Comunicação Jocelyn Dodd - Seminário Museus Participativos - Fundação Dr. António Cupertino de...

8/2/2019 Comunicao Jocelyn Dodd - Seminrio Museus Participativos - Fundao Dr. Antnio Cupertino de Miranda

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Progressive, socially purposeful museums

7th May 2012

Jocelyn Dodd

Research Centre for Museums and Galleries (RCMG), University of Leicester

A great pleasure to be in Portugal, delighted to be in Porto (my first visit to the

city) and to be involved in your very thoughtful fascinating programme

Draw on experience as researcher and museum professionaleducator,

community engagement and museum director

Background

RCMGwithin School of Museum Studies, University of LeicesterTraining master students to work in museums

Campus based (85) and Distance learning ( 300)

Big PhD programme (60)

50% students from UK, very international, students from all continents

RCMG researches into the social role, impact and agency of museums and

galleries, focusing on themes of disability, representation, education and

learning.

Not traditional academic research, team based funded research based directly

on museum practice,

RCMG founded in 1999 by Professor Eilean Hooper Greenhill, JD appointed

director 2006

All my work has been about the transformation of museums to creating museums

which are socially relevant-underpinned by issues of equality, human rights,

social justice, where museums are active participants in contemporary society, in

debates, in the construction of values and ideas

The session will cover:

1. The reactionary museumThe diehard traditional museum

2. Relevance of collectionsMadonna of the Pinks

Public moneypublic relevance?

3. Shaping valueschallenging views of disability


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Rethinking Disability Representation

re thinking collectionsgiving a voice to disabled people

challenging the way society views and constructs notions of disability

4. Contemporary art and social justiceShout

Earlier programme

5. Organisational issuesForces for change and change inhibitors

This session will draw on research undertaken by RCMG to illustrate issues, and

raise questions to stimulate debate

1. The reactionary museum

At worst some museums assume the role of passive store houses of collections,their historic context is used to assume a sense of neutrality and sometimes an

aloof distance from contemporary life. Museum processes, working methods

have become so entrenched in a stiffing mystique of tradition they inhibit critical

thinking, consequently some museums are at risk of being stale, moribund and of

little relevance to society today.

Waddesdon Manor - in Buckinghamshire is a classic example of the stale,

outdated museum

Waddesdon Manor was a case study in a research project RCMG carried out for

government Inspiration, identity learningthe value of museums 2007

Built in the 1870s-80s to display his collections of French furniture, textiles and

decorative arts from the eighteenth-century by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild,

part of the banking and financial dynasty

The manor was bequeathed to the National Trust by the Rothschild family in 1957

Waddesdon Manor positioned its self as elitist, so elitist that it choose to exclude

children, so removed from even the most general of audiences

What are the barriers to being progressive?

Historically Waddesdon regarded its self as a connoisseurs collection

It was in effect positioned as an adultexperience with educationprogrammes for interested adults pitched at an academic level

children under 12 years were not allowed into the house until relativelyrecently

The nature of the house and its rooms - many spaces are cordoned offfrom the public

issue of keeping the public and school groups separate


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the family continue to manage it for the National Trust as a charitabletrust.

quite isolated in terms of professional support as it does not fully belong tothe regional structures of the National Trust

staff attitudes staff involvement and staff skills

Interestingly by the time of our research Waddesdon Manor had slowly begun to

realise quite how out of step it was even with its piers - other decorative art

museums including the National Museum the Wallace Collection, who by then

were conscious that they could have a much wider, dynamic role

So very belatedly Waddesdon began incredibly tentatively to embark on

change

Museums make decisions about how progressive, how socially purposeful theyare.

2. Relevance of collections

So can traditional collections like fine and decorative arts be relevant?

Can they be used in socially purposeful ways?

