Letters

Ken Arnold and Thomas Söderqvist make some useful suggestions in their manifesto for creating engaging science, technology and medicine exhibitions.

But is this a serious call to action or just some fanciful ideas about what science museum displays might be like in an ideal world? Sadly, impressive museum exhibitions and displays of science and technology are in short supply in the UK.

Our museums of science and technology have seriously lost their way in the last 15 years. They are torn between the staid approach of the past, with dreary technical displays, and an urge to transform themselves into hands-on science centres for children with as few real objects as possible.

Most science museums are apparently not interested in the inspirational, challenging shows using original material that Arnold and Söderqvist advocate. Their collections are banished to stores and the only engagement offered to visitors is through physical interactives and computer screens.

It may be significant that the science exhibitions Arnold and Söderqvist admire most could all be characterised as crossover shows where science is presented as creative art or design. Non-scientists often find the subject unappealing, so a more artistic approach may be one way to attract new audiences, though it is clearly not the only solution.

The UK’s science museums need to find a new vision, bringing in ideas and experience from outside their own ranks. They seem to be short of creativity and effective leadership.

I feel encouraged by the appointment of Ian Blatchford, the new director for the National Museum of Science and Industry, who was one of the team responsible for transforming our struggling national arts museum in South Kensington, and has now crossed that great arts and science divide, Exhibition Road.

The Victoria and Albert Museum was in a pretty dark place 15 years ago, but the application of a carefully worked masterplan has taken it to the top of the class in the last ten years.

Meanwhile, the Science Museum has stayed in the doldrums for a decade and still seems uncertain of its future role. It looks tired and chaotic, with some of its galleries virtually unchanged since the 1980s.

But this is not just an issue for the big nationals; it’s a problem for all our museums of science, industry and technology. They need to adapt or die. It’s time to follow the arts with some serious creativity and show that science is not just stuff for kids and nerds.

Oliver Green, research fellow, London Transport Museum

Museums Journal February 2011, p22


I have become increasingly convinced that some museums are using internships as a way to save money without reducing services. There has been a noticeable increase in the number of internships on offer which, on the face of it, looks like a positive attempt to provide training opportunities.

However, the specifications for these posts are more akin to those you would find in job adverts. A recent advert for a metals conservation intern at the National Maritime Museum, London, listed a conservation degree as desirable.
 
Surely somebody with a degree in conservation is over-qualified for an internship? Some of these internships seem to be nothing more than a way of recruiting qualified individuals at cut-price.

There is also the issue of who can actually afford to do an internship. Museums want to be more diverse and encourage people from all backgrounds into the sector.

Yet only those with some kind of financial backing can afford to spend several months on an unpaid or expenses-only internship. If museums are really committed to attracting people from all backgrounds, they should at least offer minimum wages for internships.

Several institutions have argued that internships provide skills and knowledge that will be useful to people’s museum careers. In principle, yes they do, but as to the usefulness, I am less convinced. Finding a museum job is hard enough in the current climate.

There are less and less openings available and a surplus of highly qualified people fighting for them. If people with years of paid experience and a degree or two under their belt are having trouble finding a job, what hope does an intern have?

Until there is more job progression, museums will be faced with a growing pool of qualified people going for the same low-level positions. In those circumstances, offering unpaid internships on the premise of career-changing skills is just a con.

Lauren Woodard, assistant curator, Royal Air Force Museum, London


I was interested to read about the use of Scots in the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, Alloway. I imagine it will add greatly to the resonance of the displays.

It did, however, remind me of a visit to the West Highlands when I was harangued by a pompous young man from Stirling about the way “you English” had cleared the Highlands.

At the time I just smiled and let it go, but I later did a bit of background reading and could find hardly anyone from England who was directly involved (apart from the Duke of Sutherland). The Highlands were cleared on behalf of the local chiefs, and the men who did the dirty work mostly came from lowland Scotland and spoke a dialect of English.

My point is that the dialect spoken by Burns, which sounds so earthy and artless to most modern English speakers, might well in the same era have been understood by a poor Highlander as the language of the oppressor.

Perhaps this is why museums have so often been used to proclaim fairly simplistic national and regional identities, because it is inherently difficult to weave complex nuances into a limited exhibition word count.

Fred Hartley, keeper, collections, Leicester County Council, heritage and arts

Museums Journal December 2010, p22


Did anyone remember to accession a curator? This might seem like an odd question, but in the last 20 years or so there has been a substantial reduction in numbers.

At times, one might be forgiven for thinking an ideological purge has been in progress. So why has this happened? Surely museums need a level of collection expertise to operate with competence and public confidence?

Maybe the answer was revealed at a conference I attended last year. A speaker, who works at an elevated position in heritage, questioned the very purpose of collections. As austerity bites and proposals for mothballing collections are tabled, perhaps they were right. What are collections for? Why do we need curators?

The heritage sector would do well to remember that collections are the unique selling point of museums. When a positive museum story hits the national headlines, it usually concerns objects that have captured the public imagination – just think of the Staffordshire Hoard. Having curators who have a genuine knowledge base from which to interpret objects, is key to a museum’s credibility.
 
Name and address supplied