Exhibit Inspiration: Polar Night
What happens when visitors explore life in the ocean during Arctic winter using flashlights in a pitch black room?
Munch Ado About Nothing*
While waiting to take off from Tromso, Norway, yesterday, I noticed the neighboring Norwegian plane’s tail was decorated with a picture of Edvard Munch.
Re-imagining The Unloved - An Argument for Experimental Collections
A few months ago, I sweet-talked (in very poor German) my way into a behind-the-scenes tour of a local museum. As a staff member was showing me around, he mentioned that the collection space was roughly divided into two zones. Zone 1 housed the “valuable” items - the pieces that get put on display and used by researchers. Zone 2…
Is That All There Is?
The main art museum in my city - the Augustinermuseum - is under construction. The museum is expanding, and will eventually have new galleries for graphic and historical objects. For the past year, the fences around the construction site have been decorated with panels highlighting the city’s museums and what visitors can see there. And, for…
Now With Slightly More Swedish
I’m so pleased to share that my recent piece, “Telling Stories with Invisible Objects,” was republished by Riksutställningar, The Swedish Exhibition Agency - and in Swedish, too! Att organisera berättelser kring föremål verkar vettigt i utställningsform. Men i en podcast eller ett öde landskap? SPANA:s gästskribent Katie Bowell skriver om konsten att bygga berättelser kring det som…
Colonial Williamsburg Enactors are Totally Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse
While watching The Walking Dead last night, my husband and I came to the conclusion that, come the zombie apocalypse (and it’s coming), we want to be in a survival group with living history museum staff. Because it’s all well and good to be a Navy Seal commando-type, but the people who can churn butter, cure…
Telling Stories with Invisible Objects
When I began as the Curator of Interpretation with the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery in 2008, my first project was Soapstone Prairie Natural Area. 28 square miles in northern Colorado, Soapstone was purchased by the city of Fort Collins to be a park and conservation area. Along with its attraction as a natural space,…
I’ve Seen Weirder Combinations…
Last night’s episode of Parks and Recreation had a mini museum scene that definitely felt familiar. Substitute Harrison Bucks for T-Rex Tokens, and you’ve basically summarized my second semester of grad school. (While at the William Henry Harrison Museum) April: I just wanted to say that I really like your museum. It’s weird and sad and unnecessary.…
Cracking Character - The Fun of Being Historical-ish
What happens when living history interpreters allow the lines between the past and present to blur a little? When they don’t break character, but they definitely crack it? I’m always a bit skeptical of living history and (re)enactment experiences. I don’t dislike them by default, but growing up between the Revolutionary War reenactment-happy towns of Lexington…
When Dioramas Explode - “Animal World” at The National Museum of Scotland
It’s no secret that I don’t like traditional dioramas. But apparently I do like it when it looks like traditional dioramas have exploded and scattered animals throughout the exhibit. I like it a lot. Last week I visited the National Museum of Scotland. And it was a lovely, if somewhat predictable, experience until I got…