I want to illustrate this with examples from the:

Victoria and Albert Museum (decorative arts museum)

the National Gall National Gallery ( fine art)

Image and identityV & A worked in partnership with regional museums including the Manchester

Museumsfine and decorative art and a NCH a national childrens charity

working specifically with young people at risk of being excluded

Combining the skills of NCH working with young people and the museums

knowledge and understanding of collections and how to work with them

creatively

The intended aims of Image and Identity are to engage young people in

responding creatively to museum collections through the arts; to increase young

peoples self-esteem, develop their creativity and deepen their understanding of

diverse cultures, shared identities and varied attitudes to learning; and, inaddition, to influence positively teacher and youth worker motivation, enjoyment

and practice, helping them to use museums as resources for exploring issues of

identity with the young people with whom they work.

Manchester Art Gallery worked with was a group of looked after young people

from Broome House residential home in Didsbury, a Manchester suburb. Looked-after children have been identified as an at-risk group, which has led to


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increasing emphasis on the need to improve their life chances and educational

opportunities. Being in public care is linked with social exclusion, homelessness,

higher criminal conviction rates and poor general health. Young people may

face a greater risk of teenage pregnancy, substance misuse and mental illness.

On the whole, children and young people in public care are at a higher risk of

social disadvantage, ill health and poor educational achievement. It is felt that

projects such as Image and Identity can help in the process of reversing some of

these trends.

Broome House is known for its therapeutic and structured approach to helping

young people to grow up in care. It is one of the biggest residential units for

looked after children in Manchester city centre and currently looks after nine

young people aged between 11-16 years

Image and identitypowerful theme

It resonates with young people who are at a time in their lives when they are

receptive to change, approaching adulthood, and when their own image and

identity is emerging.Many of the participants are vulnerable young people whose experiences of life

so far have left them with low self esteem. Through skilful facilitation the project

has enabled them to analyse and reflect on their identity, their uniqueness, their

individualism, and their distinctiveness. This process helps them consider their own

value, and for some, better understand the circumstances that have shaped

their image and identity. For example, some young people in care whose

identity has been shaped by loss and abandonment have, through the

programme, been able to come to terms with their situation. Rather than being

trapped by sadness, anger and frustration at their circumstances, they have

been able to acknowledge and express it. This expression becomes a process of

moving on, looking to the future rather than being consumed by the past.

Lisa was one of the young people involved in Image and Identity, how did

working with the museum impact on her? Her social worker gives this remarkable

account

It has had a holistic effect. The project has impacted on her in every way

- emotionally, on her mental health, physically and on her ability to

manage situations, it has really impacted on her in every way. Lisa has

looked and analysed, and learnt skills which have helped her to express

who she is. This has built her confidence, as for example when she hasconfidently talked to large groups of adults. Her most recent

representation of her identity illustrates a considerable move forward, and

now she is thriving and achieving in every direction; in school, making

friends, doing very well at swimming, cycling and dancing.


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The impact of the museum programme, using collections and creative responses

to them was profound for Lisa and can be categorised using the Generic

Learning Outcomes to demonstrate the impact of the museum experience.

Action, behaviour, progression Progressiondeveloping herself identity, self

esteem, coming to terms with her pastThriving achieving in other areas of her life

Skills Self Expression, confidence,

Communication skills -talking to adults

Attitudes and values Attitude towards herselfself perception, self

worth

Enjoyment, inspiration, creativity Enjoying the art galleryInspired by artists

Being creative

Knowledge and Understanding Of artUnderstanding herself, of her own identity

Madonna of the Pinks

29 x23cm (11.4 x 9) - tiny

Painted by Raphael on cherry wood in Florence in 1506-7

Virgin and child

Raphael 1483- 1520

The Madonna pf the Pinks about 1506-7

The youthful Virgin delights in playing with her baby. Christs attention has

been caught by the carnations ( or pinks) she offers him. In Renaissancedevotional paintings, pinks symbolise divine love.

Raphael here combines a precise technique inspired by

Netherlandish painting with Leonardos vision of the tender bond

between mother and child.

Raphaels skills in depicting light and shade is evident in the folds of

the Virgins sleeves, the drapery around her hip, and the subtle

transitions of the flesh. The delicate modelling of the translucent veil

as it passes over her ear and braided hair is a mark of the pictures

excellent condition.

