Events

Museum Matchmaking

Unless you have been living under a rock, you are probably aware that tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. If you’re still wondering where to take your long-time love or new romantic interest, might we suggest skipping the fancy restaurant and heading to your local museum instead? Even if you’re single, museums around the world are offering up unique and fun ways to couple up this Valentine’s Day. Here are five examples…

1) Find Your Fish in the Sea at the London AquariumWhat goes better than a free glass of prosecco and some cute penguins? Well, perhaps a free bottle of prosecco, but that’s just being greedy. Anyway, fly solo or grab a friend and head to the London Aquarium tomorrow night for some food, drinks, and sea life. While the marine blue lighting from the habitats may not be as soft as candlelight, you might still find love alongside the jellyfish.

2) Getting Naked at the Getty
Watson Adventures is a company that provides fun and challenging scavenger hunts at museums across the country—I know because I’ve hosted a few of them myself. This weekend, build a team of up to six people—call it a triple date if you want—and head to the Getty Museum for a Nude Scavenger Hunt. Don’t worry, you can keep your clothes on, only the paintings will be naked. Not in L.A.? No worries, Nude Scavenger Hunts are also happening at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Met in New York, San Francisco’s Legion of Honor Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and at the American Art Museum and National Gallery in Washington D.C.

3) Meet Your Missed Connections at the Museum of Transport
There you are on the New York Subway, biding your time on your morning commute, when suddenly your soul mate appears. Too bad they exit at the next stop and you are just another missed connection in the big city. Well, the Museum of Transport is making an effort to reconnect you this Valentine’s Day at their Missed Connections Party in Brooklyn.

4) Let Your iPhone Be Your Guide
Want to keep things simple between you and your sweetheart? Why not download the Art Institute of Chicago’s free iPhone app and let custom theme tours like “Loves Me/Loves Me Not” or “First Date” guide you through the museum’s more romantic paintings?

5) Study the Science of Attraction at the California Academy of Sciences
Valentine’s Day just happens to coincide with San Francisco Beer Week this year, so some of the best Bay Area microbreweries will be providing the refreshments at the California Academy of Sciences’ Valentine’s event tonight. Also on tap? The museum will be exploring the science of cravings, so between crafts and cups of beer you can learn about animal or celestial attraction, try out some beer and chocolate pairings, and even hear some scientific love stories.

The Digital Museum

Overly Serious Need Not Apply: An Interview with the Ministry of Curiosity

Ah, your first job at a museum. It can be overwhelming, exhilarating, confusing, and rewarding. For Kristin Hussey and Terri Dendy, their first jobs at London’s Science Museum led to the blossoming of a beautiful friendship based on a mutual love of hazmat suits and an abiding interest in the quirky world of museum workers to which they now belonged. Though Kristin and Terri now work in different museums, their partnership lives on in the form of the Ministry of Curiosity, an entertaining blog—and informative resource—that shines a spotlight on the lively and innovative London museum community. Now, the Ministry ladies have stopped by Museumist to discuss perceptions of museum employees, tricks for staying on top of the London museum scene, and even the power of a pub visit.

To start things off, how did you two meet? How did you decide to start the Ministry of Curiosity?

Kristin: Terri and I met working together in the stores of the Science Museum. She was probably wearing a full hazmat suit, I was probably wheeling a trolley full of Victorian chemicals—it was love at first sight. There was a group of us that started around the same time so we all become quite close—for most of us it was our first paid museum job. You form a really strong bond with other young people struggling to get into the sector.

It was actually Terri that came up with the idea for the Ministry, or as we were first called, the Curiosity Collective. We were always so busy meeting up with our museum friends for exhibitions or events, and then heading for a drink to discuss all the crazy things our jobs involved. It seemed like there was a lack of a forum for museum people that was more about socializing and having fun. Terri had a great idea for a blog that was reviews, but from an insider’s perspective, combined with comment pieces about cake, fashion and whatever else we were interested in. I had some blogging experience and she asked me to join her as a partner! We both agreed that we wanted to do something that was fun and irreverent, basically just not what people were expecting from a museum blog.

