Telling Tales: What Museums Really Do, The Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture, Middlesex University
The concept of museums openly questioning and critiquing their approach and purpose is not new, particularly in the field of contemporary art. Exhibitions such as the 1992 Mining the Museum installation by Fred Wilson at The Contemporary and Maryland Historical Society; The Value of Things (2000) critique by Neil Cummings and Marysia Lewandowska, which drew parallels between the British Museum and the London department store Selfridges; and Hans Haake's 2001 Give and Take, are just a few examples of the genre.
But the current exhibition at the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture (MoDA), Telling Tales: What Museums Really Do, sounds like it is attempting to tackle the whole subject. Is it possible for one exhibition to address the whole complex subject of museology?
MoDA first opened to the public in its purpose-built museum in October 2000, located within the School of Arts on the Cat Hill campus of Middlesex University. Founded on the donation of the Silver Studio collection to the then Hornsey College of Art in 1967, it consisted, and still does, of designs for wallpapers, textiles, linoleum and carpets, the majority of which were marketed to middle class householders.
Being founded on a core, institution-defining, donated collection is a heritage shared by many museums, and like them, MoDA has expanded through the acquisition of a number of collections and archives. This includes the Crown Wallpaper Archive and the Domestic Design Collection of books and published material on 19th and early 20th century design and architecture.
The university provides a natural setting for the exploration of important issues and lends itself to an approach that, rather than being didactic, presents collections as archives and resources. It poses questions rather than offers absolute truths.
The Telling Tales exhibition is best viewed after seeing the permanent collection display, Exploring Interiors, which forms the 'museum' that we are asked to consider, question and respond to.
Exploring Interiors presents shifts in domestic style in the urban home from 1900 to 1960 in three chronological sections, and concludes with a focus on the kitchen through these three eras. Participation is an integral aspect of the gallery - the displays include requests for visitors' memories from each era. Responses are hand-written on paper that is clipped on to a small 'shopping line', together with existing comments. This clearly places interaction at the core of MoDA's approach.
Telling Tales is located in an adjacent corridor, one wall of which presents the key theme about the function of museums, using the example of MoDA. The opposite wall is primarily an interactive display asking for feedback relating to the permanent Exploring Interiors gallery - and therefore the museum itself.
The exhibition is mainly text based, with a small selection of objects and pictures in shallow, wall-mounted cases, split into three sections. The first tells the visitor that: 'All museums tell tales... but only give a selective view.' This sets the theme for the display, which goes on to explain what MoDA's own 'tale' is.
The second section discusses the curatorial and interpretative choices that MoDA has made. Using statements and questions, these displays reveal MoDA's interpretive handling of its collection and its displays. Here, the visitor is invited to respond to a problematic question: 'Do you think it is possible to tell a truthful general story?' This is confusing and the question's lack of focus has failed to prompt any useful responses - most visitors picked up on the philosophical conundrum and responded by asking: 'What is the truth?'
The display then moves across the corridor and the focus shifts to explore visitors' views. Here, the key prompt is: 'But you may have discovered a different story.' The central 'o' of the word 'you' is a mirror, but although the idea is worthy, this portrayal of self-reflection seems rather cliched and obvious.
However, the following series of questions raise interesting and pertinent issues: 'Did it make you think about your own and your family's past?' 'Did you relate to Exploring Interiors personally?' 'Did it give you information you are interested in?' 'What tales do you think are missing in Exploring Interiors?' These have yielded some interesting and undoubtedly valuable comments from the museum's visitors, but their relationship to the questions appeared tangential sometimes.
On the whole, the design of the display is accessible and clear. Sentences are written in soundbites using large format vinyl letters that run along the walls, over radiators, doors and windows, using a range of fonts, colours and sizes, although where the text runs over the cases, it is difficult to read.
The case displays are mixed and include wallpaper samples, pages from trade catalogues (to illustrate MoDA's collection and chosen story), images of designers (to present alternative approaches that could have been adopted) and examples of work that have been created during MoDA education workshops.
Although predominantly illustrative in function, these exhibits are accompanied by little text or information. This omission opens up an interesting museological debate on the nature of exhibits - between the 'objects as empty vessels awaiting their own tale to be told' or the 'letting objects speak for themselves' approaches.
Telling Tales is an opportunity for the museum to gauge the visitors' responses, while offering some basic contextual information about the museum process and practice. From the responses posted on the wall, visitors had understood and related to the themes, and welcomed the opportunity to give their views.
While the exhibition does open up a host of themes for discussion, more could have been addressed, such as interpretation, acquisition, and conservation. These omissions undermine its authority, but it does succeed more as an extended visitor book, gathering some useful information and allowing the visitor to feel valued within the museum process.
Although it is more than an exercise in museum naval gazing, only time will show whether the impact and influence of the visitors' comments will have any impact on the future work of the museum.
