Museums as Media

1
Museums as Media

• Are museums neutral mirrors of nature and
  reality?
• Or, do museums subjectively mediate information
  to an audience?

2
Function of Museums

• Places of research
• Places of education
• Places of entertainment
• Places of tourism
• In all of these roles, the museum serves as a
  medium by which information is communicated

3
Museums and Objectivity

• Objectivity of product
• Relates the existence of an object, independent
  of the mind
• Objectivity of process
• Relates to the procedures of investigation,
  presentation
• Presentation of objects in museums often thought
  of as neutral
• Objects speak for themselves
• Museum gives objects the appearance of being
  unmediated

4
Museums and Subjectivity

• However, objects do not just appear in museums
  they undergo a process of selection and a process
  of presentation

5
Subjectivity and the Life of an Object

• Original state, purpose
• Collected
• Determined important
• Selected for museum collection
• Selected for display
• Arranged in an exhibit
• Conformity to theory, outlook, etc.
• Example Burgess Shale Fossil

6
Original state, purpose

• An object typically has an original state,
  purpose, meaning, or function
• Exist in someones home, nature, etc.

Burgess Shale fossil
7
Discovered and Collected

• Collected because of monetary worth
• Collected because of personal value
• Collected because of cultural value
• Collected because of intellectual value

Charles Walcott
8
Selected for Museum Collection

• For the purposes of research
• For the purposes of public display

9
Display

• Evolutions Big Bang traveling exhibit from
  the Smithsonian on the Burgess Shale

10
Display, continued

• Only some objects within museum collections are
  selected for display, leaving others out
• Affected by seeming importance or uniqueness
• Affected by available funding and space

11
Arrangement

• Juxtaposition of objects yields particular
  meanings
• Context of environment communicates particular
  meanings
• Affected by architectural space of museum

12
Arrangement, cont.

• Seattles Museum of Mysteries - Paranormal
  Science Museum

13
Theory

• The selection of objects and their display
  typically align with theories, outlooks, etc. of
  the designers, curators, and supporters
• Other theories inevitably left out

14
Punctuated Equilibrium v. Gradualism
Stephen Jay Gould
Richard Dawkins
15
Enola Gay Controversy at the Smithsonian
Institution
16
Historians/ v. Veterans Curators

• Believed the bomb caused excessive death
• Believed representing this illustrated the truth
  of the bombing
• Believed their expertise revealed truth

• Believed that the bombing prevented future deaths
  
• Believed the Smithsonian to be unfair and biased
• Believed their experience revealed truth

17
Bodies The Exhibition Controversy
18
Education v. Human Rights

• The use of the bodies is legal since they were
  lent to the US by China
• The importance of education is most important

• The use of the bodies violates human rights the
  cadavers likely did not consent
• The importance of maintaining human rights is
  most important

19
Museums as a subjective media

• Life of the object suggests subjective selection
  and display processes
• Example The Burgess Shale fossils and exhibit
• Controversies over exhibits suggests elements of
  subjectivity as well
• Enola Gay
• The Bodies Exhibit