Terri: We decided to start The Ministry of Curiosity as a resource for ourselves and our close network. We found that sites like Time Out and Londonist were not providing as much information about London’s museums as we craved. To find out about events we were trawling through each institution’s event pages, rummaging through old emails, and hopefully trying to get a spot on sold out events. So, we decided to make our own listings focusing on adult-friendly evening events and blogging about our museum-centric life.

In your Ministry Manifesto, you note that you hope to change current perceptions about those working in museums. What sort of perceptions do you think negatively influence an outsider’s view of the museum world? What ones positively influence them?

Terri: The usual negative perception that we encounter, and our favorite one to rebuff, is that all museum workers are barmy male curators. In fact, the London museum industry is really a strong workforce of young creative women, and working with museum collections no longer means that you are a curator. With larger collections, stricter rules, and long-term preservation plans, a range of roles now replace what was once the job of a curator, which leaves curators more time to research collections and publish material. Documenting, moving, and storing the collection are now the cogs of the larger museum’s machine.

Museumist: As for the barmy bit?

Terri: We can’t deny that being a bit barmy is a stereotype of museum professionals, but I think that this is really a positive perception and hopefully one that is starting to work in our favour. We are all a bit quirky and creativity is something that museums need to indulge in to encourage different ways of interpreting and accessing collections.

Kristin: Films are probably the biggest culprit in giving people the wrong idea about museum people. We are not all crazy old men with frizzy hair covetously stroking our objects and hiding from the public. Well, most of us aren’t anyway. The unfortunate thing is that a lot of what we do for work we aren’t aloud to talk about with the general public, which perpetuates this idea that museum staff are superior and insular. I wish we could get it out there that museum people are fun, enthusiastic and love talking about their work. My experience in the museum world has been one of openness and a desire to share, even if some things have to stay secret for security reasons.

In terms of positive influence, right now museums are enjoying an enormous change in how there are viewed as social space as a result of things like Lates. It’s so fantastic that museums are starting to be seen as places with cool events for young professionals since it starts to change the associations people have with art or history. When I introduce myself as a curator most people’s response is positive, even if they don’t necessarily understand what I do. I used to find saying ‘I work at the Science Museum’ to be a great pick-up line.

What do you think the London museum community is doing particularly well? Where is there room for improvement?

Kristin: I think what the London museum community does so well is exactly that—it’s a very strong community of people. If you go to any of the events you will often see the same people, particularly social media-keen people who have become friends. I think London’s museum staff are really supportive of each other—we do our best to try and go along to our friends’ events and promote for them. Museum people work incredibly hard for little reward, so it’s fantastic that everyone is always there for everyone else.

Terri: I think the London museum community is leading a cultural change in how museum spaces are used. By attending Lates or adult-focused lectures, we are moving away from institutions [being seen as only] child-friendly or research-based. Museums are now places where adults can drink, play, and learn in a sort of post-university Student Union. Young adults are becoming an essential target audience.

Kristin: If there is room for improvement I would say it’s in being more open about criticism. I don’t think loving museums and having something critical to say about an exhibition or an event are mutually exclusive. Perhaps it’s exactly because you know how hard someone worked on something that the community in general tends to be overly nice about things. I think well-meaning criticism can make for even better events in the future. I just wish we could have a more open dialogue about what museums are doing both right and wrong, without worrying about offending funders or seeming to be unsupportive of institutions who are doing their best in tough times.
Your blog strives to keep its finger on the pulse of the London museum scene, have any tricks for how you personally keep on top all that’s on offer?

Kristin: Probably best to let Terri answer this one—she is the events genius! Clearly Twitter is helpful and we’ve built up such a great community now that people tend to come to us with events they’d like included. We also look the normal places you might expect—Time Out, newsletters. Personally I’ve found it’s just that we are always on the look out for things that we’d like to do with our friends and we put those up.

Terri: Ha, I’m no events genius! But, I do strive to keep our finger on the pulse and regularly update the calendar of events with interesting activities across the capital. Following our blog and reading our daily updates on Twitter will probably keep you pretty involved in the community. Our calendar is not completely comprehensive, but it is one of the most focused listings for London museums that I’m aware of.  

What is your favorite space or room in a London museum, and what is the best time of day/time of year to be in that place?

