Drawing from the Well of Language: Droughts, Floods, and Flows of Meaning
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Peter Samis discusses the importance of effective communication in art museums, emphasizing the need to provide concise and engaging information to visitors. He highlights examples of both successful and unsuccessful gallery texts and multimedia presentations, advocating for more impactful storytelling and visitor-centered interpretation. The document underscores the role of personal connections and emotional engagement in enhancing the visitor experience with art.
![Or this:
[Black lung]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/ceca-icom2012-forslideshare-121021224615-phpapp01/85/Drawing-from-the-Well-of-Language-Droughts-Floods-and-Flows-of-Meaning-22-320.jpg)
![Atemlos =
Out of
breath
[Along with a
paragraph on the
side telling the
story of the miner
whose lung this
was.]
Ruhr Museum, Essen, Germany](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/ceca-icom2012-forslideshare-121021224615-phpapp01/85/Drawing-from-the-Well-of-Language-Droughts-Floods-and-Flows-of-Meaning-23-320.jpg)
![So what can you say in a minute that
keeps people looking at—and engaged
with—the object?
[Micro-doses of
content.
Touch the screen
to access each
one.]
Add great video as a sub-level, but keep it short!](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/ceca-icom2012-forslideshare-121021224615-phpapp01/85/Drawing-from-the-Well-of-Language-Droughts-Floods-and-Flows-of-Meaning-32-320.jpg)
![The same applies to video and multimedia,
on-site and online.
[Touch each thumbnail to reveal a paragraph of content, a facet of the topic.]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/ceca-icom2012-forslideshare-121021224615-phpapp01/85/Drawing-from-the-Well-of-Language-Droughts-Floods-and-Flows-of-Meaning-35-320.jpg)
![Words, effectively written and dosed, can
turn seemingly neutral objects into
passionate subjects.
[How many ways are there to make a black painting—and
what are some of the reasons one might want to do so?]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/ceca-icom2012-forslideshare-121021224615-phpapp01/85/Drawing-from-the-Well-of-Language-Droughts-Floods-and-Flows-of-Meaning-38-320.jpg)
![Unfamilar objects need stories—and
people who are passionately involved.
[Segments from Dorothea Lange‟s oral history.]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/ceca-icom2012-forslideshare-121021224615-phpapp01/85/Drawing-from-the-Well-of-Language-Droughts-Floods-and-Flows-of-Meaning-39-320.jpg)
Drawing from the Well of Language: Droughts, Floods, and Flows of Meaning
- 1. Drawing from the Well of Language Droughts, floods, and flows of meaning Peter Samis Associate Curator, Interpretive Media San Francisco Museum of Modern Art MUSEUMS AND WRITTEN COMMUNICATION. Tradition and Innovation ICOM-CECA 2012 Yerevan, Armenia 21 October 2012
- 2. Museums. Even if they look like this on the outside...
- 3. ...they look like this on the inside.
- 4. …and this...
- 5. Offering chamber. Withholding chamber.
- 7. Modern art—like all the objects we exhibit —exists in a framework of meanings. • Physical aspects • Process of its making • Relationships (to its maker, to ideas, to other works) • Documents (journals, letters, sketches) • Media • Methods of approach and understanding
- 8. Of these, art museums typically strip away all but one or two. • Method(s) of approach and understanding • Physical aspects
- 9. Experts………………Novices Somewhere along the line that leaves us to restore the context.
- 12. Olafur Eliasson states the problem.
- 13. “The very basic belief that is behind my work is that objecthood, or objects as such, doesn‟t have a place in the world if there‟s not an individual person making some use of that object…”
- 14. So what‟s our toolkit for hooking visitors on the objects we share? urbanmkr, ...in our borrowed tackle box
- 15. ONLY CONNECT: A research project on visitor-centered museum interpretation with Mimi Michaelson, Ph.D. sponsored by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation
- 16. So, some lessons on a continuum from Analog to Digital: 1. Gallery texts and object labels.
- 17. All too often, we do it like this.
- 18. An indigestible inundation of text & audio.