Annabelle Campbell is the assistant curator at the Geffrye Museum, London, and is a part-time lecturer at Kingston University
The concept of museums openly questioning and critiquing their approach and purpose is not new, particularly in the field of contemporary art. Exhibitions such as the 1992 Mining the Museum installation by Fred Wilson at The Contemporary and Maryland Historical Society; The Value of Things (2000) critique by Neil Cummings and Marysia Lewandowska, which drew parallels between the British Museum and the London department store Selfridges; and Hans Haake's 2001 Give and Take, are just a few examples of the genre.
But the current exhibition at the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture (MoDA), Telling Tales: What Museums Really Do, sounds like it is attempting to tackle the whole subject. Is it possible for one exhibition to address the whole complex subject of museology?
MoDA first opened to the public in its purpose-built museum in October 2000, located within the School of Arts on the Cat Hill campus of Middlesex University. Founded on the donation of the Silver Studio collection to the then Hornsey College of Art in 1967, it consisted, and still does, of designs for wallpapers, textiles, linoleum and carpets, the majority of which were marketed to middle class householders.
Being founded on a core, institution-defining, donated collection is a heritage shared by many museums, and like them, MoDA has expanded through the acquisition of a number of collections and archives. This includes the Crown Wallpaper Archive and the Domestic Design Collection of books and published material on 19th and early 20th century design and architecture.
The university provides a natural setting for the exploration of important issues and lends itself to an approach that, rather than being didactic, presents collections as archives and resources. It poses questions rather than offers absolute truths.
The Telling Tales exhibition is best viewed after seeing the permanent collection display, Exploring Interiors, which forms the 'museum' that we are asked to consider, question and respond to.
Exploring Interiors presents shifts in domestic style in the urban home from 1900 to 1960 in three chronological sections, and concludes with a focus on the kitchen through these three eras. Participation is an integral aspect of the gallery - the displays include requests for visitors' memories from each era. Responses are hand-written on paper that is clipped on to a small 'shopping line', together with existing comments. This clearly places interaction at the core of MoDA's approach.
Telling Tales is located in an adjacent corridor, one wall of which presents the key theme about the function of museums, using the example of MoDA. The opposite wall is primarily an interactive display asking for feedback relating to the permanent Exploring Interiors gallery - and therefore the museum itself.
The exhibition is mainly text based, with a small selection of objects and pictures in shallow, wall-mounted cases, split into three sections. The first tells the visitor that: 'All museums tell tales... but only give a selective view.' This sets the theme for the display, which goes on to explain what MoDA's own 'tale' is.
The second section discusses the curatorial and interpretative choices that MoDA has made. Using statements and questions, these displays reveal MoDA's interpretive handling of its collection and its displays. Here, the visitor is invited to respond to a problematic question: 'Do you think it is possible to tell a truthful general story?' This is confusing and the question's lack of focus has failed to prompt any useful responses - most visitors picked up on the philosophical conundrum and responded by asking: 'What is the truth?'
The display then moves across the corridor and the focus shifts to explore visitors' views. Here, the key prompt is: 'But you may have discovered a different story.' The central 'o' of the word 'you' is a mirror, but although the idea is worthy, this portrayal of self-reflection seems rather cliched and obvious.
However, the following series of questions raise interesting and pertinent issues: 'Did it make you think about your own and your family's past?' 'Did you relate to Exploring Interiors personally?' 'Did it give you information you are interested in?' 'What tales do you think are missing in Exploring Interiors?' These have yielded some interesting and undoubtedly valuable comments from the museum's visitors, but their relationship to the questions appeared tangential sometimes.
On the whole, the design of the display is accessible and clear. Sentences are written in soundbites using large format vinyl letters that run along the walls, over radiators, doors and windows, using a range of fonts, colours and sizes, although where the text runs over the cases, it is difficult to read.
The case displays are mixed and include wallpaper samples, pages from trade catalogues (to illustrate MoDA's collection and chosen story), images of designers (to present alternative approaches that could have been adopted) and examples of work that have been created during MoDA education workshops.
Although predominantly illustrative in function, these exhibits are accompanied by little text or information. This omission opens up an interesting museological debate on the nature of exhibits - between the 'objects as empty vessels awaiting their own tale to be told' or the 'letting objects speak for themselves' approaches.
Telling Tales is an opportunity for the museum to gauge the visitors' responses, while offering some basic contextual information about the museum process and practice. From the responses posted on the wall, visitors had understood and related to the themes, and welcomed the opportunity to give their views.
While the exhibition does open up a host of themes for discussion, more could have been addressed, such as interpretation, acquisition, and conservation. These omissions undermine its authority, but it does succeed more as an extended visitor book, gathering some useful information and allowing the visitor to feel valued within the museum process.
Although it is more than an exercise in museum naval gazing, only time will show whether the impact and influence of the visitors' comments will have any impact on the future work of the museum.
Annabelle Campbell is the assistant curator at the Geffrye Museum, London, and is a part-time lecturer at Kingston University
Project data
Cost: £3,000
Funder: Moma
Exhibition design: Feast and Beard
Cost: £3,000
Funder: Moma
Exhibition design: Feast and Beard