Terri: There is so much to choose from but I suppose I find the Tanks and the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern the most evocative space. I love spending a late evening after a walk along the Southbank just sitting in the Turbine Hall. Its industrial history makes it a really intimidating space and I love to feel so surrounded by emptiness in one of the leading tourist destinations. I’m really looking forward to the re-opening of the Tanks, Tate 2 and the Hyundai series in the Turbine Hall next year—although I disagree with corporate sponsorship in Museums!

Kristin: The Cast Courts in the V&A and whenever they open them again! I remember one of my first ever trips to London visiting them and being so inspired I actually wrote a paper on them for my MA. There’s something so amazing about the enormous vaulted rooms full of replicas of the world’s most famous monuments. It’s what I love about the Victorians—the audacity of thinking they could just collect the entire world for themselves. Now everything is jumbled together—different periods and nationalities pushed up against each other. It feels like the garage of a great museum—the stuff they don’t want anymore. That’s not true, of course, since now there is a renewed interest in the plaster casts and replicas in museums, but certainly in the past they were unloved. The Cast Courts are closed at the moment for redevelopment, but they are reopening sometime soon, the site says Winter 2014. I’ll be back there as soon as I can! I imagine they’d be lovely and cool in the summer.

You might say that London is a museum in and of itself, where is your favorite place to go and experience the history and culture of the city that is not in a museum?

Kristin: I would definitely agree that London is a museum in itself, and sometimes it’s the walk to the exhibition or the drink after that’s more interesting from a historic perspective. For example, if we are going to an exhibition at the Museum of London I like to walk via St Paul’s, Bart’s and the Barbican, maybe stop off for a chat at one of the great pubs! Personally my favourite spot in London is Highgate Cemetery. I love to take people there and talk their ear off about industrial London, body snatching, the Magnificent Seven Cemeteries and Victorian mourning customs while strolling through the beautiful gravesites. When the weather is warmer the park is a great place to lounge in the grass and feel like you are out of the city.

Terri: A pub! Any London pub tells you so much about the social history of the city; each one chain or independent has its own story to tell, and to find it out, all you have to do is walk in, buy a drink, and have a chat. They are little pockets of social history, culture, and community situated on the corner of every street in London. Crystal Palace is another great place to go and experience the history and culture of the city. The Great Exhibition of 1851 was a such a pivotal point in the history of museums and consumerism. When the Crystal Palace moved to the Sydenham Hill, it further inspired collectors like Frederick John Horniman. Standing on the spot where it once stood and seeing the remnants of something so vital to our cultural history is both sad and inspiring.  

What exhibition are you most looking forward to in 2014?

Terri: London has a lot of blockbusters coming up this year. But, I’m really looking forward to the wedding dresses exhibition at the V&A. Their fashion exhibitions can be a bit predictable, but I expect this one will be a really interesting look at the history of a cultural norm. And, hopefully, I can get some inspiration for myself!

I’m also excited to see Matisse at Tate Modern. It’s going to be interesting to have Nicholas Serota—the Director of Tate—curating an exhibition. His reputation for curating and his ability to guess the exact measurements between works precede him. It will be remarkable to finally see his vision for such a prolific artist.

Kristin: I’m excited to see the Sensing Spaces exhibition at the Royal Academy. I think it’s a pretty bold move to do a blockbuster style architecture exhibition. I’ve been to architectural shows in the past and I get really easily bored with all the intricate drawings—maybe I have a short attention span! The RA is doing away with that idea completely and instead they have made a very physical exhibition. It’s great to see such a generally austere institution doing something really innovative.

In one of your recent posts, you mention that while you often visit exhibitions together, you rarely review them together. Why is this? And why did you make an exception for the Cheapside Hoard?

Kristin: I wish I could say there was some sort of really interesting reason for this, but honestly it’s because of how much work running the Ministry is. I don’t think either of us could possibly do it alone—divide and conquer is our motto. We both work full-time museum jobs and do our blogging at night or at the weekends, so it helps to share the work. We’ll usually meet up on a weekend to visit an exhibition, write and scheme.

We decided to make an exception for the Cheapside Hoard because there was just so much to say about it. When we were discussing it afterwards, our ideas were wandering pretty broadly between content and design, so we decided we would each pick one aspect to write about. It was quite fun to do actually because Terri has a background as a technician and I’m a curator so it was good to break the mould of what we normally look for in exhibitions. Plus, we thought it would be interesting to see if people can normally tell who is writing what since we don’t credit the pieces we write alone.