Oil on fruitwood ( probably cherry)

Madonna of the Pinks belonged to 10th Duke of Northumberland, the painting

had hung in a dark corridor at Alnwick Castle, on the Northumbrian (best know


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as the location for the film Harry Potter and the Philosophers stone!). In 1991 the

painting was uncovered by the National Galleries now director Nicolas Penny, it

was loaned to National Gallery- making it available to a much bigger audience,

seen by millions..that was until the Duke decided to sell it to the Getty Trust

The National Gallery mounted a campaign to purchase the painting and

prevent it leaving the UK

22 million was raised to save the painting, half 11.5 millionfrom the Heritage

Lottery Fund, it largest grant ever of a single work of art.

A condition of the grant from Heritage Lottery Fundwas that the painting

should be seen not just by the 4.5 million visitors who visit to the National Gallery,

but that it should be an acquisition on behalf of the nation as a whole, that it

should be seen by more than traditional gallery goers

Link to governments social inclusion agendas

What do children and young people think of a tiny devotional renaissance

painting?

Does Madonna of the Pinks have :

any relevance to them? any significance for them? any resonance in their lives?

The painting toured the UK and an active community engagement programme

was set up.

National Museum Wales

Worked with a group of teenage mothers in the Rhondda Valley, post industrial,

ex coal mining, landscape and housing shaped by mining, poor communication,parallel valleys

low income, low educational attainment, high crime levels, poor physical

environments

UK highest Teenage conception rates

Young woman have low expectations of education and the job market

What did these young mothers make of this painting?

Several just thought it was boring

Katy more engaged

Really I never thought that art could be so interesting and how theres a

story behind every painting kind of thing and how it tells a story and how it

comes across like in how theres so much feeling in a painting

.you look at the picture and all these emotions come to you kind of

thing

What sort of emotions?


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Like loving emotions, like what is is like to be a mother, and how the artist

seemed to know what it was like, it was, I dont know, it was really

touching..

Does Madonna of the Pinks have any relevance to children who live in isolated

rural areas?

I never knew it was going to be that small. Yeah Id think it was huge, but

then it was just a tiny little picture it was quite interesting because if I

could have had that in my room I would have had that one.

And I like trying, I like when you have to try and draw the baby when its

moving. Because you get to keep changing it. And it feels like youre

drawing the Madonna of the Pinks.

Close and intimate and memorable experience of the painting

Skillsaccelerated their art skillsLanguage and technical information

Life experiences

Challenged their teacher

Visiting the National Gallery it is like seeing an old friend

Young excluded people do connect with the Madonna of the Pinks intimately

but this process needs to be facilitated and proactively managedit will not

happen is the Gallery is passive, the gallery must create pathways, opportunities,

targeted provisions, related to socio economic demographic data

It is not that collections are not relevant to people, but interpretation andfacilitation is required for people to make sense and relevance of them

The impact collections and museums experiences can have on individuals and

groups is profound

Museums can do quite exceptional things

Do we as professionals underestimate this, do we really understand the

significance museums can have?

Why do we always dismiss this as being one off examples?

3. Shaping values

Rethinking Disability Representation in Museums and GalleriesRCMG project

It was shaped by a set of values - which the participating museums had to use

to and refocus their use of collectionsit was actively trying to change museum

practice and challenge visitors ideas.


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It actively set out to reassess museums collections and how they are interpreted

Disabled people throughout the world are engaged with a long and

complicated struggle with the way we are portrayed and the meanings

attached to these portrayals that include disability as stigma, as a sign of

a damaged soul, as being less than human, as dependent, weak, sexless,

valueless.

(Gay with Fraser 2008)

