Another must-see on my trip to Reykjavik was The National Museum of Iceland. We almost didn’t get to go, but am I ever glad we did. It was gorgeous, interesting, fun, and I may have tried to hide our suitcases so we’d miss our flight and I could go back again. And while I loved the museum…
I came across the fantastic Some Rules for Students and Teachers, by Sister Corita Kent. With a little modification, I think they’re quite perfect for museum work, too: Find a place (or story or visitors) you trust and then try trusting it for a while. General duties of a museum visitor: Pull everything out of a…
A two-week trip to Iceland filled me with love for the land of volcanoes, icebergs, elves, and chocolate-covered licorice. It also filled me with ideas. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing a mini Iceland-Inspiration series of clever ideas, interesting exhibits, and approaches to ponder. Enjoy! Let’s start at the very beginning, shall we?…
Freiburg’s Colombischlössle Archaeological Museum (or “The Colombi” for those of us who still can’t manage umlauts) has an amazing collection of artifacts from Freiburg’s history, from the Stone Age through the Romans and up to the Middle Ages. But there are two things at the museum that recently caught my eye. The first is the…
If you follow me on Twitter (cough…shameless plug…cough), you know that I recently spent a day in Switzerland, swimming in the Rhine. Or floating in the Rhine. Whatever. There was some kicking involved, so it totally counts. Have you done this? You should do this. It was heavenly to drift down the river, and so…
I’m not always the biggest fan of dioramas. For me, most have always been a little too dark, a little too static, and just never sparked my imagination the way they do for so many others. I appreciate dioramas. I value the role they play in museums, and I am in awe of the skill…
I’ve updated my blogroll to reflect all the blogs I’m majorly (and not-so-secretly) crushing on at the moment. Most of the new links are about museums (quelle surprise), but the sections on all-other-things-awesome (science, storytelling, thinkers, etc.) are growing. Check them out – nothing but stellar writers and ideas all the way. Do you have…
Clever interpretation is always awesome, and I never know where I’ll find it. Here are some of the signs, images, and labels that have captured my imagination lately. This week: old trees, trolleys, and gin. Strassenbahn, Freiburg, Germany: Everything is a work of art, from the paintings to the people in the frames to the…
How do you do interpretation? In exhibits? On panels? Labels, plaques, historic markers? Why don’t you ditch the traditional signage, go rogue, and… Take interpretation outside the museum? Into the community? To the streets, corners, and little back alleys? Ditch the engraved plaques in favor of slapdash signs? Handwritten? Collaged? In haiku? Decorated with copious…
How do people see images of your institution? Your website? Promotional flyers? Other people’s vacation photos? Are the images ordinary? Beautiful? Edgy? What mood, tone, and attitude do they convey? Is it the one you want? What if you design a museum lookbook and… Show off your museum from a new angle? Use evocative images to…
Museums Askew 