I got to sleep on board the USS Lexington (CV-16) as well eat in her ward room while being a chaperone for my brothers’ Boy Scout Troop. It was awesome!
MFA Boston. After going around the perimeter, we came to a large empty gallery (Gallery 250). I know now that it was undergoing a transition, but at the time I was blown away by the concept of a decompression room. A place to sit and think, and not have to take things in. A blank slate of a room to play your memories of other galleries against.
Really interesting talk. My uncle used to design museum and exhibition spaces. He has based in the UK but worked all over the world. I love a local museum but I think one of my favourite was the Spike in Guildford one of the last my uncle worked on before he died He designed their education space. The Spike was one part of the old work house, they partnered up with a local homeless charity. My guide was a man that had been homeless and the Spike had worked with him to build up his skills and confidence. Well worth a visit.
Favorite experience...the Louve to see the "Moany Lisa" 😂😂 I was suuuuuuper underwhelmed because I thought I was going see something spectacular but it's really "Meh" and the security guard was really mad cause we were laughing at it 😂 Great convo!!! Loved every second of it!
My favorite museum so far is the Roman-Germanic Museum in Cologne. It has some amazing Roman glassware. Best vibes was from the Tall Ship ELISSA and the accompanying Galveston Historic Seaport. Great staff and awesome museum (the building part and ship)
@@professorpeachez Yep! Look her up, she has a primarily volunteer crew. I love finding old photos or drawings of her in her life as a commerce vessel.
Honestly, Cosi's Odyssey sounds cool. I can definitely relate to telling students disappointing puns about my subject matter (astronomy, physics, etc). 😂 A good museum... 1. Has a good idea of the target audience or an understanding that yes, it's geared for adults, but many might bring kids, etc. Or maybe the museum is geared for children, but of course it must be engaging for adults because you don't want a bunch of screaming kids running about with bored adults. So the museum should cater to its audience properly. In this category, you might also include things like consideration for strollers, handicapped people, etc. 2. Must have an appropriate sense of scale. I loved the Louvre, don't get me wrong, but it's kind of frustratingly large. At the same time, if you pay $40 to go to a museum the size of two rooms in a small house... No. The architecture of the museum needs to fit with the scale, too. 3. Must have a clear idea, a sense of unity or at least some form of organization to it. Things should flow in some way, even if it isn't about a specific narrative. 4. Should have a mix of types of exhibits. Some with plaques on a wall explaining things, other with QR code VR simulations, cool objects or quirky items related to the subject, some things people can pull or push or otherwise interact with (super important if kids are part of the audience), etc. 5. Should have knowledgeable people in charge, giving tours, etc. This isn't usually a problem. 6. Should have adequate funding in order to care for, update, reassess, etc. its collection. This can be an issue, but isn't the museum's fault. 7. Should have places to rest or contemplate in some way. Whether this means benches in an art gallery or gardens or other forms of pretty clear spaces, those are important. 8. Should have food options according to their scale & their audience. If a museum is targeting families with children & they only have a pricey wine-and-dine kind of thing, that's a flop. I've been to a lot of museums, I'm not sure how many. I've been to a lot of places which are probably not strictly museums but have a museum-like quality in terms of being historically significant or something like that (e.g. La Sainte Chapelle in Paris. I don't recall it really having a museum associated with it, but it's really cool). I'd also group aquaria & zoos in with museums. Smaller museums with single subjects (or a small range of related subjects) tend to be more fun, e.g. the Salvador Dali Museum, the Mark Twain House & Museum. My husband & I had a great time at Mystic Aquarium & the New England Aquarium (there was an extrovert octopus there once. We had a chat with a docent about how they have special puzzles for the octopus, etc. So cool). We had a blast in Singapore's Night Safari. We went to the Norman Rockwell Museum when they had a special fantasy exhibit, which included all of these crazy sculptures outside. There are some museums I'd call weirdly interesting. You wouldn't think the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum or the Central Fire Station (the oldest fire station in Singapore has a museum) would be all that interesting & honestly the subject matter doesn't interest me at all, but the museums made their subjects interesting. I suppose you can't get higher praise for a museum than that, right? 😊
You touched on something big that we passed over in our discussion: gearing a space towards children VS adults. It is EXTREMELY important to consider your audience when designing an exhibition or museum. Great points!
@@professorpeachez Thank you. I've seen museums which catered to children but also did a good job holding adults' interest (e.g. a science museum in Montreal). I've also seen ones which fail with one group or the other or require a lot of extra effort on the part of one group or another (e.g. Springfield Science Center, which I'm happy to say has vastly improved since I was a kid).
What is your most memorable museum experience?
I almost hate to ask this, but... Have you managed to find another museum to work in? If you haven't, good luck your search!
I got to sleep on board the USS Lexington (CV-16) as well eat in her ward room while being a chaperone for my brothers’ Boy Scout Troop. It was awesome!