In our view it is society which disables physically impaired people. Disability

is something imposed on top of our impairments, by the way we are

unnecessarily isolated and excluded from full participation in society

(Union of Physically Impaired Against Segregation 1976

Rethinking Disability Representation Led by RCMG 9 partner museumsselected across a range of museumsvery small to

very large

think tankdisability activists, artists etc collections research -based on collections research informing contemporary debates - Museums actively engaging in

contemporary debates of how disabled people are perceived in society,

what voice they have to present themselves- setting out to shape views

To find and show their place in historywhich has rarely been shown

To show they are people, with emotions, who have value

Rethinking Disability Representation - Museum Experimentsexperimental work

Unchartered territory

Museums/collections identified

Development of ideasresidential eventschallenging process

Think Tank/RCMG museum visits

Development of Displays/ exhibitions / education

Visitor responses

Museums included:Imperial War Museum, London

Conflict and Disabilityexample of soldiers from World war One

Collections had not been used

Used to tell stories of warunderpinned by social model of disabilityshowed

diversity and complexity of disabled peoples voices and experiences

Colchester MuseumLife beyond the label - before you make up your mind

open your mind


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Collections and creative processes

Royal London Hospital Museum

Behind the Shadow of Merrick

Joseph Merrickalso known as the Elephant man

1980 film by David Lynch

Firm centres around 3 disabled people experiences

Tina, Rowen and Tim

All share the experiences of Merrick, their deep shared experience of being the

other

Public propertybeing stared at

Their shared past

Changing attitudes to disability?

Visitor responses

How does this display change the way you think about disability

same question across 9 museums

A noble exhibit but perhaps not for a museumI came to learn about the

Normans

The film made me more aware of people's reactions to disabled people

and how those with disabilities can be affected. Even in 2008, disabled

people are looked down upon, judged etc similar to Merrick was in

the19th century.

Visitor, Royal London Hospital Museum

This exhibition was excellent, it reminds you how far society has come but

also still to go, and that it is society that causes disability in not adapting to

individuals

At last I am not here, but here

The exhibition did not change everyones views, but it did make people think

and begin to negotiate new ways of thinking about disability and the waydisabled people are represented

4. Contemporary Art and Social Justice

Gallery of Modern Art Glasgow

Contemporary arts and human rights Partnership with Amnesty International


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Biennial programme Started in 2001 Exhibition City-wide community engagement strategy

Exhibitions and programmes on themes of:

Refugerefugees and asylum seekers

Violence against women

Sectarianism

Shout

Glasgow context

Civic values, City Council Long-standing commitment to social justice and equality Grounded in human rights History of discrimination of Irish Catholics

Shoutlesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex culture

Pattie Cronin

Grave stoneprotest pieceprotesting that she and her partner were not able

to marry in New York state

Art to raise issues about lack of equality

Community programmegiving voice and public credibility to for example

young gay mennot accepted by parents, families, communities

Safe placePublic place

Celebratory

But also backlash

Unique contribution to human rights Place for debate Progressive and respectful understandings of difference Need for interpretive materials Human rights framework

Balancing actstrong stance avoid sensationalism Understanding the social contextlatent social conservatism

On the one hand Glasgow has a radical left wing politics, on the other hand the

influence of Catholicism can lead to social conservatism

Yet progressive museums have been through an active process of

transformation, rethinking the very essence of their role and work, revisiting their

mission, their working practices to enable them to be active, vital, engaging,

socially purposeful public spaces which use collections to enable visitors to


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explore the world we live in today, conscious of, and responding to

contemporary society. These museums engage a wider cross section of society,

not just those who are traditionally drawn to visit museums. These museums are

aware that all museums are constructed with a set of values, which means

implicitly they are not neutral spaces, but shaped by a set of principles, they are

deeply politically institutions, some traditional museums choose to deny this,

while progressive museums make this explicit to their visitors, shaping all they do

and strive to achieve.

5. Organisational issues

Change inhibitors

Lack of skills Limited workforce diversity Historical context Collections focused Management hierarchy Distance from priorities of governing bodies Limited motivation No evidence of impact Remote from policy context Climate change ( or issues e.g. social justice)

Forces for change

Social Justice and rights Climate change( and other issues) as a social issue Public fundingaccountability Policy context Involvement in wider networks Professional passion

Some museums have transformed into cultural organisations that have

contemporary relevance, creating spaces for dialogue, debate, exploration of

social issues, of equity and diversity. Places that resonate with relevance in

contemporary society, examples of museum practice which are concerned with

issues of equality, human rights, democracy and citizenship

Museums are notneutral spacesThey are political

Visitors as active meaning makers

Being conscious of the social and political context

Inclusive

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