In a world where museums are struggling to remain relevant, it’s more important than ever to ensure that exhibitions are inclusive visual stories. This means that they should connect people to bigger ideas, provide a window into the dense research required when writing a history, and communicate socio-political messages as well. Often, this takes the form of metaphors, or other forms of creative visual poetry, rather than simply historical facts and dates presented in a linear format.
Whether the subject is a natural wonder like the stunning Mount Rushmore sculptures or a historic house, many museums use their collections to explore abstract ideas or themes that speak across cultures and generations. For example, exhibitions focusing on the themes of home, freedom, democracy, and social justice allow for explorations of cultural values that resonate with communities around the globe. Themes relating to rites of passage such as birth, death, marriage/union, and coming of age, also provide a wealth of opportunity for inclusion in the collections of museums and contribute to an exhibit’s ability to reach diverse audiences.
When interpreting a museum, it is essential to consider the audience in order to ensure that it is relevant to them. This can be done through the use of artifacts, as well as incorporating elements of the museum’s grounds or building into the experience of an exhibit. This is particularly true for historic buildings where the need to maintain an appropriate level of preservation can be a constraint.
One example is the Museum of Science and Industry’s exhibit “Evolution: A Universe of Change,” which features thousands of fossil specimens, sparkling gemstones, a massive 1,600-pound amethyst geode, and other fascinating objects from Earth’s past to explain why life on this planet has evolved as it has. The exhibits also explore how our own global warming is changing the environment and the ways we can make a difference to reduce fossil fuel emissions and protect species from extinction.
In a similar vein, the Van Natuur tot Kunst exhibitions in 1959 and 1960 challenged the standard fine arts museum approach by inviting contemporary artists who explored relationships between art and nature to show their work. For critic Jan Engelman, the exhibitions were “a wake-up call to an audience which was sleepwalking through life and the art museum” by introducing painters who worked with this concept of vitality. However, the exhibitions did not clearly define what this meant and was left up to interpretation. This led to confusion, with some viewers mistaking the work for an expression of abstract expressionism. Other visitors felt that the exhibition was too subjective, akin to Sandberg’s personal views on art, and not representative of the movement as a whole. In this way, the exhibit failed to achieve its intended purpose and served only to reinforce the status quo of the fine arts museum at that time. However, the resulting discussion around the exhibits did serve to highlight a growing tension between museums and the public over their role in society.