Curator: The Museum Journal最新文献

This research describes the development of the Workshop for Inclusive Co-created Audio Description (W-ICAD) model. Research from psychology and neuroscience explains why the assumption that vision is necessarily sufficient to be able to engage with collections is problematic, and why inclusive museum audio description (AD) (referred to as visual or verbal description in the United States) might begin to provide a solution to this problem. At the same time, the growing recognition of the need to diversify voices and narratives within the international museum sector demands a re-imagining of how museum AD is created, and who creates it. Underpinned by the axioms of Blindness Gain and created through an iterative action research process by a joint UK-US team of researchers and museum professionals, in collaboration with a broader team of co-creators, the W-ICAD model provides museums and the cultural sector with a tool for producing co-created AD, created by blind, partially blind and sighted individuals for use in museums by blind, partially blind or sighted audiences. The applications for this model are discussed.

This study aimed to explore prospective teachers' views and experiences of the utilization of virtual museums for gifted and talented education. The study was conducted at the College of Education of a large Western University in Turkey. The participants were prospective teachers (seniors at the undergraduate level) from the Department of Gifted and Talented Teacher Education, who were expected to become classroom teachers responsible for teaching a wide range of subjects, including reading, mathematics, science, and social studies. Ten prospective teachers voluntarily participated in the study. The study employed a qualitative phenomenological design. The research illuminated the ways in which participants perceived and understood these experiences. This study provided valuable insights into the potential use of virtual museums in the education of gifted students, general education, and teacher education, and considered the positive and negative experiences of pre-service teachers who have visited virtual museums.

In Brazil, the decolonial turn has prompted a discursive reconfiguration of art museums over the last decade, primarily through exhibitions driven by critical and reparative thinking. Consequently, alternative perspectives have emerged, aiming to propose exhibition narratives rooted in marginalized knowledge and imaginaries. Focusing on the Museu de Arte do Rio (Rio Museum of Art) as a privileged place of thought, this article delves into the curatorial methodologies employed for two exhibitions: Mulheres na Coleção MAR and Casa Carioca. These exhibitions have paved the way for another way of being a museum, holistically committed to its decolonization. While the sustainability of the changes brought about by these exhibitions may be questioned, it is recognized to acknowledge their role in collaborating to establish other interpretative frameworks for understanding local realities, defining as the primary beneficiaries of this process, not the museums themselves but the communities and individuals who grapple with the daily impacts of coloniality.

Underpinned by the Model for Museum Exhibit User Experience (MEUX; King et al., Visitor Studies, 2023, 26, 59), this paper develops and presents an evaluation methodology for museum exhibits that utilizes existing methodologies from the user experience sector adapted for the museum and cultural heritage sectors. Two studies are presented: an in-depth evaluation of the Meat the Future exhibition at Oxford University Museum of Natural History and then a comparative study between this exhibition and two other permanent exhibits at the museum. Quantitative and qualitative data provide a nuanced picture of each exhibit from the visitor perspective and showcase the benefits of the MEUX methods of evaluation. Results show how three different exhibits are constructed in different ways, providing different visitor experiences and outcomes. They are directly compared with identify statistical differences, but do not impose a judgment as to whether any exhibit is better than another. With detailed, nuanced and rigorous data capturing visitor experiences of engaging with exhibits, the MEUX evaluation methodology allows for more sophisticated, standardized and efficient evaluation practices within the sector, with results that directly support further development of exhibits and exhibitions.

To achieve their conservation missions, zoos and aquariums must understand how their audiences make judgments about animal wellbeing, as public trust and learning outcomes hinge on the extent to which animals living in these institutions seem well cared for. While previous research has investigated public perceptions of animal wellbeing, the majority of this work has focused on specific species or programs, with few studies employing qualitative research methods. Using qualitative analysis of data from 37 semi-structured interviews with visitors to the Oakland Zoo, this study explores the indicators visitors used to assess animal wellbeing and the ways visitors employ empathy and anthropomorphism in their thinking about animal wellbeing. Our findings describe the suite of factors influencing visitors' perceptions of animal wellbeing: animal activity, animal habitats, interactions with zoo personnel, and animal health. We also describe the ways interviewees negotiate empathy and anthropomorphism with varying degrees of accuracy and reflectiveness.

