Traditionalism? Don’t know her…
Written by Common Ground Illustrator, Tricia Mercer-David
When I was growing up, I loved school trips to museums; they’d be so engaging and fun (especially the parts where we’d dress up and pretend we were on Horrible Histories!) But I found that when I started visiting these spaces on my own or with friends later in my teens, I felt a different way: an unwelcoming feeling, like I was being watched, and just wasn’t supposed to be there – it put me off to say the least…
You don’t have to look far to see the positive effects of engaging with cultural spaces; it promotes wellbeing, discussion, and reflection. Connecting with places of culture and heritage allows us to think critically about our collective histories, considering our past, present, and future.
Everyone should feel like they have access to worthwhile engagement in cultural spaces. Communities who statistically don’t engage with cultural spaces aren’t disinterested in heritage, it’s more the case that these institutions have historically been disinterested in us.
It is a responsibility for museums and places of heritage to work with communities, breaking down barriers and nurturing relationships to promote long term, meaningful engagement. The whole experience of exhibitions, events and workshops is completely different when the team behind them is diverse, well-informed and care about the communities who will be engaging.
Earlier in the year, I was visiting a museum, and in one room there were the usual objects in glass boxes with black and white labels dotted around. But, what stuck with me was a section containing handling objects, exciting graphics and videos. These were all working together to explain complex technologies that can scan a hundred-year-old painting to show what the true pigments were, as well as the sketches and iterations hidden to the naked eye. For me, and a lot of others, this information would have been too overwhelming to take in purely through written text, but the variety of kinetic and practical learning devices made a huge difference, and allowed the brain to digest the information more than the written word could have. I walked away having learnt something new, but also thinking about how much interesting content I have skimmed past for it being communicated via a long piece of text.
This visit got me thinking about how varied sensory techniques in engagement fade away as you get into adulthood. We don’t grow up to be machines – a huge part of our experience as humans is play. It doesn’t make sense to me that so much design in museums is toned down, lacking colour and fun. It feels soulless and sanitised. Of course, this is necessary in some areas, but for learning and engagement, it can’t be the only method employed.
Over the past year, I’ve been actively seeking out exhibitions and events with more well thought out, non-traditional design curated by diverse and varied teams. This has made me question what my experience of these spaces can be, as well as that of my peers. I’m excited to learn more, discuss more, and feel more as I engage with cultural spaces in the new year.
Illustrations by Tricia Mercer-David. Visit her website here.