Two years ago, the Bronte Parsonage in Haworth, West Yorkshire, invited artist Charlotte Cory to take an alternative look at the legacy of the famous family via her enthusiasm for early photographic techniques and utopian ideal of an alternative universe in which animals rule the roost.
Visitors to the museum were confronted with portraiture and taxidermy figures where the heads of dogs, cockatoos and giraffes had been transplanted on to human bodies. While some found the displays adventurous, the comments book and social media revealed many others regarded the show to be “inappropriate for a museum” at best or “unnerving” and “an abomination” at worst.
“It altered the visitor experience somewhat which was doubtless a shock to traditionalists, but it went down very well with younger visitors,” Cory said at the time.
Concerns about intellectual accessibility arise all the time with any collection or piece of work but the issues can come thick and fast when working with contemporary artists.
There’s a fine line between bold arts programming and alienating your core audience; a cutting-edge curator’s re-imagined narrative can easily become a traditional visitor’s nightmare if an over-eager desire to push boundaries merely results in people being turned off by what they see.
Museums should avoid being too rigid in their expectations of how the public might respond, says Matt Thompson, the director of collections and learning at the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust in Shropshire.
“I don’t go into a project wanting everyone to ‘get it’ in the way that I do,” he says. “People should have the opportunity for that old-fashioned notion of building meaning for themselves.
“It does mean sometimes you will get people who simply shout ‘codswallop’ but there will be others who go away and find it quite interesting or even inspiring.”
Artist Faye Claridge’s six-month residency at the Darby Houses, one of the 10 Ironbridge Gorge museums, saw her carry out research, host workshops and produce work. This includes Weighty Friend, a temporary installation unveiled earlier this month in which a historic bridge was wrapped in hundreds of giant, multi-coloured rags by an army of volunteers.
“Claridge came in with fresh eyes, with a completely different take on the narrative and environment we work in,” Thompson says.
“She cut through the dense landscape of industrial activity in this area and was able to reach out to local groups who we haven’t necessarily engaged with as actively as we might have done.
“For example, the museum discusses the Aga-Rayburn Factory in Coalbrookdale from a historical perspective, but Faye has had people who work in the foundry sit for silhouettes as part of her artwork. We are so used to having them as our neighbours that, perhaps, we can overlook them.”
Visitors to the museum were confronted with portraiture and taxidermy figures where the heads of dogs, cockatoos and giraffes had been transplanted on to human bodies. While some found the displays adventurous, the comments book and social media revealed many others regarded the show to be “inappropriate for a museum” at best or “unnerving” and “an abomination” at worst.
“It altered the visitor experience somewhat which was doubtless a shock to traditionalists, but it went down very well with younger visitors,” Cory said at the time.
Concerns about intellectual accessibility arise all the time with any collection or piece of work but the issues can come thick and fast when working with contemporary artists.
There’s a fine line between bold arts programming and alienating your core audience; a cutting-edge curator’s re-imagined narrative can easily become a traditional visitor’s nightmare if an over-eager desire to push boundaries merely results in people being turned off by what they see.
Museums should avoid being too rigid in their expectations of how the public might respond, says Matt Thompson, the director of collections and learning at the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust in Shropshire.
“I don’t go into a project wanting everyone to ‘get it’ in the way that I do,” he says. “People should have the opportunity for that old-fashioned notion of building meaning for themselves.
“It does mean sometimes you will get people who simply shout ‘codswallop’ but there will be others who go away and find it quite interesting or even inspiring.”
Artist Faye Claridge’s six-month residency at the Darby Houses, one of the 10 Ironbridge Gorge museums, saw her carry out research, host workshops and produce work. This includes Weighty Friend, a temporary installation unveiled earlier this month in which a historic bridge was wrapped in hundreds of giant, multi-coloured rags by an army of volunteers.
“Claridge came in with fresh eyes, with a completely different take on the narrative and environment we work in,” Thompson says.
“She cut through the dense landscape of industrial activity in this area and was able to reach out to local groups who we haven’t necessarily engaged with as actively as we might have done.
“For example, the museum discusses the Aga-Rayburn Factory in Coalbrookdale from a historical perspective, but Faye has had people who work in the foundry sit for silhouettes as part of her artwork. We are so used to having them as our neighbours that, perhaps, we can overlook them.”