Having also recently spent time in several large European museums, I had some similar reflections. I was struck by how much my experience in these museums resembled my day-to-day experience of browsing the internet: an endless stream of interesting things, each with minimal context, leaving me to search elsewhere to actually understand them. A “vast collection of media with a small amount of context” might have felt novel and worthwhile twenty years ago, but I think the concept could use some updating.
In more traditional museums, I find myself drawn to guided tours, which are more focused and provide the opportunity to learn more without pulling out my phone. I’m also drawn to less traditional museums, which often feel more engaging. On this recent trip, I was most satisfied with my visits to the Museum Het Schip and the Anne Frank House, where the focus was narrow and the setting itself was connected to the material being presented.
You've hit on a few hypotheses I have. One is that museums still haven't shaken their origins as "cabinets of curiosities," a place where rich people put their coolest stuff to provoke conversations with their friends. A second is that history and archaeology museums act too much like art museums, where a lot of the point is to just look at the original pieces, and straightforward education is more complicated, since a lot of art is designed to resist easy interpretation. A third hypothesis is that museums think people don't read placards and so instead rely on things like tours and audio guides. I'll hit on all these in part 3!
Cool post. Totally agree. ChatGPT can really revolutionise the museum experience, take a picture of whatever you’re looking at, get a decent explanation, ask it whatever questions you have. Amazing! However, museums seem to go out of their way to block out signal and not have any accessible WiFi, probably so that people focus on the art. Which is completely infantilising and ineffective, because if people want to mess about on their phones they’ll find a way. Very frustrating!
As a private commenter observed to me, it's nearly inexcusable for each piece to *not* have a QR code that links to its page in the museum collection web catalog, which would have plenty of ways for you to learn more about it.
Having also recently spent time in several large European museums, I had some similar reflections. I was struck by how much my experience in these museums resembled my day-to-day experience of browsing the internet: an endless stream of interesting things, each with minimal context, leaving me to search elsewhere to actually understand them. A “vast collection of media with a small amount of context” might have felt novel and worthwhile twenty years ago, but I think the concept could use some updating.
In more traditional museums, I find myself drawn to guided tours, which are more focused and provide the opportunity to learn more without pulling out my phone. I’m also drawn to less traditional museums, which often feel more engaging. On this recent trip, I was most satisfied with my visits to the Museum Het Schip and the Anne Frank House, where the focus was narrow and the setting itself was connected to the material being presented.
You've hit on a few hypotheses I have. One is that museums still haven't shaken their origins as "cabinets of curiosities," a place where rich people put their coolest stuff to provoke conversations with their friends. A second is that history and archaeology museums act too much like art museums, where a lot of the point is to just look at the original pieces, and straightforward education is more complicated, since a lot of art is designed to resist easy interpretation. A third hypothesis is that museums think people don't read placards and so instead rely on things like tours and audio guides. I'll hit on all these in part 3!
Cool post. Totally agree. ChatGPT can really revolutionise the museum experience, take a picture of whatever you’re looking at, get a decent explanation, ask it whatever questions you have. Amazing! However, museums seem to go out of their way to block out signal and not have any accessible WiFi, probably so that people focus on the art. Which is completely infantilising and ineffective, because if people want to mess about on their phones they’ll find a way. Very frustrating!
As a private commenter observed to me, it's nearly inexcusable for each piece to *not* have a QR code that links to its page in the museum collection web catalog, which would have plenty of ways for you to learn more about it.