Terri:  The Ministry is something that we do in our spare time. Although we do spend most of our lives working in museums, reading about museums or nattering to anyone who is interested about museums, producing content can sometimes be a daunting task. We aim to at least post one article a week, and to share the load we take it in turns to write up our opinion on a current exhibition. However, the Cheapside Hoard left us with so much to say, the content and design of the show was staggering and we both felt so passionately about it that we decided to combine our thoughts into one post.

Anything else you’d like to share about the Ministry of Curiosity, working in museums, or the London museum scene? 

Kristin: There are two reasons why I am particularly proud of the Ministry. Firstly, it’s the people we have met that have made the blog so fantastic. We have lots of guest contributors who share their experiences in the sector and their talents to make the blog more diverse. Conservators, archivists, curators, and academics—we are always up for collaboration and giving people a place to have their say. As well as our contributors, we also have an amazing circle of friends like the Museums Showoff team, the Horniman crew and so many others that support us. It feels really special to be a part of.

Secondly, I feel really lucky that Terri and I are still such good friends and that we have been able to continue making the blog what we want it to be. We started the blog to be fun and I think we still manage to achieve that even as it’s become more successful and put a greater stain on our time. It would have been very easy to let the Ministry become something that’s stressful or something we felt we were expected to do. It’s amazing to have that sort of collaboration between us so we stay true to ourselves and what we want the blog to be. As we say in the Manifesto, the overly serious need not apply.

Marketing

One-Stop Super Bowl Swap

Yesterday, Sunday, February 2nd, I went to work at a museum. It was a free day, and the museum was humming with new visitors, musical performances, and that giddy buzz that comes with an unexpectedly warm day in an otherwise cold winter. In spite of all of that excitement, I felt kind of alone: isn’t anyone else here excited for the Super Bowl?

I suppose I should preface my next statement with a disclaimer, so here goes—**WARNING: Blanket Generalization to Follow**—but, when it comes to museums and cultural institutions, this is generally not a community overflowing with ardent sports fans. However, even if a fair few museum employees remain uninterested in the difference between first downs and field goals, an increasing number of museums are happy to embrace the spirit of competition that comes with one of America’s greatest sporting events. What began in 2010 as a friendly wager between the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the New Orleans Museum of Art—whose respective teams were facing off in that year’s Super Bowl—has now become a four-year-old tradition: when it comes to the Super Bowl, not only is one team going home with a trophy, but their hometown museum is too.

This year, the Super Bowl Art Swap participants were the Seattle Art Museum and the Denver Art Museum. The collection items up for exchange? A Japanese painted screen with a soaring eagle versus a Frederick Remington bronze sculpture of a bucking bronco. Since the Seattle Seahawks demolished the Denver Broncos in last night’s Super Bowl, visitors to SAM should stop by and say hello to the cowboy and his steed in the very near future. But, as lovely as these two pieces of art are, why is it that only the art museums are getting in the Super Bowl betting action?

Here are three Seattle-Denver museum matchups that could have laid an artifact on the line:

1) Flight Fight: The Museum of Flight and the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum
Between Seattle’s Boeing history and Colorado’s affiliation with the U.S. Air Force, these cities’ respective flight museums would have been perfect Super Bowl Swap contenders. Obviously swapping large aircraft would be difficult, but both museums possess smaller items of great significance to the story of the skies. For instance, the Museum of Flight could have offered up the mail bag from the first U.S. Air Mail flight.

2) What’s Mine is Yours: Klondike Gold Rush Museum and the Denver Museum of Nature & Science
Seattle was the launch point for thousands of prospectors heading north to find riches in the Klondike Gold Rush and Colorado is rich in mining history and lore. So, why not put the pickaxes on the line? I’m sure visitors to the Klondike Gold Rush Museum would be thrilled with a temporary loan of Tom’s Baby, an eight-pound gold nugget from Colorado’s mining heyday that is part of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science’s permanent collection.