- 19. Compare this... Detroit Institute of Arts, USA
- 20. “Much of the art in this suite was made before the French Revolution for European aristocrats who lived grandly, luxuriously, and fashionably. “The works of art help reveal how the privileged few wiled away their days and how they perceived others in the world.” In two sentences, the entrance panel sets you up for a highly charged experience.
- 21. Or this... Detroit Institute of Arts, USA
- 22. Or this: [Black lung]
- 23. Atemlos = Out of breath [Along with a paragraph on the side telling the story of the miner whose lung this was.] Ruhr Museum, Essen, Germany
- 24. How about this? 33 words. Kelvingrove Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland
- 25. Minimum words. Maximum impact. BELLAMY: “With visitor research, most people… read the first couple sentences and then you move on. So we thought, „Okay, we‟ll just give them the first couple sentences. We‟ll put everything that we need to in those first couple sentences.‟” PERRY: Our word count on labels is thirty words. And within that thirty words, you have to say why that object is good. —Interview with Martin Bellamy and Anne Perry of the Glasgow Museums
- 26. Consider the longer wall text… rewritten with personality! Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
- 27. Consider the wall text… Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
- 28. “Their art can hurt, can be ugly.” Passion. Hatred. Emotions validated. And with them, the visitors’ potential discomfort.
- 29. 2. Audio (& Multimedia) Tours
- 30. With audio/multimedia tours, the issue is the same—but different.
- 31. It‟s just as easy to run on at the mouth and try to cram too many points in, ignoring people‟s tired feet. Photo: FreakingNews.com
- 32. So what can you say in a minute that keeps people looking at—and engaged with—the object? [Micro-doses of content. Touch the screen to access each one.] Add great video as a sub-level, but keep it short!
- 33. One museum director told us: “I don‟t like the idea of everything gravitating toward a predictable, or best-practices model… You know, it‟s sort of a phantom idea, and it could spell mediocrity. And so I think, you know, there‟s the best practice for the project… But I‟m always interested in seeing what people think „best practices‟ means, and I‟m always ready for a debate on that, with anybody who cares to talk about it.” —Dan Spock, Director, Minnesota History Center
- 34. Dosing = Scaffolding Photo: RocPX
- 35. The same applies to video and multimedia, on-site and online. [Touch each thumbnail to reveal a paragraph of content, a facet of the topic.]
- 36. Knowledge on demand, just in time. Points of Departure: Connecting with Contemporary Art, SFMOMA, 2001
- 37. Updated. Art Institute of Chicago, Decorative Arts galleries, 2012
- 38. Words, effectively written and dosed, can turn seemingly neutral objects into passionate subjects. [How many ways are there to make a black painting—and what are some of the reasons one might want to do so?]
- 39. Unfamilar objects need stories—and people who are passionately involved. [Segments from Dorothea Lange‟s oral history.]
- 40. The spoken word is powerful medicine. Especially combined with images & text. http://www.sfmoma.org/explore/multimedia/interactive_features/68
- 42. So hopefully this… Yogendra Joshi, Flow
- 43. Can turn into this: Yogendra Joshi, Flow
- 44. Thank you. Yogendra Joshi, Flow
Editor's Notes
- #20: Much of the art in this suite was made before the French Revolution for European aristocrats who lived grandly, luxuriously, and fashionably. The works of art help reveal how the privileged few wiled away their days and how they perceived others in the world
- #27: “Impressionism’s breath of fresh air is just a memory here. Munch, Kokoschka and Beckmann put people center stage and exaggerate to make themselves heard. Who cares about likeness? They despise the bourgeois who believes that all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds… Their art isn’t easy, and doesn’t set out to be. They see themselves as Van Gogh’s heirs, but of his tormented, overstrung side. Their art can hurt, can be ugly.”
- #28: Impressionism’s breath of fresh air is just a memory here. Munch, Kokoschka and Beckmann put people center stage and exaggerate to make themselves heard. Who cares about likeness? They despise the bourgeois who believes that all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds… Their art isn’t easy, and doesn’t set out to be. They see themselves as Van Gogh’s heirs, but of his tormented, overstrung side. Their art can hurt, can be ugly.
- #29: Once accepted, they can deal with the paintings. Address them full on, in their potency.