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 do love a good bit o’ interpretation. Here’s what I saw on a recent trip down the Rhine to Konstanz: A 3-Dimensional Map of the City’s “Altstadt” When I was there, almost every visitor who walked through the cathedral’s square was drawn to this map. The buildings are reproduced in detail, and it was…
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…
The caption in a Wikipedia article on Xoanon: Synthesizing the Lady of Ephesus as Diana Aventina: a Roman marble copy of a Greek replica of a lost Geometric period xoanon (18th-century engraving). An engraving of a copy of a replica of a sculpture. Apparently museums come by the tradition of reusing other people’s good ideas honestly. [Thanks to intrepid world-traveler Patricia Walker, who…
I can’t praise creating beautiful, emotive, unexpected, and fun text without referencing one of my favorite exhibits of all time: the Monterrey Bay Aquarium’s Jellies: Living Art. The exhibit’s now closed, but was it ever something amazing. Showcasing jelly species against paintings, sculptures, and scientific illustrations, the exhibit displayed jellies as pieces of art and wrote about art…
On a recent trip to Strasbourg, France, I ate all the chocolate. All of it. Almost as delightful as the “Praline au Beurre Sale” (omg, btw) at Thierry Mulhaupt Chocolatier was the text that accompanied my treats. Prepared to be amazed, amused, slightly confused, and generally delighted. (emphases by me) Contemplate the chocolate rocher, ponder over the…
Phylogenetic trees. I love you almost as much as dichotomous keys…almost. Like most charts and graphs, phyogenetic trees aren’t big interpretive hits in museums. The fault isn’t that the information is boring - evolution is about as amazing and awe-inspiring as it gets (for this bio-nerd, anyway). The problem is that the information is too interesting.…
Are you all subscribed to The Brain Scoop? Excellent, I thought so! This fantastic behind-the-scenes look into the Phillip L. Wright Zoological Museum is nostalgic for all of us who have actually used a brain scoop (ah, memories), and super-interesting for everyone else. An oldie but a goodie: Stuff Museum People Say. “Bleed away from…
I didn’t plan to, but I wrote an interpretive program for my wedding. For a day that involved military background checks, milkshakes, trivia competitions and a surprise pinata, it just seemed like a good idea. While most people know what to expect at a wedding, our was just different enough that guidelines and cues to…