3) A Historic Wager: Museum of History and Industry and the History Colorado Center
Both towns share a Wild West history, so surely their history museums would be ideal betting partners. Perhaps the History Colorado Center would have wagered their sculpture of Denver’s famous “Barrel Man” so closely associated with the city’s sports-loving ways? And MOHAI has a few artifacts in their collection pertaining to the city’s beleaguered sports teams that could have been offered up for exchange.

What art or artifacts would you have offered up for the Super Bowl Swap?

 

Staff

Out of the Ordinary Museum Jobs: Animals Edition

The museum world is full of crazy jobs, of which the following four are just a sample. If you have an odd, crazy, unusual, quirky, or rare museum job to add to the list, send us an email or let us know in the comments below.

Groundhog Relocation Group Member

The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is nestled into the wilds of the Ozarks. While it would seem that having a world-renowned art collection surrounded by the majesty of nature would be an ideal museum setup, all was not well in Arkansas. When one furry native confused the line between green grass and green roof, the Trails and Grounds Crew at the museum had a problem on their hands. However, a solution presented itself in the formation of the Groundhog Relocation Group. The GRG began to woo the groundhog from its burrow atop the museum roof: bouquets of flowers, fruit, and—every lover’s favorite gift—lettuce, until they finally managed to trap the rascally fellow and relocate him to a more distant portion of the surrounding woods. However, lest you think that being a member of the GRG was a temporary position, other groundhogs have continued to appear on the museum’s roof—most likely because they heard people were giving away delicious lettuce—and require relocation.

Chief Curiosity Correspondent

Let’s be honest. More museums should consider adding this position to their payroll. But, until that happens, Emily Graslie at Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History seems to be a shining example of how beneficial a Chief Curiosity Correspondent can be for an institution. Over the last year, Emily has been hosting a YouTube show—BrainScoop—that takes virtual visitors behind the scenes at the Field and, as her title suggests, attempts to inspire scientific curiosity in her viewers.

Gila Monster Teeth Cleaner

Apparently aging lizards—like the Woodland Park Zoo’s gila monster—have issues with gum disease. I would guess that having the ability to secrete venom in your mouth does a number on the gums, but I will be the first to admit that I have zero knowledge about the oral hygiene of lizards, venomous or otherwise. Whatever the cause, gila monsters need some help keeping their pearly whites healthy. Enter the zoo’s resident gila monster teeth cleaner. Armed with a small toothbrush—and a rather docile lizard—this animal lover has his patient on the way to a gingivitis free mouth in no time at all. Guess even monsters like that fresh-from-the-dentist feeling.

Museum Beetle

Now, this is one job that is nearly impossible for you to get, because, well, if you’re human you’re unqualified. For this job you would need to be a beetle, specifically a dermestid—or flesh-eating—beetle. The dermestid feeds and breeds on dead animal flesh, which makes them the ideal creatures for cleaning skeletons in Natural History museum collections. There use in skeleton preparation is so common, that the dermestid is often referred to as a museum beetle. Their pay is minimal—like so many other museum employees out there—but their meals, room, and board are all included.

The Collection

The Frame Maker’s Art

A video from the New Yorker about fourth generation frame-maker Marcelo Bavaro:

The Frame Maker

Photo Gallery

Museum Instagram Roundup

Publications

What I’m Reading

1. This past week, Anna Dhody, Curator at Philadelphia’s Mutter Museum, did an Ask Me Anything on Reddit. Do you think this will catch on as a means of museum interaction? What question would you have asked?

2. Who’s watching who at the zoo? Who’s really on exhibit? Decide for yourself in this interesting, and brief, Dutch documentary filmed at an Amsterdam zoo in 1961.

3. Ah, and age-old question…Is Balthus the Crazy Cat Lady of of Modern Art?

4. As someone significantly more impressed with the outside of this church than the interior, I found this article a worthwhile exploration of whether or not Sagrada Familia should ever be completed.

5. Two stories came to my attention about loaning art to individuals and/or schools. The first: Britain launches a two-week experiment in art education by hanging an original masterwork in schools for a day. Second: Pittsburghians can now borrow art from the local library thanks to the Carnegie International and Transformazium.

Publications

Giveaway Winners Announced!

First off, thank you to everyone who participated in this contest. It was great to read your comments. Not only were they a peek at some wide-ranging artistic styles, but they also addressed the many reasons that people love art.

