Museums and the Challenge of Change: Old Institutions in a New World

335 Pages·2020·9.122 MB·English

by  Graham Black (editor)

MUSEUMS AND THE CHALLENGE
OF CHANGE
Museums and the Challenge of Change explores the profound challenges facing museums and
charts ways forward that are grounded in partnership with audiences and communities
on-site, online, and in wider society.
Facing new generations with growing needs and desires, growing population diversity,
and a digital revolution, the museum sector knows it must change – but it has been slow
to respond. Drawing on the expertise and voices of practitioners from within and beyond
the sector, Black calls for a change of mind-set and radical evolution (transformation
over time, learning from the process rather than a ‘big bang’ approach). Internally, a
participative environment supports social interaction through active engagement with
collections and content – and Black includes an initial typology of participative exhibits,
both traditional and digital. Externally, the museum works in partnership with local
communities and other agencies to make a real difference, in response to societal
challenges. Black considers what this means for the management and structure of the
museum, emphasising that it is not possible to separate the development of a participative
experience from the ways in which the museum is organised.
M useums and the Challenge of Change is highly practical and focused on initiatives that
museums can implement swiftly and cheaply, making a real impact on user engagement.
The book will thus be essential reading for museum practitioners and students of museum
studies around the globe.
G raham Black has worked in and with museums for over 40 years. Today, he combines
his role as Professor of Museum Development at Nottingham Trent University, UK, with
museum consultancy. Exhibitions on which he has acted as Interpretive Consultant have
twice won the UK £100,000 Art Fund Prize, amongst many other awards. His previous
publications include two books: The Engaging Museum, published in 2005, and T ransforming
Museums in the 21st Century , published in 2012, both with Routledge. In recent years, his
belief that future museum content should be much more agile, fast-moving, cheap, and
responsive has meant he has moved away from large, expensive re-display projects to
working with local communities and organisations taking approaches that he believes
can make a difference.

MUSEUMS AND
THE CHALLENGE
OF CHANGE
Old Institutions in a New World
Written and edited by Graham Black
First published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 selection and editorial matter, Graham Black; individual
chapters, the contributors
The right of Graham Black to be identified as the author of the
editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has
been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Black, Graham, editor.
Title: Museums and the challenge of change : old institutions in a new
world / edited by Graham Black.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2021. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020038301 (print) | LCCN 2020038302 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780367488291 (hbk) | ISBN 9780367488307 (pbk) |
ISBN 9781003043010 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Museums—Social aspects. | Museum attendance. |
Museums and community. | Museum visitors. | Museums—
Technological innovations.
Classification: LCC AM7 .M8819 2021 (print) | LCC AM7 (ebook) |
DDC 069—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020038301
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020038302
ISBN: 978-0-367-48829-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-48830-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-04301-0 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
For Carolyn

CONTENTS
List of figures x
List of contributors xiii
Acknowledgements xvi
P reface xviii
I ntroduction: the challenge of change 1
SECTION I
Context 19
1 Societal change 21
2 Museums and the digital revolution 40
A Social media and participation: the selfie as a curious
cultural artefact 53
Jenny Kidd
B Museums and participatory culture: Wikimedia
and GLAM 60
Rebecca O’Neill
C “A series of interesting choices”: gaming and
gamification as participation 67
Daniel Brown
viii Contents
SECTION II
Museums in the wider world 77
3 Engaging diverse audiences 79
4 The activist museum 93
D Making the museum of making at Derby Silk Mill 103
T ony Butler
E Participation, trust, and telling difficult histories
in museums 113
E lizabeth Crooke
F Public health and museums: building a
strategic partnership 123
M ark O’Neill, Pete Seaman, and Duncan Dornan
G Facing the challenges of truly being of, by, and for all 131
M erel van der Vaart, Catrien Schreuder, Dorien Theuns,
Deirdre Carasso
SECTION III
Developing the participative experience 143
5 The informal museum learning experience 145
6 Creating an inclusive and participative museum
environment 160
7 Creating participative exhibits and activities 172
H Slow participation: the case of the Baden State Museum 196
Johannes C. Bernhardt
I Joint creativity for democratic transformations
in museums 204
Kirsten Drotner
J A case study on digital technology, AI, and participation
at the National Palace Museum, Taipei 211
Hsiao-Te Hsu
Contents ix
K Designing for interpersonal museum experiences 224
Anders Sundnes Løvlie, Lina Eklund, Annika Waern,
Karin Ryding, and Paulina Rajkowska
L On dialogue and the museum as a social space 240
Mette Houlberg Rung
M Showcasing science and facilitating interaction:
science slams for museums 249
P hilipp Schrögel
SECTION IV
Managing change 255
8 Managing change 257
N Design (re)thinking a legacy institution: strategic
planning at the Academy of Natural Sciences
of Drexel University 266
Scott Cooper
P National Museums Northern Ireland: managing
change, a case study 274
K athryn Thomson
C oncluding thoughts 293
9 Concluding thoughts: if not now, when? 295
I ndex 300