Angharad goes to a museum!

the People's History Museum is only about 10 mins walk from the Centenary Building so I got down there yesterday late afternoon for the last hour before it closed. I thought it was great. Possibly the combination of the content - with which I have a lot of sympathy - and the, I thought, well designed displays and interactives. The text is large and there's not too much of it and the themes are easy to follow. I struggled a bit finding my way round though, there seemed to be some parts you should not go into ... but then you had to to get into another gallery...

I loved the top floor with the banners and took lots of pics on my phone but for some reason my card reader won't work just now so I can't upload any.

What did intrigue me was the gallery of photos of demonstrations - or as one of the gallery guides said to me ' the pictures of the police beating people up'. (Not really how the gallery means it to be seen I thought!) What issues does this raise for the depiction of the police at the Police Museum? Could the two be brought together?

just a thought!

Museum in 'not boring' shocker

With a dust allergy and a hatred of all things dull, I’m a difficult-to-please museum visitor. Unlike the surly teenage kids that you see dragging their feet from pottery fragment to pottery fragment, I can’t even be pacified by the inclusion of some supposedly contemporary ‘gaming’ element or a shoe-horned reference to graffiti. So it came as a genuine surprise when two separate exhibitions recently caught my imagination.

Experienced just days apart – yet actually separated by the Equator - Carson & Miller’s The Story of Things and Fritha Langerman’s Subtle Thresholds were both fascinating in their use of collections. The former carefully selected items from the North West Film Archive and MMU Special Collections to create new relationships and narratives between supposedly unrelated objects. Particularly inspiring was the juxtaposition of looped video excerpts depicting exorcisms in a Manchester church with African witchdoctor footage from the same era. The focus on similarity was then far more interesting than how these films might have been interpreted elsewhere: where a more formulaic emphasis on differences between ‘our’ culture and what is seen on screen could have been suggested.

While Carson & Miller allowed for general randomness, ambiguity and the projection of theoretical constructs, Langerman’s approach was empirical yet no less thought-provoking. Stumbled upon quite by accident at the Iziko South African Museum, it came with an intriguing subheading of ‘the representational taxonomies of disease’ and boasted an appearance akin to the Natural History Museum as reconfigured by Damien Hirst.

Scientific apparatus was arranged geometrically while taxidermy exhibits (that might have been reduced to moth food if otherwise ignored in the Cape Town museum’s stores) were found swathed in bandages. As if Christo & Jeanne-Claude had suddenly shacked up with Beatrix Potter, perhaps. Yet amongst all that arresting imagery – including a 68 meter timeline of biblical disease - was a fully explored and communicated concept that was simultaneously able to entertain and educate.

The only down side involved with encountering these inspirational projects is that subsequent collections might now appear that bit more boring.

Daniel Cookney, MA Communication Design

Subversive Spaces

Hey - has anyone seen the exhibtion at the Whitworth Subversive Spaces - Kinderzimmer - have tried to add a link but best to go see it!!! Its an installation thats in complete darkness, -http://subversivespaces.com/

The Heritage 'Experience'? O2

The British Music Experience at the O2 area is now open, at at cost of £9.5M.

Is this the future of the visitor experience? Or a bit of disposable pop culture? Having said that, for collectors the cultural 'disposable' pop culture is now big business, and most likely the exhibits of tomorrow.

Perhaps we need to look at our museum and gallery displays, and consider their representation of cultural progression. Do they actually help us to understand how we got to where we are now? Or are they locked in time, and therefore largely irrelevant to contemporary (and young) visitors in the 21st century?

Do you have a collection, add some comments about it. It may be big or small, off-beat or mainstream. We'd all like to read about it. And why/when you started it. Please feel free to add pics if you want.

It's the Mad Max vision of the Counter-Reformation.

To what is AA Gill responding?

Any guesses?

Iconic Images: The Vanity Fair Anniversary Book, National Portrait Gallery

Me again. Amongst my tour of London I saaw many postersrelating to an Iconic Images exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery. It shows images from vanity fair from 1913 though to 2003. It has been launched as an advertising strategy for a new book by the gallery.

I went to have a look and was directed down to the basement where the book shop is (clever to have the exhibit right next to the shop) and I have to admit that I was utterly dissapointed.
One you wouldn't know the exhibit was there unless you asked for directions and too it was so dark due to the basement that the pictures looked dull and lifeless. The positioning I can understand as it does encourage you to take a look in the book shop but there were only around ten prints and they are positioned next to the lift and exit way, which i feel doesn't do them the justice they deserve.

I was shocked as aparently the exhibition has been extended until April, however i do question wether this is due to poor book sales more than visitors having a fantastic experience. any way if you get a chance, take a look and see if you agree.

London Fashion Weekend

hey all,

As you all know I was at London Fashion Weekend last week, which was held in the grounds of the Natural History Museum. it was a fantastic opportunity to learn more about the history of fashion and the latest current trends. There was also a clear link between the fashion show starting and the opening of the "hats" exhibition at the V and A.

It was interesting to see the link between fashion and culture as well. The opening of the "hats" exhibit was frequented by numerous celebrities and designers, who may not often go to museums etc. Its nice that events like this can bridge a gap between the retail side of fashion and the educational role that it can play.

Above all else it was enjoyable and well will leave you out of pocket hehe

have a look on the link if you are interested in this area.