Safeguarding and inheriting a society's intangible cultural heritage (ICH) music is essential for preserving cultural identity and fostering cultural diversity. A primary motivation for the formation and continuous activities of the heritage preservation community is the concern over losing valuable cultural assets. Incomplete histories, missing documents, and limited access to both tangible and intangible resources are all repercussions of lost heritage, affecting both the public and scholarly sectors. Given the inherent fragility of intangible cultural forms such as dance, language, and music, archives tasked with preserving these records face unique challenges. These forms can easily vanish without proper documentation and preservation, reinforcing the vital role of the relevant organizations. So, this study explores the unique musical traditions of the Chongqing Three Gorges Reservoir area (CTGRA), along with the various methods for protecting and promoting this ICH. In-depth information on regional musical traditions, as well as the challenges and possibilities related to conserving and transmitting these practices, was gathered via participant observation, interviews, and field study. The major ways of preserving and transmitting ICH music are storytelling and oral practices that connect communities and musical histories and promote their identity. This study reveals several practices of preserving and transmitting ICH music, such as raising awareness of people, encouraging local artists, and using digital media and advanced technology. This study argues that the rich cultural heritage of the CTGRA is preserved and inherited to future generations by implementing strategies that leverage the power of narrative and support the continuation of these musical practices.

Nine years ago, the beginning of my tenure as an editor coincided with the passing of David Carr, a legendary figure in museum and library practice. One of Carr's most famous quotes, “A museum is a tool for thinking,” has guided my approach to evaluating each paper we receive. I hear his voice when I challenge authors to ensure their work can offer a insights that contribute to a global debate, rather than local interest to the people who visit the museum they study.

At the museum where I work, we support the heritage preservation work of our local Sugpiaq elders. The Sugpiaq people have continuously inhabited the South Central Coast of Alaska for over 7500 years, long before the short 2000-year tenure of the pharaohs of Egypt. Despite centuries of colonialism and attempts to erode their cultural heritage, a few elders overcame these obstacles, learned their language, and devoted themselves to preserving the cultural ways of their forebears. Now they are working to ensure their millennia of traditional knowledge will be carried forward by younger generations earning graduate degrees in western college systems.

As a maritime ecological research institute with an aquarium, we are now working to prioritize partnership with indigenous communities to ensure that all cultures have representation and voice. Rather than imposing our views, we have relinquished power to our Sugpiaq partners to shape new narratives and histories that recognize many ways of knowing the place where we work. We support their pursuit of funding and share our platform so they can reach a global audience. We prioritize the preservation of the Sugt'stun language because, unlike English where food animals are often used pejoratively, in Sugt'stun, these animal names are honorific. To see both at once is two-eyed seeing, and changes how meaning is constructed by all of us working to conserve natural systems.

I believe this issue offers readers an opportunity for two-eyed seeing of museum practice. The papers in this issue span different regions, cultures, and museum types. We have organized these papers in three groups, and encourage readers to compare these papers to those groups from the recent past. While each case study stands up to peer review, when read together, we discover new ways of knowing practice. Each museum has the strength to hold ideas that are separate, equal, and a more layered tool for thinking.

We organized the first set of papers by thinking about the affective use of the museum. Starting with Sherman and colleagues' analysis of empathy in zoo experiences, it highlights nuanced perceptions of animal well-being, and how learning how introspection itself is not counter to an exhibition's big idea. This introspection is echoed in Álvarez-Barrio and Mesías-Lema's reflection on curatorial research during the pandemic, revealing museums as dynamic spaces for artistic learning and reinvention despite restrictions on traditional use. Togethe

The Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Belgium, reopened after an 11-year renovation. In addition to completely cleaning the exterior façade of the neoclassical building, a new, modern wing was built inside former internal courtyards—a glossy, white cube with very high ceilings and a dramatic 100+ step flight of stairs. The historical part of the museum was also fully renovated to its original grandeur. The collection was reinstalled, and the overall interpretive strategy focused on making the art approachable to a multigenerational and multicultural visitorship: Eschewing chronology, paintings are grouped by themes, texts are user-friendly and encourage interactive experiences, and special activities are available for children. Short videos are also available in some galleries that provide context, explain specific art techniques, or contain games. A wide range of experiences is available to museum users, somewhat consistent with an approach proposed by the Smithsonian Institution's IPOP framework. The reviewer found the reinstallation and related user experiences a relevant, people-oriented model for 21st century art museums.

This paper engages in a reflexive analysis of a curatorial research project conducted in the museum when access was restricted due to the 2020 lockdown. This case study follows an action research design and was located at the Luis Seoane Foundation (A Coruña). This is a physical and virtual space for artistic and educational experimentation. This space emerges from the need to reinvent museum didactics and participant guidance from a new perspective. Thus, an online community was activated where museum staff, artists and other contributors could participate, showing how cultural spaces seek a more direct relationship attuned to their environment. The authors used an ethnographic method based on participant observation, including visual archives and artistic production as fundamental tools of this Arts-based Educational Research.