Exploratorium: experimental design spaces

Museums have a mission to educate and inform their visiting public. How museums achieve this goal is a disputed practice. While many museums have education departments and utilize research and development as a part of understanding how their visitor base interacts with their exhibitions, many museums do not employ the interactive spaces that the Exploratorium uses. 

The Exploratorium in San Francisco, CA calls itself a "museum of science, art, and human perception" immediately setting itself apart from science museums across the country. 

http://www.exploratorium.edu/

The Exploratorium, located in the Marina District in SF

Museum floor space

Designed to ultimately be recycled, the Exploratorium's exhibit interactives are consistently changing to not only reflect ongoing experiments in the museum but also reflects what the visiting public wishes to see. Visitors are encouraged to contribute to the overall design and experience at the museum. The museum places the utmost importance on the visitor and the experience not only through the exhibitions but also through public programming. Such programming includes as Research and Development laboratory which is open to the public, The Learning Studio, an interdisciplinary workshop for artists, scientists and innovators, and weekly events scheduled for the visitor in mind. 

Visitors enjoying a perception exhibit

Through experimental spaces, visitors not only experience an exhibit but they become a part of it for a brief time. Most of the interactives at the Exploratorium only function with visitor participation either through the use of physical or mental interaction. One of the more interesting exhibit spaces is called the Tactile Dome, a maze in complete darkness. It's main feature are walls filled with different textures making visitors use their sense of touch to finish the maze. Created in 1971, the Tactile Dome is one of the museum's most successful and high-in-demand exhibit spaces. 

So what does this suggest? We all know that the visitor-centered model is more successful with museum visitors; acknowledging visitor important in not only good for the museum, it's crucial for its' future. Should all museums be in constant change, allowing for visitors to affect museum structure or space? Is this even a feasible option for most museums? What is the lesson that non-science based museums can take away from the Exploratorium? 

Artist Collaboratives: Integrated Spaces

Artist collaboratives can provide the materials, space, and energy necessary to create and install an exhibition in sometimes atypical gallery spaces. But what about a museum led by an artist collaborative? These spaces can not only provide the exhibition space for new artists, but also the community, materials, and even inspiration needed to produce art. Like store-front museums, artist collaboratives can become community-based and participatory in nature, especially when collaboratives open their doors to the public. Art classes, gallery openings and other events create a space which is not only accessible but enjoyable for many people who may feel alienated by the art world. 

Elsewhere Collaborative located in Greensboro, North Carolina is doing just this. Started as thrift store by Sylvia Gray, Elsewhere became a "living museum" in 2003. Emphasizing the transitory nature of objects and space, the Elsewhere Collaborative allows for visiting artists and residents to explore the "collection" and utilize found artifacts into their artwork. 

http://elsewhereelsewhere.org/

Inside the space at Elsewhere Collaborative

The living museum allows for visitors to interact with artwork, objects, and enjoy performance based installations. The collaborative also hosts neighborhood programs based in the museum; preservation groups seek to maintain the historic downtown of Greensboro and farmers' cooperatives offer local residents a food sharing program. 

Materials for use at the collaborative

More materials at the collaborative

From the outset, the Elsewhere Collaborative may seem like a cluttered space harboring junk. But I believe that this space is more than that; its a return to the cabinet of curiosities and the original purpose of a museum space: to share information. The Elsewhere Collaborative is providing a location for people to come together for multiple purposes. Not only are people enjoying the art created out of the shared materials from the collaborative, the space is used for book talks, poetry readings, and walking tours to name a few. 

Are these types of spaces sustainable? 

Online Museums

Museums are not only physical spaces. They can live on the internet as well. Like physical museums, online museums provide information to its' visitors via curated exhibitions and "online" installations; links to other sites and built up online pages provide additional information in ways similar to physical museums. Online museums are extremely accessible; because of their location on the internet, anyone who has access to a computer and the internet can become a potential museum visitor, widening the pool of visitors to anyone around the world on the web. And because of the potential for zero space limitations, online museums can constantly grow, adding more information and pages while simultaneously increasing their visitor base.

The first example I wish to discuss is the International Museum of Women. Originally a physical museum site called the Women's Heritage Museum, the International Museum of Women as it exists now was created in 2006 with the launching of its' first online exhibit "Imagining Ourselves: A Global Generation of Women." The museum's mission is dedicated to social and cultural change in regards to women and with its' international lens, focuses on women's rights across the globe.
http://www.imow.org/home/index

While the museum mostly exists online, they also coordinate with local organizations to plan events. Currently, the I.M.O.W. has a photography exhibit hosted by Millis College in the Bay Area. This presents an interesting example of how museums can (and should) reach out to other local organizations to foster a sense of community. The museum also provides a space where their visitors can connect, providing an online meeting space in lieu of a physical one. In many instances, people are more likely to reach out to fellow visitors when they are protected in the spaces of their home.

My second example is The Alternative Museum (TAM). TAM, like the International Museum of Women, began as a physical museum in NYC.

TAM's original gallery space

Check out The Alternative Museum's website below:

http://www.alternativemuseum.org/index.html

In 2000, TAM closed its' doors and transitioned to an online museum. While the museum's main mission is to serve as an archive for TAM's previous exhibitions, it also is host to several online exhibitions. TAM sees itself as the wave of the future of museum practice and states on their site that TAM wishes to keep up with the globalization of technology. Currently, there are eight exhibitions on display on TAM's website, ranging from photography to multi-media art. Arguably it is difficult to compete with seeing art in person and online museums undoubtedly confront this fact often. But it's no wonder that online museums have been created over time; their accessibility, relatively zero space limitations, and ability to coordinate public events for their local communities make online museums extremely well-rounded.

