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W
hat does it mean to foster a
“convivial” museum? Co-
authors Kathleen McLean
and Wendy Pollock have answered that
question masterfully in The Convivial
Museum, a book that every museum
worker should keep on a shelf nearby
(or better yet, in the bag or briefcase you
carry with you to work).
I found the book interesting from both
a visual and structural standpoint.
Rather than ticking through a checklist
of convivial “dos and don’ts,” Pollock
and McLean have instead packed their
book with evocative black and white
photographs as well as short text passages
and quotations that serve as landmarks
rather than mile markers to contemplate
along the road to more convivial
museums. (Here each picture is certainly
worth a thousand words!)
The Convivial Museum begins with
a discussion of conviviality itself,
then moves into broader sections of
“Welcome,” “Comfort,” “Being Alive
Together,” and “Convivial Practice.”
Each one of these main sections addresses
key components of conviviality in the form
of “Entry” or “Seating,” as aspects of
“Comfort,” for example. Every page offers
words and images to help you consider
(and reconsider) your own notions of
conviviality in a museum context.
Early on in the book, the description of
a dinner party effectively helps illuminate
ingredients of a convivial social experience
—making people feel welcome and
comfortable, and seeding interesting
conversations. This social/food analogy
is a good one since it emphasizes sharing
and finding ways to entertain and delight
guests. It sets up the notion of allowing
museum visitors the time and space to
approach things in a way that makes
sense to them, to offer surprises, and to
reward contemplation. This rather than
setting visitors trudging along a path
of knowledge in between paying their
admission fees and exiting through the
gift shop.
So what sorts of things make for a more
“convivial” museum? Let’s take a brief
walk through some of the key aspects
that McLean and Pollock highlight in
their book.
Welcome
Let’s start with “Welcome,” the place
where every museum visit begins, even
before you walk through the front door.
As The Convivial Museum indicates,
a museum with legible signs on nearby
highways, a ramp for strollers and
wheelchairs, a clear entrance, is truly open
to all. There are thoughtful nuggets to
consider here: Christopher Alexander says
that if a grand museum building is not
thoughtfully oriented to its surroundings,
it will become “socially isolated, because
you have to cross a no-man’s land to get
to it.” This is followed up with a series of
images showing a variety of approaches
to museums, both inside and out. While
all these physical welcome sequences are
different, they are all accessible with clear
signage and orientation.
Ways to soften the often monumental
stairs and entrances of the classical
“Temple of the Muses” approach are
featured in the “Welcome” section as
well: a long bench in front of the sidewalk
entrance to the Tenement Museum, or
entrance doors for cyclists during “Bike
Book Review:
Reviewed
by Paul Orselli
The Convivial Museum
Paul Orselli is President and Chief
Instigator of Paul Orselli Workshop
(POW!). He may be contacted at
paul@orselli.net..
If you would like to comment
on this article or others in this
issue, please log on to the NAME
listserv at http://groups.yahoo.
com/group/NAME-AAM/.
Kathleen McLean and Wendy
Pollock. (2010). The Convivial
Museum. Washington,
DC: Association of Science
Technology-Centers.
Paperback. 138 images.200
pages. $22/$17 for ASTC
members.
E X H I B I T I O N I S T S P R I N G ‘ 1 2
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Night” at the Minneapolis Institute of
Arts. There are no “right answers” or
dreaded “best practices” here, just good
ideas to pick and choose and adapt.
Comfort
Next we follow the convivial path to
consider the importance of “Comfort”
in a museum-going experience. How do
you make everyone in your museum, from
senior citizen to babe in arms, feel “at
home”? No small task, but it is surprising
how often simple elements, like seating,
are glossed over, or worse, deliberately
eliminated from museum spaces. The call
to arms (or bottoms) in this section of The
Convivial Museum may well be “more
places to sit, please!”
No matter how well designed an
exhibition space may be, or how carefully
cultivated the “vibe” of a particular
institution, McLean and Pollock rightfully
point out that no single space, however
well designed, will meet the needs and
preferences of everyone. So another
takeaway from the section on “Comfort”
might be to emphasize the need to vary or
even change up the rhythms and types of
spaces, even within the same institution.
These types of possible variations are
explored through words and images that
ask the reader to consider where concepts
such as “Ambience,” “Light,” and
“Sound” fit into the convivial mix. It is
interesting to consider how much emphasis
museums and exhibit designers may focus
on lighting while often being deaf to the
cacophony inside exhibitions that detracts
from the overall experience.
Being Alive Together
In the final broad section of The Convivial
Museum, the authors take up the social
construct of museum experiences, the
notion of “Being Alive Together.” As
McLean and Pollock posit:
It is not enough to bring people
together. There are plenty of places
where people congregate, socialize,
and talk. Convivial museums deepen
the conversation and foster a genuine
meeting of minds by offering up some
third thing as a focus of common
interest or concern. p105.
In a way, this part of The Convivial
Museum asks the reader to move back
and forth (like a visitor) between the
“active” experiences and objects in the
galleries, to the “interstitial” spaces like
lounges and cafes that hold the entire
convivial experience together. How can
we encourage active participation or deep
contemplation in our museums, but still
offer places for a “time out”? There is lots
of good stuff to consider here.
Convivial Practice
The Convivial Museum ends with a coda
of sorts, by offering up its final section,
entitled “Convivial Practice.” And here
Pollock and McLean help us consider,
and wrestle with, aspects of museum and
exhibition practice that might well be
“baked in” challenges to conviviality, like
the notion of admission. If we as a field are
truly willing to consider Elaine Gurian’s
premise that “... general admission charges
are the single greatest impediment to
making our museums fully accessible...”
(2006) what do we do about it? How do
we unspool or recast a huge institutional
and cultural notion to become more
truly convivial? Again there are no clear
prescriptions here, but there are examples
and thoughts to help us consider such
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roadblocks (or merely speed bumps?) on
the road to more convivial museums.
The section on “Convivial Practice” ends
by acknowledging one of the primary
difficulties in becoming a more convivial
practitioner, or of helping to foster or
create more convivial museums: running
out of time. While every museum job
description seemingly includes the phrase,
“and other duties as required...,” The
Convivial Museum asks us to step back
from our sometimes overwhelming
quantitative concerns and to slow down,
try things out, and talk things over. In
our headlong rush to “keep our numbers
up” we need to acknowledge that the
qualitative aspects of our jobs and
institutions are essential as well.
The Convivial Museum is very much a
work that asks you to take the time to
consider these qualitative properties of
our museums. This book makes you think
and ponder. Like a satisfying museum
experience, it sets the stage carefully for
contemplation and rewards your patience
and consideration. Pollock and McLean
help you remember the types of museum
experiences that got you into this business
in the first place. And what could be more
convivial than that?
References:
Gurian, E. (2006). Civilizing the
museum. New York: Routledge,
127. Quoted p. 161 in Mclean &
Pollock.
(continued from page 89)
