Dear MA Australia,
Thank you so much for granting me a bursary to attend the conference in
Launceston in May. I found the whole process exceptionally worthwhile and also had
the pleasure of catching up with a great many old friends from the mainland.
In fact, for me, it was interesting to see just how many people are still in museums
from those heady days of the 1980s - though we've always known that once
museums get into your blood there is no escaping from them.
I am afraid I did not make notes in a blow-by-blow manner regarding every session I
attended. Instead I made notes relating to ideas that presented themselves to me as
I listened to the various papers - ideas that had a resonance for me in relation to the
museum where I am currently volunteering.
Jai Paterson
Honorary Research Associate (vol.)
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston
23 June 2014
Museums and the use of social media
 What Libby Robin said about museums as slow media struck a cord.
Because museums collect ‘for perpetuity’, we operate within a much longer
timeframe than just about any other discipline – so, by all means try to keep
up with social media and do stuff using new technology – but don’t let
ourselves be overcome by it, as it will always move faster than we can (and
therefore cost us $$ to keep up).
 Damien Quilliam talked about the catalogue as the ’fifth voice’ in an exhibition
... and perhaps we need to think more about the most appropriate media for
our catalogues.
 Perhaps in Exhibition Team Meetings we could come up with criteria for
selecting our format/media for exhibitions, to explain why we make these
choices? I.e. real object, reproduction, digital, paper label, oral history,
handout, catalogue, etc., etc. This is not about stymie-ing creativity – it’s
about making sure we consider all the options, so that we make the best
choices.
 Regarding modern media/digitisation (National Film and Sound Archive) –
how far should we go in producing something that fits the expectations of a
modern audience? Or conversely, how far should we insist on providing an
‘authentic’ experience – i.e. in providing what an historic audience would have
seen? How far do we have the right to ‘interpret’ for our audience?
Museums without walls
 Jenny Harper of the Christchurch Art Gallery (currently with no building)
showed a great example of a 24 hour display – lit panels in well-designed
‘boxes’ out on the street 24/7 – what a great idea.
 While they are closed the Christchurch Gallery has also reworked its gallery
guides into an ‘Artzheimers Group’ that takes art (prints) out to Alzheimer’s
patients.
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Lindsay Farrell from the Australian Catholic University had some great
outreach activities to do with the homeless, and people in hospital and/or jail.
One thing in particular seemed so simple to do ... they developed a
partnership with the Queensland Gallery, to utilise prints and postcards that
the gallery produces. When a patient enters hospital they are handed 7
postcards and asked which painting they like the best ... and the painting they
pick (framed print) is brought into their room and hung near them on the wall.
This way everyone in the hospital gets to think about art, and all patients are
informed where the print comes from – presumably they get to keep the odd
postcard as well?
Relinquishing some of the CONTROL – to allow greater/better collaboration
with the community.
Aboriginal exhibitions
 Angela Witcomb re. great examples for keeping the focus on the importance
of COUNTRY – so that change to the landscape can also come out (i.e. not
solely the change that colonisation wrought on the people)
 The involvement in culture from ‘both sides’ – i.e. Aboriginal history has two
players: the indigenous people themselves, AND the colonists (one cannot be
viewed in isolation to the other)
 Define our object terms better/more accurately – e.g. sacred objects / spiritual
objects / ritual objects / ceremonial objects / ?
 This is already done in art practice, but why not do it in history too? Invite
indigenous people to select other objects from the collection, as a way of
telling their stories – i.e. don’t just limit any selection to supposed ‘Aboriginal’
objects (Jessica Armson).
 This made me think about ways of COMING FROM A POSITION OF
STRENGTH – i.e. this should never be a story solely about victims.
General
 There was a general feeling that museums and galleries should be about
QUALITY – in terms of what we produce for the public. We should maintain it
as one of our strengths.
 Wow - the Powerhouse Museum has had 72% of its budget going to staff
wages!!! (Rose Hiscock).
 The Curator is not just a person who knows about art or science or history –
the Curator is a person who has a vision about these things and is a person
who can articulate that vision.