Can store-fronts be the new wave of museum exhibition?

How a museum conceives of its' spacial boundaries is important when discussing accessibility to the public. Is your institution large-a landmark statement? Does its' physical appearance encourage people to visit? How do people feel once they hand a ticket over and walk in your doors? Are they overwhelmed? All museums, large and small should ask themselves these questions when looking a how accessible their space is to visitors. While larger organizations can easily be accused of distancing the visitor, smaller museums can also make similar mistakes.

But what if we take the museum out of the context in which we know it? What if museums weren't the hallowed spaces in which we have always been taught? 

Imagine a museum in the storefront next to your favorite coffee shop, down the street from the grocery store and across the road from the dry cleaners. Would the space in which it inhabits make you frequent it more often simply because of its' accessibility? 

Store-front museums and exhibitions exist precisely in this way. They reside in a storefront, operated by an institution and are examples of a localized community effort to bring the museum experience back to the neighborhood and to the people. Many of the store-front museums I have come across are run by people who are passionate about the participation and inclusion of local voices and characters. They are community spaces for the people, by the people. 

My first example is the Denver Community Museum based in Colorado. Although this museum is officially closed, its' legacy lives on.

Visitors at the "Bottled Up" exhibition

Community curated show "Bottled Up"

http://www.denvercommunitymuseum.org/

Located in a storefront in downtown Colorado, museum exhibitions were curated by the local community and changed monthly. Based on "Challenges" presented by the museum, people submitted objects and creations which fit the monthly topic. Above is a picture of the community curated exhibition "Bottled Up" which asked participants to place things which they would like to preserve in a bottle such as experiences, memories, notes, pictures, etc.

Whats so interesting and unique about the Denver Community Museum is that no only is it in a store-front, participatory museum but it also only lasted for a year. On purpose. Although this could open up an entire new conversation about museum purpose and longevity, one has to wonder if this is a new type of museum model, one which has a short term mission and goal.

My second example is the Chinese Cultural Center in San Francisco, California.

Inside the gallery space at the Chinese Cultural Center

 http://www.c-c-c.org/

Located in the Hilton Hotel on the edges of Chinatown, the Chinese Cultural Center (CCC) sits in a unique space. Because of its' location inside of the hotel, many of its' visitors are people from out of town visiting the city. While this provides new visitors the opportunity to be exposed to Chinese culture in the city before the venture out of the confines of the hotel, this presents a problem to many of the local residents. In an effort to reach out to one of the largest Chinese/Chinese-American communities in the United States, the CCC holds exhibits, parades, and public events in the local community, specifically the storefronts of Chinatown which surround the hotel.

Above, artist Ken Lo in front of his store front installation "Lucky Feet, Happy Shoes" as a part of the Present Tense Biennial exhibition

While the CCC has a permanent home in the Hilton Hotel, store-front installations allow for more direct access to the local Chinese Community, what the CCC was originally created for. The CCC in some ways has garnered more attention from locals through this effort; it is slowly becoming a place where people from the community can visit and participate in ways that were not happening before the storefront exhibitions.

Well, what do you think? Are store-front museums, installations and exhibitions the new wave of the future? Or is it simply a fad?

Mobile museums

When asked the question "what is a museum?" most people would probably first respond with traditional notions of space; they would perhaps discuss how museums are places where one physically visits to see art or a new blockbuster exhibit. The idea of a museum coming to the visitor, of setting up shop in one's neighborhood, local library, even school, is something so far out of the realm of possibilities for many people. But it can happen...and does! Mobile museums are great ways of getting traditional collecting and exhibiting techniques out to the masses that may not otherwise have access to large and sometimes intimidating spaces. Furthermore, mobile museums reach out to the local community, not only asking for their attendance but sometimes even their active participation.

The San Francisco Mobile Museum is a mobile museum based in San Francisco, California and describes itself as an "experimental platform...[which] plays with short-run exhibits that appear in store fronts, parks and social spaces."

SF Mobile Museum in Dolores Park in San Francisco 

SF Mobile Museum is not only physically movable but also stresses the participatory nature of its' existence. Calls for exhibit ideas as well as artistic submissions ask the public, the local San Franciscan community, to contribute to the creation of a new exhibit.

Check it out.

http://sfmobilemuseum.org/
http://sfmobilemuseum.blogspot.com/

Mobile museums are not only vehicles to get a museum-esque experience out to those who may not be able to access individual institutions, but they also provide a platform for people who wish to get alternative views, such as historical vantage points, out.

My next example, the Black History 101 Mobile Museum, provides access to black history in the form of historical objects exhibited in a mobile trailer. Khalid El-Hakim, founder of the Black History 101 Museum, was a former educator in the public school system in Detroit, MI who felt that history classes did not offer his students a balanced perspective on American history. In an effort to fix this problem, he has collected approximately 1500 objects and artifacts relevant to black history and eventually founded the mobile museum. He now takes the museum all over the country to people and places interested in his work; from college campuses to small rural communities, El-Hakim is making sure the message of his museum is loud and clear.

Founder El-Hakim with the mobile museum 

Inside the mobile museum during the Hip Hop exhibition 

Here's a video of an exhibit at the University of Michigan using the Black History 101's artifacts:



Here's an article about the hip-hop exhibit which he put on in the museum as well as a little more information on the museum's founding.

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.8410/title.black-history-101-mobile-museum-readies-tour-hip-hop

http://www.thegreenmagazine.com/content/facing-the-past?page=0,0

Can these mobile museums be spaces of learning, sharing, and exhibiting like traditional museums? Or is this a passing trend, something popular in current practice?