“The real world of our social and economic lives demands much sensitivity to culture and difference” – the conclusion to Nicholas Thomas’s short but inspiring book might be a rallying call for the troubled political times we are living through.
Thomas, who has been the director of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge since 2006, not only makes a cogent argument for the relevance of museums in the 21st century, but also connects this to the need to understand and engage with our opponents – “in both the multicultural milieux the vast majority of people now locally inhabit, and in the regional, national and international relationships we need to initiate and sustain whatever kind of work we may be engaged in”. Museums are important to everybody and important now.
Thomas presents his idea of the “museum as method”. His main argument is that what museums are good for is their collections, a welcome reacknowledgement of objects that will be refreshing for curators whose work is being threatened by cuts. He returns curatorial work to the heart of museums, arguing that without curators researching, displaying and discussing collections, they and their institutions are dead. He writes: “The activation of the collection is the museum’s beating heart.”
An introductory chapter analyses the ascendancy of the museum, looking at how they reached their 21st-century form and now “more socially and economically vital, they seek to offer their publics more”. He looks at the criticisms levied at museums in the 1980s as elitist institutions crowded with loot, and how the sector has blossomed from that. While not particularly different from other potted histories of the sector, Thomas draws on his varied experience to bring together examples from across art and science museums as well as his own discipline of anthropology. He concludes that what makes museums different is the physical presence of objects and the sense of historical immediacy, which makes them spiritually uplifting.
Thomas says that to harness this power in the 21st century, museums must move away from three “naturalisms” that undermine how they see collections: naturalisms of heritage, of objects and of collections. People do not have a natural affinity to heritage and culture, but might connect for different reasons. A collection is not a natural product, but rather a network of complex histories and relationships that are often played out in labels and catalogue cards. And lastly, objects should not be divorced from what happened to them before they entered a museum’s collection.
Thomas goes on to ask what collections want. His answer is that they want to be excavated for layers of meaning like an archaeological site. This is his methodology for museums – the activity of curatorial, physical and intellectual care of collections that bring “moments of discovery, captioning and juxtaposition”, the important activity of “happening upon”.
Focusing on these activities turns a collection into “a creative technology, a means of making new things”, which allows staff and visitors to create their own meanings. Thomas says contemporary art interventions are among the technologies that museums use to make something new. A good display allows visitors to do the same, through how they draw, photograph, discuss and remember exhibitions. “What collections say to us is less important than the difference they make to who we are,” says Thomas.
He concludes that the book is not intended as a policy paper giving recommendations, but outlines four broad principles that he suggests are useful for maximising the potential of objects and collections. The object should be foregrounded, allowing visitors to engage with its materiality. The complex history of collections should be revealed, allowing people to explore them. Curatorial expertise should stay at the heart of museum work, continuing to research and acquire. And museums should “be themselves”, each inhabiting their own identity and history.
Thomas says his book is written “out of tentative optimism”. For him, museums affirm human potential and sustain civil society, encouraging the understanding of difference. It is in the engagement with collections that a museum “holds out the promise of a place and space richly peopled by works and things, a realm in which you can … discover interests ... in the company of strangers”. To me, that’s a pretty important thing for museums to be good for in the 21st century.
Katy Barrett is the curator of art at Royal Museums Greenwich
Thomas, who has been the director of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge since 2006, not only makes a cogent argument for the relevance of museums in the 21st century, but also connects this to the need to understand and engage with our opponents – “in both the multicultural milieux the vast majority of people now locally inhabit, and in the regional, national and international relationships we need to initiate and sustain whatever kind of work we may be engaged in”. Museums are important to everybody and important now.
Thomas presents his idea of the “museum as method”. His main argument is that what museums are good for is their collections, a welcome reacknowledgement of objects that will be refreshing for curators whose work is being threatened by cuts. He returns curatorial work to the heart of museums, arguing that without curators researching, displaying and discussing collections, they and their institutions are dead. He writes: “The activation of the collection is the museum’s beating heart.”
An introductory chapter analyses the ascendancy of the museum, looking at how they reached their 21st-century form and now “more socially and economically vital, they seek to offer their publics more”. He looks at the criticisms levied at museums in the 1980s as elitist institutions crowded with loot, and how the sector has blossomed from that. While not particularly different from other potted histories of the sector, Thomas draws on his varied experience to bring together examples from across art and science museums as well as his own discipline of anthropology. He concludes that what makes museums different is the physical presence of objects and the sense of historical immediacy, which makes them spiritually uplifting.
Thomas says that to harness this power in the 21st century, museums must move away from three “naturalisms” that undermine how they see collections: naturalisms of heritage, of objects and of collections. People do not have a natural affinity to heritage and culture, but might connect for different reasons. A collection is not a natural product, but rather a network of complex histories and relationships that are often played out in labels and catalogue cards. And lastly, objects should not be divorced from what happened to them before they entered a museum’s collection.
Thomas goes on to ask what collections want. His answer is that they want to be excavated for layers of meaning like an archaeological site. This is his methodology for museums – the activity of curatorial, physical and intellectual care of collections that bring “moments of discovery, captioning and juxtaposition”, the important activity of “happening upon”.
Focusing on these activities turns a collection into “a creative technology, a means of making new things”, which allows staff and visitors to create their own meanings. Thomas says contemporary art interventions are among the technologies that museums use to make something new. A good display allows visitors to do the same, through how they draw, photograph, discuss and remember exhibitions. “What collections say to us is less important than the difference they make to who we are,” says Thomas.
He concludes that the book is not intended as a policy paper giving recommendations, but outlines four broad principles that he suggests are useful for maximising the potential of objects and collections. The object should be foregrounded, allowing visitors to engage with its materiality. The complex history of collections should be revealed, allowing people to explore them. Curatorial expertise should stay at the heart of museum work, continuing to research and acquire. And museums should “be themselves”, each inhabiting their own identity and history.
Thomas says his book is written “out of tentative optimism”. For him, museums affirm human potential and sustain civil society, encouraging the understanding of difference. It is in the engagement with collections that a museum “holds out the promise of a place and space richly peopled by works and things, a realm in which you can … discover interests ... in the company of strangers”. To me, that’s a pretty important thing for museums to be good for in the 21st century.
Katy Barrett is the curator of art at Royal Museums Greenwich