Museums are neglecting some of their traditional functions and are danger of becoming a stage for celebrity, Martin Roth has told delegates at the Museums Association conference.
The director of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) opened the second day of conference with a keynote about his impressions of the sector and future plans for his organisation’s sites in the capital and Dundee.
He said: “Some might say that celebrity is now part of everyone’s reality, and this might be true if you believe museums’ job is to distract from reality.
The director of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) opened the second day of conference with a keynote about his impressions of the sector and future plans for his organisation’s sites in the capital and Dundee.
He said: “Some might say that celebrity is now part of everyone’s reality, and this might be true if you believe museums’ job is to distract from reality.
“Museums have to rediscover their social dimension and return to original ideas – they must provide consistency and security when so many people’s dreams turn to dust... I have a firm belief that museums have a central role to play in society, and that becomes even more important in times of austerity.”
He continued: “The real question for me about the V&A is whether it’s back to the future or heading to the past? … We have to be clear who the people are in the second decade of the 21st century; society changes and so we have to too.”
Later, Roth described the V&A as having a split identity, with a clear role as thinktank and innovator as well as a place to house and care for collections: “Personally I like it, there’s always a tension, but we have to come back to our origins as a centre for debate.”
He added that he would like the V&A to be “less aristocratic and more cutting edge”.
Roth also told delegates how he wanted to put engineering, and the UK as a place where things are made, back on the V&A’s agenda. He noted that more visitors came to the V&A’s Power of Making exhibition than its Grace Kelly blockbuster the previous year.
Questioned about the identity of the V&A and the differing public perception of it, Roth said it wasn’t always possible to explain what the V&A is. “One of the best ways [to change public perception] is to have debates to talk about it, to be a centre of discussion and an institution that is open to different collaboration.”
Responding to the question of the V&A at Dundee, Roth said he felt that the new museum would probably have to have a permanent collection in the future rather than just hosting touring exhibitions.
But he added that the first task was to work with other museums and collections in the city and wider afield in Scotland. And he said he didn’t want Dundee to become the next Bilbao - “there has to be more than the V&A in Dundee”.
He continued: “The real question for me about the V&A is whether it’s back to the future or heading to the past? … We have to be clear who the people are in the second decade of the 21st century; society changes and so we have to too.”
Later, Roth described the V&A as having a split identity, with a clear role as thinktank and innovator as well as a place to house and care for collections: “Personally I like it, there’s always a tension, but we have to come back to our origins as a centre for debate.”
He added that he would like the V&A to be “less aristocratic and more cutting edge”.
Roth also told delegates how he wanted to put engineering, and the UK as a place where things are made, back on the V&A’s agenda. He noted that more visitors came to the V&A’s Power of Making exhibition than its Grace Kelly blockbuster the previous year.
Questioned about the identity of the V&A and the differing public perception of it, Roth said it wasn’t always possible to explain what the V&A is. “One of the best ways [to change public perception] is to have debates to talk about it, to be a centre of discussion and an institution that is open to different collaboration.”
Responding to the question of the V&A at Dundee, Roth said he felt that the new museum would probably have to have a permanent collection in the future rather than just hosting touring exhibitions.
But he added that the first task was to work with other museums and collections in the city and wider afield in Scotland. And he said he didn’t want Dundee to become the next Bilbao - “there has to be more than the V&A in Dundee”.
