technology in the mindful museum
DESCRIPTION
Writer and commentator Adam Gopnik has described the mindful museum as a place that is primarily about the objects it contains while also recognizing that it should not seek to explain what cannot be explained. “And that means simply that wall labels and explanatory text of all kinds should be as modest and invisible as conceivable,” he said in the first annual Eva Holtby Lecture on Contemporary Culture at Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum just months before the ROM opened its Michael Lee-Chin Crystal addition in June 2007. How should museums interpret Gopnik’s view in today’s world of flat screens and wireless networks and one where most museum and gallery visitors can receive instant information via their cell phones, Blackberrys and iPods. And where does that leave the ROM as it grapples with technology solutions for providing context and interpretation in its powerful new gallery spaces? Created by Brian Porter for the 2008 Technology in the Arts: Canada Conference.TRANSCRIPT
Technology in the Mindful MuseumTechnology in the Arts ConferenceUniversity of WaterlooMay 10, 2008
Overview• The new ROM and its five pillars of identity
• New media and IT development at the ROM
• Museum models and the “Mindful Museum” defined
• Examples of digital media applications
• Technology planning for future galleries
• Lessons learned and opportunities for smaller museums
• Temple, Agora or Coliseum? What is the new ROM?
The New ROM• A first rank museum of world cultures and natural history
• A powerful agent of public education and research
• A pleasurable agent of social integration in Ontario
• A potent agent of urban renewal in Toronto
• A significant generator of economic activity in Ontario
• A fiscally sound and robust institution
• A leading example of functional governance and workplace culture
Five Pillars of Identity
ROM is a….• Civic Destination • Museum Destination • Knowledge Destination• Social Destination• Virtual Destination
The New ROMMetrics of success:
• Attendance more than 100 % ahead of last year
• Admissions revenue more than 100 % in same period
• Web site traffic running 30 % ahead of last year
• March Break one of the most successful on record
The New ROMJune 2007Garfield Weston Exhibition Hall (“Blockbuster” space)Roloff Beny Gallery (ICC)
October 2007Sigmund Samuel Gallery of Canada
December 2007Gallery of the Age of MammalsJames and Louise Temerty Galleries of the Age of Dinosaurs
The New ROMFebruary 2008Sir Christopher Ondaatje South Asian GalleryWirth Gallery of the Middle East
April 2008Patricia Harris Gallery of Textiles & CostumeAjmera Gallery of Africa, the Americas and Asia-Pacific
December 2008Teck Cominco Suite of Earth Sciences Galleries
January 2009Schad Gallery of Biodiversity: Life in Crisis
Feature Exhibitions 2008China Month (May) at the ROM
• Shanghai historical photographs: Until Oct. 26
• ICC Shanghai Kaleidoscope: Until Nov. 2
Ongoing
• Darwin: Until Aug 4
• Out From Under (Disability): Until July 13
Feature Exhibitions 2008Opening soon
• Wedgwood: June 7 – July 2009
• Caribana Art Exhibition: July 24 – Aug. 4
• Sobey National Art Award: Aug 30 – Oct 13
• Diamonds: Oct 25 – March 22, 2009
• Ancient Ukraine: Nov 29 – March 22, 2009
Future Exhibitions 2009-2011• Chinese paintings – January 2009• Ydessa Hendeles (ICC) – Winter 2009• Dead Sea Scrolls – 2009• Terra Cotta Soldiers – 2010 (tentative)• Season of India – 2010• Water – 2011• Season of Africa – 2011
Shanghai Kaleidoscope“In the two-screen video installation Let’s
Puff (2002), Yang Zhenzhong fashions a wry visual metaphor for the winds of change that have swept through China’s cities during the past decade.”
- Christopher Phillips, Guest CuratorInstitute for Contemporary Culture
SK Catalogue, ROM, May 2008
Shanghai Kaleidoscope
“…(a) hyperactive journey through thenon-stop energy of the Next Culture.”
- Gary Michael DaultGlobe & MailMay 3, 2008
Let’s Puff
Let’s Puff
Shanghai 1860-1949
China Exhibitions• timely metaphor for this conference• Shanghai – one of the world’s most frenetic and fascinating cities – symbolizes new China• both exhibitions dependent on technology• SK a combination of various media that perfectly captures the duality of new and old which is the city of Shanghai • historical photographs, many digitized, link the city’s past with its present• Travel writer Jan Morris: “raffish excess”
New Media Resources•Information Technology Services
Web/database/network/systems
•Media ProductionsVideo/television/multimedia & exhibition/gallery AV
•PublicationsCo-publishing/academic/catalogues
•Digital Imaging CentrePhotography/scanning/copying/image licensing3D imaging unit
•Information CentreRights and Reproductions co-ordinatorDigital Media Assets co-ordinator
Photography Studio
Ivey Imaging Centre
Sound Booth
Digital Sound Studio
Video editing suites
Web DesignerProgrammer
New ROM Landing Page
• ROM web site is largely a marketing site
• Transactional, not attraction or engagement
• Facilitates ticket purchases, signups, bookings
New ROM Home Page
ROM Page on Facebook
The Museum as the new Agora“Our societies have become segmented and particularized in a world of increasing mobility and technological change…in this context, we need new shared space – places of encounter – a new Commons – a new Agora. Museums are capable of contributing to this because…they can engage diverse interests on their own terms.”
