideas with strangers via social media sites such as Twitter.
“Do people also have an appetite for exchanging ideas in a physical space?” asks Chaplin. “In some ways, it is more challenging to exchange ideas with a stranger in a gallery
than exchanging tweets with a stranger online.”
Tate Modern is also creating interactive spaces as part of its £260m extension, after audience research revealed an interest in social encounters. As well as increasing gallery space by 60%, the development, which opens next June, will provide areas aimed at encouraging people to interact.
Reinvention
Chris Dercon, the director of Tate Modern, said at Tate’s annual conference in September: “This [the Switch House] is a very different type of museum building and we need to reinvent, not just the definition of what a museum is and what a museum is for, but also what it feels like, the use of the space and the introduction of new spaces.
“We are going to provide much more space for social interaction and conservation because this is what makes art so special. It is the conversation that turns an object into a cultural object.
“In the museum space, there will, of course, be wonderful artworks and we will give lots
of space to the international collection, which has been growing. But there will be as much space for people to meet up to converse and exchange ideas.”
Similarly, Manchester Museum has incorporated spaces for visitors to think, explore and imagine in. The £700,000 redevelopment of its top floor, The Study, has a strong educational and learning focus, and it houses five areas in where activities are less defined.
These include Share, where visitors can share and discuss books and objects, and use a digital microscope to scan their finds before uploading images onto a digital social media wall.
Wonder is full of inspirational objects from the museum’s collections, and in Sense visitors can reflect and enjoy the view or be inspired to take positive action and learn about political campaigns.
Informal spaces indicate the changing role of museums and galleries, which don’t just exist to inform people about their collections, but also provide an expectation-free environment in which they can think, relax and be inspired.
Commenting on the extension at Tate Modern, Nicholas Serota, the director of Tate,
says: “Some have criticised the present Boiler House galleries as being too much of a circuit, especially on a Sunday afternoon.
So there will be spaces within the building as a whole where you can have that personal, intimate, quiet and contemplative experience that all of us enjoy in great museums.”
on what they have seen, talk to others about their experiences and take part in playful and unstructured activities.
These areas are different from traditional learning spaces in that their purpose isn’t necessarily to increase an individual’s knowledge of a subject, but let them use the space as they wish, even if that is for a quick snooze.
The beanbags, sofas, armchairs and chaise longue in the Wellcome Collection’s Reading Room, which has been refurbished as part of the gallery’s £17.5m revamp, are all part of this.
While the Reading Room and library still cater for the needs of serious academic researchers, there are also playful activities for other visitors. People can send postcards to any country in the world, for example.
Simon Chaplin, the director of culture and society at the Wellcome Collection, says: “Writing a postcard is a delightfully old-fashioned thing to do and it has historical resonance. It is sometimes nice to do things that are playful and fun and that is all they are.
“I think what is important about the activities in the Reading Room is that they are
really prompts – they are spurs to people. Nothing in there has a learning outcome. There is nothing in there designed to teach you something – they are all just diverting things to do.”
There are several spaces throughout the London-based Wellcome Collection that are designed for people to interact and talk about their experience of the galleries.
The provision of such spaces was partly inspired by the appetite for exchanging ideas with strangers via social media sites such as Twitter.
“Do people also have an appetite for exchanging ideas in a physical space?” asks Chaplin. “In some ways, it is more challenging to exchange ideas with a stranger in a gallery
than exchanging tweets with a stranger online.”
Tate Modern is also creating interactive spaces as part of its £260m extension, after audience research revealed an interest in social encounters. As well as increasing gallery space by 60%, the development, which opens next June, will provide areas aimed at encouraging people to interact.
Reinvention
Chris Dercon, the director of Tate Modern, said at Tate’s annual conference in September: “This [the Switch House] is a very different type of museum building and we need to reinvent, not just the definition of what a museum is and what a museum is for, but also what it feels like, the use of the space and the introduction of new spaces.
“We are going to provide much more space for social interaction and conservation because this is what makes art so special. It is the conversation that turns an object into a cultural object.
“In the museum space, there will, of course, be wonderful artworks and we will give lots
of space to the international collection, which has been growing. But there will be as much space for people to meet up to converse and exchange ideas.”
Similarly, Manchester Museum has incorporated spaces for visitors to think, explore and imagine in. The £700,000 redevelopment of its top floor, The Study, has a strong educational and learning focus, and it houses five areas in where activities are less defined.
These include Share, where visitors can share and discuss books and objects, and use a digital microscope to scan their finds before uploading images onto a digital social media wall.
Wonder is full of inspirational objects from the museum’s collections, and in Sense visitors can reflect and enjoy the view or be inspired to take positive action and learn about political campaigns.
Informal spaces indicate the changing role of museums and galleries, which don’t just exist to inform people about their collections, but also provide an expectation-free environment in which they can think, relax and be inspired.
A place to contemplate
Commenting on the extension at Tate Modern, Nicholas Serota, the director of Tate,
says: “Some have criticised the present Boiler House galleries as being too much of a circuit, especially on a Sunday afternoon.
So there will be spaces within the building as a whole where you can have that personal, intimate, quiet and contemplative experience that all of us enjoy in great museums.”