Now for the bad news. There can only be three winners. And they are…

1. Meg. Flemish Primitives for the win indeed!

2. Stacy Ryan. Mannerism and the rise of Kate Moss was a great comparison.

3. Denise. Though unable to pinpoint just one movement—tsk, tsk—she did reflect on how the way we feel about art changes as we change.

So, congratulations to the winners, I will be emailing you for further details about sending the book to you. As for the rest of Museumist readers, stay tuned, we’ll hopefully be offering up some more giveaways in the near future.

 

Publications

Reader Giveaway: Art That Changed the World

Museum lovers are spoiled for choice when it comes to books: reference books, coffee table books, histories, mysteries, tales of forgeries, explorations of art, science, and so much more. But, even though you think your bookshelf is full, I recommend that you find room for one more. Published by Dorling Kindersley—the same folks that publish the informative Eyewitness guide books that I use for traveling—Art That Changed the World is a comprehensive overview of the significant artistic works and movements that have transformed the way we experience art over time. In addition to being historically gratifying—timelines, helpful explanations, and special segments that help shine a light on the context in which certain works were created—the photographs in this book are a joy to look at as well.

I really enjoyed reading Art That Changed the World, and now I want to give you guys an opportunity to enjoy it too. As part of the first ever Museumist reader giveaway, I have three copies of Art That Changed the World to send out. Interested in winning one of these copies? All you have to do is tell me what your favorite artistic movement is and why in the comments below. You have until September 30th to submit your response. I apologize in advance to my international readers, but I have to restrict this giveaway to U.S. residents only. I would still love to hear from you in the comments below though. So, with that, let the great giveaway begin!

Development

Keeping Up With the Bones

“To learn more about Disease and Trauma, please dial the following number.” So reads one of exhibit panels at Philadelphia’s legendary Mutter Museum. Another asks visitors: “Why would you want a dried hand?” Why indeed? The answer provided didn’t seem entirely satisfactory. But, these textual offerings are all in line with the sign that greets you at the museum entrance…

The Mutter Museum, at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, is one of the world’s most fascinating medical history museums. Its purpose is to educate, to shine a light on not only the history of medicine, but also explain diagnosis, treatment, and the mysterious wonders of the human body. Its collection of anatomical specimens, medical instruments, and models are all displayed intimately in a traditional cabinet of curiosities arrangement. Highlights include a super-human-sized colon, shrunken heads, a model of a horn-like growth from a woman’s forehead, and tales of a 10-pound hairball removed from the stomach of someone with a prodigious follicular-appetite. All in all, the Mutter is disturbing, it is informative, it is morbidly fascinating, it is stomach turning, it is provocative, it is hideous, and it is beautiful. It certainly stands out among the other members of the museum world.

However, despite its uniqueness, the Mutter does have one thing in common with other museums: it needs to raise money for the upkeep of the collection. And, given the extreme competition for donation dollars in the non-profit world, that means it needs to get creative in its fundraising efforts. So, the museum decided to adopt. If zoo patrons can adopt a polar bear, and Art Institute of Chicago fans can adopt a dot from Seurat’s Sunday on La Grande Jatte, why can’t visitors to the Mutter Museum adopt something too? Enter the Hyrtl Skull Collection.

The Hyrtl Skull Collection consists of 139 skulls, which are over 150 years old and, as such, are in need of special care. They are an iconic component of the Mutter’s extensive collection, and, let’s face it, more likely to be adopted by a museum lover than a nausea-inducing jar of skin. Now through December 31—if you’re looking for a unique Christmas or Hanukkah gift, here you go—each skull is available for adoption for an annual subscription fee of $200. This money goes toward the conservation, research, and exhibition costs of each skull, and adopters will be identified as the proud patron of their skull in the Mutter Museum. A catalog of the Hyrtl Collection is available so that you can choose the skull that suits you best. Perhaps that is an unknown male from Amsterdam with turned up nasal bones, or the young fruit vendor Georg Prasnig who died in Vienna, or perhaps Orazio Trani—whose cause of death is unknown but his idiocy is apparently well established—is more your speed. Intrigued? Visit here for more information about adopting one of the Mutter Museum’s skulls.