- William Thorsell, ROM Director and CEOAddress to the Empire Club
Toronto, May 3, 2007
Museum Models1. Mausoleum – traditional view as a repository. – also “temple” model where objects are sacred2. Machine – productive, place where you learned how to be modern – transformation 3. Metaphor – for our larger life – arena of socialbility, ie. the Agora4. Mall – drained and devoted to pleasure –an attraction
The Mindful Museum“The ‘mindful museum’….. should first of all be
mindful in being primarily about the objects it contains...
- Adam Gopnik, Writer & Social CommentatorEva Holtby Lecture on Contemporary Culture
Institute for Contemporary Culture, ROM, Oct. 13, 2006
Adam Gopnik
The New ROM
Charles Pachter’s CanadaProjection in Chen Crystal Court
Digital Art Installation Oct 2007-Feb 2008
Charles Pachter
Digital Signage
Traditional Recognition
Digital Donor Wall
Digital Donor Wall
Digital Donor Wall
Education – Digital Gallery
Education – Digital Gallery
The New ROM
James and Louise Temerty Galleriesof the Age of Dinosaurs
Gallery of the Age of Mammals
The New ROM
Sir Christopher Ondaatje South Asian Gallery
The New ROM
Daphne Cockwell Gallery of Canada: First Peoples
First Peoples – Paul Kane
First Peoples Theatre
The New ROM
Patricia Harris Gallery of Textiles & Costume
The New ROM
Teck Cominco Suite of Earth Sciences Galleries
Opening December 2008
TC Earth Science Galleries• 6,900 sq-ft gallery• showcases more than 2,300 minerals and meteorites – 25 glass cases – 52 flat screens• e-labelling – current RFP for delivery solution• Canadian Mining Hall of Fame Gallery –interactive video wall showcasing biographies and personal stories of inductees• development of Earth Sciences module for Digital Gallery
“Mock-up Wall”
Specimen Digitization
The New ROM
Schad Gallery of Biodiversity:Life in Crisis
Opening January 2009
Schad Gallery of Biodiversity
Schad Gallery of Biodiversity • 10,000 sq-ft gallery – 1,000 + specimens• three major themes: Life is … Diverse …Interrelated… In Crisis• live and recorded video and multi-media displays to focus on global eco-systems such as coral reef, rainforest and the tundra• animal-borne imaging examples• Earth Rangers studio – state-of-the-art space for digital and live programming on latest scientific research and relevant issues• presents social networking web opportunity
The New ROM
Iconic Objects
Iconic Objects • new marketing campaign to highlight “must-see” star pieces in the collection• always ‘in-market’ approach• interpretive plan calls for production and installation of short video sequences highlighting importance/significance of pieces• delivery through flat screens at each location• respectful of Gopnik’s ‘mindful museum’….. mindful in being mostly about its objects.
Maitreya Paradise Wall painting
Figure of nude blue female
Sekmet
Earl of Pembroke Armour
Ming Tomb
Barosaurus
Death of General Wolfe
Lessons Learned • enhanced accessibility – audio tours• evening and weekend IT support• remote monitoring & updating• hire for specific skill sets• donor intervention – how much?• avoid technology for the sake of technology• allow time for R & D• test, test, test …
What Can Small Museums Do? • seek curatorial support (test the waters)• talk to visitors (measure the “groundswell”) • do a POST assessment:
• People (visitors – enhancing their experience)• Objectives (goals?)• Strategy (providing context, more engagement?)• Technology (solution)
• involve prospective donors• develop digital assets – collection images • consult other cultural organizations• think big but start small – baby steps
Temple, Agora or Coliseum? • where is the ROM in this trio?• new book Bold Visions on the ROM’s architecture:
novelty of crystal suggests “bread and circus” aurabut it is not a site for passive entertainment artifacts are generally not given a theatre setting
• technology plays a role in providing context and interpretation but is not pervasive – it is a facilitator
Last Word
“What looks like an attraction a.k.a coliseum, on the exterior, is a temple inside. The ROM (remains) a place for the enjoyable contemplation of artifacts and specimens.
- Kelvin Brown, author of Bold VisionsThe Architecture of the Royal Ontario Museum
ROM, December 2007