@@clockworkgnome That sounds amazing!
MFA Boston. After going around the perimeter, we came to a large empty gallery (Gallery 250). I know now that it was undergoing a transition, but at the time I was blown away by the concept of a decompression room. A place to sit and think, and not have to take things in. A blank slate of a room to play your memories of other galleries against.
Really interesting talk. My uncle used to design museum and exhibition spaces. He has based in the UK but worked all over the world.
I love a local museum but I think one of my favourite was the Spike in Guildford one of the last my uncle worked on before he died He designed their education space.
The Spike was one part of the old work house, they partnered up with a local homeless charity. My guide was a man that had been homeless and the Spike had worked with him to build up his skills and confidence. Well worth a visit.
Favorite experience...the Louve to see the "Moany Lisa" 😂😂 I was suuuuuuper underwhelmed because I thought I was going see something spectacular but it's really "Meh" and the security guard was really mad cause we were laughing at it 😂
Great convo!!! Loved every second of it!
Thanks Aleem!
👏👏
My favorite museum so far is the Roman-Germanic Museum in Cologne. It has some amazing Roman glassware.
Best vibes was from the Tall Ship ELISSA and the accompanying Galveston Historic Seaport. Great staff and awesome museum (the building part and ship)
LOVE IT when there's a ship on display. Also, Roman glassware will always get my hyped!
@@professorpeachez The Elissa is still sea-worthy too! She sails around for a few weeks every year.
@@clockworkgnome whaaaaaa!
@@professorpeachez Yep! Look her up, she has a primarily volunteer crew. I love finding old photos or drawings of her in her life as a commerce vessel.
Honestly, Cosi's Odyssey sounds cool. I can definitely relate to telling students disappointing puns about my subject matter (astronomy, physics, etc). 😂
A good museum...
1. Has a good idea of the target audience or an understanding that yes, it's geared for adults, but many might bring kids, etc. Or maybe the museum is geared for children, but of course it must be engaging for adults because you don't want a bunch of screaming kids running about with bored adults. So the museum should cater to its audience properly. In this category, you might also include things like consideration for strollers, handicapped people, etc.
2. Must have an appropriate sense of scale. I loved the Louvre, don't get me wrong, but it's kind of frustratingly large. At the same time, if you pay $40 to go to a museum the size of two rooms in a small house... No. The architecture of the museum needs to fit with the scale, too.
3. Must have a clear idea, a sense of unity or at least some form of organization to it. Things should flow in some way, even if it isn't about a specific narrative.
4. Should have a mix of types of exhibits. Some with plaques on a wall explaining things, other with QR code VR simulations, cool objects or quirky items related to the subject, some things people can pull or push or otherwise interact with (super important if kids are part of the audience), etc.
5. Should have knowledgeable people in charge, giving tours, etc. This isn't usually a problem.
6. Should have adequate funding in order to care for, update, reassess, etc. its collection. This can be an issue, but isn't the museum's fault.
7. Should have places to rest or contemplate in some way. Whether this means benches in an art gallery or gardens or other forms of pretty clear spaces, those are important.
8. Should have food options according to their scale & their audience. If a museum is targeting families with children & they only have a pricey wine-and-dine kind of thing, that's a flop.
I've been to a lot of museums, I'm not sure how many. I've been to a lot of places which are probably not strictly museums but have a museum-like quality in terms of being historically significant or something like that (e.g. La Sainte Chapelle in Paris. I don't recall it really having a museum associated with it, but it's really cool). I'd also group aquaria & zoos in with museums. Smaller museums with single subjects (or a small range of related subjects) tend to be more fun, e.g. the Salvador Dali Museum, the Mark Twain House & Museum. My husband & I had a great time at Mystic Aquarium & the New England Aquarium (there was an extrovert octopus there once. We had a chat with a docent about how they have special puzzles for the octopus, etc. So cool). We had a blast in Singapore's Night Safari. We went to the Norman Rockwell Museum when they had a special fantasy exhibit, which included all of these crazy sculptures outside. There are some museums I'd call weirdly interesting. You wouldn't think the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum or the Central Fire Station (the oldest fire station in Singapore has a museum) would be all that interesting & honestly the subject matter doesn't interest me at all, but the museums made their subjects interesting. I suppose you can't get higher praise for a museum than that, right? 😊
You touched on something big that we passed over in our discussion: gearing a space towards children VS adults. It is EXTREMELY important to consider your audience when designing an exhibition or museum. Great points!
@@professorpeachez Thank you. I've seen museums which catered to children but also did a good job holding adults' interest (e.g. a science museum in Montreal). I've also seen ones which fail with one group or the other or require a lot of extra effort on the part of one group or another (e.g. Springfield Science Center, which I'm happy to say has vastly improved since I was a kid).